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JoAnne Simmons

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Prepare Yourself for an Extraordinary Adventure! Every day when you wake up, ask yourself: Will today be ordinary or extraordinary? It doesn’t mean you have to have amazing plans for the day. Even if you feel like nothing cool is going on in your life (and even if super hard or sad things are happening), you can make each day extraordinary by putting your focus on the best place it can be—on God! Ask the heavenly Father to teach you more about Him as you read your Bible, pray, and worship Him throughout your day. Ask Him to help you build faith in Him that is big and strong. Ask Him to show you all the good things He wants you to do. As you pray this way every day, watch how God builds your faith and courage to do what He has planned for you. God wants you to have the best kind of life—the life He designed especially for you. To have an extraordinary adventure kind of life means choosing Him and all that He wants for you!

All God’s Greatness Praise the Lord! Praise God in His holy place! Praise Him in the heavens of His power! Praise Him for His great works! Praise Him for all His greatness! Psalm 150:1–2

Are you a morning person who wakes up with lots of energy? Or maybe it takes you awhile for your brain and body to switch out of sleep mode into wake-up mode? Whatever the case, one way to help get yourself running well in the morning is to choose extraordinary thoughts the moment you wake up—thoughts that worship God for who He is and all He has done. The book of Psalms is full of songs and prayers of praise to read and memorize and remember each day. Pray them back to God kind of like this. . . Dear God, I praise You! You are holy and so awesome and powerful! You created me and every good thing in this world. Everything You do is great! There is nothing You can’t do to help me and guide me and give me courage in this new day. Thank You for being so wonderful and loving me so well! Amen.

Extraordinary like Deborah Deborah, a woman who spoke for God, was judging Israel at that time. She would sit under the tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. And the people of Israel came to her to find out what was right or wrong. Judges 4:4–5

The Bible contains stories of many women you can look up to for examples of faith and ways God worked through their lives. You’ll find devotions about some of these women throughout this book. First, let’s talk about Deborah. She was the only woman to serve as a judge of the nation of Israel. That’s pretty cool! God used her to free His people from the control of evil King Jabin of Canaan. She sent for a man named Barak and told him the instructions God had given to defeat King Jabin’s army, which was led by a man named Sisera. Barak said to her, “I will go if you go with me. But if you do not go with me, I will not go.” And Deborah replied, “For sure I will go with you. But the honor will not be yours as you go on your way. For the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman” (Judges 4:8–9). Dear God, Deborah was an extraordinary leader to be the only female judge of the nation of Israel and willing to fight enemy armies. I know You can do great things through me and help me to be brave like Deborah too. Amen.

Raised to Life If then you have been raised with Christ, keep looking for the good things of heaven. Colossians 3:1

Have you been raised with Christ? What does that mean? you might wonder as you read this scripture. It means you are a Christian who believes in Jesus as your one and only Savior. It means you believe Jesus is God in human form, the Son whom Father God sent to live on earth and then die on the cross to take away your sin (the bad things you do that disobey God). Jesus did not stay dead but rose again. And when you believe in Him, it’s like you have been raised from the death that sin causes and you have the gift of forever life in heaven with Jesus. If you never have prayed a prayer of salvation, or if you simply want to tell God again that you believe, then pray something like this. . . Dear Jesus, I believe You are God, and You came to earth to teach us. Then You died to take away our sins and show us how much You love us. Then You rose again to life, and You make me rise to forever life because I trust in You as my one and only Savior. Thank You so much! Please help me to keep my mind always thinking about You and about heaven. Amen.

The Very Best Hero The one who says he belongs to Christ should live the same kind of life Christ lived. 1 John 2:6

When you look up to someone, like a famous athlete or amazing astronaut or cool celebrity, you admire certain things about who that person is and what they do. Wanting to follow and be like them might help give you courage and a good goal for your life. But to have a truly extraordinary life means you choose to look up to God as your very best hero, above and beyond all others. God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to be a human being just like all of us and to be our example for living the best, most extraordinary, most courageous kind of life. And how do we do that? By reading and studying God’s Word to keep learning more and more about who God is and how Jesus lived. Dear God, I want You to be my very best hero and Your Son, Jesus, to be my perfect example of how to live. Please help me to love learning and growing in You and Your ways. Amen.

