Write this week’s memory verse, Matthew 7:7-12, as much as you can without looking. Fill in the places you are still working on remembering.

Lamentations 3:25: The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

Often, we experience God’s sovereignty, wisdom and kindness revealed in challenging circumstances. Search requires us to stay in pursuit of God while waiting for Him to work.

Think about a time in your life in which you were searching for answers to a challenging circumstance. Maybe you experienced confusion and pressure as you tried to determine what to do about a job. Perhaps you lost a job. Maybe you experienced a painful breakup or the loss of a close friend. It could be you failed at something you believed was a sure thing. Maybe you turned to something to cope and what you turned to is now an addiction from which you desperately want to be freed. Possibly you or a loved one were diagnosed with a health issue. Maybe anxiety and depression have enveloped your world, and you feel lost and discouraged. It could be your loved one has taken a destructive path, and you do not know how to help. Perhaps you grew up in a dysfunctional family, and you are trying to figure out what it means to be healthy. Maybe you are in a difficult marriage. Possibly, you are not getting along with family or close friends. Perhaps you spent too much money and have found yourself in credit card debt. Maybe you are struggling with getting older. It could be you are caring for a child with special needs or an aging loved one.

When contemplating where you are on your spiritual journey, do you automatically focus on specific aspects of your life? Why or why not?

It is easy to imagine our spiritual journey separate from everyday life, but daily life is our spiritual journey.

Once we have accepted Christ as our Savior, He becomes our life. With Him at work in us as we follow Him each day, every part of our world becomes His as we open up to Him.

Therefore, any problem is a problem that we take to Him. Our human nature tells us to figure it out and fix it, but God is calling us to follow Him, seek Him, and pursue His wisdom. As we search Him for answers, slowly, He is at work to change us in the challenging circumstances.

The struggles we experience will vary, but we lose our way each time we solely focus on the battle. God is asking us to focus on Him. Search guides us to learn to trust God as we seek Him day in and day out.

Read Psalm 9:10 Sometimes everything in our life is going well, yet, the longing, dissonance, and dissatisfaction we experience in times of thirst keep us up at night. We don’t understand where it is coming from, but it is coming from God. He is stirring these feelings to draw us closer to Him. As we persist in the thirst, letting it drive us to search, we find a pathway to focus on God. We seek Him to understand what is going on inside. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows why we think, feel, and behave the way we do. He knows what is best for us. Through a time of search, He may lead us to a new job, to further our education, or to a different plan of His that we currently do not understand or recognize.

What is God showing you through this time of Renewal? Talk to Him in prayer about what you see.

Pray the words of Psalm 139:1-6: "O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it."