Merry Christmas! I hope this blog post finds you and yours well. It’s been a wild ride the past few years but we know God is sovereign and will reign forevermore. Take time out to relax, unwind and reflect on the birth of Jesus as you color today’s free downloadable coloring page. Grab a cup of hot cocoa or tea put on some Christmas music as you reflect on how God orchestrated everything, down to last detail. God is in the details. He loves you!
Happy Monday!! Advent has begun and as we all prepare for Christmas celebrations and festivities, my prayer is that we take time to ponder as Mary did, she treasured these things in her heart. “But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” – Luke 2:19.
Take time each day to think about what it may have been like to be greeted by an angel. What may have been going through Mary’s mind? Maybe take the time to read the accounts of the disciples in the Matthew and Luke, and treasure these things in your heart.
Image: Mary and Joseph by getdrawings.com
Happy Monday! Hope you are enjoying these free coloring pages to help with memorizing God’s word. With Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner it’s good time of year to reflect on our generosity and gratefulness. Generosity is cultivated through being grateful. When we are thankful, it changes everything about our outlook and attitude. We become generous with our time, our love, compassion, our finances, our time; we want to share what we have with others.
And think about this when we are generous today we are laying stones for the next generation like in the book of Joshua. By donating our time, our money, our resources, we are laying stones and building God’s Kingdom so that one day others will see how God worked through us and ask, “What do these stones mean to you?” Joshua 4:6.
Memorize Monday – free coloring page, Colossians 3:15- “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” God asks us to be thankful. If you want to know the will of God, be thankful. Yes God has more than that for us to do, but it’s a good place to start if you are looking to do God’s will. We were called to be thankful and the peace of God to rule in our hearts. There are many benefits to being thankful. Being thankful can improve mental and physical health. Having a heart of gratitude can foster empathy and allow us to be content with what we already have. For are you thankful for today? Share in the comments and if you find encouragement in the post, please like and share.
If you’re like me you like apps that make your life easier. Banking is easier, scheduling appointments is easier, shopping, entertainment, even reading the Bible has become easier and really we can carry the Bible in our back pockets everywhere we go.
There are there Bible apps that I use regularly that I’d like to share and you have probably hear of them all or at least one.
The most used Bible app on my devices is YouVersion. And with recently achieving over 500,000,000 installs, I don’t know how anyone hasn’t heard of it. But I really enjoy the verse of the day videos that help set my mind for the day. There sometimes is an excerpt from a devotional plan that ends up in my list and I have quite a long list. But from these excerpts I have come to follow some really interesting people that have deepened my knowledge of God and expanded my thoughts. I’ll share those people in another post. YouVersion is free and you can connect with friends and family like with any social media app. With YouVersion, you’re not only carrying the Bible in your back pocket wherever you go, you are carrying multiple versions of scripture. You can even earn badges to help motivate you.
Abide is next on my list and I use this a lot. This app has a free trial version and you can still use it but to gain the full benefit from it is worth the $39.99/yr for the Premium version. With the Premium Abide app it gives you the options to listen to the meditation for 2, 5, 10, or 15 minutes. Abide offers meditations on just about any struggle or emotion you may be dealing with, grief, anxiety, healing, marriage, growing spiritually. There are meditations on love, money, forgiveness, blessing and my favorite is the sleep meditations. These sleep meditations put me to sleep and I usually have a hard time falling asleep. Abide offers options for these sleep meditations to run for 15, 30, 1 hour or 8 hours! I have a few people who have really soothing voices to whom I am partial. But now that I think about it, what’s it like to have a voice that puts people to sleep? LOL. Abide also has a place where you can journal your thoughts, you can add meditations to your favorites list, it keeps track of you history and you have the option to download as well.
FIrst 15 is another one that I found myself going to a lot as well. This daily devotional app starts with option to listen to the entire devotional or read it. They include a song that goes along with the devotional and of course scripture. A few months ago I realized that music wasn’t a part of my life like it was a few years ago. What I really like about First 15, is it introduces me to new artists and songs that I probably wouldn’t have picked up on just listening to the radio, which by the way, I don’t like like listening to, I find myself tuning it out. Too many commercials. There is a section that provides questions where you can meditate on the scripture and like most of these apps there is a community where you can leave comments, share thoughts and ask for prayer.
Christian Art is different. If you are into art this website or app connects a painting with scripture. This helps me since I lean on the visual side and visuals help me remember. You can subscribe and receive daily emails or download the app. Christian Art is based in the UK and is translated in Spanish and Dutch. And there is a section for you to comment and connect with a community.
Ok this last one isn’t really a devotional app, but it is one of my favorites, The Chosen. If you haven’t seen this yet, you gotta see it. The Chosen is a television series that is designed to bring viewers closer to God, “Come and See!” The app is free, to watch is free it’s all free. The series is created and directed by Dallas Jenkins and if you get the chance to listen to his testimony, it’s pretty amazing. This show isn’t to replace the Bible or it’s stories. There are some gaps in the Bible and Dallas has a team of people who help to keep the show true to the scriptures and historically factual to fill in the gaps. There have been some creative liberties taken, which are either humorous or very plausible as to what the times were like and how the disciples interacted with Jesus. Essentially the Bible is brought to life. For me it has caused me to read my Bible more and reread the stories. Jonathan Roumie who portrays Jesus, I have to remind myself, this is just an actor. But I can’t help but think this is how Jesus was here on earth. He was fully human and fully God, he laughed, he cried, he had struggles, he was human but God at the same time and Jonathan Roumie does an excellent job of communicating that. The cool part about the app is you can stream it to your TV with a streaming stick or you can watch it on any device, phone, tablet, laptop. Check it out if you haven’t already.
So if you haven’t heard of these five apps check ’em out. Share you favorite apps in the comments below. And as always if you like this post please like an share.
Memorize Monday, free coloring page – Psalm 31:24 -“Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.” The key word in this verse for me is HOPE. That is what the Kedge Anchor is about, hope. There is hope, Jesus is our only hope in this world. Hope gives encouragement. Anchor yourself in God’s word today, He will give you the strength you need if you place your hope in Him.
If today’s post has given you hope, please like and share. Perhaps you will be encouraging someone today.
The Kedge Anchor 
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