My Daily Bread

"And they that  know Thy name  will put their trust in Thee: for Thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee."  Psalm 9:10 Let's continue our study on knowing His name! Notice what this verse  is  saying: Only those who  know  His name (character, ways) will be able to put their trust in Him. Notice what it  doesn't  say: All who call themselves a Christian will put their trust in Him.  Or,  all who know  about  His name will put their trust in Him.  Can I just know that His name is Jesus  or Savior  or El Shaddai  and be able to put my trust in Him? Can you trust me because you know my name is Amy ? Or because my last name is Ferree ? Well, if you know my Dad's character, then you probably can safely assume I'm a little bit like him. That's what we do, right? "She's a Smith and those Smiths are GOOD people...." But how can you know that *I* am trustworthy? Simply by knowing m...

Knowing your Father produces Faith; your Father knowing you produces faith. Have you ever just struggled with doubt and unbelief?  I have. Not in who Jesus is; He is my father, my savior, my redeemer.  But my struggle is in Faith:  Will he do it for me? I know he can....but will He? Is it His will?  In Judges we see Caleb and his daughter Achsah. And I think my goodness... Achsah was just BOLD in her faith.   I mean, do any of us ask for something without the expectation that the conditions are favorable for us to receive it?  Don’t we usually have the expectation that our request is reasonable?  So when we see this environment—- we ask.   Then the first step of our faith is in the asking.  How many times have I refrained from even asking out of doubt and unbelief?  Now this is exempting those times of Crazy Faith, of course.  Achsah had her new husband ask her father for the land.  But then she went to ...

"And they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee: for Thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee."          Psalm 9:10 What's in a name? My name is legally Amy Rebekah Krupinski . This is my legal, married name. When I sign a legal document, that is the name I am legally required to sign. But before I was a Krupinski , I was a Ferree . That is my legal birth name. I was born into the Ferree family and carried that name legally for the first 22 years of my life. Just this week someone in church called me " Amy Ferr... Krupinski" and we all laughed. 19 years of marriage and I still am referred to as that   Ferree girl  or " Amy... Mike Ferree's daughter". Even Facebook knows me as Amy Ferree Krupinski  - that makes it's official :-) But which is it? Am I a Ferree OR a Krupinski? I'm both, of course. Becoming a Krupinski didn't rid me of my Ferree blood. So, when you call me by my first name, Amy, you get ALL ...

I am beginning to see this amazing picture of who the people of God are.   We are not a group of people who are full of all these amazing talents and gifts, or a group of people that are full of perfections and strengths chosen by God to do this important work.    No. I am seeing some plain, ordinary people who are full of faults sometimes and failings sometimes. We have messy pasts and messy lives.  So truly, it is not what God’s chosen people are bringing to the table, but it is what Jesus is bringing to the table .   So, we have been chosen to face circumstances and obstacles by this amazing, talented, gifted, powerful God.  He brings all of who he is to our table and nothing else is needed.   The reality is that he doesn’t even need a willing vessel. He could totally write us out of the picture. However, He chooses to use a willing vessel even though we are not needed in the equation.  He wants to use us; He the Creato...

I have been walking through the last few weeks realizing that God has a plan.  Not just a plan for the Big Picture - all is humanity - but a plan for me.  An intricate, detailed, strategic, beautiful plan.  It astonishes and amazes me that the God of - well everything- has me in His thoughts.  And that He took the time to plan me before the foundation of the world and He created a detailed story called “ Melissa ”.  Why would I think that? Oh there are so many reasons. I could fill up pages and pages of stories of why I think this. But let me trim it down to one story in my life and a tiny thread in the Bible:  I heard an older cousin and his wife singing at a home service for my sick, lost grandfather. He was very sick and would eventually die, and his family was trying to win him. I was 10. And I remember having the thought, while I watched them sing and play the guitar:  That is what I want. I would like to grow up and have a preaching, singing, g...

I was alone, sitting in my favorite chair in the den as I usually did that time of morning, with my study Bible open on my lap and a notebook at the ready beside me.  I was trying to prepare for another Sunday morning of teaching the adult Sunday School lesson at my dad's small Pentecostal church, but once again I was distracted by a reoccurring thought,  a cry I had been crying out to God for almost a year now: "Where were  You when I needed You?!" For almost a year now, I'd be in the middle of talking to Him about something totally unrelated and bam! Out of my mouth would fly that same question, my voice tinged with hurt, my heart full of pain.  It's like my mouth had a mind of it's own and that mind was driving my quiet time these days. I had come through one of the hardest times of my entire life and was safely on the other side of what we Pentecostals refer to as "the storm" or "the battle". And truly, it was a storm that raged ar...

Have you ever been desperate to hear from God, yet He seemed no where around? Have you cried out to Heaven from the very depths of your soul, only to hear the thump of your prayers hitting the ceiling? I read a chapter in Psalms a couple of days ago and really got to meditating on how the psalmists were really just like me: desperate, pleading, lonely, in pain, depressed, bewildered, persecuted, overwhelmed... Take Psalm 77 for instance: "I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice....in the day of my trouble I sought the Lord...my soul refused to be comforted ...I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed ...I am so troubled that I cannot speak ...Will the Lord cast off forever?...Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Or how about the songs of the anointed sons of Korah. We are all familiar with this one: As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.   Psalm 42:1 But keep reading: "My tears have been my meat d...

The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love:  therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.  Jeremiah 31:3-4 KJV I heard the words, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love,” this morning, so I looked it up and found this treasure along with it. His promise is clear. We, His children, though we may be in ruins now, and our adornment is that of weeping and mourning, He will yet again build us up. He will give us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness (Isaiah 61:3). And we will be, as Jeremiah has prophesied, adorned with tabrets and we’ll go forth dancing with those that make merry. Have a blessed Day! Amy # Hisloveiseverlasting # Hismerciesareneweverymorning

8 months ago, in October of 2017, just nine miles away from where I lay right this second, I wrestled with the Lord.  Honestly, I did not realize that's what I was doing until this morning, as I lay thinking about that weekend and let my mind filter back to those emotions. Suddenly, the Lord dropped that into my spirit; like Jacob, I had wrestled with God. Unlike Jacob, I did not get a verbal confirmation of a blessing that night...but soon after, things began to change. We were on a short getaway that evening, just my husband and I, with some of my family, and it had been so much fun. Lots of laughing, eating, some fishing, more laughing and eating.... But that night, as I hid under the covers with my cell phone (so Chad could sleep) scrolling through my Instagram feed, I felt a familiar feeling of dissatisfaction and frustration building. I didn't have many friends and family on Instagram so I had started following total strangers with similar interests - especially femal...