Life Ministries Today

10/28/2026

WHAT IF WE ARE WATCHING FOR JESUS TO RETURN BUT NOT WALKING CLOSELY WITH HIM TODAY?

There is considerable discussion today about world events, uncertainty, and the return of Jesus.

And Scripture certainly encourages us to remain watchful and prepared.

But I wonder if we sometimes become so focused on WHEN Jesus is coming that we neglect the beauty of knowing the One who is coming.

Jesus made an extraordinary promise:

“I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
— John 14:3

Notice those words.

“That where I am, there you may be also.”

The greatest promise of His return is not simply escaping the difficulties of this world.

It is being with Jesus Himself.

And here is something I continue to discover.

We don’t have to wait until Jesus returns to begin experiencing intimate fellowship with Him.

He has given us His Spirit.

He invites us to abide in Him.

He desires to express His life through us today.

Jesus said:

“Abide in Me, and I in you.”
— John 15:4

That invitation has profound implications for how we approach our everyday lives.

We can become so consumed with building careers, managing responsibilities, planning for the future, and navigating life’s uncertainties that our relationship with Jesus gradually becomes secondary.

We still believe in Him.

We may even be actively serving Him.

But are we genuinely enjoying His presence and allowing His life to shape how we live, work, and treat others?

Being ready for Jesus is not simply understanding that He is coming back.

It is living today with hearts increasingly surrendered to Him.

Allowing His Spirit to shape our decisions.

Learning to trust Him when circumstances are uncertain.

Loving others with the love He produces within us.

And finding our greatest satisfaction in knowing Him.

The Christian life is not merely preparation for a future encounter with Jesus. It is an invitation to experience His life and presence right now.

So here is a question I am asking myself:

If Jesus returned today, would He find me merely interested in His coming—or genuinely walking with Him, trusting Him, and allowing His life to be expressed through me?

We don’t know when Jesus will return.

But we do know what He invites us to do today.

Abide in Him.

The greatest preparation for seeing Jesus tomorrow is learning to walk closely with Him today.

10/27/2026

Don’t miss what this young lady has to say. Wonderful message and please share. 🙏❤️

10/27/2026

https://careyodum.substack.com/p/the-good-life-or-the-life-of-christ?r=12lq30&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

What if we spend our entire lives building a good life, only to discover that Jesus was offering us something infinitely greater?

10/27/2026

❤️ THE BRIDE OF CHRIST — A LIFE OF UNION, NOT SELF-EFFORT

There is something extraordinarily beautiful about being the Bride of Christ.

Jesus never intended for us to live the Christian life through our own strength. He invites us into something far greater — an intimate union with Himself.

“I am the vine, you are the branches… for without Me you can do nothing.” — John 15:5

Think about that.

A branch doesn’t struggle to produce fruit. It simply receives life from the vine.

Yet how often do we exhaust ourselves trying to become better Christians? Trying harder to love, forgive, obey, and be faithful.

But the Christian life was never meant to be lived independently of Christ.

Paul discovered this beautiful mystery:

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” — Galatians 2:20

As His Bride, we are not trying to earn the Bridegroom’s love. We already possess it!

We are learning to surrender, abide, and allow His life to flow through us.

And here is what makes this so extraordinary:

We don’t have to wait until heaven to experience union with Jesus. We can experience His presence, His love, and His resurrection life TODAY.

The Christian life isn’t about doing more for Jesus.

❤️ It’s about knowing Him more deeply and allowing Him to live His beautiful life through us.

He is the Vine. We are the branches.

His life is our life.

10/27/2026

WHEN SUCCESS BECOMES A SUBSTITUTE FOR JESUS

I’ve been thinking about something that challenges me personally.

In America, we spend much of our lives pursuing success, financial security, comfort, and independence.

We work hard to build lives where our needs are met, our futures are secure, and our families are comfortable.

There is nothing inherently wrong with these things.

But I wonder if, somewhere along the way, our pursuit of security can quietly replace our dependence upon Jesus.

I’ve witnessed something remarkable among Christians living in poverty and persecution in other parts of the world.

Many have very little of what we consider essential for a good life.

Yet some possess a joy, peace, and intimacy with Jesus that challenges everything our culture teaches us about happiness.

Their circumstances are difficult. Their needs are real. Their suffering should never be minimized.

But they remind me of something we can easily forget.

Having everything this world offers is not the same as having everything our souls need.

The Apostle Paul understood this.

He experienced both abundance and poverty, comfort and suffering.

Yet he wrote:

“I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” — Philippians 4:11

Paul’s contentment wasn’t determined by his circumstances.

His contentment was found in Christ Himself.

And that brings me to a question worth considering.

What if our greatest spiritual danger isn’t having too little, but becoming so comfortable with what we have that we no longer recognize our need for Jesus?

We can build successful careers, accumulate wealth, provide for our families, and live respectable lives while missing the extraordinary life Jesus invites us to experience.

A life where He is not simply part of our priorities.

He IS our life.

Jesus never promised that following Him would lead to worldly success.

He offered something infinitely greater.

Himself.

And when Christ becomes our greatest treasure, something beautiful happens.

We can enjoy success without being defined by it.

We can appreciate material blessings without depending upon them for our peace.

We can face uncertainty knowing our security rests in Someone who never changes.

The goal isn’t necessarily to have less. It’s to need nothing more than Jesus to be complete.

Perhaps the greatest measure of a successful life isn’t what we’ve accumulated.

Perhaps it’s how deeply we’ve come to know the One who gave us life in the first place.

“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” — Philippians 1:21

Jesus isn’t simply the source of a better life. He IS our life. ❤️

10/26/2026

10/26/2026

❤️ TODAY’S WALK WITH JESUS

Monday, October 26, 2026

JOY IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF TRIALS. JOY IS THE PRESENCE OF JESUS.

