My Daily Bread

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...