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About Katara Patton

Katara Patton is the author of five books: Successful Mothers of the Bible, Successful Women of the Bible, Successful Leaders of the Bible, The Parables of Jesus Devotional Coloring Book (all published by Hachette/Faith Words), and Inspiration for Christian Teen Girls: A Weekly Devotional & Journal (published by Callisto Media/Rockridge Press). She and her husband, Derrick, reside on the South Side of Chicago with their daughter.

A Prayer for God’s Will

By |2024-12-05T12:20:38-05:00December 5th, 2024|

As a young believer in Jesus, I picked up my new devotional Bible and read a familiar Scripture: “Ask and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7). The commentary explained that what we really should be asking God for is our will to line up with His. By seeking for His will to be done, we would be assured that we’d receive what we asked for. That was a new concept for me, and I prayed for God’s will to be done in my life.

Later that same day I became surprisingly excited about a job opportunity I’d already turned down in my mind, and I was reminded about my prayer. Perhaps what I didn’t think I wanted was actually a part of God’s will for my life. I continued to pray and eventually accepted the job.

In a much more profound and eternal moment, Jesus modeled this for us. Before His betrayal and arrest, which led to His crucifixion, He prayed: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Christ’s prayer was filled with anguish and agony as He faced physical and emotional pain (v. 44). Yet He was still able to “earnestly” pray for God’s will to be done.

God’s will in my life has become my ultimate prayer. This means I may desire things I didn’t even know I wanted or needed. The job I originally hadn’t wanted turned out to be the beginning of my journey in Christian publishing. I believe God’s will was done.

God Sees You

By |2024-11-10T01:33:08-05:00November 10th, 2024|

“Get down!” my friend said firmly to her son after he climbed onto the church pew and waved his hands. “I want the pastor to see me,” he innocently replied. “If I don’t stand up, he won’t see me.”

While standing on the pews is probably not encouraged in most churches, my friend’s son had a good point. Standing and waving his hands was certainly one way to be seen and to capture the pastor’s attention.

When we’re trying to get God’s attention, we don’t have to worry about being seen by Him. God sees each of us all the time. He’s the same One who revealed Himself to Hagar when she was probably at the lowest, loneliest, most frustrating time in her life. She’d been used as a pawn and given to Abram by his wife, Sarai, to produce a son (Genesis 16:3). And when she did get pregnant, Abram allowed his wife to mistreat Hagar: “Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled her” (v. 6).

The runaway slave found herself alone, pregnant, and miserable. Yet in the midst of her desperation in the wilderness, God compassionately sent an angel to speak to her. The angel told her that God had “heard of [her] misery” (v. 11). She responded by saying, “You are the God who sees me” (v. 13).

What a realization—especially in the midst of the wilderness. God saw Hagar and had compassion. And no matter how tough things are, He sees you.

Pray Always

By |2024-10-11T02:33:11-04:00October 11th, 2024|

I got an 84 on the test!

I felt my teen’s excitement as I read her message on my phone. She’d just started attending classes at a high school and was using her phone during lunch. My mama heart leaped, not just because my daughter had done well on a challenging test, but because she was choosing to communicate it to me. She wanted to share her good news with me!

Realizing that her text had made my day, I later thought about how God must feel when I reach out to Him. Is He as pleased as I was when I talk to Him? Prayer is how we communicate with God and something we’re told to do “continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Talking with Him reminds us that He’s with us through the good and the bad. Sharing our news with God, even though He already knows all about us, is helpful as it shifts our focus and helps us think about Him. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast [fixed on you], because they trust in you.” We have peace awaiting us when we turn our attention to God.

Regardless of what we face, may we continually speak with God, or keep in touch with our Creator and Savior. Whisper a prayer and remember to rejoice and “give thanks.” After all, Paul says, this is “God’s will” for us (1 Thessalonians 5:18). 

