Do you know someone or live with someone who, on occasion can just irritate you with the tiniest quirk?

How’s your patience with them?

How about showing mercy and compassion to these people. Odds are, these are hurting people. And, more than that, they may not be aware that it irritates you.

Maybe it’s someone that offends you? Be intentional in showing kindness to them. It may even make them realize they’re wrong in what they’re doing.

Ask God for the courage to be merciful in these situations. Ask Him to give you the strength to step out in faith and do premeditated acts of mercy.

Nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes. We all have little quirks or idiosyncrasies. God’s mercy is bigger than any mistake you’ve ever made.

Extend grace.

Matthew 5:48 - “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

I don’t know about you, but I like to avoid the valleys of life; times that are troubling and stressful.

I’ve had my fair share of trying times, but I have found that I have always grown as a Christian during those times. I’ve learned lessons that I don’t think I would have learned otherwise.

There are several stories in the Bible about people turning their trials over to God and God coming through for them.

We can all learn from history. This also means that we learn from our own story.

God doesn’t promise to keep us out of all trouble. He does promise to be there with us.

Life is always good on the mountaintops of celebration. But not matter how much we’d like to spend our lives up there, we need to walk through the valleys of challenges too.

Ask God to teach you as He walks along with you in the valleys of life.

1 Peter 5:7 - “casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

If you are a Christian and you have given your life to Christ, then you can’t help but love others. God gives you the gift of the Holy Spirit. God places in you a love for others. He purposely gives you compassion in your heart.

He will allow you to see others through His eyes!

Isaiah 50:4 - “The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.”

My heart breaks when I see someone mistreated. It’s only human to want to lash out and say something hurtful to the accuser.

I’ve found that the best thing to do in these situations is to quietly say, “God, I can’t say anything good right now, so I’m giving this to You to handle.”

God knows my heart. I can love someone, but not approve of the way they treat others.

Ask God to “take over.” As Him to fill you with love and compassion.

Ask Him to see things through His eyes!

It’s easy to let worry overwhelm you. Believe me, I do it all the time. But, I have found that if I purposely replace my worry with a Christian song, my worry lessens and I’m suddenly thinking of the melody instead.

1 Peter 3:14-15 - “But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,”

Christianity is not for wimps. In order to follow Jesus, we have to be brave and ready to defend Him.

Granted, we don’t face persecution like some do in oppressive countries, but we do face people who have no respect for our belief in Christ and those who don’t believe that He even exists.

Do you panic when faced with a confrontation of your beliefs or do you silently pray and ask God to give you the words to say?

As it says in the Bible, if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it.

When faced with pressure about your faith, don’t worry, but worship; don’t panic, but pray.

Focus on God!

People are motivated by two things: They’re motivated by principle and pleasure, or they are motivated by pain.

We create our own jail cells, where bars are made of anger, bitterness, resentment and grudges.

What’s the key to all of this? Forgiveness. It’s your choice. Do you want to stay where you are, in misery, or do you want to be free of this state of mind?

When we’re hurting it’s only human to want to blame someone else.

Quit running away from it. Face the fear. Forgive. Once you forgive you’re given the opportunity to live an amazing life of grace, freedom and purpose.

Forgiveness is a process. The pure act of forgiving benefits your emotional and physical health. Forgiving someone is not something that you just wake up and decide to do because someone said you should do so.

Forgiveness is a freeing, wonderful feeling once you’ve done it.

Get motivated. Do you have someone you need to forgive? Ask God for the motivation to do it.

Ephesians 4:32 - “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Psalm 146: 3-4 - “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish”.

The foolish plans of man will perish but God’s promises never fail.

Are you depending on God? Are you leaning on Him for strength, especially in times of difficulty?

All of us are vulnerable in this broken world. God is always with us, even when it doesn’t feel like He is. We can trust Him to be with us and guide us through all seasons of life.

It starts in the heart. Our heart has to be right. You can’t think that things are going to be ‘rosy’ when you’re walking around with a bad attitude.

Are your feet planted firmly in God’s mercy or are they stuck in unhealthy mud?

Surrender your heart to God today. Don’t hold back.

If you’re like me, I am always in need of guidance, even on good days. I admit, some days I feel lazy. I want to sleep in and I think, “I’ll get to my time with God later.” Then the day gets going and before I know it, it’s time for bed.

Start each day with God. Open your heart up for Him to fill it with good things. I promise you, you’ll be going in the right direction.

Are you praying to God as if you know Him, or are you just throwing up some requests, not expecting much?

If you want specific answers to prayer, make specific requests.

Nehemiah 1:8-9 - “Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’”

Did you know that prayer can transform our lives and our world? Mighty things will happen when we have faith.

If you’re not expecting an answer from God, then what is prompting you to pray? Is it out of guilt; desperation? Are you praying because of religious obligation or tradition?

We should be drawn into prayer by love.

And finally, don’t pray to be noticed, like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners.

After all, God knows exactly what you need, even before you ask Him.

He’s waiting to see if you’re honest and intentional; is the prayer honoring God? Are you wanting Godly wisdom or direction?

God loves these type prayers and answers them.

Are you praying, knowing that God will answer?

If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in last place for the remainder of the day.

I’ll admit, I’m one of those people who can wake up from my alarm, put on my clothes and head out the door for the day. But, as I have grown as a Christian, I now wake up, read my devotion, read the Bible, meditate and then I’m ready to start the day. I can’t tell you how much better my day goes since I’ve been doing this.

Isaiah 50:4 - “The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.”

It’s hard to catch up, if your desire for God isn’t the beginning of your day.

Try it, for a week. Get up 30 minutes earlier than you normally would. Sit in a quiet place. Either try a devotion (my favorite is an app, “First 5”) and talk to God.

If it works one week, try another. If you do this for 6 weeks, it will become a habit and who knows, maybe your days will get a little easier.

Are you not a morning person? Set aside 30 minutes before bed.

Quit exhausting yourself, trying to get through the day without God. He’s waiting to talk to you about your day!