What are some ways that you feel trapped in circumstances that aren’t to your liking? What appearances make it seem that other people have an easier life or are making a bigger impact on the world for good? In today’s podcast, you will hear the story of Daniel and the transition he had to go through and how he stayed strong and was a witness for God.Contributor: This week Amy shares about a time when her family moved away from the places and people she was familiar with. She will explain how God helped her through this transition.

What are some ways that you feel trapped in circumstances that aren’t to your liking? What appearances make it seem that other people have an easier life or are making a bigger impact on the world for good? In today’s podcast, you will hear the story of Daniel and the transition he had to go through and how he stayed strong and was a witness for God.Contributor: This week Amy shares about a time when her family moved away from the places and people she was familiar with. She will explain how God helped her through this transition.

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 May 2023

Heather Bennett

Missionary Prisoners

A King’s Nightmare

The Fiery Furnace

The Unseen Watcher

In The Lion’s Den


Although I've never been taken from my family or my country unwillingly, I have been in situations and life circumstances that were not my favorite. I felt all alone in a new place, far from most of the people that I cared for. 1 of the biggest lessons that I'm learning in life is that my relationship with God can satisfy my soul completely. Welcome to Reflect and Renew. Hey, I'm Katie.

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. My husband has the kids this weekend and I'm home alone. Oh the joy.

I'm reveling in my few days of I guess you could call it freedom. It doesn't happen very often but when it does I'm able to have uninterrupted alone time in the mornings and the evenings to get projects done, work on my podcasts, and just have some down times. I'm going to be really honest here. Being a mother is not easy for me. I was 21 when my husband and I got married and I made him promise to not even speak to me about having kids until I was at least 30.

I felt like I had a life to live and I saw the sacrifice and hardships my mom and other moms went through with kids and it just didn't appeal to me. We had a couple years of college left after marriage, so kids at that time was pretty much out of the question. Once my husband started pastoring in our first church district, I reveled in the newfound freedom, not needing to study or work, to help get us through college. I discovered my creative side that I never knew that I had before. I started sewing, discovered I had an eye for photography, and would devour books in all of my free time.

I became the home and school leader at our local Adventist school and realized I have a passion for marketing and fundraising. That was a time of discovering myself and who I really was. Always I had to do what I had to do because I had to do it and now a whole new world was opening to me. With all of this self-discovery it was also becoming very self-centered. I was very opinionated on what other people should do or not do.

You could probably call me judgmental. Even when my family came to visit, they picked up on my self-centeredness. My attitude was changing. My sister commented to my mom that she really didn't like who I was. And my mom replied, well, having kids would fix that.

And it did. Through circumstances that I won't go into all the details here, I was 24 when I said to my husband, I think we need to try to have a baby. 9 months later, our oldest son Micah was born and my life changed. Completely. Sleepless nights, terrible eczema, allergies, poopy diapers, you all know what I'm talking about.

And then 21 months later, Aiden was born and it started all over again. In the midst of having little ones, I was feeling like I was losing my identity. I missed my life before, like really missed it. I would complain to God about how unfair it was that my kid was sick again. Or the tantrums were driving me crazy.

Or I felt like I had no purpose because every day seemed to be a repeat of the day before. Wake up, eat breakfast, clean up, figure out how to Keep the kids occupied, make lunch, clean up again, nap time, oh and then that icky 2 hours before dinner time. Yeah, try to survive that. Clean up again. Then the bedtime routine.

And then you actually have some me time, but by the end of the day you are so emotionally exhausted that you can't even think straight to get something done. In my mind the answer was simple. I can leave it all behind. I could go to work full-time. At least that way I'll have some appreciation and feel like I've accomplished something.

But was that really the answer? It was when I would feel completely lost that I would read this quote. In fact, I still keep it in my Bible. It's there so that when I need to come back to earth, when I need to remember God's plan, that I can be surrendered to His will. And here's what it says.

It's from Patriarchs and Prophets, page 441. It says, says, When 1 clearly sees a duty, let him or her not presume to go to God with the prayer that he may be excused from performing it. He should rather, with a humble, submissive spirit, ask for divine strength and wisdom to meet its claims. Now with motherhood I wasn't saying Lord please kill my child or please you know take this away no it was more like complaining lamenting but that last sentence Katie should rather with a humble submissive spirit ask for divine strength and wisdom to meet its claims. That's what God can do for each 1 of us.

So what does that have to do with our lesson this week about Daniel? Well, I'll tell you. But first, have you read our special devotional for adults written by Merle Poirier? You can check it out at startingwithjesus.com slash renew. I really enjoyed this week's lesson because it spoke to me on so many levels.

