Elevate Your Day with Andi and Brian Hale

From Making Change by Michelle Van Loon
Like many kids, I used to imagine that adulthood was a goal and maturity was a given. But now that I’ve been an adult for a while (a long while!), I’ve learned that maturity is not automatic, but must be cultivated. The word used in the New Testament for maturity is teleios, a common word that means finished, complete, or fully grown. It describes the purpose and shape of a Jesus follower’s journey with Him. It is not the name of its destination.
“ Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”Colossians 2:6-7 ESV
Paul’s words to his friends in the church in Colossae emphasize the importance of growing through challenges and trials. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the resurrected Jesus had brought radical change to those who were a part of this early church community. In addition to the stunning reality of radically changed lives, the church in Colossae was also dealing with the temptations to follow false teachers and the trials brought on by waves of persecution. Paul’s deepest desire for them – and us –was that we would plunge our roots deeply into Christ so we would not be swayed by our changing circumstances. He prayed our lives would be marked by gratitude – not as a performance, but as the overflow of our journey toward maturity in his company.
Even when our circumstances turn our expectations upside down and inside out, the God who loves us perfectly is at work cultivating maturity in our lives.
Prayer: When change threatens to uproot me, Lord, I ask that you help me to stay rooted and growing in maturity. Help me to trust you today. I thank you that in this always changing world, you never change. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

From Making Change by Michelle Van Loon
When I learned that my hairdresser was a hobbyist hibiscus breeder, I told him about the three neglected old hibiscus bushes that were on the property of our new home. The skeletal plants were nearly leafless, and I figured I’d need to dig them up and replace them. He urged me instead to lop off about two-thirds of their branches. “It might look like you killed them. Fertilize them well and watch what happens.”
He was right. It did look like I killed them after I first gave them a serious haircut with the hedge clippers. Sprinkling fertilizer around the base of the woody, shorn stumps seemed an exercise in futility. But within a few months, the trio of bushes were covered in green leaves and saucer-sized blooms.
When it seems as though our lives are undergoing radical pruning, all we can see are the places where good and promising things once existed. Pastor Warren Wiersbe said, “Your heavenly Father is never nearer to you than when He is pruning you.” Pruning is rarely pleasant, nor is it instantly beautiful or fruitful. It hurts.
“ I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ”John 15:1-2 ESV
We can trust that our Master Gardener is near, cultivating his goodness from the places in our lives that he’s currently pruning. But if your trust seems as sparse and barren as the branches on a blunt stub of a hibiscus bush after its been pruned, say so. Crying out for God’s help itself is an expression of trust, and is the place where new life and fresh growth begins.
Prayer: Father, the pruning that accompanies changes in my life is painful and confusing. I thought those areas were fruitful, and I’ll confess that I don’t understand why you’re doing what you’re doing right now. Please help me to discover you are near. I pray these things in the name of the one who is God-with-us, your Son Jesus.

From Making Change by Michelle Van Loon
In the days before readily available GPS navigation on our cell phones, I told my kids we’d be taking a quick run to the post office in our new town. A glance at the map told me the address was directly at the center of a spaghetti-bowl of hilly one-way streets. I was a veteran big city driver and figured the small suburban downtown area wouldn’t be a major challenge.
After more than a half hour of driving in circles around that up-and-down tangle of streets, stopping to ask for directions twice, I gave up and returned home. I never found the post office that day, though later I discovered I’d driven by it several times.
I relied on my earlier experience as a city driver to help me navigate my strange new location. That experience actually got in the way of me being able to make sense of what my eyes were seeing that day. I was so disoriented that after a while, I forgot what I was searching for.
Understandably, we’re prone to rely on our previous experience to navigate change in our lives. While that previous experience may be of value, it can also hinder us from being able to assess and respond to what is happening right now. We need a guide who knows the terrain, especially when it is uncharted territory for us.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ”John 10:27 ESV
In John 10, Jesus told his followers that there would be unhelpful or destructive people presenting themselves as caring guides who would lead them astray. He urged his followers to learn to listen to his voice. We can do that by engaging in regular Bible reading so we can learn to discern who God is and what he says, and by simple, conversational prayer. He will guide us step by step, even when it seems as though we are traveling without a map.
Prayer: Good Shepherd Jesus, I am disoriented by this strange new place in which I find myself. Please protect me from the other voices who are not guiding me in the way I should travel.  Please help me hear your voice clearly and follow you faithfully. 