The Ups and Downs of Life

By |2024-09-21T02:33:25-04:00September 21st, 2024|

A Facebook memory popped up, showing me a picture of my triumphant five-year-old when she’d won a fun and competitive game of Chutes and Ladders. I’d tagged my brother and sister in the post because we’d often played this board game when we were kids. Chutes and Ladders is based on a game that’s been played for centuries, helping people learn to count and providing the thrill of being able to climb a ladder and win the game by getting to 100 the fastest. But watch out! If you land on spot 98, you slide far down the chute, delaying—or even prohibiting—victory.

Isn’t that just like life? Jesus lovingly prepared us for the ups and downs of our days. He said we’d experience “trouble” (John 16: 33), but He also shared a message of peace. We don’t have to be shaken by the trials we face. Why? Christ has overcome the world! Nothing is greater than His power, so we too can face whatever comes our way with “the mighty strength” He’s made available to us (Ephesians 1:19).

Just like in Chutes and Ladders, sometimes life presents a ladder allowing us to happily ascend and other times we tumble down a slippery slide. But we don’t have to play the game of life without hope. We have the power of Jesus to help us overcome it all.

Help Each Other

By |2024-08-17T02:33:21-04:00August 17th, 2024|

When the basketball team from Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) took to the floor for the college basketball tournament, the fans in the stands cheered for the underdog squad. The team hadn’t been expected to make it past the first round, but they did. And now they heard their fight song blaring from the stands though they didn’t have a band with them. The University of Dayton band had learned FDU’s song minutes before the game. The band could have simply played songs they knew, but they chose to learn the song to help another school and another team.

This band’s actions can be seen to symbolize the unity described in Philippians. Paul told the early church at Philippi—and us today—to live in unity, or of “one-mind” (Philippians 2:2) particularly because they were united in Christ. To do this, Paul encouraged them to give up selfish ambition and consider the interests of others before their own.

Valuing others above ourselves may not come naturally, but it’s how we can emulate Christ. Paul wrote, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves” (v. 3). Instead of focusing only on ourselves, it’s better to humbly look “to the interests of . . . others” (v. 4).

How can we support others? By carefully considering their interests; learning their fight songs or whatever they might need.

Learning from Each Other

By |2024-06-26T02:33:34-04:00June 26th, 2024|

Years before Zoom was an accessible communication tool, a friend asked me to join her on a video call to discuss a project. Through the tone of my emails, she could tell I was baffled, so she suggested I find a teenager to help me figure out how to set up a video call.

Her suggestion points to the value of intergenerational relationships. It’s something observed in Ruth and Naomi’s story. Ruth is often celebrated for being a loyal daughter-in-law, deciding to leave her land to accompany Naomi back to Bethlehem (Ruth 1:16-17). When they arrived in the town, the younger woman said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick the leftover grain [for us]” (2:2). She helped the older woman, who then helped the younger woman marry Boaz. Naomi’s advice for Ruth prompted Boaz to take action in purchasing her deceased in-laws’ property and to take her “as [his] wife” (4:9-10).

We certainly respect the advice of those who share their seasoned wisdom with younger generations. But Ruth and Naomi remind us that the exchange can go both ways. There’s something to be learned from those younger than us as well as those who are older. Let’s seek to develop loving and loyal intergenerational relationships. It will bless us and others and help us learn something we don’t know.

Give Thanks to God

By |2024-06-06T02:33:21-04:00June 6th, 2024|

My friend hurried from her stressful job at the hospital, wondering what she would prepare for dinner before her husband returned from his equally demanding job. She had made chicken on Sunday and served leftovers on Monday. Then, they had yet another round of chicken—this time baked—on Tuesday. She found two pieces of fish in the freezer, but she knew the fillets weren’t her husband’s favorite. Not finding anything else she could prepare in just a few minutes, she decided the fish would have to do.

As she placed the dish on the table, she said somewhat apologetically to her husband who had just arrived home: “I know this isn’t your favorite.” Her husband looked up and said, “Honey, I’m just happy we have food on the table.”

