Light is something that is so important to our life. Have you ever been in a cave where there is no light? It’s said that your eye will begin to burn for light. This is similar to the light Jesus brings to our life. Join us as we talk about how we can spread the life that Jesus has to others in our life.Contributor: Our guest contributor, Ms. Katie who hosts the podcast “SeedPod for Kids” shares a special story with us about how God used her to be a light, even when she didn’t feel like it. In fact, she was tempted to feel sorry for herself as a young mom with two little ones on a Sabbath afternoon, but she prayed, and then God used her in a mighty way to share His light with others!

Light is something that is so important to our life. Have you ever been in a cave where there is no light? It’s said that your eye will begin to burn for light. This is similar to the light Jesus brings to our life. Join us as we talk about how we can spread the life that Jesus has to others in our life.Contributor: Our guest contributor, Ms. Katie who hosts the podcast “SeedPod for Kids” shares a special story with us about how God used her to be a light, even when she didn’t feel like it. In fact, she was tempted to feel sorry for herself as a young mom with two little ones on a Sabbath afternoon, but she prayed, and then God used her in a mighty way to share His light with others!

Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.

Starting with Jesus

Reflect and Renew January 2023

Heather Bennett

The Last Days of Saul

King at Last

King David

A Rebellious Son

Katie Chitwood

Building a House for God


Light. It's something so basic, yet so important. Have you ever been in a cave where there are no lights? You didn't have matches or flashlights. There was just no light.

It's said that If you are in a cave with no light, your eyes will actually burn out trying to find light. We're talking about light today, especially the light that our influence has on those around us. I decided, I even remember this distinctly, thinking, Katie, you need to not feel sorry for yourself. You need to stop feeling sorry for yourself. Get these kids outside.

Let's go do something. Welcome to Refresh and Renew. Hi, I'm Heather, and I'm so glad that you'll be joining me today. We will be learning and growing together in our walk with Jesus. You will surely be encouraged and challenged as we study week by week and hear from the experiences of others.

Have you read our weekly devotional? If not, feel free to pause this recording and go check it out at startingwithjesus.com forward slash renew. Then come back and let's talk about the lesson. In the Renew devotional this week, Merle talks about walking with her husband after dark in their neighborhood. As they walk along, some of the porches or driveway lights up.

The motion sensing lights are triggered from their movement along the street. Isn't that what we are supposed to be to the world around us? A light sharing Jesus' love amidst the darkness of sin? Our Bible story this week is about Solomon, who was building a special temple for God. No expense was spared.

No detail missed. David had helped to gather the materials before he died. He had also donated his own riches, and the people gave also. Not because they had to, but because they wanted to. They wanted this temple to be a light, an influence to the nations around them.

Now that Solomon was the king, it was time to start the work of building the temple. It was going to be beautiful, not just the inside, but the outside too. The workmen were so particular that all the stonework was made in a quarry outside of Jerusalem. Then it was brought into the temple area and put together like a giant 3D puzzle. That way, as 1st Kings 6-7 says, no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.

The digging deeper section of our devotional takes a closer look at 2 special focal points of the temple, the 2 massive bronze pillars. And they were so special that they were even named. To learn more about them, go to startingwithjesus.com forward slash renew. I want us to think about the lesson on light that Merle brought out in the devotional. We are the temple of God's Spirit.

He wants to fill us just as His glory filled Solomon's temple upon completion. God wants His light to be in us, shining out through us to influence and impact those around us and ultimately leading them to Christ. Today we hear from Miss Katie who hosts the podcast SeedPod for Kids. Katie shares a special story with us about how God used her to be a light, even when she didn't feel like it. 1 Sabbath afternoon, when she was a young mom with just 2 little ones, she was tempted to feel sorry for herself.

But Katie decided to pray. Let's listen as she tells how God answered her prayers and used her in a mighty way to share his light to others. This week we're talking about being a light and what kind of light are we? Are we someone who shares Jesus love with others or not. It doesn't even have to be in the big events.

It can just be in our everyday today lives. I have a story that illustrates this. I was a young mom. I had 2 little ones who were the ages of about 7 months old and about 2 and a half, almost 3. They were little.

It was a Sabbath afternoon. My husband was a pastor. And so, you know, you have the whole Sabbath day. You go to church, you go to Sabbath school, you have potluck, and I have these 2 little ones and in order to keep my sanity I had to take them home to take a nap. It meant that I missed out on what everybody else was doing and sometimes I tended to feel a little sorry for myself.

As I took my kids home, I put them down for a nap. I had quiet time. Maybe I took a nap. I don't remember. But then they woke up and it's that 04:00 time where you're just, it's not dinner yet.

It's not sundown yet. Your husband's not home. You're home all by yourself and you're just kind of feeling a little lonely, a little depressed even, and really feeling left out, feeling like people are doing all these other things and you're not able to be apart because you have these 2 little ones. And you can end up almost feeling resentment. I decided, I even remember this distinctly, thinking, Katie you need to not feel sorry for yourself.

