Find It Only Here On Friday: A Chance For A Fresh Start

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Kelly R. Baker is passionate about motivating believers
to stay spiritually nourished and thriving in their walk with God.
She serves alongside her husband in leading the worship ministry
at their church in Northern Virginia as well as being an author, mentor, and songwriter.
When not keeping her crew of four on the home school and household routine,
you will probably find her sneaking a bite of dark chocolate.
She would love to connect with you more at kellyrbaker.com.
Thrive with others, and receive access to her exclusive library of Insider Resources!

Kelly is also an inspiring regular contributor (LifeWriter) here at LifeLetter Café
and is today’s featured contributor to “Find It Only Here On Friday”.
Her first Café exclusive “A Chance For A Fresh Start” can be found below . .
BUT FIRST . . the Café thought you just might want to know
how an Encouragement Leader like Kelly Baker
has been encouraged in her own faith.

In her own words …

In the six months, God has answered five long term prayer requests.
Each one had a lengthy season. One lasted a minimum of 12 months, the rest spanned many years.
This has been such a comfort.
God has left me wowed and I am encouraged to not give up
when walking through long seasons. He is faithful to His own!

Today’s Find It Only Here On Friday
“A Chance For A Fresh Start”
by Kelly R. Baker

As a young follower of Jesus …

I desperately wanted what I saw in other women from church who knew God. I wanted to be “in the know” when they excitedly spoke about spiritual truths and God’s goodness. I wanted what they had:

I longed to know how to respond to my problems.

I desired to consistently seek God daily.

I craved a close relationship with God.

I yearned for Him to tell me the secrets of His Word, too.

I wished, oh how I wished, I could step fully into what God called me to specifically do.

I had been waiting, but it wasn’t happening with me.

I desperately wondered how they made it happen. I didn’t know, but I was going to figure it out.

I opened my Bible and felt like I was floundering—a familiar feeling. I tried to pray, but my words were only tears.

But I know God heard my heart’s cry …

Somehow in that face-to-face with my heart I discovered God wanted all that for me, too. Maybe God gave me a revelation because He allowed me to realize that what I had chosen all along is to have it my way instead of His. The problem was not with God, but me.

That desire to grow turned into a new determination—it was a pivotal point. God desired to answer that request more than I wanted it answered. See, my desires were starting to match what God wanted for me all along.

I was living in discouraged and frustrated because I didn’t see immediate change. But just like the law of seedtime and harvest exists in the physical, so does the principle of seedtime and harvest in the spiritual.

26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.
27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.
28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.”
– Mark 4:26-28 –

Notice that the man scatters the seed and the seed sprouts and grows because God commanded the earth to produce. So we could say that it’s our job to scatter the seed of the Word over our heart and God will cause us to grow over time.

It’s critical to “put” the Word of God into our hearts to stay in the proper balance. We can either be on a route or be roaming. God wants us to stay on the route of keeping a daily appointment with Him or we will be roaming off into fleshly desires. A strong spirit will preserve our heart and emotions.

I learned I needed to stay nourished – and what happened to those ladies happened to me. I continued to grow over many, many years. I don’t pretend to be perfect. But now?

Jesus is my best friend …

I have developed the habit to seek Him daily.
I learned some secrets in the Word to know how to respond to my problems.Now I have stepped fully into what God has called me to do—help Christ followers stay nourished and thriving in their walk with God.

I love to share about spiritual truths and God’s goodness. That’s why I helped write New Beginnings, a HelloMornings Bible study.

HelloMornings is a ministry founded by Kat Lee to help women build three core habits:

God. Spending time with Him each day to know Him more.
Plan. Prayerfully planning our day with His purpose for our lives in mind.
Move. Making healthy choices to have the energy to fulfill that calling.

The HelloMornings ministry has helped me solidify these core habits over the last several years. Now I am blessed to be one of the authors.

For a limited time, Life Letter Cafe readers
can receive a discount on our newest Bible study, New Beginnings.

About New Beginnings

New Beginnings is a six-week study looking at the fresh starts of ten characters in the Bible. The traits of God’s heart are highlighted through these stories, and we are reminded of His goodness in our lives. God’s in the business of making all things new—like making us born again. He takes great pleasure in all our spiritual new beginnings.

Included in the full study + emails + audios:

daily emails of the study
daily audios of the study
digital download of the study
learn to study scripture
insightful commentary
new HelloMornings worksheet
prompts to uncover truths of your own
formatted to fit your schedule 5-30+ minutes
formatted to fit your depth of study (variety of action steps)

The discount is 50% off the full digital study, plus daily audios, plus daily emails of the study. All that for less than a venti latte? Yes, but just for you! Visit the HelloMornings shop and enter the code life in the “full study plus daily audios and emails” option. The discount is good through Friday, February 17.

HelloMornings optionally offers group accountability as we go through the study together. Group registration is closing this weekend, so act fast!

***For the first time ever, we are thrilled to offer a paperback version on Amazon—a new beginning for HelloMornings’ studies! Get the gorgeous 82 page workbook with all the commentary here.***