Mo People Mo Problems 

Hey, Friends! Welcome back to Light in Your Corner! We are in Exodus 18 and picking on Moses as we talk about leadership, mentorship, time management, ministry, and a hodgepodge of other stuff. Isn’t it great that God gives us the knowledge of His grace and love, and also some good pictures of what NOT to do? 

ALSO:

• Where’s Corm?
• Speak up and see what happens
• Pious Bias
• Accessing the Word for ourselves
• Having/Being a Jethro
• Not aspiring to Christian leadership
• Delegating as part of God’s plan 

References:

—Exodus 18

—“Finding God’s Life for my Will” by Mike Donehey @mikedonehey

—“The Tyranny of the Urgent”—https://bible.org/seriespage/11-tyranny-urgent-exodus-18

—A Purpose Driven Mom—https://apurposedrivenmom.com

@apurposedrivenmom

#Faith #Light #Lightinyourcorner #timemanagement #goals #trust #exodus #moses #leadership

When is Enough Enough?

Welcome, everyone, to our 70th episode! If God had only given us 10 episodes, that would have been enough, but He keeps on giving! And this episode has a lot to offer.

After all our book recommendations, we are going to dive into one of God’s most famous tests—the manna. Exodus 16 and 17 force us to ask the question, “What do I do when there isn’t enough?” 

In truth, we ask a lot of questions today because we all go through our share of Eden and Wilderness seasons. So how do we navigate those seasons and trust that Jesus is the true answer to all our needs? Stick around and we will talk about it!

ALSO:

• Interrupting the forgetting process
• Comfort Books
• Valuing the Giver over the gifts
• The difference between grumbling and grieving
• True Sabbath rest
• Jesus is better than manna

References:

• Exodus 16 and 17
• John 6
• The Bible Project
• Hank the Cowdog by John Erickson
• There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom by Louis Sachar
• Joe Pickett books by C.J. Box
• Educated by Tara Westover
• Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 

#Jesus #Lightinyourcorner #grace #Light #Sabbath #Manna #Bible #faith #trust

Some Motivation to do Hard Things

Hi, friends! Today’s episode may get a little sassy as we discuss the importance of doing hard things. We can’t avoid them; hard things are just a fact of life. But how do we face annoying, or even impossible, situations in a way that brings peace and confidence instead of just reluctance and frustration?

Today we will remind each other that there is blessing in the doing. And God blesses us as we go places we don’t want to go, or stay in places we don’t want to stay. God fights for you and makes a way, just like He made a way for His people in Exodus, and just like He made a way for us through the blood of Jesus: the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

And BONUS—we reveal the name of Monica’s frog! 

ALSO:

• Aspiring to be a freeloader
• Benefits of getting out of your house to worship
• “Giving it to God” as our last resort
• Sometimes the answer is just “obedience”
• When God gives answers we didn’t see coming

References:

*Good Hang with Amy Poehler @goodhangwithamy

*Exodus 13-15

*1 Samuel 1

*Cormoran Strike books by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)

*The Brant and Sherri Oddcast

*Patterns of Evidence: YT: @PatternsOfEvidence

I Need a Hero 

We are flying through the plagues today, making little observations about all the ways God provides and delivers. This is HIS story, after all. 

And His story is still going on today, in our lives. So we ask, how does He still provide? How does He still deliver? When I set myself up as Pharaoh, how does He firmly and lovingly remind me of who really holds the reins? How does He point me to His work in Jesus?

There is a lot here, friends. And we are so glad you are in this with us. God is good. Now let’s get into it and see just how good He is. 

ALSO:

• Name that frog!!!
• Men love a quest 
• When God does your meal planning
• Peace and Urgency
• Helpful Deconstruction

References:

• The Chosen
• The Bible Project
• Exodus 8-12
• @rabbijasonsobel
• Green lights by @officiallymcconaughey

When Things are Hard, You Can Trust God’s Heart

There may be a lot of questions raised by the first chapters of Exodus, but one thing is very clear: God knows what He is about. And soon everyone is going to know. 

In chapters 5-7, we see how God responds to doubt and how He responds to evil, and it’s not necessarily the same response. When we are scared, He says, “Look at Me. Look at what I have done for you. Trust My heart for you.” And then He sends us to do the thing He has for us so we can practice our faith in real life. 

Are you afraid? We hope this episode gives you confidence in the God who equips and sustains you as you live with Him. 

ALSO:

*On the other hand: Another take on Zipporah

*Raising our own little pharaohs 

*How God responds when things are hard

*God’s timing for mercy and justice

*All kinds of cool things about the first plague and signs

*Casting Biblical heroes from Hollywood

References:

• Exodus 5-7 (especially 6:1-8)
• “House of David” on Amazon Prime
• “St. Denis Medical” on Hulu
• Alexander McCall Smith
• “All Creatures Great and Small”
• “Letters to the Church” by Francis Chan
• Hebrews 11:23-29

He sees, He Hears, He Knows

Today’s story happened thousands of years ago across the globe, but it’s just so easy to relate to it—because who hasn’t looked into the face of uncertainty, fear, and even slavery, and called out for help?

Maybe you have wondered if God hears, if He knows, if He sees you. Exodus 2-4 answers that question with a resounding “Yes!” God introduces Himself to the chosen deliverer of His people. Or rather, He introduces Himself as the chosen deliverer of His people. And boy, will He deliver.

