God 4 - Barbara Lynn Seibel

August 17, 2025August 16, 2025

How Obedient Are You? | A Study on Genesis 12:1-9

Years ago, my late husband and I owned and lived in one side of a duplex. The other side of the duplex was also owner-occupied. Our agreement with each other in the event either were to move included giving the other owner first chance at buying before listing.

We had moved to this duplex because we had gotten in over our heads on a single-family home financially. So, when our neighbor told me she was preparing to list her side of the duplex, I immediately sought God’s advice whether we should attempt to buy her out.

In my mind, it could have been an opportunity to have rental income to speed up our financial recovery. Provided we could afford the additional mortgage, that is.

When I sought God’s advice, I got the following response in that still, quiet voice that you know is not your own mind speaking: “No, you will be moving.”

Although startled by this response, I told our neighbor we weren’t interested in buying her side.

I’ll share more about this after we look at God asking Abram to move in Genesis 12:1-9.

June 22, 2025June 21, 2025

Trials, Tests, and Insults are to be Expected

I literally walked away from the computer after deciding on the title for this post.

Why, you ask?

Because it makes me uncomfortable.

Yet, when I reflect on all I have experienced in my life, I know it is true.

I can’t run away from it.

Neither can you.

I don’t enjoy thinking that trials, tests and insults are a normal part of our lives.

Some are small and better described as inconveniences or annoyances.

But I’m not thinking about ordinary trials, tests or insults today.

Rather, I’m reflecting on the trials, tests, and insults that come because of my faith in Christ.

And that makes me even more uncomfortable.

Yet, Peter provides encouragement about this in his first epistle.

June 8, 2025June 8, 2025

Reminders of What to Focus On

Focus.

Back in my undergraduate days as a music student, I can say I was focused.

I was required to practice two hours daily per instrument as a double major in piano and flute performance.

My practice routine, however, was ten hours per day. Six hours on the piano and four hours on the flute.

I wasn’t just focused; I was obsessed.

Years and two shoulder surgeries later, this hyper-focused obsession with over practicing took a significant toll on my upper body stamina.

Today, I make sure I take frequent breaks and regular stretching, working as I do at a computer both for my day job and for my writing pursuits.

If I fail to focus on taking care of my upper body, I pay the price with significant physical pain.

Finding the peaceful balance of the right amount of activity for my upper body was a learning process that required maturity and time.

What does this have to do with reminding us of our spiritual focus?

May 11, 2025May 12, 2025

How Do We Know God Cares?

In September 2024, a hurricane affected the area where I live.

As I was watching the rain, I saw a tree fall that just barely missed hitting my balcony and fence in the back of my home.

Once the rain had cleared, I discovered that five trees had fallen, and another one was leaning against my neighbor’s home.

Given the amount of devastation that this hurricane caused throughout the area, it wasn’t until late April 2025 that the trees behind my and my neighbor’s homes were finally cleared.

This past week, as I was surveying the tree stumps that remain, I realized that the trees going down were a provision of God’s care for me in a way that I truly needed last fall.

And yes, it has something to do with the kittens in the picture above.

I’ll explain this as we study 1 Peter 1:3-9.

May 4, 2025May 3, 2025

Are You an Obedient Exile?

This question is not about physical exile per se.

Rather, it is a question of whether you are obedient to your faith when the stakes become higher than you expected.

Are you aware there are more martyrs for Christian faith today than at any other time in history?

If this startles you, it is probable that you live somewhere where Christianity or being a follower of Jesus is not under outright persecution.

It may also startle you if you are not someone who keeps informed about the state of God’s mission to redeem people from every group across the globe.

Today, we will study the opening two verses of 1 Peter from the New Testament.

I hope these two verses will encourage you to consider deeply what it truly means to be an obedient exile no matter where you live.

April 13, 2025April 13, 2025

Have You Ridden a Donkey?

I am sure I have been around a donkey or two at a zoo or other wildlife preserve.

But I have never ridden one. Nor have I had to lead one anywhere.

In the last year of my earthly father’s life, he shared a story with me I had never heard before about a time he handled two donkeys.

He shared he was responsible for getting these two donkeys from one location to where his father was waiting for him.

At one point, the donkey he was riding stopped and refused to move forward. The other donkey also stopped. My dad said he did everything he could think of to get those donkeys moving again.

Donkeys have a reputation for being stubborn, which my father experienced firsthand.

What does this have to do with Matthew 21:1-11?

April 6, 2025April 5, 2025

Experiencing God’s Support Through Others

On the last weekend of March 2025, I enjoyed spending some time with two childhood friends I had not seen in over thirty years.

Although connected via social media for several years, we had not been with each other until this weekend.

Losing my husband back in July 2024 prompted our decision to get together.

My friends wanted to support and encourage me even though one lived about two hours away and the other two days’ drive or a plane flight away.

We spent the time remembering experiences and people from our youth, laughing, crying, and laughing until we cried while exploring the sites, shopping and food near one of their homes.

What does this have to do with 2 Samuel 15:13-37?

March 30, 2025March 28, 2025

Can You Spot Conspiracy in Worship?

Trust.

Such a small word that has significant meaning in our lives.

Who do you trust the most?

Have you experienced betrayal from someone you trusted?

Was it a family member, a friend, or a leader in your life who trampled your trust?

Or have you ever betrayed someone else’s trust?

How do our moral failures contribute to making it hard to spot conspiracy in our and other’s worship?

Join me as we study an example from scripture rife with moral failure and trampling of trust within a family.

March 23, 2025March 21, 2025

Deep Sorrow that Led to Worship

As many of you know, I am healing from a deep sorrow since losing my husband by his own choice last July and my earthly father by natural causes last October.

We expected my earthly father’s death. But my husband’s shocked all who knew him.

Thus, the journey of healing I am on is complicated.

I shared part of my experience in my first post back after a six-month break from writing.

Today’s passage was hard for me to work through because it touches on the themes of deep sorrow.

Yet, it also provides an opportunity to learn why the Lord is worthy of our worship, no matter the source of our deep sorrow.

Join me in this study of 2 Samuel 12:15-23 and portions of Psalm 51.

March 16, 2025March 16, 2025

Elkanah Returns to Worship God

Two weeks ago, I started this series on 1 Samuel 1, purposefully studying the “minor” characters instead of the usual approach to this passage.

Several of you have thanked me for this focus, stating that you had never considered that these “minor” characters could reveal so much about the Lord’s work in our daily lives.

Today, again I want us to study the next group of verses from 1 Samuel 1.

And yes, as the title suggests, we will focus in again on the minor character of Elkanah and his faithfulness as he returns to worship God at Shiloh every year.