Father God,
We come before You as those who have been born again—not by flesh, not by effort, but by the power of Your Spirit and the finished work of Jesus Christ (John 3:5–6). We are new creations in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17), and yet, Lord, we confess: we are still being shaped.
Life bumps us. It shakes us. Sometimes it hits hard. And what spills out of us in those moments doesn’t always look like Christ. It looks like the old self. But You have not called us to live from our old nature. You’ve called us to walk in the Spirit, and not fulfill the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
So today, Lord, we ask You—fill our cups.
Not with bitterness, not with pride, not with anger that simmers beneath the surface.
But with Your Spirit. With joy that remains even in sorrow (John 16:22).
With peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7).
With love that overflows and never runs dry (Romans 5:5).
With gentleness that speaks louder than shouting,
And patience that steadies us when the world spins fast.
When we are shaken—because we will be—we want to spill grace.
When we are tested, we want to respond with truth in love.
When we are overwhelmed, we want to remember You are our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).
Lord, help us to be honest about what’s really in our cups.
Help us not to fake righteousness, but to be filled with the real thing—Your righteousness.
As Your Word says, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). So transform our hearts, Lord, so that what comes out of us is pleasing to You.
Holy Spirit, do what only You can do. Convict. Cleanse. Fill. Empower.
When we don’t know what to pray, You intercede with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26).
When we are weak, You are strong.
When we are dry, You are the living water.
When we are angry, You are our peace.
When we are tempted to give up, You are the breath in our lungs.
Jesus, You said that whoever believes in You, out of their innermost being would flow rivers of living water (John 7:38). We believe. We trust. And we ask You to let that river flow again.
So today, when life shakes us—
Let joy overflow.
Let gratitude spill out.
Let gentleness speak.
Let love rise.
We don’t want to just react in the flesh—we want to respond by the Spirit.
Thank You, Lord, that You are the One who fills our cup to overflowing (Psalm 23:5).
Not so we can just be full—but so we can pour You out onto everyone around us.
In the name of Jesus—our Savior, our Living Water, our Cup and our Portion—Amen.
Today is a very special day for me. Today is the day I celebrate my new birth-day. Today, 22 years ago, God woke me up to His truth, and my life has not been my own since. I would love to share a bit of my testimony with you…
I want to share my testimony for the one who needs to hear it. May God use it to help another soul.
The night was March 25, 2003. My husband was driving us home from work in Aurora to our home in Rochelle (It was about an hour drive home). We had been reading the Bible because we felt something was missing in our lives and we knew we needed something.
As a young child, I went to church, but then we didn’t go anymore. I knew of God and a man named Jesus, but I didn’t understand any of it. I sat through Sunday School and church services, but it didn’t have an impact on my life—or so I thought.
So when my husband and I got married, we were searching for something. At first we thought we just wanted to start a family, but every doctor told me we’d never be able to have children because of things wrong with my body. So we started with the Bible because we both knew of it and decided we better figure things out for ourselves.
I remember going to different churches because we didn’t understand why there were so many. Each time, we left a little more confused. One time, my husband went to a church and arrived at 10:05 a.m., and the lady at the door told him he’d have to come back next week—church starts at 10:00 a.m. Doesn’t that make your jaw drop? How can you turn away people who are lost and looking for God?
After a little while longer, my husband was praying one night. I had already fallen asleep, and he was asking God to help us find the church we were meant to be at. My husband still tells me that right after he finished praying, I sat straight up, said, “The angels will tell you,” and fell right back to sleep. I don’t remember this, but he does—and before long, we would understand what it meant.
During that time, we had been reading the Bible together. To this day, I can’t find the verse that forever stuck in my heart, but it talked about Jesus coming back like a thief in the night or like the turning of a page in a book. And all those who didn’t know Him would not be saved and would spend eternity in hell.
Now, back to the night of March 25. It would have been right at midnight, so now the day is March 26, 2003. My husband was driving. We were talking, trying to stay awake, looking at the very dark sky above us when all of a sudden, the sky lit up—brighter than a day, the brightest light you could ever imagine. Then after a few seconds, we heard a loud boom, and it was dark again.
I praise God my husband was driving—we probably would’ve been in an accident if I had been—but more importantly, that this day was the day my life would never be the same. My husband and I both saw the same thing, but I felt it was the Lord telling me I had to get right with Him. I needed to have a personal relationship with Him. I needed Him because I was a sinner.
I remember looking at my husband with tears running down my face and saying, “We’re going to die and go to hell because we don’t know Jesus like we’ve been reading about. I have to call my mom—it’s the end of the world.” My mom was always in bed by 8 because of work, but I called her and told her, “Mom, I love you. The world’s ending, and I just had to tell you one more time.”
Of course, she thought I was crazy. But my stepdad, who worked nights, had just gotten home and seen it too, so she knew I wasn’t insane. Still, she thought I was overreacting. Later, we’d find out it was a meteorite—but to me, it will always be the day the Lord lit up the night sky to save a sinner like me.
Now, you’re probably still thinking about what I said in my sleep—the angels will tell you. Well, not long after, my husband got a call that his great-great-uncle had passed away. We went to Kansas City to his great-great-aunt’s house, and as soon as we walked in, her home was covered in angel figures—everywhere. Before we left, without us telling her anything, she looked at us and said we should start going to his grandmother’s church.
And from the moment we got home until the Lord moved us elsewhere, we went to his grandmother’s church. There, we were baptized and began a journey for the Lord we never could have expected.
There are many more wonderful, crazy, hard rollercoaster moments I’ll share another time. But I’ll fast forward to March 26, 2023. My family and I began a completely new journey for the Lord. My husband preached his first official sermon at our new church home as their pastor.
So today, has many special reasons to be celebrated for our little family. I celebrate 22 years of new life. We celebrate 2 years of our new adventure that the Lord has chosen us to be a part of. And we declare that this is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24).
I am still under construction and will be until the day the Lord takes me home to forever be with Him, and for that I am grateful. It’s always a chance to grow closer to Him and to share life with those He allows me to walk alongside.
So for now, I will say: I am on a journey for the Lord. I may not always understand the roads, valleys, or mountains He has me/us traveling—but I know He is directing our path and allowing us to serve Him by serving others.
I pray this has helped you by seeing just a bit of the journey the Lord has had—and continues to have—me/us on.
God bless you, dear reader.