The Captivating Woman

Designed with purpose.

Hymn: Comfort, Comfort Ye My People

Welcome to week 2 of Advent. This week our theme is peace. Our prayer for today and for the end of this week’s devotional is to experience peace is a new way or for the first time. Our hope is that peace will fill your hearts to overflow into your relationships.

Comfort, Comfort Ye My People
words by: Johannes Olearius & Geistliche Singe-Kunst

Comfort, comfort ye my people,
Speak ye peace, thus saith our God;
Comfort those who sit in darkness,
Mourning ‘neath their sorrows’ load;
Speak ye to Jerusalem
Of the peace that waits for them,
Tell her that her sins I cover,
And her warfare now is over.

Yea, her sins our God will pardon,
Blotting out each dark misdeed;
All that well deserved His anger
He will no more see nor heed.
She hath suffer’d many a day,
Now her griefs have passed away,
God will change her pining sadness
Into ever-springing gladness.

For Elijah’s voice is crying
In the desert far and near,
Bidding all men to repentance,
Since the kingdom now is here.
Oh that warning cry obey,
Now prepare for God a way;
Let the valleys rise to meet Him,
And the hills bow down to greet Him.

Make ye straight what long was crooked,
Make the rougher places plain,
Let your hearts be true and humble,
As befits His holy reign;
For the glory of the Lord
Now o’er earth is shed abroad,
And all flesh shall fee the token
That His Word is never broken.

God With Us

Today I woke up scared.

Scared because I didn’t have any other writings to submit that I was proud of. Scared because I hadn’t replied to emails that I needed to reply too. Scared because I didn’t think I was good enough to be a writer for His Kingdom. Scared because, well, I am always scared.

I have lived my life this way for as long as I can remember and as I woke up to this deadline this morning I was scared that I let my fear ruin my chances at writing for my very first blog, ruining my chance at getting published for the very first time. Ironic? I think so. Pathetic? Maybe. Not how God wants me to act? Most definitely.

As I panicked, I ran to Instagram to lose myself in pointless procrastination when I came across a verse,

‘God said “My presence will go with you. Ill see the journey to the end.” -Exodus 33:14

…and this is where is hit me. God is with me! I know you’re probably like “Well, duh Alli!” but, hear me out.

Our Prince of Peace, our Savior, our Alpha, Omega, Jehovah Shammah, our Father, is with me. And He knew I had this journey. He knew I would get scared and let my poor self-esteem hinder me. He planned for that verse to pop up on my feed because He promised to see this journey through to the end.

As I meditated on this word and how it affects my thoughts, I thought about the horror that is surrounding our nation and how this verse can relate to that. Racism. Murder. Hate. I pray daily for a revival in this country but I find peace today knowing that God is there! God is there in Dallas and DC. He is there during every protest and shooting. Every act of terror, our Lord is there. He knew this would happen and He predestined our days. As new places and horrors pop up on the news, I pray that God uses these situations, these people, and these events to put His Holy Name on high! He promised and He will see this journey our nation and our world is going through to the very end.

Our God gave me the kick in the pants I needed today, and while this small, soon to be, Instagram post isn’t my best work, it’s real. It’s in the moment, real, authentic, and my personal, actual thoughts. This is what God wants me to write to the Kingdom today and how He wants to prove His grace and glory through me. This is what He lays on my heart to pray over and I will not allow my fears to keep God’s words from echoing out to others, especially at a time when the world needs more truth and more Jesus.

We get scared.

As a sufferer of anxiety, I get scared a lot. But, we can all relate to this. We get scared and mad and let our minds get the best of us daily. When this happens, however, we just need to remind ourselves that our God is with us. He promised to see our journeys through to the end and with that, He will lay the stones for us to take our steps in His direction. I cannot be more thankful for a God that constantly lays stones of peace and patience in my life and constant seeks to life me up even when I give up on myself.

Get in His Presence

Earlier this year, on my personal blog, I wrote everyday in a series titled: “Taste & See”. Let’s just be honest…I didn’t write everyday. Most title posts looked like this: “Day 24-25” or “Day 17, 18, 19”. But it was a cool little goal that I created to help me discipline myself (I am not that great with discipline).

I want to share “Day 23” with you.

“…I feel dissatisfied.”

After a day of coffee, delicious Italian food, and ending the night with froyo, I sat on a bench with my friend Hannah staring into the night sky.

“I just feel weird today” Hannah blurted. I was glad she said something first because I was afraid to express that same feeling. Why do I feel dissatisfied? Nothing wrong happened today – it was a good day.

But I felt dry inside – I didn’t feel happy.

It was in that instant that I knew I needed to get home, go into my room, and talk with God. I didn’t want to talk about how I feeling right then and there. There would of probably been tears in my froyo cup.  There was a heaviness that pushed me down and caused cracks in my soul.

So as we drove home, we listened to worship music. The need to start receiving whatever the Lord was going to give was extremely desired.

The song “Crash over Me” by Bethel Music started playing.

I have come to this place in my life 
I’m full but I’ve not satisfied 
This longing to have more of you

It was as I wrote this song. The song was my heartbeat at the moment.

I can feel it, my heart is convinced 
I’m thirsty my soul can’t be quenched 
You already know this but still 
Come and do whatever you want to

I ached for this. Lord, please come.

I’m standing knee deep 
But I’m out where I’ve never been 
I feel you coming 
And I hear your voice on the wind
Would you come and tear down the boxes
That I have tried to put you in
Let love come teach me who you are again

I’m a big cry baby, but I didn’t want to cry in my friend’s car. It would just be messy. As we drove on, I sat motionless trying to figure out what God was trying to tell me. But I grew restless not knowing because I heard nothing.

Would you take me back to the place 
Where my heart was only about you 
And all I wanted was just to be with you
Come and do whatever you want to 

& then I heard it: Be with me. Don’t try to look for answers. Come be with me.

There are many times in my life where I am seeking the Lord to get an answer or a sign, and I never receive it. But that night, I realized something. He just wanted me to be with Him. Cling to Him. Cry and sit with Him. No words. Nothing. He knew that being in His Presence was all I needed. I needed Him. I needed to sit with Him. I needed to cry, sit on the corner of my bed, and raise my hands. I needed to be in His Presence.

His Presence is where I find peace. His Presence is where I find joy. His Presence calms the wild sea in my life. All of that is done in His Presence. I don’t need to complete a list of things to get into His Presence – no, I just walk in and sit down.

Do you need to get into His Presence? Do you need peace? Do you need hope for tomorrow? Sit with Him. You don’t even need to speak. His Presence is powerful and you will be changed just sitting in it.

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all.” – 2 Thessalonians 3:16

This post was originally posted by Sarah Sandoval her personal blog –bytheirfruit.wordpress.com. There have been edits from the original posting.