📖 Today’s Scripture

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.”
— James 1:2–3 (KJV)

❤️ Reflection

There is something extraordinary about what James tells us.

He doesn’t say to rejoice because life is easy.

He doesn’t say to rejoice because everything is going according to our plans.

He tells us to count it all joy when we encounter trials.

How is that even possible?

I believe the answer is found in the person of Jesus Christ.

You see, the world teaches us to pursue happiness by arranging our circumstances to our liking.

We want financial security, good health, comfortable relationships, and freedom from difficulties.

And there is certainly nothing wrong with being thankful for those blessings.

But what happens when those things are taken away?

What happens when life doesn’t unfold as we expected?

If our joy depends on our circumstances, our joy will rise and fall with those circumstances.

But Jesus offers something the world cannot give.

Himself.

Jesus said:

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
— John 16:33 (KJV)

Notice those two little words.

IN ME.

Jesus never promised us a life without suffering.

He promised us something infinitely greater.

His life within us.

And this is something I have come to understand through my own seasons of brokenness.

Some of the most difficult circumstances of my life became the very places where I discovered the sufficiency of Jesus in ways I had never experienced before.

Not because the circumstances were good.

Not because I suddenly understood everything.

But because those circumstances brought me to the end of trusting in myself.

And there I discovered that Jesus was enough.

❤️ Here is what I want us to understand today.

We don’t have to manufacture joy.

We don’t have to pretend that suffering doesn’t hurt.

We don’t have to force ourselves to feel happy when our hearts are breaking.

Our joy is not something we produce through greater determination. It is the fruit of His life within us.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…”
— Galatians 5:22 (KJV)

As we surrender our lives to Jesus and abide in Him, His joy becomes our joy.

And sometimes, it is in the darkest valleys that we become most aware of His presence.

James isn’t asking us to celebrate our suffering.

He is inviting us to recognize that even in suffering, Jesus is at work.

Our trials may shake everything around us.

But they cannot shake the One who lives within us.

🙏 Today’s Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You that my joy does not depend on everything going according to my plans. Forgive me for the times I have looked to my circumstances for what can only be found in You.

When trials come, draw my heart closer to You. Teach me to surrender rather than struggle in my own strength.

May Your peace, Your joy, and Your life be expressed through me, even in the most difficult circumstances.

I don’t need to understand everything.

I just need You.

Amen. ❤️

🌿 A Thought to Carry Today

The greatest blessing in our trials is not always that Jesus delivers us FROM them, but that we discover more deeply the One who walks WITH us through them.

And He is enough.

Always.

❤️ Jesus is not simply the source of our joy. He IS our joy.

10/18/2026

https://careyodum.substack.com/p/one-miracle-after-another-how-jesus-1ae?r=12lq30&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

When Jesus captures your heart, sharing Him becomes an expression of love rather than an obligation.

10/13/2026

❤️ **THE GREATEST LOVE STORY I COULD EVER TELL**

**The most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me is falling in love with Jesus.**

But it didn't happen the way you might expect.

It began in 2007, when brokenness brought me to the end of myself and I finally realized something that changed everything.

**I could not live this life in my own strength. I needed Jesus for everything.**

As I surrendered and began shifting my focus away from myself and the things of this world, something extraordinary happened.

Jesus began changing me.

His love kept growing within me until one day, I realized that love had completely consumed my heart.

I had fallen deeply in love with Jesus.

And nothing has ever been the same.

For nearly 18 years, I've felt compelled to share what Jesus is doing in my life. I never imagined I would become someone who writes about Him almost every day.

But His love is simply too beautiful to keep to myself.

Today, I'm beginning a new series on Substack:

**FALLING IN LOVE WITH JESUS — The Greatest Love Story I Could Ever Tell.**

This isn't about me. I'm not the hero of this love story.

**Jesus is.**

I'm sharing my journey because I know what it's like to believe in Jesus without experiencing the extraordinary intimacy of His love.

And I don't want anyone to miss what I discovered.

**The stakes are eternal. But the joy of knowing Jesus begins right now.**

I invite you to read Part 1. My prayer is that my story will point you toward the One who has completely captured my heart.

Because there is a world of difference between knowing about Jesus and falling in love with Him.

❤️ **And nothing in this world compares with Jesus. Nothing.**

👇 Read Part 1 here:

How brokenness led me to discover a love more beautiful and powerful than anything I had ever known.

10/12/2026

ARE YOU FLOWING IN THE RIVER OF LIFE—JESUS—OR THE RIVER OF DEATH—THE WORLD?

There are two currents flowing through this world.

One leads to eternal life in Jesus.

The other draws us toward a life independent of Him.

The dangerous thing about the world’s current is that it rarely looks dangerous.

It promises happiness through possessions, security through money, fulfillment through success, and identity through the approval of others.

I know that current well.

For much of my life, I believed in God, attended church, and thought I was following Jesus.

But my life was still largely centered on myself.

Then, through brokenness in 2007, I began surrendering my life to Jesus and setting my mind on Him.

And everything began to change.

I became captivated by Jesus. I fell deeply in love with Him.

I discovered that transformation doesn’t come from trying harder to resist the world. It comes from abiding in the One who is LIFE.

Jesus said:

“Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
— John 7:38

Today, my heart especially aches for those who are being carried along by the world’s current without recognizing where it leads.

This is why I share Jesus every day.

Not to judge anyone.

But because I don’t want anyone to miss eternity with Him.

The stakes are eternal.

And the answer has always been Jesus.

❤️ Which river is carrying your life today?