His attitude reminds me of the importance of being grateful and thankful for our daily provisions from God—whatever they are. Giving thanks for our daily bread, or meals, models Jesus’ example. When He ate with two disciples after His resurrection, Christ “took bread, gave thanks, [and] broke it” (Luke 24:30). He thanked His Father as He had earlier when he had fed the five thousand with five “loaves and two small fish” (John 6:11).

When we give thanks for our daily meals and for other provisions, our gratitude reflects Jesus’ ways and honors our heavenly Father. Let’s give thanks to God today.

Beauty in Place of Soil

By |2024-05-26T02:33:17-04:00May 26th, 2024|

One evening I noticed neat rows of soil in a vacant lot near my home. Each row contained small green leaves with tiny buds peeking out. The next morning, I stopped in my tracks when I saw a patch of beautiful red tulips sprouting in the lot.

The previous fall, a group had planted one hundred thousand bulbs in empty lots throughout the South Side of Chicago. They chose red to symbolize how redlining (lending discrimination by banks) had impacted neighborhoods where primarily minorities lived. The tulips symbolized the houses that could have been in those lots.

God’s people have endured many challenges—from being exiled from their homelands to discrimination like redlining. Yet, we can still find hope. Isaiah reminds Israel during a time of exile that God would not leave them. God would give them a “crown of beauty” in place of ashes. Even the poor would receive good news (v. 1). God promised to exchange despairing spirits with a “garment of praise.” All of these images evoke His splendor and would bring joy to the people, who would now be “oaks of righteousness” instead of dejected exiles (v. 3).

Those tulips also show that God can create splendor from dirt and discrimination. I look forward to seeing the tulips each spring, and more importantly renewed hope in my neighborhood and other communities.

Pull the Weeds of Worry

By |2024-04-27T02:33:08-04:00April 27th, 2024|

After burying a few seeds in a planter in my backyard, I waited to see the results. Reading that the seeds would sprout within ten to fourteen days, I checked often as I watered the soil. Soon I saw a few green leaves pushing their way out of the soil. But my bubble burst quickly when my husband told me those were weeds. He encouraged me to pull them quickly so that they wouldn’t choke the plants I was trying to grow.

Jesus also told of the importance of dealing with intruders that can impede our spiritual growth. He explained a portion of His parable this way: when a sower cast his seeds, some “fell among thorns . . . and choked the plants” (Matthew 13:7). Thorns, or weeds, will do just that to plants—stop their growth (v. 22). And worry will surely stunt our spiritual growth. Reading Scripture and praying are great ways to grow our faith, but I’ve found I need to watch out for the thorns of worry. They’ll “choke” the good word that has been planted in me, making me focus on what could go wrong. 

The fruit of the Spirit, found in Scripture, includes such things as love, joy, peace (Galatians 5:22). But in order for us to bear that fruit, in God’s strength we need to pull any weeds of doubt or worry that may distract us and cause us to focus on anything other than Him.

Courage in Christ

By |2024-03-12T02:33:27-04:00March 12th, 2024|

Near the dawn of the nineteenth century, Mary McDowell lived worlds apart from the brutal stockyards of Chicago. Although her home was just twenty miles away, she knew little about the horrific labor conditions that prompted workers in the stockyards to strike. Once she learned of the difficulties faced by them and their families, McDowell moved in and lived amid them—advocating for better conditions. She ministered to their needs, including teaching children at a school in the back of a small shop.

Standing up for better conditions for others—even when not directly impacted—is something Esther did as well. She was the queen of Persia (Esther 2:17) and had a different set of privileges than her Israelite people who’d been dispersed throughout Persia as exiles. Yet Esther took up the cause of the Israelites in Persia and risked her life for them, saying, “I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish” (4:16). She could have remained silent, for her husband, the king, didn’t know she was Jewish (2:10).  But, choosing not to ignore her relatives’ pleas for help, she worked wisely and courageously to reveal an evil plot to destroy the Jews.

We may not be able to take on massive causes like Mary McDowell and Queen Esther, but may we choose to see the needs of others around us and use what God has provided to help them.

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