Art & Soul post #8 by Elana Brownfield
As I hit the snooze button on my alarm clock two hours before I need to start getting ready for work, I close my eyes for just ten more minutes of sleep. Thoughts of the day ahead begin to fill my mind in addition to the softly spoken whisperings of Holy Spirit. He begins to put thoughts in my mind about the things He and Jesus want to talk to me about today. He gently reminds me that they are waiting for me… I inwardly smile as I get up and make my way to the coffee maker. I settle down on my bed again. This time a cup of coffee is sitting on a hot plate on the night stand beside me, and I’m surrounded by my bible and several devotional books. My favorite time of day has arrived—my early morning time with Jesus and coffee.
Four years ago there was no Jesus and coffee time in my mornings. I thought I had my spiritual life all figured out. I was a good person, I went to church almost every Sunday, I had spent many years doing ministry work, and I was even working on this Redeemer’s Heart website. If you had asked me what the most important thing in my life was, I would have easily answered, “My relationship with God, of course.” But that was not true…it’s what I wanted to be true. When I look back at how I spent my time, I see that I rarely prioritized quantity or even quality time with Jesus. I would attempt to use the last few minutes before I went to bed each day to read my bible or a page from a devotional book. On the majority of evenings, I was either so tired that I would fall asleep trying to read, or I would forget about my prayer and devotional time entirely. I repeatedly told myself that, since I wasn’t a morning person and I was so busy throughout the day, nighttime was my only option for carving out time for God.
This pattern went on for years…until January of 2018 when my life was turned completely upside down by a rare medical emergency. God used this crisis to wake me from my “season of slumber”. You can read the details of what happened in my Art & Soul column titled “He Called Me Out”. After the emergency was over, I was instructed by my doctor to take about a year off of work due to lingering cognitive and memory problems. I believe it was God’s plan to use this time to draw me closer to Him in a way that I had never experienced before. One of the first things He helped me to see clearly was that I hadn’t been giving Him the best time of my day; I was giving Him little scraps of my leftover time. So I said a simple prayer: “Jesus, please help me get up to spend time with you in the morning.” I am not exactly sure how it happened, but soon this non-morning girl was able to start rising early. And not only that, I now cherish this time!
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 (ESV)
Over the next year and a half, during our morning time together, Jesus and Holy Spirit revealed other important corrections needed in my spiritual life. They taught me that I wasn’t totally surrendered to God’s will and that the way I had been allocating my time was all wrong. Although I wanted a close relationship with God, the intimacy I desired was missing because the I time spent with Him was minimal and unbalanced when compared to the amount of time I spent doing things for Him. I learned to think of my ministry work and time with God like a pendulum that swings back and forth in equal measure. If I wanted to do a lot of meaningful work for His Kingdom on one side of the pendulum swing, I needed to spend a proportional amount of quality time abiding in and with Him on the other side of the swing. Prior to this realization, I think I subconsciously believed that if I just did a lot of things for God, it would somehow draw me closer to Him. The crazy thing is that I knew full well and was always taught that the most important thing was a relationship with God and not works for Him. I finally came to the understanding that there is no substitute for spending time with Jesus. Just like any human relationship, it won’t grow if you don’t spend time with the person, no matter how many good things you do for them.
A pendulum doesn’t work unless it stays balanced on both sides of the swing. In the same way, it doesn’t work to spend a lot of time doing things FOR God, with only a little time spent actually WITH Him.
When I started spending more time with Jesus and truly listening to Him, I realized that He had a lot of things He wanted to share with me. He told me that I didn’t need to do things to secure His love for me. He told me that, although He sees my sins and flaws, His perfect love never wavers. He taught me that I am royalty, the daughter of the King of Kings. He helped me learn patience, trust, and how to fully surrender to His will in my life. I started to experience Him on a much deeper level, hear His voice more clearly, and recognize the many ways He uses to communicate with me, not just in the morning but all throughout my day. I began to ask Him each morning if there were any scriptures or pages in one of my devotional books that He wanted me to read. Countless times He led me to the exact scripture or pages that spoke directly to my heart and what I was going through at that time.
I painted Jesus and Coffee as an expression of my now daily dependence on Him. As I spend each morning with Jesus, He fills me up with His love and His living water which puts me in the right mind set for the rest of my day. Some may have other times during the day that work better for them. That is great. I am sure He doesn’t care when it is as long as we’re giving Him our best time.
“Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ ”
John 4:13-14 (TLB)
Jesus has become my best friend, Holy Spirit has become the most extraordinary teacher of the Word, and Father is blessing me with deeper peace and security. Now early morning is my most treasured part of each day. It’s when I am reminded that “all I need today is a little bit of coffee and a whole lot of Jesus”. This is my daily unbeatable combination!
Elana’s original Jesus and Coffee acrylic painting is currently up for auction in the Art for Charity Store. 100% of all profits from this sale will benefit the Big Reach Center of Hope in Greenford, Ohio.
Elana Brownfield
Digital artist and founder of Redeemer's Heart
3 thoughts on “Jesus and Coffee”
Lovely written Elana!
Thank you Christina 🙂
Thank you, Elana, for sharing your experience. I have been trying to find that balance, that pendulum swing, and your story strikes a chord in my heart. I’ll reflect on this, and pray for help finding my time. – And since I don’t drink coffee, I may take liberties and say, “All I need today is a little bit of herb tea and a whole lot of Jesus.”