From Making Change by Michelle Van Loon
When I was fired from a job I’d fought hard to keep, a friend reminded me that I should be prepared for grief to present itself as I processed the loss. And she was right. I spent some time telling myself it was all for the best. I found myself dealing with eruptions of frustration and anger as I replayed months of difficult inter-office politics where it seemed I lost too many hyper-political interoffice skirmishes with a difficult coworker. I grew depressed, and days of initial shock became weeks blanketed by a wooly, gray emotional fog. The rejections I received as I dutifully searched for a new job amplified my sadness.
While a job loss might be an easily-identifiable source of grief, I have discovered that every change – even a welcome one – carries with it some form of grief. For example, when a young adult child marries, you may love the partner they’ve chosen, and be overjoyed about the new family they’re forming, but find yourself unexpectedly aching with nostalgia as you come to terms with the reality that you’ve come to the end of an era in your family’s story.
For more than 10 years, I have walked alongside many who are moving into midlife. Many are caught off guard by the endings that often come at this time of life – empty nest, career shifts, changes in family life and status. It has been a privilege to help others recognize that our souls process change in much the same way we experience grief.
“ Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.”Job 13:15 ESV
When Job dealt with a breathtaking pile-up of loss, his confession of hope in God contained a frank acknowledgement that he was actively grieving all the ways his life had changed.
Reflect today on how changes you’ve experienced recently have elicited some form of grief response in your soul. These responses can include denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
Prayer: Unchanging Father, as I navigate this time of transition in my life, I am grieving a past I can not reclaim. Kindle within me a spark of hope as I continue to process these changes. I ask this in the name of your always faithful Son, Jesus.

From Making Change by Michelle Van Loon
“I’m so sorry to hear about your cancer diagnosis. How are you holding up?” I was grateful to have a moment of conversation with Tonya, a popular leader at church.
Tonya smiled a 1000-watt smile. “Praise the Lord! God is good!” She then told me about how she’d had an opportunity to share her faith with a radiologist tech at the hospital earlier that week.
I’d recently received a different, serious medical diagnosis, and had not responded with a 1000-watt smile like Tonya had. Frankly, I didn’t feel amazing. I’d logged some long, sleepless nights wrestling with God about what my future held and walked away from the conversation with Tonya wondering if there was something deficient in my faith.
While each of us responds to bad news differently, God is not looking for a spiritual performance from any of us. This is the antithesis of what God already knows is true about us. 2 Samuel 11-12 details King David’s sin against God, Bathsheba, her husband Uriah, and his people. Psalm 51 captures his prayer of confession. It also offers us a reminder that to stay connected to God in relationship, He requires complete honesty from us. 
“Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.”Psalm 51:6 ESV
These words were spoken in the context of confession of sin, but they apply just as powerfully to every aspect of our lives.
When we face the challenge of unwelcome change in the form of a scary diagnosis, a lost job, broken relationship, or anything that sends our lives in a difficult new direction, it takes real faith to tell the truth. If you are brimming with trust, rest in that confidence. And if you are shaken and shaky, offer yourself just as you are to God, and know that the truth is all he asks of you in that moment – and every moment.
Prayer: Lord, in this time of challenge in my life, I am disoriented and afraid. And by speaking that truth to you about myself, I recognize that I am taking a step toward learning to trust you as I am now in this difficult place. Please help me to grow in that trust, I pray, in the name of the One who made me and knows me better than I know myself.

