Nov11— Week One: Learning to Let God Lead

Because healing is more than what we eat, it’s who we become.

Introduction

Healing is often talked about in terms of food, supplements, routines, and protocols. Those things matter. But they are not the whole story.

Chronic illness affects more than the body. It affects confidence, identity, hope, and faith. It changes how we see ourselves and how we relate to God.

For many of us, the hardest part of healing isn’t what we eat, it’s learning how to keep trusting when our bodies don’t cooperate. It’s learning how to stay hopeful when progress feels slow. It’s learning how to feel safe in a body that has scared us.

That is why these devotionals exist.

Daily Bread is a space to check in with your spirit — not just your symptoms. It is a place to remind yourself that God is near, that you are not alone in what you’re walking through, and that healing is not something you have to force.

This Week’s Focus: Letting God Lead

This week, we are focusing on surrender — not as “giving up,” but as releasing the burden of trying to control everything on our own.

You are not responsible for saving yourself. You are not required to be strong all the time. You do not have to figure your entire life out today. You are allowed to rest before you are restored.

As we move through this week’s Scriptures, I encourage you to slow down, breathe, and allow God to meet you where you are — not where you wish you were.

Today's Scripture

Exodus 14:14

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Matthew 11:28

“Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Reflection

There is a kind of tiredness that doesn’t go away with sleep. It’s the exhaustion that comes from holding it together for so long that you start to forget what it feels like to relax. From being the strong one. The brave one. The one who just keeps going because stopping feels scarier.

Chronic illness teaches you to brace yourself, for symptoms, for disappointment, for unpredictability. Even on “good” days, there’s a part of you waiting for the other shoe to drop.

This is the weariness that Jesus speaks to in Matthew 11:28. Not surface-level tired, but soul tired.

And it’s the same place the Israelites were standing in Exodus 14:14 — overwhelmed, out of options, nothing left to give. God did not meet them with pressure, tasks, or demands.

He met them with reassurance.

“You don’t have to fight right now. I am already fighting for you.”

God does not ask you to be strong all the time. He does not expect you to handle everything on your own. He does not call you weak for needing rest. Rest is not the absence of effort, it is the presence of trust. Surrender is not giving up, it is handing over what was never meant to be carried alone.

Your body may be tired. Your faith may feel worn. Your hope may feel thin.

But none of those things disqualify you from being held by God.

You are allowed to stop fighting for a moment. You are allowed to breathe without bracing. You are allowed to be carried.

Let today be the day you unclench your spirit — even just an inch — and let God step closer than your fear.

If This Spoke to You

You don’t have to walk this journey alone. If today’s reflection resonated, consider sharing it with someone who may be holding more than they can say.

Make sure to subscribe below to receive Daily Bread in your inbox each morning!

Subscribe Here!

Wishing you a Great Day Ahead,

Mandi 🤍