Wake-Up Calls: Conversations with God at 3:00 AM

By Tabitha B. Kohler

"Get up! Grab a pen and write this down!"

I glanced at the blue numbers on the clock next to me. They read 3:00 a.m. I tend to have difficulty sleeping, either I can't fall asleep, or I wake up numerous times throughout the night for no particular reason. So when I heard God wake me up that morning only to tell me to grab a pen, I did what any crazy person would do, I told Him I'd do it in the morning while rolling over, tucking myself back under the covers. Now I consider myself to be somewhat of a stubborn person. But as I've discovered, God is much more persistent than I could dream of being! My resistance lasted all of two minutes before I had a pen on the notebook paper, asking Him what to do next. He then told me to write about snotty tissues. I crinkled my nose, said that was disgusting, but obeyed anyway. Words poured from my pen all over that blue-striped paper. This pattern of Him waking me up at the wee morning hour of three o'clock continued for months. Now I am not a writer. I didn't fare well in language arts in high school, and I never took English in college. The words in this book may not be proper, but I am beyond proud of them! God gave me these stories. I have no idea why, but I pray that they touch at least one life. I hope someone will get to know Jesus through these words. If only one person realizes how much Jesus loves them because of learning of Him from this book, then every single 3:00 a.m. wake-up call would have been worth it. I pray Jesus blesses you today. He loves you!

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886167405

Book preview

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Wake-Up Calls

Conversations with God at 3:00 AM

Tabitha B. Kohler

ISBN 979-8-88616-739-9 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88616-740-5 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Tabitha B. Kohler

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Snotty-Tissue Prayers

Love Fiercely

Oh No, I'm That Friend!

Small Faith Moves Big Mountains

The Darkest Shadow

Back Seat Driver

Oh, Get Real!

Home of the Unchurch

Perspective

Why Not You?

Simple Minded

No End in Sight

Even Screwups Are Important

One Billion Star Hotel

Free Money!

Blessing Seeker

Coming into Your Testimony

Attack!

Are You a Sheep in Wolf's Clothing?

Play on Playa

Spread the Wealth

Get in Your Element

What's Your Job?

Ice, Ice Baby

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Thank you isn't enough!

I have so, so many people to thank for helping me with this process:

My children—Bryce, Brayden, and Bentley—for their encouragement and for letting me bounce rough drafts off of them.

Jeff and Missy Bray, for listening to all of my crazy stories and ideas at all hours of the day or night.

Brandy Bell-Trapp, for being such a generous supporter of this book.

Sandy Staley (who happens to be my beautiful momma!), Chuck and Jaime Allen, AJ and Paloma Marrs, Steve and Laura Slife, Becky Kacin, Joe and Misty Hill, Jacqi Bishop, Summer Fancher, Jessica Hoover… I could go on with names of friends and family who have been in my corner, cheering me on. I'm beyond blessed to have such a system, and I pray God's blessings pour over every single one of them!

My biggest supporter, however, has been my husband. Andreas, I thank God for giving me you, even on the days where I didn't want Him to!

Mostly, though, I thank God, for without Him, none of this would be possible. I do not know why He chose me to share these messages, but I'm eternally grateful that He did. Thank You, Lord, for believing in me enough to use me. Amen!

Snotty-Tissue Prayers

I want some snotty-nose-tissue answers.

You heard me, snotty-nose-tissue answers—soaked from tears, wadded up, crinkled from squeezing it in your fist, snotty-tissue answers. Know why? Because they'd mean something.

How many times do we ask for something in passing? God, it'd sure be nice to have that new car. Hey, Lord, you know what would be great? If I could somehow get those new pair of shoes… Wink, wink! You know what I'm talking about, those things we ask for in a fleeting moment as the temptation is present, right in our faces.

Sometimes we even try to justify those requests to Him. That brand-new car sure would look great in your house's parking lot on Sunday morning! I mean, it would probably grab people's attention and pull them into service right off the street! *Insert eye roll* Or those new shoes would be so cute with my Sunday school outfit, just sayin'! Lord, help us. But we all do it. It's human nature. At the end of the day, do any of those requests really mean anything though? In all honesty, do you even remember half of the things you've asked God for when you wake up the next day? I sure don't. In fact, sometimes I'll see something years later that I remember