Hindsight is 20/20

Hindsight is 20/20. Hannah learned some hard lessons through her discontentment, anger, her vow, and following through by giving her son away. She was brought to a place of desperate reliance on the Sovereignty of her God.

So much to ponder as we read her story each day. I read it as a fellow mother and insert myself into her place and can feel her harder difficult feelings AFTER her son is born than any she felt while not conceiving. (If you look up all the descriptive words about how Hannah felt and acted during this time, the concordance definitions use ‘anger, thunder, rage, anxiety, and wrath’! Not how I’ve always been taught she acted! 😜)

Caught up in her anger and frustration of her circumstances it doesn’t seem that she is pondering the path of her feet…. where is the vow leading?
She doesn’t get to keep her baby.
She is promising to hand him over to be raised by what everyone knows to be ungodly men.
She has no promise of more children.

Just think about it all. Ponder the real-lifeness of it all. Hard circumstances, hard people… After experiencing more pain on the other side of her vow than she realized was coming, she makes this statement that we are utterly dependent on our God to work anything out. It is ONLY by GOD’S choosing that we will prevail.

I believe Hannah has been humbled. Such a hard lesson. I want to have a good long listen with her one day in glory. I want to hear her tell me all God did in her despite the depraved humanity of all those involved. All glory to God for working beautiful things out of a story of anger, envy, discontent, and poor choices! God is a God who redeems. We are full of Hope no matter what we see around us because it is not by might that a man prevails!

~Shannon

New Around Here???

Hello! I’m Shannon and I’m a lover of Scripture. My friends and I enjoy reading our Bibles in a way that allows us to always be on the same page and able to discuss what we are learning together and ask each other questions to help dig deeper.

📖In a time when I was desperate for hope & stability almost 20 years ago my Bible became my best friend. It changed my life. And because of the power I witnessed in my life through daily choosing to read larger portions of Scripture I started sharing this simple method with others.

📖I know beyond the shadow of any doubt this is the answer you need, no matter what your life is like….
Bold statement? Yup!
True? Definitely!

📖 Our Bible Challenge has created quite a community and life will never be the same. We would love for you to join in as we read our Bibles whole books at a time, the way that I believe it was meant to be read. It changes EVERYTHING.

📖I double-dog dare you to try it for yourself! … Give yourself to the reading of Scripture this way and I guarantee you will notice a huge difference in your life. Hold your hat, it’s quite a ride!

More information on the Bible Challenge HERE. 😉

~Shannon

Your Leash

Every moment of every day you are choosing your master. So who’s calling your shots?

Your appetite?
Your emotions?
Your insecurity?
Your fear?
Your pride?
Your traditions?
Your kids?
Your bank account?
Your phone?

Challenge yourself to notice this week who’s got the other end of that leash around your neck. … Then ask God to break the cycle of that dependence and follow only Him as your Master, free & clear.

These lesser masters have to be shown to us through the Holy Spirit, and He alone can break those chains. Maybe this will be a very freeing week for us as we wait on the Lord to reveal things that need to be brought to Him to be subdued.

~Shannon

Don’t Quit!

Getting tired? Feel like it’s more of a chore some of those February days to flip that Bible open and get fed?
Take heart and purpose to read it no matter what! You reap huge benefits when you dare to keep opening those pages… even though your body & circumstances are screaming that you don’t feel like it and don’t have time!

Pull up your chair and just look at how much we have already dug into at the table this year!… and we’re just getting started!!!

If you are new to the Bible Challenge it’s important to know that you NEVER fall behind and you are NEVER too late to join in. Check out the link in the bio and pick up with wherever we are. There’s a bunch of us ladies who are getting to know Scripture in an oh-so-simple but life-changing way.

Join us???

~ Shannon

To-do List for Today

Want to have a productive day? It’s not about the food made or the cleaned house. It’s not about the prep work for tomorrow or that thing that has to finally get done and crossed off the list from yesterday. Even if nothing on the to-do list gets completed ~ if you get these things done, God considers it an EFFECTIVE & FRUITFUL day!
Ponder these verses a lot this week. Ask God to remind you of the eternal qualities instead of believing there’s more glory in the temporal.

~Shannon

It’s Not About You

Don’t be offended but…

… it’s not about you.
… it’s always completely and wholly about glory to the only One who deserves it.
… SO, proclaim HIM! It’s what you were chosen to do!

In whatever you do today ‘abstain from the passions of the flesh’ (1:11) that keep you from proclaiming Christ in word and deed.

~Shannon

Mr. Weak

Feel like Mr. Weak some days/years???

Set your hope fully on the prize before you. Gird up those loins and give it all you’ve got, whether it’s running or crawling… just keep your eyes looking ahead to Zion… keep moving, no matter how slow it feels.

Your heart moves toward what gives it the most hope and it is easily deceived and desperately wicked. It needs to be trained to know the only true Hope.

Read your Bible. There is prep work to be done to ensure your forward motion in the right direction!

~Shannon

In Direct Proportion

Our relationships on earth are in direct proportion to our relationship with Christ. You might want to read that again 😉…. What we know of the gospel transfers over into how we interact with the people around us. Full stop.

Nothing is more beautiful than bearing with one another, sin and all, and pursuing love and forgiveness to create endurance in our relationships. Indeed, it looks so much like Christ how could one look on that kind of love with disdain? We understand our depraved state and the forgiveness received from Christ and humbly offer the same to all the sinners around us. A BEAUTIFUL working out of the gospel.

On the flipside, nothing is more hurtful and brings more feeling of death to the soul then to find out that the forebearance and love you offer a fellow sinner/friend is not reciprocated. We all long to be accepted by others as Christ has accepted us.

Above all, adorn your relationships by covering each other’s short comings and evidences of sin. Not hiding sin, but coming along side & loving each other enough to stay there and work through it, drenching each circumstance with a true understanding of the gospel.

~Shannon