Imagine you’re headed to the Amazon.
C’mon, play along, even if you’d never go anywhere that didn’t have a Starbucks.
You’ve seen pictures and cannot wait to smell the flowers, see the birds, hear the tree frogs and float down the river! You know your body, so your packing list includes allergy medicine and aspirin. You’ve heard of dengue fever and Lyme disease, so you’re taking bug spray as well.
Do you know your way around? You need a guide, but you’ve heard there are thieves who pretend to be guides. What should you do?
Your friend Josie went to the Amazon last year, so you call her up and pick her brain. She still has her guide’s contact info. “He knew which frogs were poisonous, which fruit was ripe, and which water holes were free of piranhas. He even played guitar on the boat every night!” She yammers excitedly until you get online and book him. Before you hang up with Josie, she’s agreed to come with you. Adventures are more fun with a friend.
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You may not be going to the Amazon for real, but this is your first trip around the sun. Wouldn’t it be helpful to have a guide? Your Creator knows where to take you and what to look out for. In fact, God has adventures in mind perfectly tailored for latte-loving you. How can you tell the difference between God’s guidance and the guidance of those who might mislead you?
Listen to people who have met Him and get to know Him yourself.
I’m Kristi Bridges, and I write devotional books. The Bible is packed with things God has done and words He’s spoken to people who knew Him. It’s the best guidebook ever written, and it has saved me many times from “swimming with piranhas,” in a manner of speaking. However, the people in the Bible lived in a different world than I do. I can identify with them, but it’s encouraging to hear from someone who shares my experience. When a fellow Christian tells me how Jesus changed his idea of fatherhood, or a godly woman tells how the Holy Spirit made her brave, I’m excited to connect with their awesome Guide.
In the 1 Moment Wiser devotional books, my friends and I share stories from our lives, to help the reader relate to what God is saying in His word. We share scriptures that gave us perspective or strength, and we encourage the reader to pray or take action. People get to know God by talking to Him personally and following His instructions, but every adventure is more fun with friends.
Do you have a story about God’s work in your life, which might help someone else? Try this exercise:
- Write a headline (5 words or fewer) about a time you struggled. Maybe you hit a detour when you were already running late, or maybe a serious tragedy hit your family.
- Write a sentence describing what life was like just before that event.
- Write a few sentences describing what happened and your initial reaction.
- Write a few sentences describing how God helped you. Maybe your boss hit the same detour, or God sent neighbors to help your family recover.
- Write a scripture that helps to put this situation into God’s perspective. Be careful to read the full context of the scripture and compare it to the way Jesus demonstrated God’s personality, so you clearly understand what God is saying.
- Write a word of advice or an action step that might help someone who is going through a similar situation today.
- Write a sample prayer, so the reader can begin his or her own conversation with God.
Did you do it? I’d love to see it! If you’d like your story to be considered for one of my upcoming devotional books, click here. If you’re ready to write your own devotional, I can help you go from planning and writing to promoting and publishing. Just check out the Share Your Wisdom Wisely Devotional Book Writing Experience.
No matter what, tell your story. In Revelation 12 NKJV, the world was falling apart. There was war and deception and political turmoil, just like there is today. Verse 10 announces the arrival of salvation and strength and the kingdom of God and the power of Christ. What happened? Verse 11 tells us: “They (believers) overcame him (the enemy) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives unto death.”
Your testimony has more impact than you know.
Bio: Kristi Bridges is the author and voice behind the 1 Moment Wiser devotional books, videos, and podcasts. An experienced corporate trainer and curriculum designer, she’s created courses and collaborative book projects to help Christians become authors and speakers. After all, God reaches people through our unique voices.
Photo of Kristi Bridges taken by Sweet B’s Photography
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