DEVOTIONALS

Let’s just say I “had a lot going on.” It was the kind of ‘lot going on’ that left me still and prayerful as opposed to my often frazzled “doing.” During prayer one morning, I saw a clear mental image of sifting – junk on top – good stuff going through a sieve, like when cleaning out a kitty litter box. That’s not the kind of thing that had happened to me before, but I know I didn’t imagine it! I went straight to the Word and read: “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.  But

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil,  as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: I Peter 5:8, KJV “Keep your head on a swivel!” my cousin recently said concerning a hurricane headed toward my daughter’s city; she didn’t quite know what that meant and I had to clarify.  I definitely didn’t have anything spiritual in mind at all and just gave an “off the cuff” definition. While digging into I Peter 5:8, I found that keeping your head on a swivel is perfectly suited advice for life in this world! The Urban Dictionary states it

“My next 46 years” I jotted on page 50, paragraph three of Lysa Tyrkeurst’s What Happens When Women Say Yes to God.  After two and half years I can say, it has certainly been and STILL IS quite a process to live by these words: If we hold all we treasure with our hands open and our palms facing upward, we are telling God we recognize it is His and we offer it freely up to Him.   God may or may not remove what we’ve offered Him, but He will continue to fill our open hands with blessings – His

In the 2006 Winter Olympics as Lindsey Jacobellis was nearing the finish line as the clear winner of snowboard cross event, she attempted a mid-air trick that ended in a skid that cost her the gold medal. It took many years of competing before she finally won a gold medal in 2022 as the oldest American woman to win gold at a Winter Olympics. The media focused on her mistake for many years, and she had to overcome their criticism and her own inner critic in order to persevere.  She described her journey in the book she published in 2023, Unforgiving,

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit.  C.S. Lewis On two separate occasions and topics lately, God has challenged the way I view other human beings.   In the *July 30 devotional in My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers eloquently and uniquely described what he called the “discipline of disillusionment.”  I had to read it more than once to get comfortable

There’s no doubt that God cares deeply about children and the poor, and He expects us to be His hands and feet.  In Matthew 25:35-40, Jesus left little to the imagination!  When we care for those in need, we are giving that care to Him!  Search a few statistics and find that the resources most of us live on each day is an astronomical amount compared to the poorest in the world.  It’s difficult to see outside our own “box,” but Jesus certainly loves the whole world, not just my little world! For I was an hungred, and ye gave me

That title feels a little (a lot?!!)  hypocritical.  Let me tell you, I have felt disappointed! But don’t kill the messenger.  It’s the Word of God. Such hope [in God’s promises] never disappoints us, because God’s love has been abundantly poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5 AMP I use the Amplified version of the Bible quite a bit in order to get a broader sense of how the original Greek and Hebrew root words could be more fully translated.  I usually use the King James Version “parallel” to the AMP and

When I think of the word “grace,” this definition from Strong’s Concordance for the Greek “charis,” #G5485, matches my idea of the “Amazing Grace” of my God; it is the word from which practically any biblical reference to grace originates. Of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues In my walk with the Lord, I have focused much more on the first part – in bold, than on the italicized portion.  His merciful

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”  John 15:4 (NIV) Is it just me?  Am I the only one who can rapidly spiral into an unpredicted hurricane of whens and hows and what-ifs? Sometimes it clearly builds, but sometimes it swells out of seemingly nowhere.  There’s the expectation of fruit and the anxious thoughts of ‘how am I going to come up with it??’  We are often so results-oriented that we just want to check off the lists of

Troubles, heartbreak, and disappointment come in many forms. We do not understand the Lord’s timing, the sickness, and suffering that we see and experience.  Proverbs tells us  “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; But a wounded spirit who can bear?” (18:14).  This is encouraging, but also challenging.  I have found both parts of the verse to be true in my life.  When my spirit man is strong and at peace, I can bear other troubles.  When my spirit is weighed down, all of life, even the small problems, is heavy.   Here are some tidbits I gathered from a