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Archive for the ‘Devotional’ Category

In a Tiny Bee

Posted in Biblical, Devotional, tagged , , , , on November 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

© Scott Collis | Dreamstime.com

© Scott Collis | Dreamstime.com

The world’s tiniest bee landed on my windshield when I as waiting for the light to turn green. I could barely see its iridescent wings and miniscule antennae waving at me. Well, I  imagine they were really just feeling the direction of the breeze on a pleasant, sunny autumn afternoon.

The light changed and I eased ahead, slowly getting up to the 35  mph speed limit. My new little friend held on for dear life.  Around the curve, down the hill, and into the store parking lot, the tenacious little guy (or gal?) still clung tight.  Then, I pulled into the parking lot, found an empty spot,  and stopped the car.

I expected him to immediately fly off, glad that this harrowing experience was over. But he didn’t.  He stayed glued to the windshield and bent his antennae this way and that for a few seconds. Perhaps he was testing his surroundings. Was it safe? Then, in a blink, he was gone.

Like my bee friend, I want to land on the windshield of the Almighty. I want that tenacity, and the wisdom,  to stay put and ride with God wherever it is He wishes to take me.  I want to trust in His protection and be delivered from any danger my own thoughts and actions, or the world’s, would carry me.

Joshua schooled the Hebrews  to be wary in the new Promised Land where idol worshippers and the ungodly dwelled. He told them, “but you shall cling to the LORD your God just as you have done to this day.” (23:8)

I’m not saying the bee had faith in me, he was probably just reacting instinctually. He knew by the wind pressure on his antennae when it was safe to leave.  But that makes my point. I want a faith which is so solid that it is instinctual. Often I do have that, when things are calm. But if things begin to change,  the whispers of doubt try to tickle the corners of my mind. I wonder if I am in His will. Is this windshield that I have latched onto the right one? Should I bail off and try to find God’s will another way?

The answer is “cling” until He tells me I don’t have to do so anymore. May my spiritual antennae always vibrate enough to sense when I should hold on and when it is safe to let go. May I trust in the Lord fully and have the smarts to know it is not a good idea to let go and try to fly against the wind ( i.e His Will.)

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In a Devo

Posted in Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , , on October 30, 2012| 1 Comment »

A devotional site I write for sends one to my email box each morning. They are free and many wonderful women write for this site. Today, Becky wrote about her observations watching Prince Caspian, the movie. She noticed how Aslan, the lion who symbolizes Christ for CS Lewis, doesn’t dash to the aid of the children in battle, but watches and lets them see they have it within them to win. By knowing he is on their side and almighty, it gives them the courage they need.

You can read her whole devo here – http://powertochange.com/blogposts/2012/10/30/buck-up/

She says that Christianity is not a spectator religion. We don’t lie helplessly waiting on God to fix it all for us.

I grew up with Mighty Mouse as my hero. He would sing as he zipped to rescue Pearl Pureheart from the clutches of evil, “Here I come to save the day.” She would helplessly cry out, more like a Pitiful Pearl, for her hero and each time he’d be there.

I also grew up with the idea that dads were supposed to be heroes and protectors.  Father Knows Best. Leave it to Beaver.

So it was easy for me to picture my Heavenly Father this way. When He didn’t rush in to save the day, I wondered if He was angry with me. What had I done?

What I had done is forget that He had already sent His Son to save me by dying on the Cross. He had sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in my heart as my Guide. He had trained me up through His Word so that I could do all things through Him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13).

I recall my Dad watching closely as I wobbled on my bike without training wheels. He was there to cheer me on, give me instructions, and when I fell, to brush me off, wipe my tears, and place me back on the bike. Had he not let me try on my own, I would never had learned.  I learned because I had confidence that he was there watching – just in case, as Alsan did for the children.

My Heavenly Father has already prepared me for the earthly battles of my life. I know He is there watching, just in case. Sure, He may swoop in and rescue me from danger. But He also loves me enough to let me grow in strength and confidence by discovering I can do more than I thought I could with what He has already given me.

My God is more than Mighty Mouse or a super dad. He is my Rock, my Guide and my Strength.  May I cry out more in praise than for help.

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In the Mountains

Posted in Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , on October 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »

A friend and I drove from Texas to Arkansas to visit a new church. It is one of our ministries as head of our denominational women to keep in touch with the ladies in each church and plug them into our programs and mission efforts. Besidies, we were told the fall colors were beginning to pop, so it was an opportune time.

© Yan Zommer | Dreamstime.com

© Yan Zommer | Dreamstime.com

Now, being a Texas Hill Country girl, I always have found  God in the mesquite and cedar laden humps on the horizon. But, these were mountains looming ahead. They reminded by of a child’s art project- as if God had taken green styrofoam and plastered Trix cereal all over it. The colors of yellows, oranges, red and a bit of purple bumps blanketing the mounts was breathtaking, even in a drought year. Each turn of the road led us to new oohs and ahhs, unable to decide which scene splayed before our windshield was the best.