Sing! Sing to the Lord a new song. Let all the earth sing to the Lord. Sing to the Lord. Honor His name. Make His saving power known from day to day. Psalm 96:1–2

Singing your favorite worship songs in your mind or out loud as you wake up is another great way to choose extraordinary and boost your courage for each new day. It’s important to fill your mind with the right kind of music. Many songs with lyrics that are not about God can be just for fun and totally okay to enjoy! Sadly, though, when some songs of this world repeat over and over in your brain, they can influence you more than you realize—and end up being really bad for you. So the best songs to focus on are those about God that remind you how awesome He is and how much He loves you and wants to help you. Dear God, thank You for the gift of music in this world! Please help me to love the music and songs that make me think of You most of all. Amen.

The Most Extraordinary Book God’s Word is living and powerful. Hebrews 4:12

God’s Word, the Bible, is the most extraordinary book of all time. It’s not a book to read once and put back on the shelf; it’s a constant, living guide for your life. God uses all of it to teach you and guide you in everything. Read what 2 Timothy 3:15–17 says: “You have known the Holy Writings since you were a child. They are able to give you wisdom that leads to being saved from the punishment of sin by putting your trust in Christ Jesus. All the Holy Writings are God-given and are made alive by Him. Man is helped when he is taught God’s Word. It shows what is wrong. It changes the way of a man’s life. It shows him how to be right with God. It gives the man who belongs to God everything he needs to work well for Him.” Dear God, I know Your Word isn’t just for men but for all people, and that means I’m included. Help me to love and learn from Your extraordinary living Word and to be guided by it every single day. Amen.

Extraordinary Makeover Do not act like the sinful people of the world. Let God change your life. First of all, let Him give you a new mind. Then you will know what God wants you to do. And the things you do will be good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2

God wants to give you an extraordinary makeover when you trust in Jesus as your Savior and choose to follow Him. He wants to change your life and your mind in the best kind of way! Ask Him every day to help you not to act like the sinful people of this world. Ask Him to give you a mind like His, to help you see things the way He does and do the things He wants you to do. Ask Him to give you love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Ask Him to help you grow in grace and truth and to help you serve and care for others so that others will want to know Him as Savior too! Dear God, please give me the new life and mind You want for me, a life and mind that match up with Yours. Amen.

Extraordinary Shine “You are the light of the world. You cannot hide a city that is on a mountain. Men do not light a lamp and put it under a basket. They put it on a table so it gives light to all in the house. Let your light shine in front of men. Then they will see the good things you do and will honor your Father Who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14–16

If you’ve trusted Jesus as your Savior, you have a beautiful shine to you because of God’s Holy Spirit living in you. And you don’t ever want to hide that shining light. Like this scripture says, you don’t turn on a lamp and then hide it under a basket. That’s silly. You should do good things with your life that bring honor to God and tell people why you do them—to praise and worship God and to share His love with others. Through your shine, let others see God’s great love and His power to save people from sin. Dear God, please help me keep on shining. I don’t ever want to hide my light! Amen.

All Your Heart, All for God Whatever work you do, do it with all your heart. Do it for the Lord and not for men. Remember that you will get your reward from the Lord. He will give you what you should receive. You are working for the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23–24

You probably get told to “do your best” a lot, right? Like when you’re doing schoolwork or chores, playing sports, or doing other activities. But maybe sometimes you wonder why you should. Maybe you feel tired and don’t see why it matters whether you do a good job or not. Maybe it’s hard for you to set good goals and meet them. In those times, remember this scripture from Colossians 3. Focus on working hard and doing your best to make God happy. Think of everything you do with the abilities He has given you as a way to honor and worship Him. That will motivate you like nothing else can, especially when you remember that God loves to watch and reward you in all kinds of ways, both here on earth and forever in heaven. Dear God, remind me why I should work hard and do my best. It’s because everything I do is for You! Pleasing You should be my motivation in everything. Sometimes doing my best just seems hard, so please help me. Amen.

