Author Archives: Karla Jo Wasion

I love Jesus and His Church. His Word is Truth, His heart is good, and His return is sure.

When It Was New

Those early days of walking with Jesus. Where have thirty-five years gone? Sometimes, it felt so hard to keep following, but that’s because trust was so hard for me then.

Following gets a whole lot easier when you trust the one you’re following.

He laid a track record for my untrusting heart so that I could find my way to His faithfulness. Comfort in the hard places, answers to prayers I said in desperation, little by little shifts of my heart toward Him. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to follow Him, or didn’t want to give Him my whole heart and my whole life – I just didn’t know how and I didn’t know what He would do with what I was giving.

Thirty-five years of learning to trust Him more than I trust anything else in this world. Discovering that He is more than I ever could have imagined He would be – more loving, more kind, more merciful, more trustworthy. Once I discovered the goodness of God, I mean really tasted it, it was game over for anything else that would fight for my affections.

God has no worthy opponent for my heart.

I remember the newness of discovering His voice. That God would speak and I could hear Him in my heart, well, that never gets old, I’ll tell ya that. Today, He is still speaking. Through His Word, but also through a still small voice in my heart, and often through pictures. From time to time, He has grown quiet, but never silent.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

John 10:27

I remember the hunger of when it was new. The insatiable desire for more of Him. To just sit with His people in prayer and worship for hours sometimes. I only wanted to talk about Him, nothing else. Every other topic of conversation became frivolous. I had a death grip on the hem of His robe in those days, wanting to just attach myself to Him and never let go. Some people, mostly family, just didn’t get it and thought I was off the deep end, but you know what? God planted me in a church full of people who got it. People who were hungry with me, and when you have people around you who share your hunger for Jesus, man, nothing can touch that. But I have also experienced the opposite, and it’s heartbreaking. Being part of a community of people who are content to stay where they are, not really interested in knowing Him more, in changing, or in walking out what the scriptures describe as the life of a follower of Christ. They like the company of fellow Christians, but they aren’t hungry for anything more than what they have. That’s a hard place to be for anyone who hungers for God.

Find hungry people and be with them. There’s nothing else like it.

When it was new, I wept over His Word, wept in worship, wept in prayer. It wasn’t the whipping up of emotions, it was a born again spirit responding to a realm I had never experienced. People get so scared of being emotional in church, but when you come to the realization that God is near, that His Spirit is living on the inside of you, that Jesus is real and His love is real and His goodness is real… I mean, how can you have all of that swirling around you and remain stoic? Unmoved?

Thirty-five years have changed a lot of things about my life. But I think what prompted this post is realizing that today, I’m as hungry as I ever was. I still want to be with Him every minute of every day. I still long for hours of conversation about Him, and prayer with His people. I still long for Him to change me, teach me, and lead me into the things and places that I have yet to go. And I still weep over Him, and I never want that to stop. Walking with Jesus has never felt old. Not once.

There is no other love that is worthy of being our first love, and first love never grows old.

And I want that for you, whoever you are. I want you to be crazy about Jesus no matter how long you’ve walked with Him. He is so worthy of a hunger that won’t quit, a desire for His nearness, and emotions that run free in His presence.

I pray that for you, and for us all, walking with Jesus will always feel like when it was new.

Genesis 50—Let It Pass

“When the days of mourning had passed… “

Jacob died and the mourning began, because loss almost always has mourning to keep it company. And we all have loss.

Loss of loved ones. Loss of love. Loss of what we thought our life would be. Loss of time and chances, both frittered away before we knew they were there.

Mourning comes to us all because loss comes to us all.

And then the days of mourning pass, and we must let them.

But before they pass, God will keep His promise – “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)

“And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials accompanied him—the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt… Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company.”

Joseph did not mourn the loss of Jacob alone. Nor are we ever intended to mourn alone. No matter what kind of loss we are experiencing, we are part of the family of God, and He teaches us to be with one another, including in our places of loss and mourning. We can experience the comfort of God when we are alone with Him, but we experience it in a very tangible and extended way when we allow His people into our mourning.

If you are mourning a loss of some kind today, let people in. Let the comfort of God blanket you through the comfort of His children.

And when the time of mourning has passed, let it pass. God has life for you on the other side of loss.

This concludes our time in the book of Genesis. Oh, not that there isn’t so much more we could talk about from this amazing beginning! We will run out of time before we could exhaust the riches of this book. But for now, I’m going to move on to the book of Exodus and see what God might speak to me there. Whatever it is, I will surely share it with you, because I just can’t help myself.