I had seen the Ozarks in college, but it was on a bus driving through the middle of them on the way to a church revival. The saying, “you can’t see the forest for the trees” is true.

It makes me wonder, if I let God lift me up, could I see more than the roots and trunk of the blessings he has placed before me? What awesome marvels  would our souls see if we had a panoramic view the way I did driving  today?

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In a Psalm verse

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, tagged , , , , , , , on October 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Love the LORD, all you his saints!
  The LORD preserves the faithful
  but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
  all you who wait for the LORD!
(Psalm 31:23-24 ESV)

We have only two choices. Act on our own, or wait upon the Lord’s timing.  We can have the faith that God will keep His promise or strike out on our own to usher it along.

Abraham made that mistake with Hagar, his wife’s maidservant. He believed God’s promise that he would be a father of a great nation one day. But when Sarah, his wife, didn’t conceive in her old age, he thought he had to get the ball rolling.The result is he became the father of two nations and they have been at war ever since.

Now, I am not saying we sit on our hands and do nothing. Quite the contrary. We keep doing what God has called us to do, trusting that, in His perfect timing, the fruits of our labor will be revealed. God’s ways are often more like a crock pot than a microwave.

In this instant-result orientated world, that even more than ever it takes three things, as the psalmist says –

  • Swallowing our pride
  • Being strong in our faith
  • Having the courage to keep on keeping on

Wait for it. Keep believing – but keep at the task.

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In NOT Being a Worry Wort

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, tagged , , , , on October 22, 2012| 1 Comment »

I found God today in a post of Truth Media’s Christian Women Today. I have been writing for them for years, but so do some very God-given talented women, and men. Today Kristi hit the nail on the head and it pierced my heart.  She stated that when we worry, it is stating our problems are too small for God. Wow. That put’s it into perspective, does it not?

You can read her whole devo by clicking here http://powertochange.com/blogposts/2012/10/22/worry-the-final-frontier/

One verse I always come back to, and have throughout my life, is Matthew 6:25 – Be ye not anxious about your life, what ye shall eat, or drink or about your body what ye put on.  We hear that worry will not add another day to our lives. In fact medical science shows it takes them away.

Worry stagnates us in a pool of inaction. We cannot move forward. It is similar to cud that a cow chews – over and over and over. It keep returning. The more we mouth it the bigger it seems to grow until it begins to gag us.  It can consume our moment, our day and our lives if we let it.

The opposite of worry is faith-filled peace. That is when we grasp a smidgen of an idea of how majestic our God really is. He is bigger than our problems. He is mightier than whatever evil is present. He is more aware of the present and future that we can ever be. It is as if He has the view from Mount Everest and us from an anthill.

Yet we all worry, don’t we? Perhaps that is why there are so many Biblical references to not worrying. What is your favorite “don’t worry ” verse?

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In Driving Advice

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, tagged , , , , on October 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Last night at our Toastmasters meeting, a friend confessed how driving in the construction zones makes her jittery.

Those overbearing concrete barriers appear to narrow down the lane. She said she prays all the way through them, with her eyes open of course.

Another member said, “Here’s a tip. Keep your eyes straight ahead and fixed on an object in front of you. Don’t look at the barriers. If you do, you might swerve into them.”

 

The proverbial light bulb clicked on. Literally. His advice sounded like a verse in Proverbs. So I called up my online concordance. Yep, there it was.

Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Proverbs 4:25

Both were right. When we feel life is narrowing in and there is danger, temptation, or old destructive habits on both sides looming up like concrete – cold, unforgiving and forbearing – then we need to do three things:

Pray (with our eyes open).

Look straight ahead and fix our eyes on the goal – Jesus.

Keep moving, even if it is at a snail’s pace. Don’t let fear or anxiety stop us dead in our tracks.

Be aware of what is around us, just don’t concentrate on it.  If we let our glance veer to the left or right, our minds and bodies may go that way as well.  Result – we will crash. We know what is there, we don’t need to dwell on it. Instead, fix our eyes on things that are above. Seek Jesus up ahead, guiding us down the straight and narrow path. He has already prepared our path.

Trust in that and keep moving towards His light, straight into His waiting arms.

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In Plants

Posted in Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , , , , on October 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Plants were used in Jesus’ parables – fig trees, vines, mustard  seeds. Plants seemingly grow in God’s timing.

I bought an orchid at the grocery store – on clearance for $8.99. It only requires three ice cubes a week, so I feed it on Sunday when I come home from church. That way I usually remember to do that.

Its blooms lasted for months, then dropped off. For several more months I just had a green leafed plant, but soon a new little leaf emerged from the center, so I watched and waited. Then, one day, a little stick began to emerge. It grew, lengthened and then got bumps on it.  It bloomed again! I was told by several people that doesn’t always happen. Lo and behold, history repeated itself. It bloomed a third time the next year.