Extraordinary like a Young Servant Girl Naaman the captain of the army of the king of Syria was an important man to his king. He was much respected. . .but he had a bad skin disease. Now the Syrians had gone out in groups of soldiers, and had taken a little girl from the land of Israel. She served Naaman’s wife. And she said to her owner, “I wish that my owner’s husband were with the man of God who is in Samaria! Then he would heal his bad skin disease.” 2 Kings 5:1–3

You would think a respected and important army captain might not listen to a simple young servant girl from Israel, but Naaman did. Because of what she said, he was willing to go to the man Elisha, who was a prophet of our one true God, to see if his bad skin disease could be healed. If you read the whole story, you will find that Naaman was healed and then he believed in God alone! The servant girl was brave to speak up and share her faith in God. She trusted that He had the power to heal through His prophet Elisha. Dear God, help me to be brave like the servant girl who spoke up to share her faith with Naaman. Thank You for healing Naaman and showing Your power and bringing more people to great faith in You! Amen.

Deep Roots As you have put your trust in Christ Jesus the Lord to save you from the punishment of sin, now let Him lead you in every step. Have your roots planted deep in Christ. Grow in Him. Get your strength from Him. Let Him make you strong in the faith as you have been taught. Your life should be full of thanks to Him. Colossians 2:6–7

The deeper a plant’s roots go, the stronger it is. And the deeper you grow roots into Jesus, the stronger you are too! Learn from Jesus and follow His ways, and thank God every day for His many blessings. Dear God, please help my roots grow so deeply into You that my faith becomes extraordinarily strong. Amen.

Extraordinary Patience Give your way over to the Lord. Trust in Him also. And He will do it. He will make your being right and good show as the light, and your wise actions as the noon day. Rest in the Lord and be willing to wait for Him. Psalm 37:5–7

Have you ever watched a toddler throw a total fit because they couldn’t wait for even just a minute to get what they wanted? No matter how old we get, sometimes we all feel like throwing a fit like that when we’re waiting. Having patience can be really hard. We need God’s kind of patience, and we need to ask Him to give it to us. Ask Him to help you want His timing and schedule more than your own. And ask Him what good things He’d like you to do during wait times. Dear God, I sure don’t always have patience, so please help me to know how to wait well. Help me to want things to happen in Your perfect timing instead of my own. Amen.

God’s Great Voice The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of shining-greatness thunders. The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is great. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. . . . The voice of the Lord sends out lightning. The voice of the Lord shakes the desert. Psalm 29:3–5, 7–8

Think of the loudest voice you’ve ever heard. Maybe it’s yours when you’re cheering on your favorite team! But the loudest voice in all the world can never have power like God’s does. Let this scripture from Psalm 29 encourage you. Read it, remember it, and trust in it—and let it grow your faith in our extraordinary God. With just His voice He can say or do anything at all. No matter what is going on in the world, God is always in control, always able to use His voice to help and rescue in the good ways He chooses. Dear God, remind me of the power of Your incredible voice that is able to do anything at all! Amen.

God Lives in You We have seen and are able to say that the Father sent His Son to save the world from the punishment of sin. The person who tells of Him in front of men and says that Jesus is the Son of God, God is living in that one and that one is living by the help of God. We have come to know and believe the love God has for us. God is love. If you live in love, you live by the help of God and God lives in you. 1 John 4:14–16

What are you feeling scared of or worried about today? There are so many hard and sad and scary things in this world, but thankfully, you are never left to face any of them alone! When you believe that Jesus is the one true Savior and the Son of God, then God is living in you through His Holy Spirit, and you are living with His constant love and help. So cool! Dear God, I believe in Jesus as my Savior, and so I need to remember that You are with me always to help with any hard thing. Sometimes I forget, and I’m sorry. Please fill me up with awesome courage as I come to trust that You live in me and never leave me. Amen.

