My daughter received this 365 day devotional book by Max Lucado from me in the summer of 2014 entitled One God, One Plan, One Life.  She was not too terribly thrilled to be the recipient of this book at the time.  She had little desire to read any book over the summer but certainly not one of a religious nature.  I explained to her that this wasn’t a book where you read chapter upon chapter in one sitting.  It was a daily devotional to help her get her day started off in the right direction.  Still, there was little interest.

Until …

She began cleaning her room over this past weekend, and out from under a pile of things came this book!  Much to our surprise, she came out of her room with this book in hand and actually began reading the devotional for that day.  Of course my eyes lit up and my heart swelled with pride with the sight and sound of my darling daughter taking the time to read what this book had to offer.  Finally.

When she was little, we had a children’s daily devotional that I would read with her at night.  It had a short story along with bible verses and a prayer at the end.  While she has certainly grown up a lot since that time, she is still in her teen years and therefore needs a teen version of a devotional.  This book fits just perfectly as it is intended specifically for teens.  As we all know, teens deal with a lot of things that adults don’t have to think about now that they’re older.  It is still very much an issue for teens, though, from bullying to alcohol and drug usage among their peers to even issues like purity and self control.  This book covers it all in a way that sheds God’s light on these hard to talk about subjects.

My daughter left the book laying around last night, and I picked it up to see what it had to offer.  It spoke to my heart right there where I was, yes, even as an adult.  We all struggle from time to time with our self worth and being able to love and forgive ourselves.  Well, right there at the bottom of the page were these words:

You’ve made mistakes.  You keep falling short.  No one seems to value you.  I get all that.  But God forgives you, loves you, believes in you, has a wonderful plan for you.  Who are you to reject the one opinion that counts?  Love him.  Love others.  Because he commands it.

Wow.

What a perfect message right when we needed it the most.  God’s plan … not mine.  He knew what I needed to speak to me, and His message was clear.

Whether you read this daily devotional or another, we encourage you to start or end your day with a daily devotional of your choice.  You will find inspiration and things that make you think.  You will start your day or end your day (depending on when you read your devotional) on a positive note, and you will feel peace within your heart as you meditate on the words allowing them to soak into your being.

Five minutes is pretty much all it takes.  Surely you have five minutes to spare to improve your outlook on life and spend a little time with Jesus.  If not, then you’re just too busy!   Slow down and take time to enjoy this journey that you’re on and the life that God has given to you!  We are so blessed … so truly blessed!