Latest / Jessi Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Podcast / Digging Deep: Faith, Perseverance, & the Birth of Christ

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Digging Deep: Faith, Perseverance, & the Birth of Christ · Jessi Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, hello.
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: You're listening to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Podcast, episode 31.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This week's devotional is titled Digging Deep Faith, perseverance and the Birth of Christ.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Let's go Hi.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I'm Jesse Morgan.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I used to just share home decor and renovation tips on social media, but now I'm sharing something even closer to my heart my journey and love for Jesus Christ, my Savior.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Hot Podcast.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: This is a weekly devotional.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I started back in May 2024, but the inspiration for it came much earlier.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: It was rooted in a faith journey that began when my daughter was born, four months early in 2023.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Through that challenging time, god worked in ways that truly amazed me.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: On this podcast, I share personal stories of faith, woven together with scripture to show just how incredible God's word can be in our everyday lives.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: My hope is that through these stories, you'll be encouraged, uplifted and reminded of God's love and presence, no matter what you're going through.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: So I invite you to spend less than 15 minutes with me each week as we reflect on these devotionals together.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Let's all pray within Digging Deep Faith, perseverance and the Birth of Christ and the birth of Christ, episode 31,.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Key passages Isaiah 7, 14, jeremiah 23, 5-6, and Galatians 6, 9.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the podcast.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: It's officially my favorite time of the year Christmas.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I just love the season, the decorations, the cozy Christmas movies and, most of all, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: There's just something magical about it, isn't there?
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: But I've got to be honest with you guys.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Today I am tired, yet at the same time I'm so happy and grateful.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Because my first ever ebook devotional is finally here.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Because my first ever ebook devotional is finally here.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: It's called 25 Days Till Christmas, a daily devotional focusing on the birth of Christ.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: You know, one thing I've noticed is that many Christmas devotionals stick to the book of Luke, and while Luke is a beautiful account of Christ's birth, there's so much more in scripture that highlights his coming.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: I wanted this devotional to dig deeper, pulling from other parts of the Bible to paint a fuller picture of the miracle of Jesus Christ's birth.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Now let me tell you, putting this devotional together wasn't easy.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: It was grueling, mentally exhausting and overwhelming at times, but, my God's grace, I made it through and I couldn't be prouder of the result.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Have you ever faced something so hard that you felt like giving up?
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Maybe you even found yourself asking Lord, I don't understand why this is so hard.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: I think we've all been there.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Those moments when there's no escape, there's no shortcuts.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: You just have to dig deep, trust God and do the work.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Let me share a story from my college days that perfectly captured this feeling.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Back at the University of Alabama, roll Tide, I was working toward my fashion merchandising degree and had to take this massive 350 student international marketing class.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: It was a make or break course and passing.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: It was essential for me to graduate on time.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: My goal was to graduate in four years.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: That was just like my own personal goal.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: The professor made it very clear we were responsible for reading and fully understanding an 850 page textbook which I thought I would be able to return at the end of the semester, and he expected us to read this fully on our own.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: No shortcuts, no easy notes in class.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: For the first test I thought I was prepared, skimmed.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: The book focused on bold terms, outlined a few essays.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: I walked in feeling confident and by question three I was panicking.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: It was brutal.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: The first 45 questions were true or false statements directly from the textbook and I guessed on nearly all of them.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: A week later the grades came back and I got a 45, a solid F.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: I was devastated.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: I cried all the way home and thought if I don't step it up, I'm going to fail this class and possibly delay my graduation.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: So I decided to dig deep For the next exam.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: I read every word of the chapters, highlighted key ideas, made digital flashcards over my, over PowerPoint with over 200 terms, and studied harder than I ever had before in my life.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: When the test day came, I still didn't feel confident.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: But when I got my grade back 96A I was in shock.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: That hard work paid off and I learned an important lesson Sometimes you have to put in the effort even when it feels impossible.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: The perseverance I developed during that class equipped me for handling hard situations later in life.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: That same perseverance is so evident in the Christmas story.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Think about the Virgin Mary, pregnant not by her husband, traveling miles and facing judgment from others.