Daniel is a prisoner. He's on his way to Babylon, probably in chains, or at least he's most likely walking across the desert sands. It's a long walk, a thousand miles. He's now in a situation that's a mixture of disappointment, discouragement, and grief. What does the future hold?

Only God knows. But Daniel did know 1 thing. He was going to trust. He would stay faithful. He would not ask to be excused from the duty that God had before him, but rather he would ask for divine strength and wisdom to meet its claims.

Daniel chose to stay faithful to God. He remembered all the lessons from childhood that his mother and father taught him. It was their faithfulness to Him that gave Him the focus, the determination to stay true to God. So what about you and me? What circumstances, what situations do we find ourselves in today?

Are we complaining or accepting where God has us now? Are we reaching out to Him to give us the strength and wisdom to meet its claims? He will. He doesn't remove the problems just like He didn't take Daniel back to Jerusalem, but he will give us the help if we ask. ♪♪♪ Today we hear from Amy as she shares about a time when her and her family relocated away from her family and her friends.

She shares how that made her feel and the lessons that God has taught her through that transition. I am inspired by the life of Daniel as I look back on the events that during his youth took him away from his family and his country. I think how sad and discouraging it would be. I know that would be sad and discouraging to me. He could have easily given in to his feelings, but instead, he chose to trust the journey and the outcome to God.

Although I have never been taken from my family or my country unwillingly, I have been in situations and life circumstances that were not my favorite, ones that I wouldn't choose, but that God either directed or allowed. 1 time, our family moved to a place far away from my relatives and my close friends. We started having really hard issues right away in the churches that my husband pastored. We lived quite a distance from our churches as well, so it was difficult to have church members over and to really get to know people. Our churches were not very active right away, so not much was going on.

And on top of this, my parents were struggling with their health, so they couldn't come visit from so far away. So outside of my immediate family, whom I love, I felt all alone in a new place far from most of the people that I cared for. I started to grow very discouraged and really lonely, and I was not content in the place that God had put me. I would wish that I lived somewhere else, that we pastored different churches, that I had aspects of other people's lives. If only this, if only that.

And God started speaking to my heart. Probably God had been speaking to my heart, but I started to hear his voice. Child, he said, I love you. I know all about how you feel and the struggles that you face. I know the hardships and the pain.

I understand how it feels to be alone and to be separated from the people that you love. But I love you and I am enough. He gave me promises to claim and to cling to. Deuteronomy 31 verse 6 says, Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear nor be afraid of them.

For the Lord your God, He is the 1 who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Psalm 16.8 in the New Living Translation says, I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for He is right beside me. I found that claiming his promises and hiding them in my heart was a lifeline.

I was also impressed to intentionally look for the positive aspects and the blessings about where I was living and what was going on. So I started to name the blessings and to rehearse them in my heart. And I found that there were plenty of blessings if I would just look for them. Life won't always go the way that we want. It won't always be perfect.

And really, if I'm honest with myself, even when life does go how I want, I still get discontent and want something else. 1 of the biggest lessons that I'm learning in life is that my relationship with God can satisfy my soul completely. I believe that Daniel had learned this lesson and that his success was based on it. Everything else in life comes and goes. It waxes, it wanes, it changes.

But if I can learn to build a relationship with God that satisfies me, I can be content in any and every location. I can be content in any and every situation. Did you catch those tips that helped Amy when she was discontent? Claiming Bible promises helped to lift her spirit. And the other, intentionally looking for the blessings around her.

That's something we can all do, right? When we're feeling upset, when we're feeling discouraged, frustrated by where we are or what we're doing right Now, we can claim those Bible promises. We can look for the blessings. Our challenge this week focuses on another aspect of Daniel's story. His refusing to eat the King's food.

You should check out the digging deeper section because it focuses on some reasons why Daniel would have made that choice. I found it really interesting. But our question today is, what dietary choices are we making? You and me, our families. Look at our own diet, that of our family, and ask some questions.

What could we eat less of? What could we eat more in moderation? Should you consider eating vegetarian if you don't already? Try researching and think about doing a 10-day Daniel fast where you eat fruits and veggies, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds, tofu, herbs and spices. Consider cutting out all the sugar.

Write down how you feel at the beginning versus how you feel at the end. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for the story of Daniel that helps us that even when we're not in the place where we want to be, we can still trust you, we can still rely on you, just as Daniel did. And you can work in amazing ways through those circumstances. Please lead us and guide us today.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Check out the description box below.

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Series

Reflect and Renew May 2023

Missionary Prisoners

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

Missionary Prisoners

14m

A King’s Nightmare

11m

The Fiery Furnace

17m

The Unseen Watcher

17m

In The Lion’s Den

12m

Sound Doctrine