All I do is give it water on Sunday and make sure it has the right exposure of light. Each spring I watch in anticipation as it grows a long stick, then the little protrusions which burst into delicate white flowers for a season. I come home and stare at it doing it’s thing, growing.  It makes me smile. It is like watching a miracle unfold in slow motion over the weeks it takes for the stem to lengthen and bloom.

Does God do that with me? May I keep growing and blooming in my season for Him, being fed with the Living Water on Sundays and the Light of the World during the week.

A fellow writer for Power to Change, Kristi, wrote about how a dead stick in the dirt held a message for her. Click here –http://powertochange.com/blogposts/2012/10/13/from-the-inside-out/

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In the Unseen

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , on September 27, 2012| 1 Comment »

I was in a scene from an old black and white movie, or so it seemed. The kind where you are walking in a thick mist by the sea docks. All you can hear is the sound of your own footsteps on the planks and the methodical wail of the fog horn somewhere in the distance. The grayish, moist fingers stretch to envelop everything around you. Do you move on through the thick soup carefully placing one foot in front of the other as you tap to make sure the path is solid? Do you stand still and hope this opaque veil will lift, or wait for God to grab your hand and lead you through it? Lord, give me a signal, a flash of a torch up ahead to let me know if I am going in the right direction.

I choose to trust – a purposeful act of believing that He is here watching over me. Yet at the same time somehow, because He is not temporal as I am,  My Lord is also outside the fog handling whatever it is I am not yet privileged to detect with my faith eyes.  Perhaps, I must re-train my eyes to see only Him, and not what I having been choosing to see.

Is that a faint glimmer of the Light of the World through the mist up ahead, beckoning? I ease towards it with renewed hope. I am on the right path after all.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen
is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. . . For we walk by faith, not be sight. 2 Corinthians 4:18, 5:7

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The Bird Can be the Word

Posted in Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , on September 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »

God speaks to us in so many ways – often through nature. A friend of mine who is an avid and highly knowledgeable birder, as well as a deep Christian woman, has a blog – GodGirlGail. Today she discussed the a Frigatebird who bullies other birds to get their food instead of working for its own. Sort of like the kid who steals the lunch money. You can read about it here:  http://godgirlgail.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/744/.

Today, God showed me a lesson through her description of the Frigatebird. Being bullied viciously for years and years as a child for being overweight and smart, I can relate. Whatever self-esteem I had would be snatched away every time I walked into school. They told me I would never be pretty, and that I was a nerd who would never be popular. I married a man who would bully me and did so for thirty plus years. It was the behavior I expected, so I guess I sought it out. Now that I am a widow, I had become my own bully.  No one was around to tell me the negative things I had heard all my life, so I began the mantra in the mirror.

In reading Gail’s description of the Frigatebird,  I imagined myself as one of the birds that Frigate bullied everyday. Easy target. After a while, if I was that little bird, when I’d see the Frigate soaring in my direction, I would have dropped my food to avoid the conflict. Even if I saw no bully coming, I’d drop it – just in case, then tell myself it was not really meant to be mine.

I know Scripture states that through God we are made worthy. David Crowder sings that God makes everything glorious so what does that make me? As a teenager, “God doesn’t make junk” was the bumper sticker saying of the day.  Yet, somehow, I had convinced myself that I had taken the goodness and junked it myself, so it really worth holding onto anyway. In essence, by believing my own negative bullying, I had.

Leave it to a bully bird, whose antics were written about by a friend, to show me Truth.  What God has given me as far as talent is worthy of holding onto.  Bully bird, in the name of Jesus, I say go away.  I am grasping what God has graced me and not letting go anymore.

If you are dealing with negativity in your life, whether the voices are from within or coming from others, don’t give into it. Don’t let bullying snatch away what God has given to you. You are worthy to hang onto His grace and use your talents to His glory.

With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. 2 Thessalonians 1:11

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Comfort and Joy

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , on September 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday another lady and I, who are on the women’s ministry board for our denomination, drove about two hours south to support a small church in our jurisdiction. They were having a fall bazaar. It was a good chance to meet some of the ladies and personally invite them to the function we were having for all the women in a month’s time.

One lady, who was somewhat elderly, had a booth of beautifully handmade beaded jewelry. She explained how learning to do beadwork had kept her busy since her mother passed away last year. She’d been her mother’s caregiver for over 6 years. I saw the deep pain in her eyes, but I also saw God’s comfort.  I could tell He had been there with her, through her church, her friends and in this new endeavor. Her faith was a balm for her sorrow. Hovering between us as we talked was the Holy Spirit wrapping her in a love that will never leave her.  It made me realize anew how He’s there for me, and you, and all of us who believe, giving purpose to our times of sorrow and  emptiness.

I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow. Jeremiah 31:13b

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