Extraordinary Encouragement Let us hold on to the hope we say we have and not be changed. We can trust God that He will do what He promised. Let us help each other to love others and to do good. Let us not stay away from church meetings. Some people are doing this all the time. Comfort each other as you see the day of His return coming near. Hebrews 10:23–25

The Bible talks a lot about encouragement—we need it from God and from other Christians, and we need to share it with others too. Do you see the word courage within the word encouragement? Not only does encouragement help you feel better when you’re sad or stressed or scared, but it also helps you to be brave because it reminds you that you have people in your life supporting you and the God of the whole universe loving you and taking care of you. So surround yourself with people who encourage you in God’s love and in His ways, and make sure you’re always spreading good encouragement too! Dear God, please give me plenty of encouragement in my life. And please help me to pass it on to everyone who needs it. Amen.

No One Else like God There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord. And there are no works like Yours. All the nations You have made will come and worship before You, O Lord. And they will bring honor to Your name. For You are great and do great things. You alone are God. Teach me Your way, O Lord. I will walk in Your truth. May my heart fear Your name. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You with all my heart. I will bring honor to Your name forever. For Your loving-kindness toward me is great. Psalm 86:8–13

Read this psalm and then read it again as a prayer of praise to God from your own heart and mind. Sing it to your own tune if you want. It is a psalm describing how extraordinary and unique God is. No one else is like Him, and He deserves every bit of your respect and your attention and your praise! Dear God, You are so awesome and so good to me. Only You are the one true God, and I am so thankful to know You and be loved by You! I love You too, and I want to follow and worship You forever. Amen.

God’s Plans The Lord brings the plans of nations to nothing. He wrecks the plans of the people. The plans of the Lord stand forever. The plans of His heart stand through the future of all people. Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord. Happy are the people He has chosen for His own. Psalm 33:10–12

Are you ever scared that someone might have bad plans to embarrass you or bully you or hurt you in some way? Hopefully not, but if you ever do, then remember this scripture from Psalm 33. God wrecks the plans of people if He wants to. He can wreck any bad plan that someone might have against you. And if He does allow something bad to happen to you, He has plans to make you stronger because of it and turn it into something good instead. Romans 8:28 promises, “God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are chosen to be a part of His plan.” Dear God, I believe You can wreck any bad plan or turn it into good in some extraordinary way that only You can bring about. Your plans are always the best, and I trust You! Amen.

A Hungry Widow Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Get up and go to Zarephath. . . . I have told a woman there, whose husband has died, to feed you.” So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. 1 Kings 17:8–10

When the prophet Elijah found the woman, just like God told him to, she said, “I have no bread. I only have enough flour in the jar to fill a hand, and a little oil in the jar.” She was sure that she was about to make her very last tiny meal for her and her son and that they would soon starve to death. But “Elijah said to her, ‘Have no fear. . . . Make me a little loaf of bread from it first, and bring it out to me. Then you may make one for yourself and for your son. For the Lord God of Israel says, “The jar of flour will not be used up. And the jar of oil will not be empty, until the day the Lord sends rain upon the earth.”’ So she went and did what Elijah said. And she and he and those of her house ate for many days. The jar of flour was not used up, and the jar of oil did not become empty. It happened as was spoken by the word of the Lord through Elijah” (1 Kings 17:12–16). Dear God, even when things seem hopeless, remind me that You have the power to provide in extraordinary ways. Amen.

Holy, Holy, Holy I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and honored. His long clothing spread out and filled the house of God. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings. With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. One called out to another and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of All. The whole earth is full of His shining-greatness.” Isaiah 6:1–3

In this scripture, the prophet Isaiah is describing a vision he had of God, sitting on His throne with angels called seraphim surrounding Him and worshipping Him. Do you know what it means to call God holy? It means to lift Him high above all others, calling Him perfect and worthy of total devotion—giving Him all your attention. Whatever is going on in your life, take time each day to stop and think about God’s holiness and praise Him for it. He is above all and totally perfect and awesome, and He loves you and cares about every detail of your life. That is an extraordinary blessing to be grateful for! Dear God, You are holy, holy, holy! I’m amazed by You and grateful for You! Amen.