You need to stop feeling sorry for yourself. Get these kids outside. Let's go do something." So I did. I put them in their car seats, buckled them up, and we drove to a nearby park. I decided I'm just going to spend some time at the park.

And so being a Saturday afternoon, there were lots of people at the park. And my younger 1, he was just kind of sitting there grabbing handfuls of bark and drooling. You see, Aiden, my youngest, was a drooler. Some babies are not droolers, but he was. It didn't matter if he was teething or not teething.

He drooled and drooled and drooled. Within just a little while his clothes would be soaking wet and at that time I didn't even think about oh put a bandana on or a bib. Just I just kind of let him drool and his whole front of his little onesie was soaking wet. And this lady walks by and she's carrying her little 1 about 3 months old and she looks at mine and she goes, oh, is he teething? And that was what I would always get.

And I knew he probably wasn't teething, but it's too long of an explanation. And so I just kind of laughed. I'm like, well, you never know. It seems like he's always teething. And she kind of laughed and we struck up a conversation and we had a really good conversation.

Her and her husband lived there in the area, just actually a mile or 2 from where I lived, and they, her kids were about the same ages as my kids. She had a three-month-old and 1 son who was 1 month older than my oldest. And we started connecting and having all these things in common. She had just gotten off work at Chase Bank and she was spending time with her kids and brought them to the park and we exchanged phone numbers. And later on that week, we got together and went to a place to have a picnic lunch and have fun with our little ones.

And we just started this friendship And that friendship continued and it grew and it grew and pretty soon she started asking me about my faith and asking me about God and why I go to church on Saturday and all these things. And as I shared with her, there were many things that she did not agree with. And so she would tell me, she was, she is a very blunt person. And she told me, and you know, I just was strong and confident in what I believed. And pretty soon we were able to start studying with them.

And I would invite them to come to different things. And even though she had to work on Saturdays, she got off right about when potluck was. And so I would text her and invite her and say, Hey, why don't you stop by potluck and then you don't have to worry about making lunch. Just come eat with us and then we'll go do something in the afternoon. And we started this friendship and God started working on our heart.

And there was 1 point where they came face to face with the Sabbath and just did not want to go in that direction. And they kind of pulled back a little bit. But we kept praying. And by God's grace, they ended up coming to some evangelistic series and they ended up choosing to give their hearts to Jesus and choosing to be baptized. All of that to say this, I was there as a young mom in my home after my kids had had their naps and they were kind of whiny and fussy and you know, all of that, feeling left out, feeling like my church family, even my husband, They were all doing ministry and outreach and all these things.

And I was missing out because of my 2 little ones. But really, God used my 2 little ones to help me to connect with another family and to let my light shine and to make a difference in their lives. And they will tell you today from where they were to where they are today is night and day. They were on a path that shall say it was not good and we were going in a direction that was not good. But today they have that peace and joy and fellowship with other believers and they have the love of God in their hearts.

I want to encourage each 1 of you when you look at the things that you're doing you're looking at the day-to-day monotony because it can get very monotonous. What am I doing? How am I making a difference? Spending time with your little ones, helping them, and then looking for other moms who may be in that same situation that you can connect with outside of your faith will make a huge difference. You can let your light shine.

Maybe you have a story of how God has used you to let your light shine. Would you be willing to write to us and share with us your experience? You can write to us at renew at starting with Jesus dot com. Tell us your story so we can share and encourage our listeners with other ways that God has been working through us to let our light shine for Him. Our challenge from the devotional is to sing a familiar song for worship this week.

It's called, This Little Light of Mine. And while this song is fresh in your mind, can you think of someone who God wants you to let your light shine to? Maybe someone outside of your faith? Let's use our everyday experiences, going to the store, the park, the doctor's office, and other encounters with people in our community to let our light shine for God. I'm so glad you joined me today as we talked about letting our light shine for Jesus.

Let's pray before we close. Dear Heavenly Father, we are living in a world that seems to be so dark, and I pray that you will give us the opportunities to let our light shine for you. Help us to be willing to share our experiences of light with others around us, that they will be uplifted and drawn closer to you. Lord, sometimes spreading light pulls us out of our comfort zone. We don't like to be uncomfortable, so we don't always act when we're poked by the Holy Spirit.

I'm asking that you give us the courage and the strength that we need to share the light with others. Grow as we pray. Amen. This podcast is sponsored by Starting With Jesus. To find out more about other programs, Or to find out the links that were shared in this podcast, just check out the description box below.

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Series

Reflect and Renew January 2023

Building a House for God

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Parent Series

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Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

The Last Days of Saul

15m

King at Last

11m

King David

8m

A Rebellious Son

9m

Building a House for God

12m

Sound Doctrine