5 Minutes with Jesus is a daily devotional series for people in the midst of real life, whether facing anxiety, grief, questions of purpose, or simply needing encouragement and connection. Hosted by Sheila Walsh, each five-minute episode offers Biblical truth, honest reflections on faith and emotions, and closes with a moment of prayer.
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| Sheila Walsh: The Bread of Life | 5 Minutes with Jesus | December 13, 2025
- I'm wondering how you see yourself today.
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- When you look in the mirror.
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- Do you see someone overlooked.
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- Unimportant. less than.
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- Nothing much was expected of me after my father's death
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- By suicide.
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- In my school yearbooks,
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- Someone actually wrote most likely to stay at home.
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- The god who saw bethlehem.
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- The god who saw little shepherd boy.
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- God who saw me is a god who sees you too.
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- He sees you not just at christmas.
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- He sees you on your best days and on your worst days.
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- And he loves you.
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- Very.
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- Now we're married at christmas
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- In the small town of charleston, south carolina.
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- If you've never been there, i would suggest
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- That you add that to your bucket list.
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- It is charming in every way.
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- Well, i wanted a small wedding, but
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- Eleanor barry's mom wanted a more lavish affair.
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- She wanted every detail to be perfect for eleanor.
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- We had quite a few mishaps that day.
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- So many things went wrong,
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- And they just pushed her over the edge.
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- Expectations can be hard to manage.
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- Christmas can be a particularly stressful time for many people.
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- We want everything to be perfect.
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- The shopping malls are packed as we attempt
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- To find the right gift for uncle frank,
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- Who didn't like his last 24 gifts.
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- We want our families
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- To get along and leave politics at the door.
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- If it's our turn to host the christmas meal,
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- That's a lot of added pressure.
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- And doris is now a vegan and refuses to table
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- What she refers to as that poor dead bird on it.
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- Expectations are high.
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- I wonder, though,
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- If it's harder in life when no one expects anything of you.
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- Perhaps you grew up with an athletic sibling
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- Who always shone while you were watching
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- Quietly in the shadows.
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- Or your spouse doesn't even notice.
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- You've managed
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- To lose some weight or you changed your hairstyle.
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- I remember in high school being told by my math teacher
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- As i barely scraped through a test.
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- That's good, considering it's you and my years of walking
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- With the lord.
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- However, i've discovered that god loves to choose
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- The least likely people and places
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- For doing his most redemptive work.
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- Places and people that seem insignificant to others.
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- I mean, think of the little town of bethlehem, for example,
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- At the time of christ's birth.
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- Bethlehem was an unusual town of fewer than 100 people,
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- Located five miles south of jerusalem.
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- But bethlehem was not insignificant to god, remember?
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- But you, o bethlehem, a paratha, are only a small village
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- Among all the people of judah, yet a ruler of israel,
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- Whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on
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- My behalf.
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- David, the greatest
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- King israel ever had, was born in bethlehem.
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- The prophet samuel was sent there to anoint the future king.
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- God told him, find a man named jesse who lives there.
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- For i have selected one of his sons to be my king.
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- Well, samuel asked jesse to bring in his sons.
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- He brought seven sons and presented them to the prophet.
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- As each of them stepped forward,
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- The lord told samuel this was not the one.
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- Confused, samuel asked if these were jesse's only sons.
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- Jesse told him as one more boy, but he's out in the fields
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- Looking after the sheep.
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- He didn't even think to bring david in,
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- While samuel made everyone stand and wait until david
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- Was brought into the house.
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- Then in front of david's father and brothers,
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- Samuel anointed him with oil.
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- God chose the least expected son,
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- And he was not from jerusalem, but from little bethlehem.
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- The word bethlehem means house of bread.
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- How fitting that christ, the bread of life,
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- Would be born in the house of bread.
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- Jesus replied, i am the bread of life.
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- Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again.
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- Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
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- In king david's last words to his people.
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- As recorded in second samuel chapter 23.
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- He remembers
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- The time that the philistine army had occupied bethlehem.
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- He told three of his men how he longed once more
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- To drink the good water from the well in bethlehem.
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- And those faithful soldiers
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- Broke through the enemy lines and brought some of that water
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- To him.
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- But the king, saying he was unworthy to drink it,
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- Poured out as an offering to god.
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- House of bread.
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- Place of good water, not forgotten by god.
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- As my friend doctor david jeremiah wrote regarding
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- Jesus birth in bethlehem, in some forgotten corner
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- Of a forgotten town and a forgotten country,
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- The most unforgettable news is suddenly abroad.
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- I'm wondering how
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- You see yourself today when you look in the mirror.
- 00:04:58.488 --> 00:05:01.891
- Do you see someone overlooked, unimportant, less than nothing.
- 00:05:01.891 --> 00:05:07.864
- Much was expected of me after my father's death by suicide.
- 00:05:07.864 --> 00:05:11.734
- In my school yearbooks,
- 00:05:11.734 --> 00:05:12.835
- Someone actually wrote most likely to stay at home.
- 00:05:12.835 --> 00:05:16.406
- The god who saw bethlehem.
- 00:05:16.406 --> 00:05:18.374
- The god who saw little shepherd boy.
- 00:05:18.374 --> 00:05:20.977
- God who saw me is the god who sees you.
- 00:05:20.977 --> 00:05:23.546
- To he sees you not just at christmas.
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- He sees you on your best days and on your worst days.
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- And he loves you.
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- Let's pray.
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- Father, you are amazing.
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- I want to thank you that when you look down on us,
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- You don't see what everybody else sees.
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- You don't see the places where we don't quite measure
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- Up, or the places where we feel or not enough.
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- You see us and you love us.
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- Lord, i pray for anyone right now who just feels overlooked.
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- That they would remember that you have not overlooked them.
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- That you see them, and that you love them in jesus name.
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- Amen.
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