Click here for downloadable Scripture and prayer cards. Consider printing them and making them your prayer!

Click here to listen – “Moving from ‘Having Devotions’ to ‘Living Devotedly’ (Encouragement for those in busy, pressing seasons)” – a podcast episode aimed to offer hope and encouragement for your devotional life.

(Be sure to check out more recommended resources below.)

“There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:42)

One Thing

Have you ever considered the implication of this thought: that nearly everything you do will be “taken away”? The empty laundry basket will get refilled. The clean sink will soon overflow with dirty dishes. The thrill of today will be gone by tomorrow, only to leave our hearts longing for the next best thing.

This is the very point Jesus made when explaining to Martha that Mary had discovered the one thing worth being concerned about, the one thing that would not be taken away from her. Sitting at His feet, listening to all He said, investing in her relationship with Her Maker, Her Master, her Lord, and her Savior – the One who was her Everything – would never be taken from her.

Friend, your relationship with Jesus and your investment in knowing Him more intimately is the one thing that will never be taken from you.

Who you become and what happens within and through you as a result of time spent with the Lord will never be taken but rather will yield that which will last forever.

One Question

Yet, we must ask: do we desire Him? Do we long to sit in His presence? Are we hungry and thirsty, aware of our desperate need for Him?

“A person who is full refuses honey, but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry.” (Proverbs 2:7)

Are we filling on that which is “bitter” and does not satisfy, thus having no sense of hunger for that which does?

“For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” (Psalm 107:9) He did this (literally) for the Israelites in the wilderness. How much more can He satisfy the hungry soul?

One Prayer

If you don’t hunger for the Lord right now, if you try to sit at His feet but grow disinterested, distracted, and discouraged, may I encourage you to pray for your heart, that you might grow in your hunger for Him?

The realization that I could (and that I must!) ask Him to grant me a hunger for Himself – that I could not muster it up on my own and that my flesh would not one day wake up desiring the things of God – was so freeing. Even growing in my desire for Him was a work of His Spirit. The condemnation lifted. The pressure to change myself was gone.

As I asked Him to work a greater hunger within my heart, I grew in awe of His patience and grace toward me. What love! What grace! What a Savior! How I wanted to know Him more!

He does the work within; we work it out. (Philippians 2:13) Yes, we live out what He has worked in, to the glory of His name.

Would you like to join me in asking Him to work a greater hunger within, whether within you or a loved one? To get you started, I’ve prepared 34 Scripture and prayer cards to meditate upon and above all, to pray, taken from Psalm 119.
(See the download above or click here.)

For further encouragement, you may wish to check out:

“One Requirement” – a podcast episode that focuses on the words Jesus spoke to Martha and Mary (click here to listen).

For more in the “One Thing” podcast series, please click on the titles of the episodes below:

“One Request” – a podcast episode that focuses on David’s singular request as expressed in Psalm 27:4. Might this become our sole request as well!

“One Response and One Race” – taken from John 9 and Philippians 3, we receive encouragement regarding how to view our past and what that means for our present.

To stay connected:

To receive monthly encouragement delivered straight to your inbox, please click here and enter your email address under “Receive the Latest Updates.” To stay up-to-date on the latest podcast episodes, be sure to subscribe to Perspective Shifts on your favorite podcast platform. For more information, click here. I’d love to connect on Instagram, too!