jeannie waters - Jeannie Waters, Writer & Speaker

Three Ways God Brightens Our Days

February 11, 2026Jeannie Waters24 Comments

Three Ways God Brightens Our Days by Jeannie Waters

One bright spot of color changed my view of the landscape. I warmed my hands with a mug of coffee and gazed out the kitchen window. Under a sunless sky, bare tree branches and the straw-like grass, pressed low by winter’s cold, mimicked a brown-toned painting.

The scene echoed the cheerlessness of my struggling emotions.

Then a fluttering burst of red swooped into the dullness and changed my view from bland to bright. A red cardinal landed in the grass and bobbed for seeds. Another cardinal joined the scavenger hunt, followed by a blue jay. I thanked God for three spots of bright color that changed my perspective.

The birds provided a striking contrast against the bland palette of my yard. Their splashes of color reminded me of how God brightens our gray days when dismal outlooks threaten to capture our thinking. Days when clouds seem to obscure our view of God. Days when challenges hide blessings. Those days when everything goes wrong.

I thought of three ways God helps us on those days.

First, His blessings.

God often sends splashes of blessings to grab our attention and remind us of His presence in a world that can be bleak. A brave pansy blooming in February. A child’s giggle. A note from a friend.

Father, help me notice all you bring into my life to focus my heart on you.

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. Colossians 1:16 ESV
God often sends splashes of blessings to grab our attention and remind us of His presence in a world that can be bleak. Share on X

Second, His people.

God sometimes sends an attentive believer who notices a need. He may urge us to visit a friend who needs a kind word or deed. Conversely, He may whisper to a friend’s heart to share an encouraging word with us, to meet a need we have, or to simply listen.

Father, thank you for the gift of friendship. When I’m having a challenging day, would you send a friend to encourage me? And when my friends are discouraged, nudge me to be an encouragement to them. I’m listening.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 ESV

Finally, His Word.

God uses the Bible, His letter to us, to remind us of His character and His promises. To strengthen our walk with Him. To transform us. When we read the Bible regularly, the Holy Spirit brings truths to mind. Our Father guides and encourages us through His Word.

Transform my heart, Lord, as I read Your Word.

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Romans 15:4 ESV

Your Turn

How has God brightened your days? Please share to encourage all of us.

What Can We Create This Year for the Glory of God?

January 22, 2025Jeannie Waters24 Comments

Have you read the answer from an online quiz, then, based on the result, decided the program must be flawed?

At the end of December, I took an online quiz that promised to present the perfect biblical word for me to focus on this year.

I thought about words my friends have chosen to study like peace, holiness, faithfulness, or an ouchy one—self-control. My quiz response this year? Create.

A Puzzling Word

Surely, the answer was wrong. Frankly, it didn’t sound as holy as my friends’ words. Maybe I should pick grace or faith or love?

Create? Create what? I’m a writer, but I’m not sure what God wants me to write this year.

I don’t knit scarves or make jewelry, nor do I sew quilts from t-shirts. I don’t draw, paint, or sculpt—unless you count the Play-Doh snowmen I make with my granddaughters. I even use a recipe when I make chili—yes, really.

Create? I didn’t think so.

I almost erased the word from my notes. Instead, I prayed and decided to see if God would use the online quiz to teach me.

Then I put it aside and forgot about it.

A New Year

On New Year’s Day I started my new Bible reading plan.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1 ESV

The familiar verse reminded me of my word, create. God created. A Latin term in the margin caught my attention—ex nihilo, to make from nothing. God made the world and all that’s in it from nothing.

I can’t create from nothing, but I can create from the gifts, ideas, memories, experiences, and biblical truth God gives me.

That same week, I listened to Reagan Rose on the Redeeming Productivity podcast. He suggests we write goals to steward the next year for the glory of God.

Redeeming Productivity podcast

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

As I prayed, God connected my unusual word to the goals He’s leading me to accomplish.

With my new word, I’m even more excited about how my goals will help me steward 2025 for the glory of God:

Create more relationships, beginning with two neighbors I recently met.
Create more meaningful relationships with people I know.
Create an organized home for hospitality purposes.
Create a more in-depth Bible study plan.
Create a monthly nachos and game night for my family.
Create simple meal recipes for a weekly Bible study with friends.
Create a wisely planned budget.
Create a new notebook to record prayer requests.
Create a notebook of memorized Scripture verses with notes.

I wonder what else God has in mind. This year my word is create. I’m excited to see how God will equip me to create for His kingdom’s work as I seek Him.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

Your Turn

Do you have a word for this year? If not, borrow mine. What do you feel led to create in 2025? We can’t create from nothing as God does, but we can create using the gifts He gives to us.

