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Thank you for listening! Your support of Joni and Friends helps make this show possible. Joni and Friends envisions a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ. Become part of the global movement today at www.joniandfriends.org.

Find more encouragement on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube.

Are a bride and groom ever more married than they are the first day? The vows are made, the certificate signed—could they be any more married than that?

Imagine fifty years later. They finish each other’s sentences, order each other’s food. They even start looking alike—a thought which troubles my wife, Denalyn, deeply. Wouldn’t they be more married on their 50th anniversary than on their wedding day? Marriage is both a done deal and a daily development.

The same is true of our walk with God. Can you be more saved than you were the first day of your salvation? No. But can a person grow in salvation? Absolutely. Like marriage, it’s a done deal and a daily development. Be secure in your salvation. And at the same time, grow in your salvation.

Read more He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

To become a lawyer in California, Maxcy Filer had to pass the state’s grueling, three-day bar exam. So he took it not once, not twice, but forty-eight times before passing the tough test. His goal? To advocate for the underprivileged in Compton, his beloved city. Between his first and last attempts at passing the exam—across twenty-five years—Filer and his wife raised seven children, all who went to college. When Filer was sworn in, the judge said: “Three words about Maxcy Filer: perseverance, perseverance, perseverance.”  

His story prompts me to think of people in the Bible who persevered. The writer of Hebrews recognized some: Noah, who “by his faith . . . became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith” (11:7). Or Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (vv. 8-21), Moses (vv. 23-28), and others. Such examples inspire us.

The writer then exhorts believers in Christ: “Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles” (12:1). We then read, “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (v. 1). How will we do this? By “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (v. 2). As we consider Christ’s sacrifice for us, “[we] will not grow weary and lose heart” (v. 3.)

Challenges to our faith give us opportunity to endure in His name. In His power, we persevere.

Although it was Palm Sunday, a day to celebrate the triumphal entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, for Mary Edwar it became a time of deep pain. Leaving their church after the service, she and her husband, Kareem, were holding hands when a bomb went off. The device killed Kareem and injured Mary, causing her to miscarry.

While Mary recuperated, she felt furious while grieving for her husband and child. But somehow reading the Bible calmed “the volcano inside her.” In particular, when she struggled to comprehend why God allowed the atrocity, Isaiah 55:9 helped: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways.” As she understood that God extends grace even when He’s dishonored, she felt soothed by His Spirit.

Mary considered Isaiah’s message from God to His wayward people. While calling them back to Himself, God sought to expand their understanding of His merciful character. Even as the heavens are “higher than” the earth, so were God’s ways “higher than” theirs (v. 9). So too will God show love and grace, more than they could imagine.

While grieving deeply, Mary was stunned to receive God’s gift of peace. She welcomed Jesus’ consoling love, which He poured out in the events that we mark during Holy Week. He’s eager to give us His peace too; we need only to look to Him.

“No, you can’t go to the lake,” I said to my daughter with my head tucked under the sink as I fixed a broken pipe. “Dad, you promised that after I had finished my chores, I could go,” she reminded me. I’d forgotten what I had said because I was preoccupied. My problem blinded me to my promise. 

As my daughter did with me, the psalmist reminded God of His promises. “Remember your word to your servant,” he wrote, “for you have given me hope” (119:49). Thankfully, we don’t have a heavenly Father who’s distracted and forgetful. We can come to Him not only with our hurts, problems, and disappointments but also in confidence knowing He’s a good Father: “My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life” (v. 50).  

God invites us to meditate on the Scriptures so we can remind Him of His promises—not because He forgets but because He desires that we know Him well. That’s why the psalmist says, “I remember, Lord, your ancient laws, and I find comfort in them. . . . Your decrees are the theme of my song” (vv. 52, 54).

Because of my distractions, my daughter needed to remind me of my promise. When she did, I gladly let her go to the lake. We can be thankful that our heavenly Father is never preoccupied or too busy. He loves to hear us pray His words back to Him. 

Kevin Burrell joins me to talk about what it means to pay attention again - to consider the birds, as Jesus says, and to see how creation can lead us deeper into the life of God. We walk through Philippians, a letter written from prison yet full of joy, and explore how joy and suffering can coexist, how anxiety is reshaped by trust, and how rootedness, unity, and discernment are formed in us over time. Kevin shares how birdwatching became more than a hobby, opening up a way of seeing that reveals God’s presence in the ordinary and invites us to slow down, notice, and live with greater awareness of what God is doing all around us.

Kevin Burrell is the co-lead Pastor of StoneBridge Church Community in Charlotte, North Carolina. An avid birder, Kevin’s pastoral heart and avian interests united with the formation of his blog, Ornitheology, where he utilizes birds as illustrations of the Christian life. He lives in Charlotte with his wife Beverly, three children, and five birdfeeders.

Kevin's Book:

Considering Sparrows

Kevin's Recommendation:

East of Eden

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

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Thank you for listening! Your support of Joni and Friends helps make this show possible. Joni and Friends envisions a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ. Become part of the global movement today at www.joniandfriends.org.

Find more encouragement on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube.

Why did Jesus live on the earth as long as He did?  To take on our sins is one thing, to experience death yes, but to put up with long roads and long days?  Why did He do it? Because He wants you to trust Him. Even His final act on earth was intended to win your trust.

Mark 15:22-24 says, “they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha where they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.  And they crucified Him” (NIV).  Why?  Why did He endure all this suffering—all  these feelings?

Well, because He knew you’d be weary, disturbed, and angry.  He knew you would be grief-stricken, and hungry, that you would face pain. A pauper knows better than to beg from another pauper. He needs someone who is stronger than he is. Jesus’ message from the Cross is this: I am that Person. Trust Me.

Read more He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

My niece, a college freshman, was busy with schoolwork and adjusting to a new residence. Because of recent security issues, her school required a vehicle pass. Since applying for this would be one more task on her long to-do list, I offered to do it. “Thanks!” she later said, surprised it had taken me only minutes in the campus office.

What she didn’t know was that the otherwise simple task had taken half a day of coordinating with the office, fixing a glitch in her application, and gathering unexpected documents. But I didn’t tell her this. “Anytime!” I said.

Love is in the details. Here, it was in taking care of details my niece was unaware of. Scripture tells us of God’s love as seen in two seemingly small details of the Israelites’ life in the wilderness: their clothes and shoes. Throughout forty years of walking, their “clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on [their] feet” (Deuteronomy 29:5). In fact, their feet didn’t even swell! (8:4).

God’s people had been unfaithful, but He showed “great compassion,” not abandoning them (Nehemiah 9:19). “They lacked nothing” (v. 21). God provided the “big” things, such as His presence, the counsel of His Spirit, and food and water (vv. 19-20); and the “smaller” but necessary things, such as clothes and shoes.  

God shows His love in ways we may overlook or be unaware of. Such is His love that He sees every detail of our life.