Devotionals Archives - Kristin Saatzer

Is He Safe?

June 26, 2022 By Kristin Saatzer 4 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, my husband lost his job. The day I learned this news, my mom called to tell me that my stepdad has cancer. Again.

This day’s news triggered me and tripped me up as my mind traveled through the past six years of my life and the often-recurring trauma, loss, heartache, and physical suffering. I am astonished that I am still standing.

Or am I? Still, standing?

This thing called “adulting” stinks some days. Some seasons. Some years. Who’s with me? I know a few of you are because I hear from you. Your stories break my heart, and your prayer requests bring me to my knees.

So, there’s a thought that nags. Oftentimes it is there when I pray, and I have only recently allowed myself to swirl it around in my mind to see it for what it is. And then today, I admitted it to God.

Lord, I believe You are good, but I wonder if You are safe. Continue Reading

Room for Rest

April 6, 2022 By Kristin Saatzer 4 Comments

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

Mark 6:30 and 31 NIV

This season, I am looking at Lent differently. Many in the Christian faith choose to observe Lent by fasting from something (meat, sugar, TV, social media…) in the weeks approaching Easter. I have often done the same. But this year, I have chosen to fast from my “to do” list. I am making room for rest, exchanging busyness for some time in quiet contemplation. As the pandemic numbers go down and the world opens up, it seems life is speeding up faster than I want it to.

I am weary. As I write, I am recovering from an illness that has hung on for eighteen months. I am learning to accept what my body can and cannot do, build margins around my health, and allow others to pick up my slack. I don’t like it, yet invincible I am not. So, I lean in. I transfer trust in my strength to my Savior’s.

In God’s word, we read how the Messiah repeatedly made room for rest; it was a priority in His ministry. He took His men away from the expectant demanding masses to recharge and He often got away by Himself.

We find an example of this in Mark, chapter 6. Jesus sent the disciples out two by two to minister to the people of Galilee. He gave them His divine authority to preach, heal, and cast out demons. They returned to Him with accounts of their triumphs and the stories of God’s achievements. The crowds clamored to get to the Master and His men who needed rest and care after a busy time. So, the Savior insisted that they steal away together to refocus, recover, sabbath, and spend intimate time as a group.

I love that Christ implores us in His word to come to Him for rest, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 NIV. It’s like a holy permission slip. In fact, Jesus called Himself the Lord of the Sabbath in Matthew 12:8.

Hebrews 4:9-10 NIV says, “There remains then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their work, just as God did from His.” This Lenten season is the perfect time for us, the people of God, to take as much off the “to-do” list as possible, follow the Savior’s example, and cease striving. Let us sit at His feet and fix our eyes and hearts closer than we ever have before on His death and resurrection.

Let us lean into God’s Sabbath rest.

“To enter our Sabbath rest, we must come to God in humble submission to His truth and in complete dependence on Him. In order to cease striving, we must transfer our trust away from our own abilities, our own accomplishments, our own strength, and place it on His provisions.”

Charles Swindoll, Jesus: The Greatest Life of All

Reflection:

Are you weary? Do you need to cease striving and take some things off your “to-do” list?
Write down ways you will build margin in your life this spring.

Declare His Truths!

August 25, 2021 By Kristin Saatzer 4 Comments

It seems the world has gone crazy yet again. It is normal these days to tread in the river and drown in the surge of fear and bad news. Sometimes we need reminders of God’s presence when we can’t understand what He is doing (or not doing).

I know I do.

I have written many scriptures in my journal in times of desperate ache and despair in the last year. The moments, hours, and days when I did not feel God’s presence, I would declare His truths as a reminder to myself that He indeed was there.

Today I’d like to share verses that give me great comfort. I pray these words will help lift your gaze to God. May they bring you a measure of confidence and courage to face what the world or your world throws at you.

Spiritual blessings:

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Ephesians 1:3 NLT

Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you. Isaiah 46:4 BSB

Prayer:

Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Colossians 4:2 NLT

Now to Him who is able to do so much more than all we ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Ephesians 3:20 BSB

Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy. John 16:24 NLT

Rest:

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 NLT

Peace:

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Isaiah 26:3

So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4:18 NLT

The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace. Psalm 29:11 NLT

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.] John 16:33 AMP

Where Else Would I Go?

July 28, 2021 By Kristin Saatzer 8 Comments

I waited patiently for the Lord;

he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand.

He put a new song in my mouth,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear the Lord

and put their trust in him.

Psalm 40:1-3

When I read this portion of Psalm forty, my memory immediately jumps to a day when I was a kid in a pit. A foolish kid. Construction was happening behind my friend Kimie’s house. Bulldozers had dug a hole for a well or something water-oriented. Mischief usually happened at Kimie’s house, and that day was no exception. We decided it would be a fun adventure to slide into the pit. I went first. She did not go second.

It was deep and dark. I could not catch my breath because the air was restricted. I could not climb out because the sides were muddy, too slippery to scale. As panic seeped in, I saw Kimie at the top. She threw down a long piece of pipe; I grasped it tightly as she pulled me up in a long filthy fight to safety. Strong girl, that one.

Thankfully, it’s a memory of kids being kids with a happy ending. Yet, the sensation of the fear and helplessness I felt at the bottom of that hole come back to me still, a lifetime later.

These days, I am in a season of health struggles and lots of life uncertainty. Depression hangs around quite a bit too. I return to this passage in Psalm forty often, the words copied in my journal because this period of my life feels like a stint in a pit. Not an actual muddy cavern, of course, but a deep dark emotional space where my mind, heart, and soul dwell.

King David, the author of this section of scripture, conveyed his hurt and humanity so beautifully throughout the Psalms. There is much in his sentiment that I can relate to. That I cling to.

Like David, I, too, am waiting for the Lord. I find myself somewhere between the middle of the hole and the top, like I’m sitting on a ridge, with my feet stuck in the muddy side. I can see the sun sparkle over the top, but I am not there. Oh, how I want out, to stand on firm, dry ground with the sun shining on my face.

In verse one, David said he waited “patiently” for the Lord. Gosh, have I had some impatient moments in these eleven months. Yet, I keep coming back to Him in this longsuffering season. In the middle of it all, I keep praising Him. I return again and again in the fearful, tearful moments. In the agony of no answers, I go back to what I know, to the One I know. I seek the familiar words and arms of my Savior.

Where else would I go?

Maybe you, too, find yourself in a pit. Perhaps there are profound disappointments in your life that hang on. And on. Are there prayers that go unanswered? Health and relationship issues that break your heart? This is hard, and you are not alone. Take my hand, and let’s look up to our sovereign God for help.

In the deep end of all the hurt, I practice hope. I pray that someday in some way, my pit life will be used for His glory. I pray your story will be used for His glory, too. May we cling to the fact that God is working all things out. May we remember that even when He seems so far away, He is in the pit with us, holding us ever so tight.

My friend, may God put a new song in our mouths. I pray God will lift us completely out of the slime and mud, and may we lift our faces into the sunshine and stand on the firm, dry ground. Until then, let us hold on as never before to the One who never leaves, who never forsakes His beloved.