• Devotions

    Being Thankful in Seasons of Change

    Today is a day to be thankful.

    But it has been a year of many changes.

    Some were planned, others were not.

    Some were joyful, others were heartbreaking.

    With multiple wedding invitations, I anticipated the joy of witnessing young couples transition into their new lives together.

    A baby shower celebrating the arrival of a great niece brought double the joy as a marriage proposal ended the day in spectacular fashion.

    A short family vacation to an NFL game filled my heart as my husband and I got to spend time with our busy adult children.

    But the unexpected death of a family member was something no one expected.

    The loss of several friends who succumbed to illness left my heart feeling heavy.

    Missing loved ones who are no longer with us always makes me homesick during the holidays.

    Ups and downs.

    Light moments and dark moments.

    Wouldn’t life be easier if, like getting an invitation or itinerary, we knew the time and day the changes would be coming our way?

    But we cannot fully know what God has planned.

    “Whenever I tried to become wise and learn what goes on in the world, I realized that you could stay awake night and day and never be able to understand what God is doing. However hard you try, you will never find out. The wise may claim to know, but they don’t.” 

    Ecclesiastes 8:6-7 GNT

    Matthew Henry in his commentary on Ecclesiastes 8 says this: “God has, in wisdom, concealed from us the knowledge of future events, that we may be always ready for changes.”  

    God prepares us through His Word that changes will happen.

    There is a time for everything.

    “There is a time for everything,

        and a season for every activity under the heavens:

        a time to be born and a time to die,

        a time to plant and a time to uproot,

        a time to kill and a time to heal,

        a time to tear down and a time to build,

        a time to weep and a time to laugh,

        a time to mourn and a time to dance,

        a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

        a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

        a time to search and a time to give up,

        a time to keep and a time to throw away,

        a time to tear and a time to mend,

        a time to be silent and a time to speak,

        a time to love and a time to hate,

        a time for war and a time for peace.” Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 NIV

    I confess that even though God shares this wisdom with us, I am often not ready for the changes that occur in life.

    But knowing His promises helps me to be prepared to face them.

    He is present.

    “For God has said, “I will never leave you; I will never abandon you.” Hebrews 13:5 GNT

    He is a safe place.

    “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1 NIV

    He offers comfort.

    “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort.”  2 Corinthians 1:3 NLT

    He offers strength.

    “Do not be afraid—I am with you!

        I am your God—let nothing terrify you!

    I will make you strong and help you;

        I will protect you and save you.”  Isaiah 41:10 GNT

    He offers hope.

    “Yet this I call to mind

        and therefore I have hope:

    Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,

        for His compassions never fail.

    They are new every morning;

        great is Your faithfulness.”  Lamentations 3: 21-23 NIV

    In addition to His promises, God gives us instruction.

    He tells His children to give thanks in all things.

    “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 

    1 Thessalonians 5: 18 NLT

    Friends, I do not know what changes have come your way this year.

    Some may have been planned, others may have been unexpected.

    But one thing we can trust is that God is unchanging.

    He is ever present, offers us a safe place, gives us comfort, strength and hope.

    And that is something to be thankful for today and everyday.

  • Devotions

    The Best Thing I’ve Ever Done

    On a sunny September day, my friends and I ventured out to a flower farm.

    From the distance, it was difficult to see what lay ahead.

    “Where are all the flowers?” one of my friends jokingly said.

    But the closer we got, the beauty was more than we could have imagined.

    Seemingly never ending fields of flowers of all types. 

    Entrance fee: $15.

    Flowers on a weekday: 50 cents a stem.

    Spending time with friends surrounded by fields of His beauty: priceless.

    Wandering around the rows for hours, our buckets were overflowing with stems of all colors and sizes.

    Some of their names we knew, others we did not.

    So I downloaded an app on my phone that would identify a flower by name simply by taking its picture.   

    Trying to capture the beauty of the day, I snapped lots of pictures.

    But they truly did not do it justice.

    “This is the best thing we’ve ever done,” said my friend.

    We laughed at the notion that it maybe really wasn’t the best thing we’d ever done.

    But it was pretty good.

    Let me tell you about the best thing I have ever done.

    Accepting the free gift of God’s love and Christ as my Lord and Savior.

    From a distance, it may seem difficult to see what lays ahead.

    With all of the chaos around us, it may be hard to find the beauty.

    But in His Word, God reveals that what is ahead is more than we could have ever imagined.

    “However, as it is written:

    “What no eye has seen,

        what no ear has heard,

    and what no human mind has conceived”—

        the things God has prepared for those who love Him—

    These are the things God has revealed to us by His Spirit.

    The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.

    1 Corinthians 2: 9-12 NIV

    Our Heavenly Father can identify us and knows us by name.

    No app needed.

    We are all created in His image.

    “So God created mankind in His own image,

        in the image of God He created them;

        male and female He created them.  Genesis 1:27 NIV

    He knows everything about us.

