Editor’s Note: Today Emily Littlejohn shares a bit of her personal story as it connects to what we are learning from the first chapter of Malachi. We appreciate her testimony, her joy in the Lord, and her ability to see how God has worked many things together for her good and His glory. May you be encouraged — and ask yourself the same reflection questions about your own life.
In Malachi 1:1, God gave Malachi a burden to share God’s message of truth to His people. Describe a time in your life when you felt a burden from God to do or say something for Him. What happened, and how did you respond?
One specific time that comes to mind wasn’t significant. It didn’t change the minds of people toward God, but I feel it had a strong effect on their feelings toward me. I was at a work lunch with a few fellow employees. None other than Tim Tebow came up in conversation, and the group started commenting and poking fun of his prayer routine before a game. Something pushed me (against a challenging group) to speak up for God, to encourage them to look at a Christian quarterback as a far better influence than a number of the other players in the sport. The conversation shifted to a positive one, filled with questions and comments about Christianity and God. It wasn’t big, but maybe it had an impact on someone searching for truth.
The entire book of Malachi is formatted as a conversation between God and His people, where the people are constantly questioning the truth of what God is saying. Was there ever a time in your life when you questioned God, or questioned something in His Word? What was it, and how did you work through that with God?
I find myself questioning the “unfairs” in life. Abused children, starvation, car accidents, drownings, you name it — all the terrible things. My heart weighs heavy for the victims. I question why, of course, and my prayers tend to drift to these topics. Hearing His Word is the reminder we chose this life, we chose the earthly things, and this is all temporary. Prayer helps tremendously. God is good always, and always God is good.
Emily Littlejohn is a stay-at-home mom of four beautiful kiddos (Lucy 8, Jenna 5, Charley-girl 3, and Calvin 3). She and her husband Scott have been married 10 wonderful years. Hobby time is rare for Emily, but when she can, she loves to garden, cook, and take a vigorous spin class. She is so excited to deep deeper into God’s Word you all!
Malachi is kind of a love letter from God to His wayward children. How has God proved His love for you throughout your life? What specific situation stands out to you as a constant reminder that God loves you like a father loves his daughter?
How has God proved His love for me? It’s rather obvious. Look at my crazy family! All the good things in my life were not planned by me. In fact, I vocalized against several of them. God plopped my amazing husband in my life. We worked together and tried not to date for two years! I insisted I was going to wait to have our first kid, but God blessed us with pregnancy four months after getting married. After having our second daughter, we said we were done. I felt the need to be a stay-at-home mom, but I kept pushing against God and insisted I could manage a work/life balance. I couldn’t. I was horrible at it! Haha. Then God blessed us with a third (unplanned) pregnancy and gave us twins. I am now a happy stay-at-home mom because of this. I couldn’t afford to work! God has pushed against my stubborn ways to show His love for me, to give me what I needed.