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INSTA-DEVOTIONS

kristy_fruitfultoday

Good intentions for healthy eating... 😆 I wonde

Good intentions for healthy eating... 😆 I wonder how long quinoa keeps in the freezer? (From 13th Feb last year.)

Happy New Year from Sydney, Australia! 🥳

Happy New Year from Sydney, Australia! 🥳

Yesterday I was chatting with a friend who, like m

Yesterday I was chatting with a friend who, like me, is trying to manage two chronic conditions, one mental and one physical. I was reflecting on how hard it is to balance the two. It’s like walking a tightrope!
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To manage my daily fatigue and pain, I must organise my schedule to allow for regular rest times. I need to lie down a lot, in a quiet room, which means I spend much of my time at home, alone.
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To manage my depression and anxiety, I must see people and leave the house as much as possible. I get such a boost from chatting with friends (and even strangers!) when I’m out and about. The social interaction draws me outside of my own head. Listening to other people and learning about their daily life puts my own struggles into perspective.
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These conflicting physical and emotional needs tug, and sometimes yank, at my heart. They demand different things, and it’s not always possible to please them both at once!
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I’m coming out of a week in which caring for my mental health took priority. I just had to get out of the house, to distract myself from my own thoughts. And of course, this week I will “pay” for those outings with an increase in spontaneous daytime sleeps and a decrease in productivity.
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The friend I was talking to yesterday sent me this 3-minute audio devotional message today (link in bio). What a timely message!!!
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May God give you comfort and endurance as you manage your own conflicting needs. We’ll never get the balance 100% right, but with practice we can stay OK for longer stretches. And what a comfort to know that our firm foundation, Jesus, is there to catch us when we stumble.

Brain fog permeates my daily life. I’ve develope

Brain fog permeates my daily life. I’ve developed strategies to manage my responsibilities despite its almost constant presence — for example, a meal planner reminds me which groceries to buy, and phone pop-up reminders help me to follow through with commitments that I’d completely forgotten about. I jokingly call these props my “external brain”!
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But even with strategies in place, I still find myself doing absent-minded things (see comments for some recent examples!).
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My forgetfulness used to really upset me. It was a source of embarrassment, even shame. I was painfully aware of my capacity to let people — and God — down. But I’ve found great freedom from shame as I’ve learnt to preach the gospel to myself daily.
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Whether you fail regularly at organisation, like me, or at something else like self-discipline or patience, I want to remind you of the gospel of grace: the Good News that our acceptance by God has nothing to do with our own worthiness and everything to do with God’s faithful, forgiving love.
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While Christians are instructed to live self-controlled and godly lives (Matt 5:16, Titus 2:12), we're not expected to approach spiritual and personal growth on our own. No, God is our mentor, our comforter, our guide. We grow with his help (John 15:1-5).
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Brennan Manning says it beautifully: “While Jesus calls each of us to a more perfect life, we cannot achieve it on our own. To be alive is to be broken; to be broken is to stand in need of grace. It is only through grace that any of us could dare to hope that we could become more like Christ.” (Ragamuffin Gospel, p.87)
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So don’t despair when you fail again and again to live the good life you wish to live. Don’t turn inward in shame; look to the cross.
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Lord Jesus, thank you for living the perfect life that we are incapable of living. Please empower us to live self-controlled, generous and good lives — we can't do it alone! Amen.
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(Parts 2 and 3 of the Fruitful Series explore these ideas in depth, offering guidance and comfort to Christians who experience chronic guilt or frustration: link in bio.)
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P.S. I’d love to hear about your recent brain fog incidents — we could all do with a laugh!

