The abundant life Jesus gives us remains constant in every season and is not moved by outside circumstances. Pressure quickly reveals if we really are believing what Jesus accomplished for us!
Scripture compares those who trust in God to evergreen trees, which never lose their leaves regardless of the season. In fact, many pine cones only release their seeds after passing through fire or freezing cold. The trial reveals life. Likewise, God has planted the seed of his word in each Christian, and sometimes it’s through hard times that the seed germinates and God’s life becomes really evident in our lives.
Jonathan Brenneman wrote these twenty-three devotionals while living in Rio de Janeiro Brazil and facing a lot of pressure! During this time, he and his wife escaped armed robbery multiple times. Their car was wrecked twice in the same year due to highway robberies, and his wife escaped a kidnapper. Their bank account was emptied a few different times due to crime and a broken legal system. They faced a death threat against their family and a kidnapping threat against their daughter. Around the same time, friends living on the same street lost a little girl who was kidnapped and killed. These trials came on top of rocky relationships, cross-cultural challenges, a busy schedule without much sleep, facing corruption and fraud, flying bullets, and more!
Jonathan’s writing is extremely encouraging and overflows with hope and joy. These writings also contain a few testimonies of physical healing. Are you facing financial loss, injustice, or other stressful circumstances? Or maybe you know somebody who is? The truths found here have the potential to fill your heart with hope and produce an overflowing joy and stability in the middle of craziness!
