Daily Devotion

by Amber Holdt

John 14:16-17

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, Who will never leave you.  He is the Holy Spirit, Who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him and doesn’t recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you.

Girl stops by church.  Girl meets boy.  Girl and boy fall in love.  They live happily ever after.  

This may seem like a cliche storyline, but under closer inspection, the fingerprints of the Holy Spirit are all over everything.

Let’s look a little more into this story….

I marvel at the friendships and relationships that the Holy Spirit has brought to me through Good Shepherd. 

I attended GSLC on a whim after I graduated college while church shopping.  I was in a relationship and wasn’t looking for any romantic entanglements, but God had other plans.

As I attended GSLC more regularly, while I wanted to meet more people from the church, I found the extent of my involvement limited to walking in and out on Sunday mornings.

That all changed when I noticed church softball sign ups in the announcements.  Having a special place in my heart for sports, I immediately reached out to Robin and Jeff Teeters to talk about playing ball that summer.  That fall, we had a GSLC volleyball team.  I was blessed to meet so many people through these activities (Brenda Fuentes, Mike Dubbert, Rachael Belz, Becky Marischen, Becca Hansen, the Zink’s, Pieper’s and Bledsoe’s to name a few), ultimately leading to meeting, dating and marrying Ken.  

For as long as I can remember, the presence of the Holy Spirit has been with me through my life, but it was quite a different experience with our relationship.  Ken was certainly not my type, but there was something (aka Holy Spirit) that I really can’t explain that drew us together.  Feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit in those early days was as strong as I had ever felt it in my life.  Perplexing, while strengthening my faith at the same time. A wedding and four GSLC baptisms later (Lily, Isaac, Kate and Hannah), Ken and I are blessed the Holy Spirit brought us together, and our family to this community of faith.  

Over my time at Good Shepherd I have been fortunate to make more and more friends, and deepen connections and bonds.  Since Lily was born, I have had the privilege of being in MOPS the past 10 years which in turn has led to many mom night’s out beyond the scheduled MOPS community meetings.  

As we experience Sunday morning and church activities with our children and our GSLC community, we are sure that these adventures are only the beginning of relationships and friendships that lie ahead.  Haiti anyone?

Question to ponder this week:

When has there been a time that the Holy Spirit has spoken clearly to you? 

Prayer intercession:

Dear Lord, thank You for all of the friendships and beautiful blessings You have placed in my life.  Strengthen the bonds You have created through Your church. In Jesus' Name, Amen.