Author: Janis Jelke

It has taken me a while to warm up to singing as a form of praise and even prayer.  Growing up, the songs I sang at church were very somber affairs – played on an organ with a heavy feel to them.  I imagine that was to lend them an air of sacredness and solemnity. … Continue reading Learning to Sing a New Song

Have you ever had one of those moments where you get hit with new information that rocks the way you have always seen yourself?  I had that happen just a couple of nights ago.  I believe those are God moments – times when He reveals something that is distancing me from Him that I was… Continue reading An Unexpected Encounter with Pride

You know the hurt that is so deep and painful you feel like you can’t survive it?  Even worse is when you experience it and there is no one there to walk you through it.  Or when others are there but the shame and reality of how you are struggling keeps you from opening up… Continue reading The Nobody Jesus Never Forgot

As I have been walking through Holy Week this year, I have been paying special attention to the events that happened each day of the week, instead of just waiting for the Sunday Easter celebrations.  I had never spent such a focused time of studying Jesus’s last week leading up to His resurrection before.  One… Continue reading Clubs, Swords, and the Salvation of Jesus

I have spent some time studying Job and I think we all find things to identify with in his story.  The part I could never identify with was the behavior of Job’s friends.  How could friends who were so good to him in the beginning become so judgmental and accusatory to him as time progressed? … Continue reading Learning to Abide with Others Well

I am continuing my journey through Genesis with my Bible study group, and we just covered the massively broken family dysfunction that was Jacob, Leah, and Rachel.  There is so much that is not exemplary in Jacob!  And yet he is the holder of the covenant promise that God had made with his grandfather, Abraham. … Continue reading Comparing Ourselves and What God Really Desires

A few years ago, as I was just beginning to really study the Bible, and starting a close walk with Jesus, I was struggling with a lot of loss and grief.  I was experiencing for the first time what it was like to be alone, both physically, and in many ways, emotionally.  It was a… Continue reading God’s Presence and a Mysterious Piece of Paper

It started out like any normal trip to the grocery store.  I picked out what I needed – and some things I didn’t – and started scanning for the smallest check-out line.  I saw a cashier standing, waiting for someone to come through her check-out and celebrated my good luck at not having to wait. … Continue reading God’s Command and the Cat Chow Challenge

As I was continuing my study in the life of Abraham this week, I was struck by a verse that made me step back and take a hard look at the nature of worship.  The verse happens when Abraham has been told to offer Isaac as a burnt sacrifice.  Abraham and Isaac have just arrived… Continue reading Worshipping with All I Have

I have been leading a Bible study through the book of Genesis for a while now and what keeps surprising me is the importance of names.  So many names in the Bible are prophetic!  Take Abraham’s name, for example.  He was first named Abram, which means “exalted father”.  And he kept that name for 86… Continue reading Let God Be the One Who Names You