God, Me, and a Cup of Coffee

Melanie J. McGinnis

Description

Your mornings are busy, as much as you’d like to, there’s no time to fit God in. Good news, this devotional will help prioritize a few minutes each morning for loving God, bringing you calm in the chaos.
Life is chaotic. For Melanie J. McGinnis, a wife, mom, employee, business owner, runner, artist and volunteer, this is an understatement. We’ve all felt overwhelmed. There’s little time to clean, let alone relax, or find any time to spend with God especially in our hectic mornings. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to make life smoother and more peaceful, despite the chaos happening around us? God, Me, and a Cup of Coffee is designed to do exactly that.
This daily devotional is a way to start your day that will bring you peace, organization, and direction with the help of God. It’s easy to claim there is no time for a morning devotional, but Melanie shows you how to find a few minutes to build a closer relationship with our Lord and Savior.
What do you have to lose by making space for this special time? You could let go of stress, worry, anxiety, and fear. Meanwhile, you have everything to gain: peace, love, vision, guidance, and more. There’s no better time to start than now. Draw closer to God in just minutes a day. In doing this, you not only gain a stronger relationship with God. You will also find peace in the chaos, as God will always bless the time you give Him.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Women's Interests
• Christian Living
• Philosophie et théologie
• God

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 12 décembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664283343
• Langue: English

Extrait

GOD, ME, and A CUP OF COFFEE
 
30 Days to a Closer Walk with God, the Busy Woman’s Devotional
 
 
 
 
Melanie J. McGinnis
 

 
Copyright © 2022 Melanie J. McGinnis.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
 
All Scripture marked with the designation “GW” is taken from GOD’S WORD®. © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. Used by permission.
 
Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
• Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8335-0 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8336-7 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8334-3 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022920919
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 12/12/2022
CONTENTS
PRIORITIES
DON’T LOOK BACK
NEVER GIVE UP!
A SERVANT’S HEART
IMPOSTER SYNDROME
THE WORLD IS FALLING APART
FORGIVENESS
UNANSWERED PRAYERS
HEART OF GRATITUDE
GOD’S PERFECT TIMING
THE “WHAT IFS”
STRUGGLES, TRIALS, AND HARDSHIPS
WE NEED EACH OTHER
FEELING STUCK?
COURAGE AND BRAVERY
INSECURITY
HEART’S CONDITION
ABUNDANCE
WHO’S IN CONTROL?
WHERE’S YOUR FOCUS?
SLOW DOWN
NEVER ALONE
THE GOD OF MIRACLES
AN AUDIENCE WITH GOD
PATIENCE IS SUCH A BIG WORD
TIME WITH GOD
AM I ENOUGH?
THE INTENTIONAL LIFE
I WAS MADE FOR WORSHIP
GOD WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU
BONUS DAYS
REFLECTION
LIAR, LIAR!
THE ABUNDANT LIFE
YOU ARE LOVED


 
 
 
But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength: They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
—ISAIAH 40:31 (NIV)
 