From The Judas In Your Life by Dr Scott Silverii
After Jesus’ ascension, Peter addressed the Judas situation. He didn’t ignore it. Didn’t pretend it didn’t happen. But he also didn’t dwell on it. He acknowledged it, learned from it, and moved forward.
“In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and “‘Let another take his office.’”Acts 1:15-20 ESV
Notice Peter’s perspective: “This Scripture had to be fulfilled.” He saw Judas’ betrayal through the lens of God’s sovereignty. It wasn’t random. It wasn’t outside God’s plan. God used even betrayal to accomplish redemption.
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. ”Genesis 50:20 ESV
That doesn’t make betrayal okay. But it means God can redeem even the worst betrayal for His purposes. What someone meant for evil, God can use for good.
Peter didn’t let one betrayer stop the mission. “Let another take his office.” They replaced Judas and moved forward. One bad disciple didn’t derail Jesus’ plan.
Your betrayal doesn’t derail God’s plan for you either. The person who walked away? God will replace them. The relationship that ended? God will redeem it. The wound that scarred you? God will heal it.
Don’t camp at the site of your betrayal. Don’t build a monument to your pain. Acknowledge it. Learn from it. Let God heal it. Then move forward.
Jesus didn’t let Judas’ betrayal stop Him from loving the eleven. Peter didn’t let Judas’ betrayal stop him from leading the church. Paul didn’t let John Mark’s betrayal keep him from eventually restoring him.
Moving forward doesn’t mean forgetting. It means refusing to let the past define your future. You’ve been betrayed. But you’re not destroyed. God’s plan for your life is bigger than one person’s betrayal.
Declaration: “I am moving forward free. My past betrayal will not define my future. God is redeeming what was stolen. I refuse to camp at the site of my pain. I’m free.”
Prayer: “Father, thank You for using even betrayal for Your purposes. Heal my heart completely. Help me move forward without bitterness. Redeem what was stolen. Give me a future bigger than my past. I’m free. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

From The Judas In Your Life by Dr Scott Silverii
“Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. ”Matthew 26:50 ESV
Jesus called Judas “friend” in the moment of betrayal. Not “traitor.” Not “enemy.” Friend. Even as Judas handed Him over to be crucified, Jesus extended kindness.
That’s the level of forgiveness Jesus calls us to. Not because betrayers deserve it, but because unforgiveness destroys us more than it punishes them.
Forgiveness doesn’t mean:
What they did was okay
They don’t need to face consequences
You pretend it didn’t happen
You trust them immediately
You restore the relationship
Forgiveness means:
You release your right to revenge
You stop rehearsing the offense
You let God be the judge
You free yourself from bitterness
You choose healing over hatred
Unforgiveness is drinking poison and expecting your betrayer to die. It chains you to the past. Keeps the wound fresh. Gives your betrayer power over your present and future.
When you forgive, you’re not letting them off the hook—you’re taking yourself off the hook. You’re no longer bound to their sin. You’re free.
Jesus forgave Judas. Not because Judas repented (he didn’t). Not because the betrayal didn’t hurt (it did). But because forgiveness is who Jesus is.
And if we’re His followers, forgiveness must be who we are—even when it feels impossible. Especially when it feels impossible.
You can’t do it in your own strength. But the same Spirit who empowered Jesus to call Judas “friend” will empower you to forgive your betrayer.
Declaration: “I forgive my betrayer today. I release them to God. I will not be chained to bitterness. I am free. Forgiveness is my weapon against the past.”
Prayer: “Jesus, I need Your help to forgive. I can’t do this on my own. Give me Your heart. Help me release the offense. Break the chains of bitterness. Set me free through forgiveness. In Your name, amen.”

From The Judas In Your Life by Dr Scott Silverii
Judas didn’t betray Jesus with a curse. He betrayed Him with a kiss. The ultimate symbol of affection became the weapon of betrayal.
That’s how betrayal works. It disguises itself as love. It uses intimacy as a tool for harm. The closer the relationship, the more effective the betrayal.
Maybe your betrayal looked like love too. Sweet words while scheming behind your back. Smiles to your face, knives in your back. Public affection, private destruction.
“Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.” And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, “Rabbi!” And he kissed him. ”Mark 14:44-45 ESV
Jesus didn’t pull away from the kiss. He let Judas betray Him with affection. He called him “friend”
“Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. ”Matthew 26:50 ESV
Even in betrayal, Jesus maintained His character.
Here’s what destroys us: we replay the betrayal. We remember the kiss. We analyze every moment leading up to it. “How did I miss it? How could I have been so blind?” We blame ourselves for trusting. We vow never to trust again.
But that’s letting betrayal win twice—once when they hurt you, again when you close your heart.
Yes, be wise. Yes, have boundaries. Yes, learn discernment. But don’t let one Judas make you suspicious of everyone. Don’t let one betrayal make you incapable of love.
Jesus knew Judas would betray Him, yet He still loved the other eleven. One bad disciple didn’t make Him distrust all disciples. One betrayer didn’t make Him close His heart.
Learn from the pain. But don’t let it poison your future.
Declaration: “One betrayal will not define my capacity to love. I will be wise but not cynical. Discerning but not closed. I refuse to let betrayal steal my ability to trust again.”
Prayer: “Father, help me not replay the betrayal. Heal the wound so I don’t see Judas in everyone. Give me wisdom without cynicism. Help me trust again—wisely, carefully, but fully. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