Genesis 49—The Struggle

What struck me first in this chapter were the words in verse 2:

“Come together and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.”

He referred to himself with both names – the one he was born with, and the one God gave him.

The name Jacob means supplanter (one who purposely takes over, or takes the place of someone else). However, the literal translation of Jacob’s name at birth was “He grasped the heel”.

“After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel with his hand. So he was named Jacob.”

In essence, Jacob did not let go of Esau until he had supplanted Esau’s position as first born, by gaining both Esau’s birthright, and his blessing.

The name Israel means he struggled with God. And it was after Jacob’s wrestling match with God (Genesis 32) that God changed his name from Jacob to Israel, saying “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” He said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” He prevailed in his struggle with God by refusing to let go until he had received the blessing he was after.

And so all of this is swirling in my mind and I begin to wonder…

I know who I was before I encountered Jesus, and I know who I am since. It’s been a lot of years in the learning, but I do know who and how God has called me to be. But I still struggle from time to time between who I was and who I am. I bet you have that struggle too.

This chapter in Genesis is about waaay more than that, but this is what caught my eye, and what I think God wanted to speak to me about on this particular day. A gentle reminder that who I was is not who I am. An invitation to see the difference, and marvel at the work of God in my life, and to be thankful, even in the struggle. But there is something else I’m seeing as well –

Jacob took his blessing from man, living up to the meaning of his name. But he received a new name because he held on in the struggle for his blessing from God.

Hold on. Don’t let go of God, no matter what. Don’t settle for the blessings of men. It’s worth the limp you may have by holding on for God’s blessing in your life. And one final thought-

What I can take in this life pales in light of what I can receive from God when I choose to not let go of Him.

Marriage Matters—Criticism

One of the most difficult things for me to do in my own marriage is to not try to change my husband. I used to fool myself into thinking I was pointing out flaws, or correcting him for his sake, but that just isn’t true. I’m doing it to make me more comfortable with who he is. The truth is, my correction (criticism) rarely has the desired outcome. It makes him defensive, not compliant, because he, just like me, is human and humans balk at being changed by someone through critical words.

Only God can truly change us, change our hearts so that our behavior and our thinking changes. I remember the day I learned this lesson (a lesson I am still struggling to learn well!). It was the day God spoke something to me that cleared up any misconception I had that I was doing something good by pointing out my husband’s flaws and mistakes.

“I have a Holy Spirit, and you are not Him.”

It is not easy to just let someone, especially someone we share life with, to just be who they are. But we must be honest enough with ourselves to realize that we need to change just as much as they do, and then we have to turn our attention back to God, the One who changes a person without criticism. I promise you, life with your spouse will get much easier, more peaceful, and more fun if you will stop trying to do what only God can do.

“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:3-5)

Then there’s that.

Genesis 48—When the Prayer Changes

“Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and numerous; I will make many nations come from you, and I will give this land as a permanent possession to your future descendants.'” (Genesis 48:3)

This is so similar to what God said to Abraham, and then to Isaac.

“And to you [Abraham] and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:8)

“For I will give all these lands to you [Isaac] and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.” (Genesis 26:3)

It was right here, in the book of Genesis, that I learned that God is generational. That in the same way He has been faithful to me, He will be faithful to my children and to their children. I understood, on a much deeper level, that those coming after me could know God, know His goodness and His mercy and His love, just as I had come to know them.

“I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or abandon you.” (Joshua 1:5)

The revelation of this part of God’s character changed how I prayed for my family. There is a boldness, borne out of confidence in the truth of His Word, that begins to rest on your prayer life when you know that He desires for your children and their children the same thing He desired to do in you.

I believe that if you stopped random people on the street and asked them what they wanted most for their children, the majority of them would say “I want them to be happy.” We all want good things for our children – happiness, good health, good education, financial security, good job, good friends – all the things that will benefit and help them in life.

But most of the things we want for them will not follow them into eternity.

The greatest desire that I have for my children and their children is that they would know God the way I have known Him, and even more. That they would know His faithfulness to them, His goodness toward them, His mercy, grace, love, and the incredible peace that comes from trusting in Him above any other, including themselves. That desire becomes my prayer life for them, because of the revelation that it is the same desire that dwells in His heart.

But, as we pray, we also must obey…

“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children—” (Dueteronomy 4:9)

We cannot just let our Sundays at church, our kindness to others, or our prayers over our food be the extent of our children’s vision of God. Those are things they see us do, but unless we tell them, they will not know the things God has done. We must testify to our children so that they can know that He is faithful, even before they have seen it in their own lives.

