The woman’s head bowed to the ground, her body bent low, her only view her feet. For eighteen years, she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. She could not look upward and see the sky or even possibilities, only the dirt beneath her feet…

Why did women follow Jesus, especially when to do so became increasingly dangerous? Jesus’ full acceptance of women as persons, equal to men, demonstrated how…

There is much we can learn about resurrection power from the women of Easter, the women who stood at the foot of the Cross and afar off…

This is the final devotional in our series A Pilgrimage Fueled by Hope and it’s so appropriate we end with a quick review of lessons learned from Jehoshaphat. From Jehoshaphat, we are reminded we are in a marathon, not a sprint…

Anna, Hannah, and Mary joined us on our Pilgrimage Fueled by Hope and left us with much to process. Each woman faced shocking challenges that could have left her hopeless and shattered. Yet each woman schools us with the way she…

The writer of Hebrews sent this letter to people who wanted to quit. They started their journey as believers filled with hope and a willingness to give up everything in order to follow Jesus…

Watching Jesus interact with His Father as a little child interacts with a parent, teaches us the beauty of dependence on our Heavenly Father. Jesus, equal to God, submitted Himself to His Father. Jesus calls on us to become like little children…

A mission statement that flows from a biblical worldview becomes a map that helps us stay on track or get back on track when life doesn’t turn out the way we expected…

I lived a long time without realizing I had a worldview! I think a lot of people are similar, living life without identifying their core beliefs. Your worldview is the grid through which you push information and thoughts that lead to your actions. We can determine a person’s worldview by…

We started our Pilgrimage Fueled by Hope devotional series by asking the questions, “What is your auto-response or default mode when life comes crashing down? What systems can we put in place to prepare us…

What an emotional roller coaster for the people of Judah and the king. Fierce enemies prepare to take over their towns and cities and destroy anyone in their path. Although the king has fortified the cities and…

During an interview with a friend who lost a son, I asked her, “Is it true God doesn’t give us more than we can handle?” She laughed out loud and responded, “No. And I’m living proof of that”…

I love that King Jehoshaphat recognizes he is in over his head and his first steps are to humbly seek God and to call the people of Judah to fast and pray. Jehoshaphat steps up in the courtyard and begins to pray, I imagine in a loud, urgent voice…

Jehoshaphat follows the call of God in 1 Chronicles 7:14. He reacts to his sin and Jehu’s exhortation with humility rather than arrogance and pride. His first steps indicate the king recognized the root cause of his sin was a neglect of God’s Word that led to…

for speaking truth, Jehoshaphat humbles himself and rebuilds the spiritual foundation of his country. Just as he did at the beginning of his reign, he commissions teachers, priests, and judges to teach the Law of God with genuine hearts of faith…

Jehu did not wait for Jehoshaphat to rest up or even clean up from the battlefield. He met him and lost no time in boldly declaring that Jehoshaphat had really messed up this time.  Don’t forget that beautiful word: Nevertheless…

The life of Jehoshaphat is a school room that can fuel our own pilgrimages with hope. He committed his life to serving God, but he still sinned in ways that had a negative impact on the very people he was called to protect…

Jehoshaphat owns his sinful choices and reacts to Jehu’s rebuke with humility and repentance. Remember how he started out his reign by sending priests into all the towns to teach the Law of God? After seeing the results of his…

Weary, emotionally exhausted, in wonder at the close call of losing his life, filthy from battle, may be wary of how God will treat him after this debacle of a battle, Jehoshaphat starts toward home. A man on a pilgrimage, wanting to hope but…

Remember we can find Jesus in every Old Testament story, on every page of the Bible. We might not see His name, but He is there. There is a beautiful taste of redemption in what looks like a total failure on the part of King Jehoshaphat….