    INTRODUCTION
Has life got you feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or frustrated, or maybe you feel like just giving up? I know that as a Christian, you love God with all your heart. You go to church, maybe sing in the choir, or even volunteer to help in the nursery. You might have participated in devotional studies in the past, maybe with your church’s women’s group. However, when it comes to being disciplined on a daily basis, you just don’t have the time, energy, or ability to do it. You would like to spend time with God but don’t see how you can fit it into your busy schedule, because to be super spiritual and godly, you need at least an hour or two each day, right?
Girlfriend, you are not alone. I’ve been there too! For years, I wished I was more “spiritual.” If I were godly enough, then it would be easy to spend hours with God and get caught up in His presence. Then I would feel worthy enough to be used by Him to reach others. However, I would rationalize that I do not have time to be that “spiritual.” After all, I’m a wife to an amazing man for over twenty years, a mom of two children—a son who is nineteen and a daughter who is thirteen—three fur babies—two dogs and a cat—and one very large fish. I work full time, commuting at least an hour each way to and from work. I volunteer in my church as backstage manager and leading worship; I also volunteer with other organizations. I’m a runner and have completed many races. I am an artist (painter) which I submit paintings to Stations of the Cross each year. Did I mention that I’m also putting together more side businesses? I am creating freedom coaching courses all while writing this devotional along with my transformational story book. Talk about being busy—whew, I’m tired just typing this.
Here’s the thing: excuses are like belly buttons: we all have them. The bottom line is that most of us do not have hours each day to spend with God so we can build a closer relationship with Him. I know that I certainly do not.
I have good news, my friend. I have learned that it doesn’t take large amounts of time to have a pure, genuine relationship with God. You can start with just a few minutes each day and build from there. Yes, it’s true.
In this devotional, I’m going to teach you how. I honestly believe, based on my own experience, that by the end of the first week, you are going to start to notice a difference in your life. You will have peace in the midst of chaos that you won’t be able to explain. How you respond to your family, friends and co-workers will begin to change for the better. Better yet, you will see God in a real and loving way.
Let me clear up one more thing. You don’t have to feel “spiritual” or conduct religious rituals to come to God and spend time with Him. You don’t even have to get on your knees and fold your hands during this time with Him. God knows that would be hard for some of us—especially with my knees.
I have a little secret for you, my beautiful, overwhelmed friend: God already knows the best and the worst about you, yet He loves you unconditionally. He doesn’t need your time for Him to feel worthy, loved, and appreciated, but He knows that taking time with Him will help you feel worthy, loved, and appreciated along with an abundance of other blessings.
The best thing about taking time with God is that it doesn’t require you to spend time; it is an investment of our time. When we invest time with God, we get the best return on our investment—better than a million dollars of Amazon stock. Now that’s an investment worth the risk.
In the next thirty days, I will help you start your day with quiet meditation with God, a quick scripture reading, a short devotional, and a journaling session, all in just a few minutes.
In my experience, when you finish the next thirty days, you will find that you are hearing God’s still, small voice coming through to you despite all the turmoil going on around you. You will find your days go much more smoothly with less stress, or you may find that you are able to stay calm in the stress. You might even find ideas and ways to get things done in your life that you haven’t been able to find answers for in the past—all with an investment of only a few minutes each morning.
Are you ready to get started on building a genuine, pure, and loving relationship with God?


Before you start, let me explain what a daily devotion is and how it works.
This devotional is designed to show you how not to feel overwhelmed in life and how to trust God, to listen to His voice, then learn to take life one thing at a time.
What if I don’t even have a relationship with God? How am I supposed to get closer to Him? Do I really need it? Maybe you don’t consider yourself to be a Christian or religious person. Maybe you went to church as a child but haven’t been in a long time. You might believe there is a power that controls the universe but that’s all. What this devotion is designed to do is show you that you can have a personal relationship with God that isn’t about religion or church.
You might have heard the story of Adam and Eve, right? The first book of the Bible, Genesis, talks about the garden of Eden and the snake who convinced Eve to eat the fruit from the one tree God told them not to touch.
Yep, that is the day that our eyes as humans were opened, and sin entered the world. This sin caused all the bad, selfish, evil things that are still rampant in our world today.
The good news is that God had a plan from the beginning. He wanted you to love Him just because you wanted to love Him with your free will, not because He demanded it of you. When Adam and Eve sinned, God had a plan to redeem you from the sin passed down through the generations that allows you back into His presence. He sent his Son Jesus to be your atonement for the sin committed so many years before by Adam and Eve.
You also might be familiar with the story of Jesus. We celebrate on Christmas a baby boy born in a manger, who lived a sinless life yet was later falsely accused and condemned to die a horrible death. The good news is that Jesus died this death out of love for you, because He knew that giving up His sinless life would pay the price needed for you to be able to sit in the presence of God today in meditation.
All