It’s the not fun moments in life that can define us for the better.

November is a month of giving thanks for Seele.

SEELE’s Editor shares that we can take away dedication and duty from the life of Queen Elizabeth II.

SEELE’s editor unpacks how at times we’re both inconvenienced and the inconveniencer.

Taken from "Firstfruits," by Brian Simmons and Gretchen Rodriguez. In the topic of reconciliation, both unpack how God desires to often bring people back together, especially loved ones.

In order to get back into the swing of things and move in this new season, offense has to go. It’s not helpful and it’s quite the distraction.

Discernment is a gift from God. It’s the ability to recognize something, to distinguish if something is or someone is good, bad, honest, worth being connected to with the senses or with intuition. While Jesus placed Himself in situations that ultimately led to the cross, we humans are given discernment by God to protect us from “unnecessarily” situations.

At some point in a person’s life, Jesus makes Himself known to people. That can be through the kindness, generosity and love of others, when someone tells us about the gift of salvation, when we’re forgiven, when we go through trials, or through direct encounters. Brian Simmons and Gretchen Rodriguez point out how Jesus’s glory is revealed to the nations, and one way is through us in how we love others.

SEELE Editor Ally unpacks Daniel’s standards and willingness to draw a line and not eat tainted food. It’s when Daniel showed his resolve to be committed to God that God then moved on Daniel’s behalf and gave him favor. Where is God looking to see if you’ve drawn a line(s), to live according to His standards, so that He can grant you more favor in life?

If God is for us, who can be against us. Writers Brian Simmons and Gretech Rodriguez pour out how God wants His children to realize that we are made powerful in Him, to be the best version of ourselves.

Whispers writers Brian Simmons and Gretchen Rodriguez share how spending time with God gives strength for life’s challenges.

Writers Brian Simmons and Gretchen Rodriguez share from a divine voice how in our pain, God wants us to find him, so that He can give perspective and healing.

With her poetic language, SEELE contributor Oboitshepo Tladi continues our theme of: “having a marriage character before marriage.” Marriage is a ministry, a calling to shine the light of Jesus to your partner and to those around you. It’s also an inheritance, a blessing, and a walking into new territory of richness from the Lord, to receive all that He has for you and your spouse.

Continuing our theme of: “having a marriage character before marriage,” we see that there are things we can get sorted in our singleness before marriage. If kindness is one of the things that men notice in women, then it would behoove single women to be kind before marriage, to be kind to friends, coworkers, family, and strangers.

In order to have a fulfilling life, the most important decision that any one of us can make is to choose to follow Jesus, and the second most important decision we can ever make in life is who we choose to marry. Continuing our theme of: having a marriage character before marriage, we see and need to understand that it’s imperative to let our triune God work on our issues and our character so that we can be a good husband- or a good wife.

The month of May is a focus on marriage and what it means from a Biblical standpoint. Last year the theme was “God’s purpose for marriage,” focusing on being in the act of marriage. This year, I want to focus the Friday Posts on having a marriage character before marriage, more specifically, what it means to be a wife or husband before you are a wife and husband. In order to have a thing, we must be the thing before it is truly manifested in our lives.

Though women’s month is over, I have one more woman to highlight: Mary Magdalene. She symbolizes for women what Jesus can do for us if we let Him into our brokenness.

Read today’s Friday Post, on an incredible Father-daughter story of a woman who was committing adultery but she met God, Who didn’t meet her with condemnation but gently addressed her sin.

“Women are the sex that is chased and desired by men, it’s natural for us to relinquish ourselves and our needs with men. When we don’t have a firm footing in our own identity, we can give away ourselves, we give away too much of our power. Sometimes we do it because we never had a guy pursue us so we latch on, or because of daddy issues, or because we’re extremely broken by life, or because we have low self-esteem. But, when we do this with men who aren’t good, who aren’t surrendered to Jesus and walking with Holy Spirit to do life, it’s a very dangerous thing, because as Lizzo points out, “when it’s time they often let us down.”

Have you ever wanted something so bad you ache for it? And even when you get to the point where you accept not having it, you find yourself to right back at that aching desire of wanting it? Hannah wanted to be a mother and endured ridicule to the point of her mental and physical health being on the line, but instead of retaliating, she turned to the Lord her God. It's a practical life application for us all in 2021 to remember.

This week Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and reminded me that God is my ezer kenegdo, and that He, my Daddy, has got me in His hands- just like the father in this photo.

The Bible is very clear that Christians should let words edify, not tear down. And sometimes that means not letting the person on the left know what the person on the right has said, for the sake of peace. Today’s Friday Post is about knowing when to stay silent.

Oftentimes in life, something will seem like the truth because it appears that one or so many others can do what God can do. It took 10 plagues before the Egyptian king realized that Moses God is God. Enjoy today’s Friday Post on “What is truth?”

There’s a scene in the 1956 film The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner that signifies how God’s plans usually don’t involve glamor and fame- but if they do, God will use whatever He wills to bring about his perfect plans.