Friday Devotional

Hi my beautiful friends,

“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.”
James 1:6 (NIV)

If you’ve ever watched the ocean, you know how restless those waves can be. Constantly rolling, never still. That’s exactly what doubt feels like. It keeps us unsettled and unsure, making us question everything.

But when we go to God and ask for wisdom, we have to believe He’ll answer. Not just believe that He exists, but truly trust that He hears us, cares for us, and is working everything out for our good. When we lean into Him and trust His timing, our path starts to make more sense. Doubt creeps in when we aren’t fully convinced that God’s way is best, but I’m here to tell you that it is.

If your faith feels new, weak, or like it’s struggling, I want you to know that you can still trust Him. His words to you are true, solid, and good.

This week, we talked about how the enemy loves to use doubt to discourage us. He knows exactly where to hit. Through most of my 20s, I lived doing whatever I wanted. But if I’m being honest, I was filled with doubt and discouragement in almost every part of my life. It’s something I still face sometimes, but now it’s different. Now I have God’s word. I can go to Him in prayer, and if something is meant for me, I trust that He will make it happen in His perfect timing.

I was over 300 pounds. I doubted myself all the time. I didn’t think I had the strength or the will power to actually change. After I had my daughter Luna, I ended up getting gallstones and had to have my gallbladder removed. After surgery, my doctor sat me down and told me he was really concerned about my weight and how fatty my liver was.

I knew I needed to make a change, I knew for most of my life. Still I didn’t do anything about it. About a year later, I was at my dad’s house and stepped on his scale. It said 304 pounds.. That moment shifted something deep in my heart. All the doubt, all the discouragement, it didn’t have a hold on me anymore. It was crazy, because the next day I started my journey, and within that year I lost 80 pounds.

But to this day, I still struggle on my weight loss journey. It's not easy. I have to wake up and choose to make healthier decisions. I’m learning to choose me. To choose the woman God created me to be, over letting food control me. It’s not just about numbers on a scale. It’s about freedom. About healing. And about trusting that God is walking with me, even when it’s hard.

When you start believing in yourself, and when you have God with you, there is nothing that can stop you.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I know how easy it is to make excuses for not making time for God. That’s actually one of the biggest reasons why I created this Bible study blog. I wanted to help people who want to grow in their faith but just don’t know where to start. I wanted to create a space where we can stay connected to God, even when life feels busy or overwhelming.

I hope this encourages you to keep going, keep believing, and keep trusting that God has a purpose for your life. Doubt doesn’t win. God does.

With love,
Your friend,
Chelsey