About the Author

Bonnie Gray is the author of Sweet Like Jasmine, Whispers of Rest, wife, and mom to two boys. An inspirational speaker featured by Relevant Magazine and Christianity Today, she’s guided thousands to detox stress and experience God’s love through soul care, encouragement, and prayer. She loves refreshing your soul at...

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
& you will too!
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(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
DaySpring.com
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  1. We have a major move coming up and we have yet to secure a place to live, the money to move. My heart gets anxious, yet when I take it to the Lord he whispers, wait, wait, wait. So every day has become a day of expectations. I know God will take care of all these thing needed but the how and the when is becoming exciting because of the waiting. It’s going to be good I know that for He gives good thing to His own.

    We are nine days into the Christmas month and already I have had opportunities to witness during this waitng period. We connected with some old friends from long ago that are now saved due to some seeds planting about 30 years ago, now that was encouraging. Got to sit with a friend who was dying and listen to her excitment at soon being face to face with Jesus…she is there now. Even today we will connect with some dear friends who need a touch of encouragment due to cancer. A lady rear ended me a few days ago, another encounter for the Lord for He so protected us both. We are safe because she needs to hear the gospel..Pray for Julia.

    That leave 17 more days till the traditionial Christmas day….kind of excited what is ahead…I know this much, just as He was in the before, the present He is in our future during the waiting time. Merry Christmas Bonnie

    • Thank you so much for sharing this. We are getting ready for a major move, and I too have been anxious. But I have to admit, I haven’t been looking at this in the same way. Your sharing this has opened my eyes to what God has been trying to tell me all along and I wasn’t exactly listening. Thank you again for helping me to SEE.

    • “but the how and the when is becoming exciting because of the waiting. It’s going to be good I know that for He gives good thing to His own.” Betty, my heart swelled hearing how you are seeing the One who has turned the waiting into something exciting. And your counting to Christmas — your story of faith is beautiful writing in the waiting! Thank you!

    • “but the how and the when is becoming exciting because of the waiting. It’s going to be good I know that for He gives good thing to His own.” Betty, my heart swelled hearing how you are seeing the One who has turned the waiting into something exciting. And your counting to Christmas — your story of faith is beautiful writing in the waiting. Merry Christmas Betty!

    • “but the how and the when is becoming exciting because of the waiting. It’s going to be good I know that for He gives good thing to His own.” Betty, my heart swelled hearing how you are seeing the One who has turned the waiting into something exciting. Thank you for sharing your counting to Christmas — your story of faith is beautiful writing in the waiting. Merry Christmas, Betty!

  2. For several years God had my husband and I very active . . . now we both feel out of place. Where are we to go? What are we to do? When? Thank you for these words. I don’t know the answer but am reminded who has the answer.

    • Becky, thank you for spending time this morning & sharing your story. May God bring you & your husband closer to each other as you journey together with Him. Merry Christmas!

  3. I am working right now on discovering my resentments and trying to push past them. I need to heal so I can find new ways of dealing with issues in my life. Through an amazing program in my life and the help of a wonderful friend, I am uncovering the ideal of perfection that I have for myself. This is a struggle to deal with, and I will never measure up to my expectations of myself.

    The amazing thing is that God does not expect me to be perfect. I know this, yet I still strive for it every day. I will never be perfect. Only Jesus, who died for my imperfections and sins is perfect.

    I’m learning to lean into Jesus for my strength when I feel the pressure to excel. It is hard to let go of control, and I have a lot of work to do with His help and guidance. It is a lesson I thought I had learned a few months ago, yet I find myself back here again. What perfect timing God has for me. He knows that I need to let go of my ideal image so I can move into His grace.

    Thank you for your post today. Again, God has great timing for me through you as I continue my journey.
    ~Melissa

    • Don’t look now, Melissa, but what you shared just showed the healing you’re experiencing! Thank you for being real with us and bringing the story of faith closer to us through your journey breaking free from imperfection — which we really all are on!

    • Melissa, I know exactly what you are talking about. I fight the same thing every day. God started showing me the wounded places that had “taught” me to be controlling and to strive so hard to for perfection. Then He led me to Phil. 1:6 and began healing me. I don’t have to try to be perfect – He is perfecting the right things about me and FOR me. It is an ongoing process – this unlearning a lifetime of self set-up. But I am learning to recognize when it rears its ugly head, before I start to act on it. Only through His Grace.
      God bless you for opening up your heart, you are not alone.
      Sharon

  4. Thank you Bonnie for sharing your inspired thoughts. I especially appreciate your article because it is the very same message that God is telling me and I’m finally listening to that Christmas is Jesus…nothing more, nothing less. I learned too just recently that Christmas originally means Christ’s Mass, how fitting to the Savior of the world.

