Make the Ordinary EXTRAORDINARY

I met God in the woods and while alone on the swing at my elementary school. In my mother’s love and my aunt’s kindness. On the dark road when I was lost in Montana on the way to my first teaching job. God has spared me and saved me many times in my life. God is everywhere—in all the beauty and all the pain. To help me appreciate and navigate the richness and complexity of life, I have started most of my adult days with a daily devotional time. During that time I have talked to God through prayer and read many different devotionals, along with the Bible. While each book, author, verse and reflection helped me, none of them captured all of my desired elements. One morning, with this enlightened realization, I had a thought: If the daily devotional I most want and need does not yet exist, why not write it? My doubting mind quickly came up with a plethora of reasons to not take on the task, the foremost being my unworthiness. I am not a minister, and I am not even the kind of layperson people might find credible in this area. And then, just as quickly and much more powerfully, I knew I was the right person to write a daily devotional—mere sinner that I am, as a testament to the greatness of God in an ordinary person’s life. I decided in that moment to write the book that did not yet exist for myself, with the ensuing thought others might find it helpful as well. I chose the most inspiring Bible verses of my life and rewrote them in an easily understood and concise form. Then I wrote a short reflection for application in my daily life, along with an action for real results upon my daughter’s helpful suggestion. A theme emerged for each month: Direction, Prayer, Gratitude, Protection, Mindset, Courage, Results, Devotion, Forgiveness, Compassion, Generosity and Love. With these verses, God has given me everything I need to Make the Ordinary Extraordinary. I pray these daily devotions will help do the same for you.