Learning to focus on my Shepherd and become like a

Learning to focus on my Shepherd and become like a little child again...
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It doesn’t come naturally, but what treasures we find when we trust God in the darkness: peace that passes understanding, joy that defies pain, hope when the future looks bleak. Thank you, Jesus. 🙌💕
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(Quote taken from devotional post linked in bio.) #trustingod #trustingodsplan #trustingodstiming #hopeingod #jesus #thegoodshepherd #aprayinglife

My kids looked at me with muddled amusement as I l

My kids looked at me with muddled amusement as I laughed like a hyena at one point during the film, Madagascar. They were too young to understand the irony of the Wonderful World scene, in which the escaped zoo animals discover that life in the jungle is not all they dreamed it would be.
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I laugh-cried and wheezed at the hysterical incongruity of the scene because I could empathise with the animals’ disillusionment! I’ve lived long enough to see how harsh life can be, with its gross injustices and niggling disappointments.
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It struck me how beautifully unaware my children were of the harsher realities of life. They were so trusting.
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At home, our current memory verse song is based on Matthew 6:25-27 (pictured). Its catchy tune has been stuck in my head all week. I know that Jesus’ words are meant to be comforting...
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Don’t get me wrong: this is one of my favourite passages of Scripture! The problem is, I struggle with cynicism. And cynicism is the opposite of trust.
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When I think of "the birds of the air” the first thing that springs to mind is the slimy, stiff baby bird that I found inside its shattered shell on our concrete driveway one morning last year. It had fallen from its nest in the overhanging tree branch.
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After trying, unsuccessfully, to cover the tiny dead body with leaves before my 5-year-old could lay eyes on it, I spent the next several minutes talking with two forlorn, frowning, question-filled children about the reality of death — and eggs. Just what you want to be doing first thing in the morning as you’re rushing to school!
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Why does that tragic scene keep springing to mind? I’ve wondered this week as I hum along to our irresistibly catchy Bible memory verse tune.
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But what about baby birds that die? This thought has been persistent enough to make Jesus’ words of comfort feel uncomfortably hollow to me.
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And I realise that cynicism still has a grip on my heart...
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Link in bio to the end of this devotional message, titled Trusting God in the Darkness. Words of comfort and guidance for Christians who struggle with cynicism and doubt.
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©️ Fruitful Today

Instagram post 18050547508086283

Instagram post 18050547508086283

Minutes and hours and days fill our life. But life

Minutes and hours and days fill our life. But life holds much more meaning than its minutes and hours and days; it’s the small moments of comfort and belonging and hope that make the minutes and hours and days of life feel worth living.
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These meaningful moments are encapsulated by the Biblical Greek word for ‘time’, kairos. A separate word, chronos, was used to describe the minutes and hours and days of time.
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When I press the snooze button and relish those extra few minutes in bed, I’m actually craving comfort.
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When hours and hours are spent in bed with a chronic illness and I wind up feeling lonely, what I mourn more than the wasted hours is the lack of purpose and belonging those hours hold.
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When I’m counting down the days to my holiday, what I’m really seeking is something to look forward to.
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In ‘Turn my Mourning to Dancing’ Henri Nouwen suggests that hope will naturally grow when we shift our view of life’s events from a chronos view of time to a kairos view of time.
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“Time becomes not just something to get through or manipulate or manage, but the arena of God’s work with us. Whatever happens — good things or bad, pleasant or problematic — we look and ask, ‘What might God be doing here?’ We see the events of the day as continuing occasions to change the heart. Time points to Another and begins to speak to us of God.”
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Those glorious extra minutes in bed are so fleeting — and they come back to bite me when I run late! I need more: I need lasting Comfort.
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The lonely hours wasted by chronic illness can feel so devoid of meaning, but the gospel reminds me that I am dearly loved and highly valued regardless of my inability to contribute. And while human relationships can be wonderful, they can’t ever truly satisfy me. I need more: I need intimacy with God.
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Those days spent gallivanting or lazing about on holiday will come and go, and the post-holiday bliss bubble will soon burst as my everyday routine resumes. I need somewhere more permanent to place my hope: I need Heaven.
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Lord Jesus, fill our lives with hope as we learn to view our minutes and hours and days through the spiritual lens of eternity. Amen.

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