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Yet her faith in God carried her through, even when it was really, really hard.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Or look at King David.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Yes, king David.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Yes, he was in the Old Testament and first and second Samuel.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: But I'm mentioning King David for a key reason.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: You see King David, who was faced with countless battles physical battles to defend Israel.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: He continued to trust God and he believed that God would fulfill his promise of a savior through his lineage.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Despite all of David's mistakes from getting a woman pregnant that he shouldn't have to, not disciplining his children despite all those mistakes and struggles, david dug deep.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: He worshiped God regardless, he owned his mistakes and he kept it moving.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: And he was, as we all said, a man after God's own heart moving.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: And he was, as we all said, a man after God's own heart.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: What perseverance David had, wow.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: And as I wrote this devotional, I saw these themes again and again People leaning on God, trusting him in the hardest moments and finding strength to endure.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Let me tell you, writing this devotional was its own test of perseverance Balancing mom life, writing at 1am most nights, dealing with a sick baby and even taking care of my dog after emergency surgery.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: It was a lot.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Satan was definitely trying to throw me off course, but I stayed focused, relied on God and kept it moving.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: And now here we are 25 Days Till Christmas is finally complete, and I'm so excited to share it with you all.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: This written devotional dives into the physical and spiritual battles faced by Mary, david, joseph, elizabeth and others in scripture.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: My prayer is that it encourages you to dig deep in your own faith.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: Dig deep in trusting God to see you through whatever challenges you're facing.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Have perseverance, don't give up, for it says in Galatians 6, 9,.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: For it says in Galatians 6, 9, let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Let's pray, heavenly Father.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Thank you for the challenges you allow in our lives.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Thank you for the lessons that teach us to rely on you and dig deeper in our faith.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Lord, we are so grateful for the birth of Christ and the humbling way he came into this world.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: I pray for everyone listening today that they would find strength in you to endure their own battles and experience the joy of victory through faith.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: We love you and praise you in Jesus name, amen.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: If you're ready to go deeper into this Christmas season, I hope you join me in this written devotional.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: You can download it from my website.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: You can download it at the show notes in the podcast.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Let's grow together and celebrate the miracle of Christ's birth like never before.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: This devotional is going to touch, of course, amazing verses and passages from Luke and other gospels.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Of course John will be mentioned, but I'm also going to be digging into Micah, digging into Genesis, digging into many parts of Isaiah.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: That just shows that the birth of Christ.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: It just interconnects with so many different areas of the Bible Old and New Testament.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: I'm just excited to share and God bless you all and have a wonderful, wonderful week and let's just enjoy this Christmas season.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for tuning in this week.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: I'll see you next week.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Well, that wraps up this week's episode.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: I hope these devotions help you draw closer to God each day.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: If this episode encouraged you, please share it with someone who might need the same message and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a weekly episode.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: For more information or to reach out, check the show notes or visit jessimorganhomecom or find me on Instagram at jessimorganlife.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Remember God's timing is always perfect.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Keep trusting him Until next time.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: This is Jessi Morgan praying off.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: I just want to come on here really quick and have a give a big shout out to my best friend, my wonderful, wonderful, wonderful sister, um, in Christ, and you know, from womb to the tomb, that's what I call her.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: Um, my best friend Adrian Wilson.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Um, she helped me edit this ebook.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, I would write, I would write a devotional, I would write one up and I would send it to her and then she would edit and then she would send it back.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: She recently had a little surgery done and even dealing with her surgery and dealing with, you know, post and surgery and recovery she still managed to edit the entire book for me.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: So I just wanted to tell her I love her, I appreciate her and let me tell you, when you have a friend, when you find a really good friend, hold on to it.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: God really put her in my life for a reason.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: I have known her since I was three, so we have been through everything together.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: So I love you.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: My sister Feel better soon and God bless, and I'll see her soon.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited to see my best friend soon.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: God is good.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Love you all.