Sunday Morning Devotional, Coffee, Covenant & Grace
There’s something about the first Sunday of a new year that just feels different to me. The sun is shining, but it’s cold outside — that kind of cold that wakes you up and makes you slow down at the same time. It’s quiet. Peaceful. The kind of morning that makes you think.
I find myself looking back on the year we just walked through… remembering the blessings — even the ones I didn’t recognize at the time. And at the same time, I’m looking ahead, thinking about the year to come. Wondering what it will hold. What God is going to ask of me. What I need to lay down. What I need to trust Him with.
These mornings I spend with God — coffee, Bible open, devotion, prayer — have become something I really depend on. It’s where I reset. Where I recommit my life and my work to the Lord.
These mornings aren’t dramatic or loud. They’re quiet. Honest. Sometimes all I can say is, “Okay God… this is Yours. All of it.”
Returning to God in a Season of Discouragement
This morning, I found myself in the book of Haggai.
Haggai is calling God’s people back. Back to the One True God. And one phrase keeps standing out to me over and over again:
“I am with you,” says the Lord.
Haggai 1:13 (NKJV)
God had brought the Jewish people out of exile. He brought the remnant home. They started rebuilding the temple — and then opposition came. Discouragement set in. Things got hard. And before long, they convinced themselves that the time just wasn’t right to keep going.
And I had to stop and ask myself… how often do we do the exact same thing?
How many times do we get discouraged in our work? In our walk with God? When prayers don’t seem to be answered? When life brings challenges we didn’t ask for — financial struggles, health issues, family struggles, marriage struggles. Maybe it’s a season of sickness. Or grief. Or just feeling worn down.
Life is full of it.
Faith in a Noisy World
Everywhere we look, someone is facing something. The news night after night tells the story of destruction — one side fighting the other, one opinion louder than the next, truth blurred, lies repeated, and evil seeming to win more ground in today’s world. Social media only amplifies it. Post after post, reel after reel, people are building a church of self — getting their theology in thirty-second clips, their biblical understanding shaped by influencers instead of Scripture, all pointing inward to the kingdom of self rather than upward to Jesus Christ.
The noise of the world — and the noise in our own lives — can feel overwhelming at times. It’s discouraging. And honestly, heartbreaking. There are moments when lies seem louder than truth… when the world feels heavier than the God we say we trust.
“You will know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
John 8:32 (NKJV)
Add in busy work schedules. Kids’ schedules. Life pulling us in a hundred directions. And before we know it, we’re standing in the same place the people in Haggai found themselves — distracted, discouraged, and slowly stepping away from what God has asked us to do.
And yet… God doesn’t turn away from them.
He reminds them:
“I am with you.”
That’s what I’m holding onto as we step into this new year.
God’s Presence in Seasons of Grief
As I sit here thinking about this new year, I can’t help but notice how God so often reminds us of the good He has done for us — not just in the easy seasons, but in every season. Especially the hard ones.
Not that long ago, I walked through a season where I truly felt the absence of God. My heart was buried in grief, and I felt more alone in that grief than I ever had in my life. I wasn’t sure there was a way out. I knew the words. I could speak about God’s goodness, His mercy, His love — but if I’m being honest, I couldn’t feel it for myself.
All I had was a moment.
A single moment God kept bringing me back to — a moment where I felt a peace that doesn’t come from this world. A peace that wraps around you so tightly you know it’s God Himself holding you. No explanation. No fixing. Just His presence.
A few months after that moment, our family walked through unimaginable loss. We lost our precious granddaughter to stillbirth. A loss I truly don’t believe we would have made it through had God not been sitting in that hospital room with each and every one of us.
As we grieved the loss of our precious granddaughter, niece, sister, and daughter, we held the most perfect baby — one who would never cry, never open her eyes here on earth… but who is now running, laughing, and playing in the presence of God. And there will be a day — I believe this with my whole heart — when she will come running to all of us, and we will see her again in heaven.
She was so beautiful. So complete. So loved.
“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.”
Revelation 21:4 (NKJV)
And today, as I look back, I know the only reason we made it through those days is because of God.
Even when I couldn’t feel Him, He had never left me.
Learning Trust and Surrender with God
Looking back now, I see it so clearly. The same God who told His people in Haggai, “I am with you,” was doing the very same thing for us. Not by removing the pain, but by remaining present.
And as we moved beyond that season of grief, He continued to ask more of me — to see more through His eyes and less through my own, to trust Him in ways I never had before, to surrender control and walk into places I could never have gone on my own.
That is the life God keeps calling us into — not a life without hardship, but a life shaped by trust, obedience, and surrender. A life that would be impossible apart from Him.
That’s what we see in Haggai.
God tells His people that when their hearts are devoted to Him, when they walk in obedience, He pours out His favor.
“My Spirit remains among you; do not fear.”
Haggai 2:5 (NKJV)
“From this day on I will bless you.”
Haggai 2:19 (NKJV)
What a blessing it is to know that when we walk in surrender and obedience — not perfectly, but sincerely — God honors that.
So as you look back on the year behind you and ahead to the one before you, I pray you’ll remember the moments — both big and small — when God showed up. And I pray you’ll continue to seek Him in every season still to come.
Because there is no safer place… no sweeter place… than being right in the will of God.
A Prayer of Trust and Surrender
Lord,
As we close this quiet moment with You, we come just as we are — grateful, tired, hopeful, grieving, trusting… sometimes all at once.
Thank You for meeting us here. Thank You for reminding us of Your faithfulness in every season. Thank You for being near to the brokenhearted and for the peace that surpasses all understanding.
You promise us, again and again, “I am with you.”
Help us trust You, surrender fully, and walk forward in obedience.
We trust You with this year ahead.
We rest in You.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
With devotion from my quiet corner,
Marie
