Corona Devotionals

When one of our kids sends a laser-shot into the back of the net to score during a soccer game, I never plan to, and I don't even want to be "that mom" yelling for her kid, but out of nowhere and almost in tandem with ball smashing the net---a "whoop" rises up from my chest and projects out of my throat.   I can't help it-- It's like my soul just  has to react. If we will champion and cheer inconsequential things like a little goal in a soccer game, I pray that we will also give God a hearty and guttural "whoop" for all that He is and the miracles He performs.  I pray that we  can't help it-- and that our souls j ust  have  to react to His majesty at work in our lives and in the lives of those around us. P eter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service.  ( 2)  As they approached the Temple, a man lame from birth was being carried in. Each day he was put beside the Temple gate...so he could be...

A bit heavy-hearted for no particular reason, except for today's headlines, I got up from my Bible and looked out the window at this new day. This day where moms like me mourn the loss of a child.  This day where moms like me choose to dispose of their babies.  This day where babies grow up to be adults and choose to live their lives apart from God and His good plans for them.  This day where most of us go about our business as if nothing is wrong, but inside our spirit (no matter how we try to muffle it) screams, "This is all wrong!"    S o much   of the day that we look out upon today is  wrong.  It causes our souls anguish .  W hat can we do?    I trust in the  Lord .  ( 7)  I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love,  for you have seen my troubles,  and you care about the anguish of my soul.  ~Psalm 31:6-7 He cares.  God cares   about the anguish ( extreme pain, distress, or anxie...

Earlier this year, in one of their middle school Bible study group meetings, our daughter passed out notecards and asked the kids to write down any questions that they might have about the Bible or God (and they spent the next couple weeks discussing the Biblical answers to those questions.) Their questions were interesting and possibly tell-tale of today's youth, who seem to have every other  truth pushed-on-them and forced-to-be-accepted-without-judgment, except  for God's Truth.  The Bible (these days) is deemed one-sided, out-dated and downright intolerant by most other "truth-tellers" of today's culture.   But, Friends...you and I  and everyone-- knows deep down inside  that there can be only one truth.    And you and I did not create it. So, just as one middle schooler scribbled across a notecard the other day, we might ask the same question today: How can we know what God says? The first and most direct answer to this question can be f...

Do you have a difficult job? My neighbor drives a truck across the country.  That's a difficult job.   My cousin is a police officer.   That's a difficult job.   Managers of a team/staff, motivators of a team, trying-to-maintain a team... That's a difficult job. Trying to tell people who have lost-their-connection to Christ (or never even had one) about the Bible and that we should obey it and honor God?  THAT'S a difficult job. ~~~ Read the news.  Scroll through your feed.  Catch the headlines.  Everything seems wrong , and for many different reasons.  But we can really boil it all down to one reason:  Too much "us" and not enough Jesus.   W e have not kept ourselves separate  from sin and from those who don't know/care about God...and so we have taken up detestable practices in  our lives and our culture.  Our spirits   have become polluted  and impure in relation to the Lord and the ...

And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God. We prayed that he would give us a safe journey and protect us, our children, and our goods as we traveled.    ~Ezra 8:21 ~~~ Have we prayed that God would give us a safe journey  today?  That He will protect us, our children  (if applicable) and our goods as we travel through the day?   Does it seem silly to ask God for this?  It shouldn't. Do you pray similar prayers?   Ezra  did, and he (a prophet of God)  gave orders for all who were with him  to fast and humble them selves before God (Ezra 8:21)  as they readied their hearts for asking God's blessing on their journey .   First, Ezra gave orders for all of them to fast . To cleanse themselves. To clear out any impurities within them and to get physically clean within-themselves before God.  Ezra gave orders  for them to stop gorging on the world and to p...

The other day the forecast was calling for rain and I tucked a garbage bag in my daughter’s soccer backpack so that she could pull the garbage bag over her bag if the rains came.   Which they did. “Thank you so much for the bag—it saved my soccer stuff!!”, she chirped after practice as she hopped soggily into the car.   “See what I did there?” I told her in reference to the garbage bag.   “I love you, and I was thinking ahead to bless you. The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.   ~Proverbs 27:12 Similarly, her class had to give presentations this week in school, and she told me about one boy who was physically shaking and in tears before giving his speech.   Public speaking is scarier than a haunted house for most people.   I thought back to her elementary grades and how she fought me (hard) when I insisted that she would participate in the speech meet competitions that most Christian primary schools ho...

I've been meaning to do it for weeks.  (Has it been a month?)  God placed some people on my heart, and I meant to...I  wanted to write them a note to encourage them (God's idea, not mine), and yet...it hadn't happened.   I wasn't getting it done.  It's accurate to say that I see  the paper and cards each day, and I actually desire  to do it, but day after day (after day) have scrambled-by, and my "people" have no encouragement because I haven't made every effort  to do it. Has God placed someone on your heart today?  Or maybe He gave you an assignment weeks ago.     (Has it been a month?)    Let's take a moment to seize the moment to encourage another today (God's idea, not mine). But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.  ~Hebrews 3:13 We don't know  what others are going through or facing today.  Their hearts...

Ever answer a "want ad"?  They are usually written to catch our eye and interest.  They are positive and even euphemistic in how they describe a job and the rewards.   But would we answer a "want ad" that said: Help Wanted : Must be willing to become a spectacle to the entire world, will look like a fool  and be ridiculed.  May  go hungry and thirsty  at times and also won't  have enough clothes to keep warm.  O ften beaten , and will have no home.   Strength needed, as will be required to  work wearily with our own hands to earn our living.    Must be willing to bless those who curse us  and be patient with those who abuse us .    If  evil things are said about us -- must  appeal gently.  Will be  treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment.  ( I Corinthians 4:9-13) Any takers?   Are we prepping our resumes to be sent in ...