Monday Dec 15th
 God Sees Your Struggle
Reading: Genesis 16:1-13 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.
7 The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” 9 The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” 11 And the angel of the LORD said to her,
“Behold, you are pregnant
      and shall bear a son.
                  You shall call his name Ishmael,
      because the LORD has listened to your affliction.
            12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
      his hand against everyone
      and everyone’s hand against him,
                  and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”
13 So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.

Devotional: Hagar found herself alone in the wilderness, rejected and afraid. Yet in her darkest moment, God met her there. She called Him "El Roi"—the God who sees. Today, you may feel invisible in your pain, overlooked in your struggle, or forgotten in your circumstances. But the Wonderful Counselor sees exactly where you are. He knows your trouble intimately. He isn't distant or disinterested. Like Hagar, you can discover that God notices, God cares, and God comes to you in the wilderness. Your loneliness doesn't escape His attention. Your tears don't fall unnoticed. The same God who saw Hagar sees you right now, exactly where you're sitting, with all your burdens and heartaches.

Reflection Question: What burden have you been carrying alone that you need to acknowledge God already sees?


Tuesday Dec 16th
Pour Out Your Heart
Reading: 1 Samuel 1:9-18 9 After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. 11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”
12 As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. 14 And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” 15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD. 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.” 17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” 18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

Devotional: Hannah was broken, harassed, and hopeless. She couldn't eat. Her face showed her sorrow. But she did something powerful—she poured out her soul before the Lord. Not polite prayers or surface-level requests, but gut-level honesty from her heart. Notice what happened: after pouring out her heart to God, she ate again and her face was no longer sad. The breakthrough came through honest vulnerability with God. He already knows your situation, but He invites you into intimacy through transparent conversation. Stop pretending everything is fine. God isn't looking for perfect prayers; He's listening for honest hearts. Pour out your soul before the Wonderful Counselor today. Tell Him everything—your fears, disappointments, anger, and confusion.

Reflection Question: What have you been afraid to tell God that you need to pour out today?



Wednesday Dec 17th
 When You Don't Know What to Do
Reading: 2 Chronicles 20:1-12 After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. 2 Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi). 3 Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 And Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.
5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, 6 and said, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. 7 Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? 8 And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, 9 ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’ 10 And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— 11 behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. 12 O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

Devotional: King Jehoshaphat faced overwhelming odds—multiple armies joining forces against him. His honest prayer reveals the key to receiving God's counsel: "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you." Admitting you don't have the answers is not weakness; it's wisdom. It positions you to receive divine direction. God doesn't need you to figure everything out. He needs you to fix your eyes on Him. When you're overwhelmed by circumstances, confused about the next step, or paralyzed by fear, remember Jehoshaphat's prayer. God fought that battle in ways the king never imagined. The Wonderful Counselor has solutions beyond your understanding. Stop trying to figure it all out and simply keep your eyes on Him.

Reflection Question: What situation are you trying to control instead of surrendering to God's wisdom?



Thursday Dec 18th
 Trust When It Doesn't Make Sense
Reading: 2 Kings 5:1-14   Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 4 So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.” 5 And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”
So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7 And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”
8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Isaiah 55:8-9 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
      neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
            9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
      so are my ways higher than your ways
      and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Devotional: Naaman wanted healing, but God's prescription seemed ridiculous—dip in a muddy river seven times. It didn't make sense. It felt humiliating. Yet obedience to God's seemingly foolish instruction brought miraculous healing. God's thoughts are higher than ours, His ways beyond our understanding. The Wonderful Counselor may ask you to forgive when it feels impossible, to give when you feel empty, to wait when you want to act, or to speak when you'd rather stay silent. His counsel won't always align with worldly wisdom or your natural inclinations. But remember: God turned water into wine, knocked down impossible walls, and healed incurable disease. Trust Him even when His direction doesn't make sense to your limited perspective.

Reflection Question: What is God asking you to do that doesn't make sense, and will you trust Him anyway?




Friday Dec 19th
 Draw Near with Confidence
Reading: Hebrews 4:14-16 14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.


Devotional: The veil has been torn. You have access to the very throne room of God through Jesus Christ. The Wonderful Counselor invites you to come boldly—not timidly, not shamefully, but with confidence. Why? Because Jesus sympathizes with your weaknesses. He's been rejected, abandoned, tempted, and disappointed. He understands your struggle because He lived it. Come to Him for mercy and grace in your time of need. Don't wait until you have it all together. Come messy. Come broken. Come overwhelmed. Climb into His lap and share your burdens. He won't condemn you. He won't judge you. He'll sustain you with His grace. This Christmas season, whatever you're facing, remember Emmanuel—God with us. The Wonderful Counselor is here, ready to listen, ready to help.

Reflection Question: Will you accept God's invitation to come boldly to Him today with everything you're carrying?