I can’t wait to read your thoughts below in the comment section. Your examples will encourage the rest of us as we seek to steward 2025 for the glory of God.

How to Embrace a New Season of the Heart: Take Steps and Rest

May 23, 2024Jeannie Waters18 Comments

In Georgia, we moved from early Spring to, as we say around here, pollen season. Although the heavy coat of mustard-colored powder required me to clean my deck and car, pollen serves a purpose. It signals a time of bees, butterflies, and more flowers. Like Spring, every season is beautiful, a creation of God—in nature and in our hearts.

I needed to repeat the wash-off-nature’s-pollen chore several times, and the freshness led me to the next step—replacing the deck pillows, potting colorful annuals, and moving my quiet time moments from inside to outdoors.

Now, in late Spring, I’m wondering how God will lead me in this new season of the heart. He promises to continue His work in believers (Philippians 1:6). I don’t want to miss a single step.

God promises to continue His work in believers for every season Share on X

Sometimes direction means move, take a step. Sign up for the Bible study class, send a card, or put the soda down, girl, and drink more water (Maybe that’s just for me).

Other times, the next step is pause, sit down, be still, listen.

If you’re in a new season, perhaps lessons I’m learning will help you.

My lessons include action steps—to follow clear commands in Scripture and to spend quiet, still moments to pause and absorb truths from His Word as I wait for His direction.

The combination of action and quiet reminds me of a spring walk in a pretty wooded area.

Walk.

Breathe.

Pay attention as you go.

Sit on a trail bench and rest.

Listen, soak it in, absorb the moments, and rest to prepare for the next section of the trail.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 ESV

Your turn

What lessons have you learned about following God into and through a new season?

For any season

For every season—and every day—God gives us the gift of His presence. What joy to pull up a chair to His table each day and spend time with Him in prayer and Bible reading. Time spent with God equips us to honor Him and pass along blessings to others.

My book, A Place at His Table: God’s Daily Gifts to Satisfy Your Heart, includes stories that occurred at a table. Each one leads to biblical truth about a particular gift from God, such as acceptance, help in trials, and rest. There are also fun Table Tips at the end of each devotion.

Readers have purchased copies of A Place at His Table, applicable to any season, for birthday, hostess, and get-well gifts, and for an inspirational summer read.

Here’s the link: https://amzn.to/3qTTt0k

If you’ve found blessings in my book, please consider leaving a brief review. If you’ve already left one, thank you.

How to Find God’s Blessings in New Seasons of Life

April 24, 2024Jeannie Waters28 Comments

Weeks ago, I noticed tight flower buds had popped out to decorate the bare limbs on my Bradford pear tree. A glance out my kitchen window days later revealed one cluster of newborn blossoms bouncing in the breeze.

Like God’s blessings in the Bible, the tiny flowers offered hope of more than I could see—more growth and beauty to come. More of God’s blessings. More opportunities to honor my Lord and serve others.

Around town I noticed purple flowers on Japanese magnolias and clumps of sunny daffodils. But I enjoyed the signs of spring in my yard and neighborhood the most. I thought of them as personalized gifts from God to my neighbors and me.

Examples of God’s gifts fill the pages of the Bible and offer hope for the ever-changing seasons of our lives.

Every season.

Hard ones and easy ones.

Those we choose and those that surprise us.

Examples of God’s gifts fill the pages of the Bible and offer hope for the ever-changing seasons of our lives. Share on X

Whatever our challenges in this current season, God’s presence and His gifts assure us of His help and guidance and His promise to meet our needs. They also speak of spiritual growth and opportunities to serve in His kingdom’s work.

As buds and flowers decorate your yard and neighborhood with the hope of spring, notice God’s blessings in your life. When you study your Bible and pray, list His gifts you find especially dear in your current season. Ask God to let them blossom in your heart and offer the hope and help you need as you determine to honor Him each new morning.

That view from my kitchen window prompted me to stare in wonder. My Bradford pear stood covered in white, lacy blossoms like a bride anticipating her walk down the aisle.

In this season of my life, the tree’s beauty represents to me the assurance of God’s presence and the promise He will meet my needs as I seek Him first (Matthew 6:33). When we behold bouquets of His blessings in nature, let’s embrace the gifts in His Word as we walk into each new day with praise and service.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 6:33 ESV

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV

Your Turn

Please share a dear-to-you verse or blessing in your current season or an encouraging one you held close during past challenges. Let’s encourage each other.

How Can You Help a Widow Who Faces Empty Chairs?