Tell them that His covenant with you is also for them.

Genesis 47—Blessed, But Not Home

Then Joseph settled his father and brothers in the land of Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s family with food for their dependents. Genesis 47:11-12

There was no reason that Jacob and his sons should have received so much favor and blessing from Pharaoh. He did not have to welcome them into Egypt, treat them with kindness, assign them the best part of the land, or feed them. Yet, there it was. Blessing after blessing coming to those who had done nothing to merit them. In fact, Joseph’s brothers are being blessed in spite of all they had done to deserve contempt.

{The older I get, the more I recognize the many unmerited blessings of God that have overflowed in my life.}

“Buy us and our land in exchange for food. Then we with our land will become Pharaoh’s slaves.” Genesis 47:19

The story moves away from Jacob and his family in verses 13 – 26 as we watch the people of Egypt give everything they have in exchange for the life sustaining food that Joseph would give them. In his God-given wisdom, he had prepared far in advance for the famine that would come, making him a resource of life to people who would have otherwise died of starvation. We can also see that Joseph was shrewd enough to use food as an opportunity to enrich Pharoah. Over the course of two, possibly three years, Joseph took all of the silver, livestock, and then the land. And finally, he made the people to be servants of Pharoah. It’s quite the story and it speaks to me of preparedness. Joseph prepared, because he knew what was coming. The people were unprepared, because they had no idea what was coming.

{I know a storm is coming. Whether it is the end times or not, something is coming. Am I prepared? Is my faith, my trust in God, strong enough to stand? Am I living in truth, or in compromise? Will I be able to be a resource of life for those who are unprepared?}

This chapter concludes with a request from Jacob of Joseph –

“Do not bury me in Egypt. When I rest with my ancestors, carry me away from Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” Genesis 47:29

And here is the final thought that lays on my heart from this chapter: Even though Jacob was now in a place of blessing, he knew it wasn’t home, and home is where he longed to go when his life was over.

{As I count the abundance of blessings in my life on this earth, I must guard against feeling at home here. I want my heart to be filled with a longing for my true home.}

“But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:16

It Was A Good, Hard, Free Lunch Today

Texas Roadhouse was offering a free lunch for veterans today, so I took them up on it, since they hold the number one spot on my “places I like to eat” list. I knew I could anticipate a delicous meal, college football games on every screen, and country music. In the words of some Christmas song, these are a few of my favorite things.

What I did not anticipate was the emotions that would come up and spill out during this lunch. As my husband and I sat outside on a bench, waiting for them to text me that it was our turn to be seated, I watched the veterans coming up to the little table the restaurant had set up, to get their free lunch voucher. It was a steady stream of old men, not so old men, and women. Some of the oldest of them were wearing their “Vietnam Vet” ball cap. Some wore “Desert Storm” hats. One man wore a jacket that had all of his medals pinned on it. It was a sight to see.

As I looked at all these men and women converging on the restaurant, my heart just swelled. I come from a military family, and served in the Army in the early 80’s, so it’s in my blood, as they say. But today, it wasn’t just the nostalgia of being in the midst of a very large group of soldiers again, although that alone felt wonderful. I can’t speak for what the military looks like today, but when I grew up, and then served in it, it was a world unto itself. A community. A family. It is one of the things I miss about being around it. As I sat in a restaurant that was literally filled with vets, I felt the bond of comraderie with people I had never met.

But, what literally brought me to tears was the knowledge that many, if not most, of these men and women served because they believed their country is worth the sacrifice, and they, like me, are wondering what, pardon my french, the hell happened to that country.

For the love of this nation, many of them went to war. But even those, like myself, who didn’t serve in wartime, carry within us a deep love, and sense of pride and protection for our country. As I fought back tears, I wondered how many of them grieve, like I do, over the tearing down of so much of what we love, and what so many gave their lives to protect.

Thankfully, my grief is tempered by hope, because I know the sovereignty, power, and greatness of God over all of His creation. I know that He can, and that He will bring an end to evil, and until then, we raise our shield of faith, and we war in prayer for the nations of the earth.

And in the natural, we shake our heads over what we see around us, and take a free lunch when it’s offered.

Today was good, but today was hard. To all of those who have served, thank you. And to all who currently serve, thank you. You are necessary, you are appreciated, and you are prayed for.

P.S. – BIG shoutout to Texas Roadhouse for supporting veterans, and for the kindness and respect they showed today.