I Choose Today...

I Choose Today to Remember I Belong to Him

There is a verse where Jesus says, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) At first glance, that can feel confusing. Because Scripture also tells us that when we belong to Christ, God lives in us and we live in Him (1 John 4:15). So how do those truths fit together? If He dwells in us, does that mean we never do anything apart from Him? Paul helps us understand this in his letter to the Corinthians. The believers there had started believing that what they did with their bodies didn’t matter much. But Paul corrected that thinking with a powerful reminder: “The one who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (1 Corinthians 6:17) Salvation isn’t just a belief, it’s a union. We belong to Christ. We are not spiritually independent people anymore. Paul goes even further: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you…? Therefore honor God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20) Here’s the key. Jesus’ words, “apart from Me you can do nothing,” are not saying we are incapable of action, clearly we make choices every day. What He is saying is

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I Choose Today to Bring My Hidden Hurts into the Light

When I clean, I’ve been known to be a shover. I shove things in drawers. Closets. Cabinets. Anywhere I can hide the mess so my space looks tidy. On the surface, everything appears in order… but inside those drawers, there’s still chaos waiting to be dealt with. If I’m honest, I’ve done the same thing in my heart. Shoving our mess down in life isn’t the way to go either. Because sooner or later, what we’ve buried demands attention. Unaddressed hurts, unresolved mistakes, and buried disappointments don’t just disappear. They seep into our attitudes, our reactions, and our relationships — often in ways we don’t even realize. I’ve seen this play out in my own life. One time my husband gave me simple feedback, and my response was completely over the top. My reaction didn’t match the moment at all. Later, I had to ask myself, Why did I respond like that? What did I shove into the closet of my heart that just came spilling out sideways? That moment showed me something important — I couldn’t clean this mess on my own. I needed God to reveal what was hiding beneath the surface. Like David in Psalm 139, I

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I Choose Today to Reflect the Heart of Jesus This Christmas

As I think about the true meaning of Christmas, I’m always struck by how the Savior of the world came to us. Not with power on display. Not with wealth or grandeur. But as a helpless baby. Jesus, fully God, entered the world through humility. He wasn’t born in a palace, but in a stable. Not laid in a cradle, but in a feeding trough. Surrounded not by royalty, but by animals and shepherds, the lowly, the overlooked, the ordinary. From the very beginning, Jesus showed us the heart of God. And that pattern didn’t stop at His birth. Throughout His life, Jesus continued to draw near to the broken, the weary, and the forgotten. He walked with gentleness. He spoke with kindness. He lived with humility. And He consistently called people, not to division, but to unity. On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed for us. In John 17, He asked the Father that all who follow Him would be one, just as He and the Father are one. Paul echoes this same heart in his letter to the Ephesians. He reminds believers that unity is preserved through humility, gentleness, patience, and love, and that peace is something

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I Choose Today to Remember Who Is With Me

Immanuel means God with us. That is the name used to describe Jesus. So if we believe in Jesus, He is with us—truly with us. And yet… how often do we forget that? Take the disciples, for example. In Mark 4, Jesus and His disciples were crossing to “the other side” of the sea. Jesus was in the boat with them, asleep on a cushion. Suddenly, a fierce storm arose, and the waves began crashing into the boat, filling it with water. These men were experienced fishermen. Storms weren’t unfamiliar to them. But fear took over. They woke Jesus and accused Him of not caring that they were about to perish. Jesus stood, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace. Be still.” Immediately, the storm stopped. Then He asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” The disciples looked at one another in awe and asked, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” You see, they forgot who was with them, Immanuel, God with us. The winds and waves obey Jesus because He is their Creator. All of creation responds to His authority. But when storms rise and

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I Choose Today to Renew My Mind

Transformation doesn’t begin when our circumstances change, it begins when our thinkingdoes. Our lives move in the direction of our most dominant thoughts, which is why Paul’s reminder in Romans 12:2 is so powerful: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” So often, we focus on changing what we do before changing how we think. But the real work of transformation happens in the mind. That’s where God reshapes how we see ourselves, our situations, and even Him. I’ve learned that the enemy can’t control my life, but he can influence my thoughts, and my thoughts influence everything else. He does what he did in the garden: twist truth just enough to create doubt, shame, or fear. He uses guilt to weigh us down and comparison to keep us small. I’ll never forget walking into a women’s leadership conference filled with about a hundred women. From the moment I stepped in, I felt like an imposter. I wondered how I ended up there, surrounded by so many women who seemed smarter, stronger, and more confident than me. During worship, I bowed my head

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