Today is a lesson in trusting that God can and will do what He says. And He never stops teaching that to us!

ALSO:

—God changes us

—We answer the Zipporah question

—What it means to embrace suffering

—“Burn Where You’re planted”

—“What I am I will be”

—When God looks a lot like you

—Francis Chan: He’s not wrong

—When you don’t have the answers

References:

John Mark Comer 

Alexander McCall Smith

Prince of Egypt

Letters to the Church by Francis Chan

Bible.org: Zipporah https://bible.org/seriespage/4-zipporah-exodus-424-26

The story of Gideon: Judges 6

#light #lightinyourcorner #relatable #faith #promisesofGod #deliverer #Jesus #Yahweh

What to Expect When You’re Expecting Miracles

Hey, friends! We are back with a brand new season of Light in Your Corner! That’s right. It’s been a hot minute, but we are diving right into Exodus 1 this week. Well, maybe not diving. More like wading into it.

It is easy to fly through Exodus because it is so familiar. After the life of Jesus, it may be the most retold story in film; and for good reason. Miracles in this book are spectacular, but no more meaningful than the miracles that take place in our lives. The God who faithfully delivered His people from slavery still delivers us today.

So we do what He says: we remember. We rehearse the stories of His goodness to the people around us so that we never forget. May this episode remind you that you are loved by an abundantly gracious and merciful God. 

ALSO: 

• Monica’s bright pink highlighter & stowaway frog
• Your lifespan as a grain of sand
• Difficulty is a hard teacher
• Snowplow v. Snowshoe parenting
• God uses the underestimated
• Investing in Integrity

References:

• ESV Scripture Journals
• ”Letters to the Church” by Francis Chan
• ”God Has a Name” by John Mark Comer
• ”The Hiding Place” by Corrie Ten Boom
• “Single, Dating, Engaged, Married” by Ben Stuart
• ”A Man on the Inside” (on Netflix)
• ”A Real Pain” (on Hulu)
• ”The Prince of Egypt” (rent/buy on Prime Video)

#miracles #expectations #Godisgood #light #lightinyourcorner #yahweh #love #difficulty

God Bless Us, Every One! 

 It’s almost Christmas, friends, and God is already giving gifts! He’s so good, isn’t He? Merry Christmas, everyone. You are all gifts to us and we are so grateful for the time you spend with us and the encouragement you share. May God bless you all with His Light this Christmas!

ALSO:

• “You talk to the Lord with that mouth?” 
• Did the devil really make you do it
• The power of saying a person’s name
• Cheering for Strangers
• Is He really enough

References:

• Matthew 5:43-48
• John 3:16
• 1 John 3:1
• 1 John 5:11
• Romans 8:31-32
• James 1:17
•  “Red One”
• “Christmas with the Kranks”
• “Skipping Christmas” by John Grisham
• “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever”
• “Die Hard”
• “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”
• “David and Goliath” by Malcolm Gladwell

Awaiting Christmas When You Know You Have Enough

The media tells us that the season of giving thanks is past and now it’s time to focus on the real deal: giving presents. We spend money, time and energy finding tokens of love for those we care about. Or maybe just some tokens of acknowledgment for people around us.

But giving thanks is just as important now as it ever was because God is giving us gifts in this very moment. Even in this breath, even in the sound waves that carry these words and the brain’s ability to translate them into real ideas. God is always giving. 

So what happens when we take those gifts and give ourselves the credit? We will talk about that for a bit today as we sit in Genesis for just a little while longer. 

And we have plenty of our own gifts to give. At least that’s how we see them. Gifts of book, movie, and show recommendations. Accept them, if you will, and feel free to share some back! 

ALSO: A boatload of references…

Bible references:

Genesis 12

Hebrews 11

1 Cor. 10:13

2 Cor. 12:7-10

Proverbs 30

Media references:

“The Bible Project” 

“Babette’s Feast”

“Daddy’s Home 2”

“Emma”/“Clueless”

“Nutcrackers”

“Bonhoeffer”

“Breaking Bad”

“Blessings” by Laura Story

“Mortimer’s Christmas Manger” by Jane Chapman and Karma Wilson

#hope #faith #love #gratitude #Jesus #forgiveness

The Freedom of Not Having All the Answers

Hey Friends! We are back at it and talking about the Fall into sin, free will, helping people when we don’t feel like it, and how there are lots of things we just don’t understand. Sounds like a party, doesn’t it?

The good news is that we have a God who knows how to throw a great party in spite  of all that. And we are stepping into the abundance and leaving the rest up to Him. 

And if you take issue with anything, you know where to find us!  

So enjoy our conversation and know that we are thinking about you during the whole thing. We love you guys!

ALSO:

• What do you hope to get out of this?
• We ask hard questions like “Why was the tree there?”
• The enemies of discovery are hurry and control. 
• Giving yourself more time than you think you need. 
• Taking time to be with people. 

References: 

• Bible Project Episode (10/7/24): “God as the Generous Host” 
• “Atomic Habits” by James Clear
• @jamesclearatomichabits
• Bob Goff @bobgoff
• @branthansen

#light #lightinyourcorner #Jesus #HolySpirit #loveyourneighbor #faith #trust #redeemed