• Read the Bible every day. You hear OF him, but you can read the Bible to hear FROM him.

• Just start somewhere. Ask God to help you understand. 
• Download a Bible APP like "First 5" App with Lysa Terkeurst.  It's one of my favorites.
• I write out whatever passage I'm reading in the morning because I like to write with a pen on paper. Like taking notes, it helps me process.  Then I write what questions I had, or I write down what stuck out to me.  It's part of a morning conversation over coffee. Have I mentioned before I like coffee and conversation?  

• Listen and Watch. DO what you learn...       Not like Algebra.

• There will be ways to apply His Word in your daily life that will help you through decisions, sorrows, joys.  
• You can share how you are encouraged with someone else to help them in decisions, sorrows, joys.

• Be changed, in a good way. Don't read to be Smart, read to be Real.

• This world is difficult to understand.  When we are confused, we often wonder where is God and what is he doing.  Hearing soundbites and blurbs don't help you know His Word or Him any better, reading the Bible helps us know him more.  I shouldn't really comment on Harry Potter books because I've never read those books. How do I know if they are great or not?

Have you baked this recipe before?

Here is a story of how it turned out for me once upon a time.

My Used Shoes:

Two weeks ago I was flying my first flights of the year.  Straight south. Same time zone. Less than a week away.  I was excited that it seemed like a light schedule. On our way to Mexico, my playlist played through to "It Is Well" by Bethel Music.  I didn't feel a heaviness on my heart that day that was soothed by the words it is well.  But, the song was sinking in deep, so I hit the repeat button for and listened to it over and over and over for both flights. 

We arrived in Mexico to news that the number of attendees we had planned to join in a small room the next morning had tripled and moved to a new venue.  (My instant go-to insecure thoughts: my clothes are dumb and I'm not ready for a larger audience.  I talk with my hands too much for more people to join us. Someone real should've come.) The words of the song from that day came back to my mind:  "Let go my soul and trust in Him. The waves and wind still know his name."  The song I didn't need, I all of a sudden needed.

There was no coffee and it wasn't morning, but I had a conversation with Him about it.

"Ok. So, what you have prepared for me to share is the same in a small room as a big room, but the responsibility seems to have tripled.  But, I know you are not punking them. It's never me.  It's always you. Whatever you spoke to their heart to bring them here, you are faithful and you will do it. I will be as confident in the small room as the big room because you are my confidence. Not my nerd skirt.  Not my over exaggerated hand motions as I act out the words I speak. You. I was expecting calm seas. Run down here to Mexico and knock it out. Manageable in my mind. But, the wind has kicked up and there are waves and what if I sink? I came here thinking I was doing this for you, but find myself in desperate need of you, again and again and again. Thank you for every moment that reminds me of this. 'Through it all my eyes are on you, and it is well with with me.'"

The next morning I woke up, made a double instant Folgers travel packet coffee with my plug-in heating element and a borrowed cup and saucer from the restaurant and got my Bible out to hear from him.  I'm in Luke. Going through pieces of each chapter each day, writing it out.  That morning in Mexico I picked up where I had left off the day before. In the same book, I had been in for weeks. And, here is the story it happened to be:

"One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, "let us go across to the other side of the lake."  So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep.  And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger.  And they went and woke him, saying "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm.  He said to them, "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?"  Luke 8:22-25

OOOOkaaaaaaay.  Where is your faith, Haley?
It's right there in Jesus' boat. In that song. In that scripture. In my Savior. And, it's growing still.

The song He stuck in my head the day before, He spoke to my heart the morning of.  Ready to apply it, because I had read it, heard it, believed it. Kind of like when you follow the recipe for the best lemon cake on the planet ...you get cake.

If we don't listen, we won't hear.  If we don't read His Word, we won't experience Him fully. If we don't seek Him, we won't find Him. If you don't taste, you won't see.

I went to that big room that morning excited, not anxious.  The waves and wind were calmed by His voice.  What was he going to do in that place?  I wanted to be part of it. What was He going to do that He would speak to even my heart? I was excited to see.  In a room that grew smaller with each moment that we spent together... Jesus made the best lemon cake. 

Click Here to Listen and Watch Bethel's "It Is Well"

When the waves and the wind were over, we spent some lovely moments growing deeper in love with the people and the place. I took some pictures along the journey. Following Him is my favorite.

Blending like a local at Chichen Itza.

The name of this place is Ik Kil.  It's lovelier than it sounds.

We visited a natural habitat for pink flamingos. :)

This is the second time in my life I've been in a mangrove.  I did not fall in this time, but I did see a crocodile again.

This pastor was part of our training.  It was his brother who took us out on the boat.  Then his father-in-law fried us some fish for lunch and his wife and family joined us. New listing in my favorite moments.

 

Our last supper with the seminary students.  They tried to kill me with the habanero sauce in this bowl.  But, I lived.

I hope you are encouraged to turn your oven on in your own shoes this week.