January 1, 2024Jeannie Waters16 Comments

Even when a widow accepts invitations to join family and friends at their table, she faces empty chairs at her table and elsewhere. The Bible teaches us to care for widows. In addition to visits, invitations, and offers to assist with various tasks, I want to share another way we can help.

In Marilyn Nutter’s BRAND NEW book, Hope for Widows, she provides comfort, encouragement, journal prompts, and practical suggestions for her fellow widows. She shares her grief with candor and tells readers how God’s faithfulness buoys her on challenging days. What a wonderful gift or recommendation to share with widowed friends or family members.

A New Year’s Gift for You

Today I welcome my dear friend and author Marilyn Nutter who shares a sample devotion from her recently-released book, Hope for Widows: Reflections on Mourning, Living, and Change, published by Our Daily Bread Publishing. After you read the devotion, meet Marilyn in the bio below and find a link for her book.

Sample Devotion:

Dinner Invitation and an Empty Chair

All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.

PSALM 38:9 NIV

Has it happened yet? You’re invited to dinner at a friend’s home and couples are seated around the table. You’re the odd number. Years later, I vividly remember my first experience as if it were yesterday. As if being solo in a couples world isn’t bad enough, being seated at a table next to an empty chair is downright painful. Why couldn’t someone sit next to me? I thought. I tried to ignore the empty chair, but how do you do that when you need to stretch to pass the vegetables around the table?

I ate a meal, though I can’t remember the menu. We talked, but I don’t recall the conversation. I do remember the empty chair. When I returned home, I sighed. “Glad that’s over,” I muttered, thinking about the empty chair. As I got ready for bed, I evaluated the experience. My friends were loving and kind; it wasn’t being a single with couples that bothered me as much as being placed next to an empty chair. The emptiness was glaring—literally and figuratively.

Laying my head on my pillow, I was thankful I’d gotten through it, like so many other firsts on my grief path. The experience prepared me for the next time, because there were going to be many “next times.”

God’s grace met me then. It promises to meet me each time; and with each meeting, there will be less pain—even when I sit next to an empty chair.

Treasured Reflections: How was your first experience at a couples dinner or event? Did you see the treasures of experience and grace get you through?

Treasured Thoughts: Journal your thoughts about the part experiences play in your grief journey, especially how you’ve changed from first-time experiences to now. Do you see fewer stings of hurt and more moments of grace, growth, and patience? Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” It’s an ongoing process, not an overnight experience. How do you see that verse becoming real for you?

Published in association with Books & Such Literary Management, www.booksandsuch.com.

Requests for permission to quote from this book should be directed to: Permissions Department, Our Daily Bread Publishing, PO Box 3566, Grand Rapids, MI 49501, or contact us by email at permissionsdept@odb.org.

Here’s the Amazon link: https://tinyurl.com/2mu5becz .

About the Book

Hope for Widows: Reflections on Mourning, Living, and Change offers women connections in their grief, guiding them to see hope, grace, and comradery on an unfamiliar path. With personal reflections, questions, and expressions of gratitude, widows will join Marilyn Nutter in recognizing God’s faithful presence in details and unusual places. The 65 vignettes apply Scripture and relevant quotes to grief and mourning and look with transparency at how widowhood dramatically changes a woman’s life. The book not only ministers to widows, but offers insights to their friends and family showing the life changes and challenges a woman faces on a new path.

About the Author

Marilyn Nutter writes, not as a professional counselor or through research about grief, but as one who walks that unwelcomed, personal experience and has found God faithful in every step. In her journey, she continues to experience the grace of God-sent treasures in puzzling and new circumstances and desires to encourage others. She is a contributor to compilations, author of devotional books and co-author with April White of Destination Hope: A Travel Companion When Life Falls Apart. Visit marilynnutter.com where you will find encouragement to weave hope and purpose in your life stories.

A Quote from Hope for Widows

I know I’ll never be over my loss, but I know I will continue to get through it and find life again, as will you.

–Marilyn Nutter, Author of Hope for Widows
I know I'll never be over my loss, but I know I will continue to get through it and find life again, as will you.
--Marilyn Nutter, Author of Hope for Widows
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A message from Leigh DeLozier, a mutual friend of mine and Marilyn’s:

Whether she’s your mom, sister, sister-in-law, aunt, friend, friend of a friend, or neighbor – almost everyone knows someone who is widowed. Show her you care by sharing “Hope for Widows: Reflections on Mourning, Living, and Change” by Marilyn Nutter.

–Lee DeLozier

Here’s the Amazon link: https://tinyurl.com/2mu5becz .

Your Turn

Share your thoughts on widowhood from a personal perspective or from helping friends. How do you think this book might help someone you know? How did the sample devotion help you? Marilyn will appreciate your responses.