    I love your term: Fields of Faith. Because this is where I am now. Walking these fields with God, I can agree with you that Change and New Beginnings can be some exciting joyful news! Indeed, God buffers His people πŸ™‚ In Him there is peace, comfort and assurance. We can’t lose… for we are following a triumphant Christ. Blessed Christmas to you & those you love πŸ™‚

  5. Literally sitting here with you, with my cup of coffee! I pour it just before I come to read your post. I am so blown away today by what God has spoken to me through you. He had me up in the middle of the night and I wasn’t sure I heard Him clearly but here He is, confirming what I though I heard. Thank you for being His mouthpiece and for sharing His wisdom. Again.

    God Bless.

  6. As I wrestle with a “fragile dream” and some angst in an other area of my life, your words remind me to Look and See what I already know is True. Thank you.

    {hugs}, sweet friend.

  7. Oh my word. This is exactly what I needed to be reading this morning! God is so good! I’m just a twenty-something trying to live for God’s glory. I’m about to move twice in the next year, go to seminary and leave behind all that I know and love to follow His call and sometimes I’m excited and sometimes i’m just down right terrified. I need to be reminded that it IS exciting, as he nutures a “fragile dream” as you call it, and that He is the one orchestrating it all, so why fear? Silly me. Thank you. πŸ™‚

    • Angela – I’m so excited for you – as you literally leave and go see. Lord Jesus, I lift up Angela as she holds onto you and carries that fragile dream of follow *you* wherever you call her. Thank you for your faithfulness going before her!

  8. I wonder what the shepherds must have felt the moment the sky went black. For me, when the sky darkens, I begin to question the message or the call to move.

    β€œLet us go to Bethlehem and see what the Lord has told us about.” (Luke 2:15 GWT)

    I need His direction right now, and I’m wondering if I need to “go…and see what the Lord has told us about”. Thanks, Bonnie! πŸ™‚

    • It’s so dramatic the scene you’ve described. Sometimes, the answer we need may be an experience having to step out on faith. If you’re with Him, He’ll see you through it. Love your heart, Jennifer!

  9. You are right on, Bonnie! It is so easy to second guess what we “think” God wants us to do. I am sure the shepherds did wonder if they dreamed it. More often I wonder if I got it right!
    And the slowing down and finding Jesus in the Christmas hustle and bustle–wow–that is tough for this “do-it-all” gal!
    Thanks for the inspiration.

    • Love you how you’re sharing it all with us, encouraging us in your story! πŸ™‚ So wonderful to have a virtual coffee break together, Julie!

  10. Undone by being fired for the first time, undone by sick and crabby kids, undone by my failures. Yet suddenly Christ beams brilliant at the Christmas tree farm, and under the twinkling lights of the tree, I fall in love all over again with Deuteronomy 30, which saved my life in April. I wrote about it today and looked for your link-up – found you at {in}courage and here is my post:
    http://www.turquoisegates.com/2011/12/opposite-action.html

    Love,
    Genevieve

    • Oh, Gen! I didn’t know you lost your job in this way! I’m so sorry you have to experience this. So beautiful to hear God is drawing close to you, sending you Himself right where you are – under the twinkling tree lights of the tree. Thanks for sharing your post… I will come visit.

  11. When God has a word that He speaks specifically to you, time has a way of diminishing the experience especially when there are no visible results. Faith is believing His Word even when He is silent and dreams are not fulfilled. Love your writing, Bonnie!

    • “Faith is believing His Word even when He is silent and dreams are not fulfilled.” Now, that’s a quote that’s been lived out! Beautiful, Mari. Thanks for stopping by to share with us!

  12. Oh, Bonnie, this post speaks to my heart in such a tremendous way–I can’t even describe how thrilled I was to read it this afternoon! “This Christmas, be attentive for what God has in store for you”–my heart swells with excitement at that thought! And I agree so, so much–it can be so hard to be like the shepherds, remembering and really believing in, trusting in, what we’ve each heard from God–that’s such a journey! I’m in a moment of discernment right now, and it can be so hard to maintain that trust, but what a reward to take the journey to do so more and more! And it’s so true–the really great moments of faith often come “when we feel most ordinary,” as you said–what a wonderful reminder of the much-needed truth that it’s right where we feel most ordinary–and amidst the bustle of the holiday season right now, perhaps–when God can really touch us in ways that make us remember that Christmas–Christ coming to light in us–is always right around the corner on the journey of faith! Thank you so much for this extremely timely and just beautifully inspiring, hope-filled post!

    • Hi Katy! It just encourages my heart — warms my heart — to hear God speaking to us here, in this quiet place where we can share our stories. Dear Jesus, may you fill Katy with your encouragement on this journey as she looks to you this Christmas for discernment. In your name, Amen.

  13. Bonnie,

    Your words as always are so full of encouragement for they point to Jesus. The story of God in us through Jesus is what our story is all about. I have been reminded of that in several ways this holiday season.