    “You have searched me, Lord,

        and you know me.

    You know when I sit and when I rise;

        you perceive my thoughts from afar.

    You discern my going out and my lying down;

        you are familiar with all my ways.” Psalm 139: 1-3 NIV

    “For you created my inmost being;

        you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

    I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

        your works are wonderful,

        I know that full well.

    My frame was not hidden from you

        when I was made in the secret place,

        when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

    Your eyes saw my unformed body;

        all the days ordained for me were written in your book

        before one of them came to be.”  Psalm 139: 13-16 NIV

    The God of the Universe not only gave us the beauty of the flower fields, but also knows us by name.  

    Our Father wants us all to come home to Heaven to be with HIm.

    Entrance fee: Free- all you need to do is accept Christ as your Lord and Savior.

    His love is free, but entering His kingdom came at a price.

    Jesus paid that price on the cross.

    “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, His one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.”  

    John 3:16-17 MSG

    Friends, if you haven’t accepted His love, I encourage you to take that step today.

    Accepting His love?

    That is the best thing I’ve ever done.

    My prayer is that it will be the best thing you have ever done, too.

  • Devotions

    The Most Important Connection

    I love games, especially word games.

    Wordle, the Mini Crossword and Connections are part of my nightly routine.

    If you have never played Wordle, players are given 6 chances to guess a 5 letter word.

    Not many chances when you have 26 letters.

    You have the choice of which ones you will add to the blank page.

    The Mini Crossword at least gives you clues for words to enter.

    It even gives you the option of using Autocheck.

    This lets you know if one of the letters you have chosen is wrong.

    Not to boast, but I feel like I have Wordle and the Mini Crossword down.

    It is Connections that I struggle with the most.

    The challenge of this game is to take 16 words and figure out what 4 categories they might fall under.

    To find the connection between the words.

    Sounds simple enough, right?

    Not always.

    For example, bed, bowl, crate and collar might fall into the “Puppy Purchases” category.

    It was easy for me to find the common thread between these words.

    Other times, I stare at the words and see no connection at all.

    Even through playing games, God has a lesson to share if we are paying attention.

    Each day we have free will to choose to follow God or not.

    Like Wordle, we have choices of how we will fill the blank page.

    In His Word, our choices and their consequences are made clear.

    “Look at what I’ve done for you today: I’ve placed in front of you

        Life and Good

        Death and Evil.

    And I command you today: Love God, your God. Walk in His ways. Keep His commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess.

     But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods, you will most certainly die. You won’t last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. “  Deuteronomy 30: 15-18 MSG

    Like in the Mini Crossword, the Bible serves as an Autocheck, letting us know when something is wrong or out of line with the puzzle of our lives.

    His Word gives us clues for what we should add to our days.

    “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into His most excellent harmonies.” Philippians 4:8-9 MSG

    Like Connections, we attempt to place people into categories.

    We look for the common threads.

    Cheering for the same team, having children or belonging to the same political party.

    Or maybe the categories have a more negative connotation.

    We group others by those who have hurt or offended us, or we see as “less than.”

    This is nothing new.

    The Bible shows many who were placed into categories.

    That was seen as “less than.”

    The woman at the well.

    The tax collector.

    The leper.

    This is the enemy’s favorite game.

    Having us focus on what separates us instead of what connects us.

    All you need to do is look at the media to see division is still alive and well.

    We get focused on putting people in categories.

    And we miss the most important connection of all. 

    We are all in one category.

    The category of the ones that Christ went to the cross for and shed His blood.

    All of us.

    Not the ones that think like us, vote like us, or sound like us.

    Each and every one of us.

    Our connection is that we are all HIS.

    And as HIS, we are called to love the way that He loves us.

    With unlimited love.

    “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”  John 15:12 NIV

    God makes it clear that His children are called to see each other as brothers and sisters and to serve one another.

    “Show respect for all people. Love the brothers and sisters of God’s family. Respect God. Honor the King.” 1 Peter 2:7 ICB

    “Most importantly, love each other deeply. Love has a way of not looking at others’ sins. Open your homes to each other, without complaining. Each of you received a spiritual gift. God has shown you His grace in giving you different gifts. And you are like servants who are responsible for using God’s gifts. So be good servants and use your gifts to serve each other. Anyone who speaks should speak words from God. The person who serves should serve with the strength that God gives. You should do these things so that in everything God will be praised through Jesus Christ. Power and glory belong to him forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4: 8-11 ICB

    Friends, it is easy to stare at a broken world and lose sight of the most important connection we all have.

    But we can find reminders in His Word.

    Given the choice, will we choose Him?

    Given the clues, will we fill our lives with what honors HIm?

    Given the category, will we choose to love all of our brothers and sisters?

    How we fill our lives matters.

    My prayer is that we fill it with love.