Back to School

Pause

Every person’s life tells a story. Sometimes our lives—quite unexpectedly—become part of God’s larger narrative.

The potential is there at any time, in any moment.

Prepare yourself now for what you may least expect—for the voice of God to join with yours in telling the story that is your life.

Listen

Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

Hebrews 11:39-40

Think

Dear Diary,

I’m heading back to school and I’m already learning about Enoch, Abel, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah. And there are others listed in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11. So what does all this mean and how do I fit in?

As you walk the halls of your school this year, walk confidently because you are not alone. The Message translates verse 40 this way: God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.

So be encouraged in your walk of faith by knowing that others have gone before you. They have had some of the same struggles you have—doubt, frustration, isolation, and more. But even as they struggled, they kept seeking God, believing that God rewards those who seek him. They were right!

Steve Cothran

Pray

Faithful, rewarding God, help me to seek you—not only in my spare time but all the time, and with my whole heart—confident that you reward those who faithfully seek you. Amen.

Go

It’s easy to think you are alone, that no one else experiences life like you do.

But go now into your day knowing this: God has not left you alone, and your struggles are much the same as everyone you know and those you don’t know.

God understands. God accepts you. And God is leading the way.