    I am also learning about how the universe revolves around relationship since the before it was created because it centered on the relationship of the Father, Son, and Spirit. It is such a different perspective and thought.

    As always thank you for the encouragement.

  14. Love how you pictured the shepherd scene – beautiful! And how often I do that exact thing – wonder if I really did just hear/see what I thought I did? Very recently God asked me what I wanted, and I found that surprisingly hard to answer. Turns out I don’t really care about finances or a new tv or getting the house finished, what I really want is for the fruits of the Spirit to be evident in my life (my family really wants that too, lol!), I want wisdom, the gift of the prophetic and I want to write songs. I want to write those songs that are a meeting place for the people of God and the Lover of their souls… songs that draw people up into the presence of God and draw the presence of God down to His people. That’s what I really want.
    So I told God all that, and now I wonder… what happens now? Everything feels the same as it ever did, He didn’t give me any instructions to go anywhere or do anything, so I guess I just carry on and wait for God to show up in the middle of my everyday life again.

  15. You bring me back to bear up with my fellow sister or brother when you say we are all waiting.

    Yes God does have peculiar time and yes it’s when I feel most ordinary and stuck in a rut too.

    Fields of Faith. It really sings to me. Now I don’t mind being there. I picture it a beautiful place now rather than a struggle to believe. A restful, beautiful, place for becoming. Fields of Faith…yeah.

  16. Unbelievable, amazing words I needed to read today and have to remember.. ! Thank you so much for being an instrument in God’s hand, what a blessing you are to me, my heart is overwhelmed !
    May the Lord of Lords bless you in every way, with love, Ruth.

  17. Is there room in your Inn for a 70 year old man who is currently rescuing teenage boys from the streets who’s lives have hit “Rock Bottom” as one 15 year old declared. I’m going to try to keep this short until I feel I am not intruding in the Lords work He is doing through you in your “Faith Barista” ministry. I have been living on “Fumes of Faith” for so long it’s now my habit. Jesus is not a bad habit to have when so many depend on that spirit that lives within. Just now you got my attention with your article in Crosswalk.com about unwrapping Jesus during the Holiday Season. That is so important because so many of these teenagers have never been exposed to God, the one with the Son named Jesus.

    You know families around the world are self destructing because there is no religious base. The Lord is filling that void through you and everyone who offered you comment. That “Faith Strength” comes only through Jesus living in us in a way that shows. The world today is wanting us to suppress, hide and abandon the only real thing in life, our Christian Faith.

    I’m going to make an exploratory comment to see if there is interest in a 23 year old vision of rescue that He is starting to bring to life. I too am a scientist who now knows our God is truly a God of Love and knows much better how to accomplish the impossible than I. What we now have is a “Conduit” that will take any who are called to the mission field around the world. For your readers who are not sure what the Lord is calling them to and for, let me share the CHOSEN Story with them.

    Suffice it to say we have cutting edge technology that can provide all the necessities of life in a sustainable, clean environment 24/7, year round. All hard assets of our Evergreen Villages will be owned by our Christian Based CHOSENrescue Foundation (501c3) with four “For Profit” companies generating all necessary product and services to sustain life on site. Each “EgVillage” will be totally self supporting, offering training, education, and jobs for many. What a great way for a “Welder” to share his faith with those he is teaching to weld. That thought begins my story.

    Bonnie, you have inspired me to write this so accept the fact the Lord is using you to communicate to an old Koot like me. If I don’t hear from you … That’s near impossible but I’ve misread before. Go to http://www.evergreenfarms.org to get a glimpse of the CHOSEN vision. God Bless you and your following. Each of you have a Merry CHRISTmas celebration and share it with many.
    Fred

  18. Hello to All,

    I have been subjected to addicts my entire life, my father , my first husband, and found out after 14 yrs of marriage that my current husband was an addict…this being the most devastating one.. more so because I truly loved him.. I still love him, and in Christ Jesus have found the strength to see through the eyes of Jesus Christ how to have grace and mercy with forgivness… It has been 3 yrs since the disclosure and a very long journey of groups, counseling, and best of all the journey with Christ in me.. Colossians 1:27 is a great verse to hold onto.. there has been alot of mystery’s in my life for a very long time!!!!! Although I have to say the one that has saved my life is out in the open ” Christ in Me”.. I never felt worthy enough to understand how very much the Lord Jesus Christ loves me!!!! I am his child!!!! NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!!!! I am so blessed to have HIM in my life to cling to him in the trials and tribulations, which HE has let it be known that we would have!!! The most important thing that HE HAD PROMISED is that we would not face any of them alone!!! I pray for all of you on this site that the Lord will hold you in the palm of his hand and that you will feel the comfort and know the faithfullness of our Lord Jesus Christ…. In Jesus name I pray.