Welcome

Let’s face it, Gals. We love God. We want to know Him more. We want to grow in our relationship with Him, but, sometimes, we have to fight for focus. It’s a battle. It simply takes intentionality and being deliberate, doesn’t it? Especially now, in these days of new normal and resets and relearning.

We know the things. We know THAT we need to read our Bible and SHOULD spend time in prayer…we somewhat know what to do, or we’re learning how to do it. We simply just need help following through sometimes. Our intentions are good, but we get distracted. We are told to put some practices (disciplines) in place to help keep us accountable and to stay the course. We seek to incorporate tools, per se, that help us find our way. Devotions, reading plans, blogs and podcasts can be good, for example.

Because, hey - words matter. Written words matter. Spoken words, they matter. Even the words we think, matter. The written words and insight of others help us learn and maintain focus. They can challenge and inspire us. They can be really good. The words we choose to intake and listen to matter. ALOT. In fact, they color and shape the way we live our lives. BUT the promise we MUST hold onto is that THE Word (of God) matters most. THE Word of God, the Bible, is life. His very Word spoken to us and for us is a gift. If you don’t already know this, take my word for it. Please take my word for it and trust me. But don’t just trust me, see for yourself.

It’s noisy today, isn’t it? It’s loud and there is constant movement in our lives. We’re crazy busy, and many, MANY things compete for our attention.

That’s why I’m excited that you’re here and that you believe in this blog enough to find something helpful here. It’s so fun to see what was simply once a thought inside my head, a hope for one day, become a reality in God’s way and time and with the people He had in mind. My true hope is that this blog will be a place for you to slow down and exhale. That it will be a place for you to be encouraged and inspired, to learn, and to find practical ways to keep Jesus first in your everyday lives. We know that to keep our focus and fight through the noise, we MUST keep Jesus first. We simply must. We are so much better when we’ve been with Him…when we are filled up and our tanks are ready to pour out.

I love the fact that we have another way, another tool, to help us grow in our relationship with Christ. My prayer is that you will learn to live with God’s Word as the loudest voice in your life, louder than feelings and distractions. I want this “dream to reality” blog to be a contributor to hearing the voice of God and knowing His revelation to us and to learning from His Word. I want you to glean from this space and find it a safe place to consistently land. I don’t, however, want it to ever be a substitute for one-on-one time with God or a substitute for reading His Word. This space is meant solely to be a supplement to what you’re already doing in your time with Him. I so hope that you will know that it’s not about what we put here on the page, but who we point you toward. We want to make much of Jesus here. Period.

I truly hope that you learn to love God and His Word more as a result of stopping in here. When we know more fully who God is and who He is to us, we can embrace who WE truly are and rest in our true identity as His child. Girls, He speaks to His children. Every one of us. He teaches us – knowing what the Scripture says is not just for the educated or elite. We can hear from Him if we are His. Maybe He’ll use this landing space to speak to you. I hope so.

I’m so glad you stopped by and hope that you’ll pay us a regular visit. God has established a really great lineup of contributing writers, ready to put Good Words here. From time to time, you may even find out about what’s going on in Women’s Ministry and other happenings. Everything we do is motivated first out of our love for God and secondly out of love for you. You matter to us so much.

At "But First Jesus," I hope that you will find ways to fight for focus by quieting the noise, the movement, the busy and everything competing for our attention.

Welcome. Angie Gutshall