Abbie Coffey

1 Peter 2:4-5 As you come to him, the living Stone - rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him - you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. This is an awe-inspiring verse.  To think about how God moves to build us, mold us, and shape us into His precious houses, His walking sanctuaries, puts a little more intensity into our everyday walk with Jesus.  We are offering our lives daily to God through Jesus, sacrificing our own will and desires to come to a place where God can use us in His holy priesthood.  These sacrifices are more than just an act of love toward God, they are a humble request for His Spirit to dwell in us and He acquiesces to our request.  When our hearts are humble and our minds are focused on Him and His will for our lives, we become a part of something much greater than ourselves, the body of Christ.  I'm beginn...

Today the Psalmist expresses my prayer best: Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy.  The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.  The Lord is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.  Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever. Amen.

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. I had a conversation with my sister once upon a time and she asked me this question.  "Who is Jesus to you?"  I told her, "He is my friend."  Of course Jesus is many things to me; Lord, Savior, King, and so on, but when I talk with Jesus, I talk to Him as my friend.  He and I work together to accomplish the will of the Father.  When I pray to Jesus, I use a very familiar tone that is comfortable and easy.  He is someone I feel very close to and have an overwhelming sense of comfort and calm.  I am content to sit with Him and say nothing, which is sometimes the most enjoyable.  You've got friends you can do that with.  You know, friends that you don't have to fill every bit of silence with something.  That's how I Jesus and I are.  We can sit and not talk or anything and just be together.  I like that.  So today I ask you, who is Jesu...

John 4:14 But whoever drinks this water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Jesus' words.  Today I am in need of spiritual filling.  I am not actually a people person and have a position where I am constantly with people.  This dries my soul at times.  Jesus is the only one I can spend time with, in moments like these, to rejuvenate my spirit.  I find that solitude with Him opens my heart to new learning and I am drawn deeper in the well of living water.  The peace, strength, hope, and truth I find in these times with the Spirit are second to none.  He reminds me of who He is.  He fills my heart with truth and renews my faith in the hope of what is to come.  Sometimes I feel completely spent, but the Spirit in me renews my soul and gives me a new depth from which to draw.  I encourage you to make time for solitude with God, even if you love to...

Psalm 42:8 By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me - a prayer to the God of my life. This verse comes in the midst of verses about oppression.  I find it very hopeful and very fitting.  I would say this is how I have been experiencing God lately.  His love is visible in the daylight.  I have been noticing all of the places where God has directed situations and has brought about His will and revealed Himself to me in new ways.  Then, at night, when things settle and I reflect on the day or I wake up in the middle of the night, He is with me lulling me in His arms.  I feel the deep sense of His love and compassion flood over me as I lay down to rest in Him.  I have noticed God's specific grace, care, and concern on my life.  He has taken care of very specific requests and helped to ease the oppression I had been feeling.  I am in continual praise to Him every time I think on His help.  The Spirit is alive and movin...

Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. My word from God today is, "I've got this."  I don't exactly know what He is referring to, but I'm going to apply it to all of my life situations because I know it is truth.  He's got it all.  And the verse is just a sweet word of encouragement through the scripture.  It is a here that definitely renews my hope and reminds me that endurance in Christ is a necessity in this life.  Jesus endured much affliction so that we can have hope.  I will cling to Him and this hope today.

Colossians 2:6-7 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. I have really been missing my mom this week. (Might be because Dad was gone on a fishing trip too.)  This verse was given to me today.  Mom taught us so very much about faith by the way she lived her life in Jesus.  She gave us such a solid foundation and then helped us to grow on our own journey with Jesus.  I am crazy thankful for the mother I was given and the time I had with her.  I think this week has just been hard because I headed back to work with children and Mom knew me so well when it came to what I am created to do.  I will continue to live in Christ because I have been so deeply rooted in Him, which Mom so beautifully lived out in her life and passed on to us.  The sadness creeps in, but the joy of who God is to me will never be taken fro...