At the Last Supper, Jesus dipped bread and handed it to Judas. In that culture, this was a sign of honor, friendship, and favor. Jesus gave Judas the honored portion—knowing Judas was about to betray Him.
“Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” ”John 13:26-27 ESV
Jesus loved His betrayer. Even as Satan entered Judas, Jesus extended kindness. He didn’t expose him publicly. Didn’t shame him. Didn’t curse him. He loved him.
This wrecks our human understanding. We want justice. Revenge. Exposure. We want our betrayers to suffer like we suffered. Jesus wanted His betrayer to repent.
Love doesn’t mean trusting someone who’s proven untrustworthy. Jesus didn’t make Judas His confidant. But He didn’t treat him with hatred either. He maintained dignity, kindness, and opportunity for repentance.
Your Judas might never repent. Mine didn’t. But your job isn’t to make them repent—it’s to love them anyway. Not trust them. Not restore the relationship. But love them.
Loving your betrayer doesn’t mean:
Pretending it didn’t hurt
Allowing continued access
Trusting them again immediately
Avoiding boundaries
It means:
Releasing bitterness
Praying for their repentance
Refusing revenge
Forgiving (even if they never ask)
Jesus loved Judas to the end. Not because Judas deserved it, but because love is who Jesus is. And if we’re His followers, love is who we must be—even toward those who betray us.
Declaration: “I choose to love my betrayer. Not because they deserve it, but because Jesus loved His. I release bitterness and embrace forgiveness. Love wins.”
Prayer: “Jesus, this is hard. I don’t want to love the person who hurt me. But You loved Judas. Help me do the same. Give me Your heart for my betrayer. I release revenge and choose love. In Your name, amen.”
 

Judas wasn’t an enemy. He was one of the twelve. He walked with Jesus for three years. Ate with Him. Served with Him. Witnessed miracles. Then he sold Him for thirty pieces of silver.
“Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.”Mark 14:10-11 ESV
Betrayal doesn’t come from strangers. It comes from friends. People you trusted. Loved. Invested in. Believed in. The closer the relationship, the deeper the wound.
Maybe you have a Judas. The friend who gossiped about you. The spouse who abandoned you. The business partner who stole from you. The church member who turned on you. The family member who chose sides against you.
Betrayal is one of the deepest human pains because it’s rooted in broken trust. You made yourself vulnerable, and they weaponized it. You gave them access, and they used it to harm you.
“(For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) ”John 6:64b ESV
Here’s what we learn from Jesus: He knew. John 6:64 says Jesus knew from the beginning who would betray Him. Yet He still chose Judas. Still served him. Still washed his feet. Still gave him chances to repent.
Jesus didn’t avoid betrayal. He walked through it. And His response teaches us how to handle ours.
You can’t control people’s choices. You can’t prevent betrayal. But you can control your response. Will you become bitter or better? Will you close your heart or trust God with the wound? Will you seek revenge or release it to God?
Betrayal is painful. But how you respond to it determines whether it destroys you or develops you.
Declaration: “I will not let betrayal make me bitter. I release my Judas to God. I choose forgiveness over revenge. I trust God to heal what people broke.”
Prayer: “Jesus, You understand betrayal. You were sold by a friend. Heal my heart. Help me forgive. Don’t let this wound make me hard. Keep my heart soft toward You even when people hurt me. In Your name, amen.”