Corona Devotionals

When I was young and learning to bake from my mom and gramma's, one of the core principles of cooking that they taught was the importance of greasing a pan.   Cookie sheet or 9x13 casserole, we had better grease that baby with oleo (my Gramma T.), a pat of butter (Gramma C.), or rub the paper wrapping from a stick of butter around the bottom of the sides of the pan, to put every last bit of butter to use, and to keep our food from sticking. I have forgotten to grease a pan once in a while, and the results are not pretty.  They are ugly, actually.  Cakes don't release, brownies don't budge, and pasta's stick like hardened fossils.   Greasing a pan is critical...ask any cook or chef. ~~~ Well, cookie sheets and loaf pans are not the only things that need to be well-oiled to function-well.  We do too .  And...if you haven't figured out what our grease-for-getting-through life is...it's gratitude to God:  Rejoicing  in Him.      Whatever happens, my dear brothers an

When the apostle Paul was in prison (for teaching the Word and hope of God), he stayed busy in (still) serving the Lord.  He wrote letters to encourage the churches that he had planted and the people seeking to live for the Lord in those churches.   Paul's letters have been encouraging people ever since, and today when I read about Paul's buddies-in-ministry named  Timothy and Epaphroditus (Eee-paah-frow-die-tus), it reminded me of my buddies  Timothy  and  Epaphroditus .  And when you read the verses, they will remind you of your faith-friends  Timothy  and  Epaphroditus. Oh, our God-buds probably have different names  than  Timothy  and  Epaphroditus , but you'll (immediately) recognize them (in your life) when you read about them.  We all (I pray) have solid spiritual soulmates that love the Lord like we do, and they are pillars in our lives.   (And...if we don't have a Timothy or  Epaphroditus , then, let's connect, and we can work something out, because ther

There is a series of stages involved in making a "whoopie pie".  ( Whoopie pie:  A baked good consisting of two round, mound-shaped pieces of cake (typically chocolate cake) with a sweet, creamy filling or frosting sandwiched in between .  ~yourdictionary.com ). The first step is making the batter and then dolloping it into mounds (size of your choice) on a cookie sheet.  "Dollop" sounds dainty and neat, but this (uncooked) form of the whoopie pie batter is anything but. The batter is thick and extremely sticky.  It's hard to work with and even more difficult to place/clump/scrape/mold into round mounds (of similar size) on the cookie sheet.   This is a difficult stage.  There's nothing easy, quick, or clean about it--it's messy.   But you have to go through that part of the recipe and baking in order to get to the next stage. When the whoopie cake-cookies are baked, they will rise and cook into  rounds that will become the outside "sandwich"

My brother-in-law used to tell the story of being put in a clothes dryer when he was a kid and someone turning it on when he was in there. What's the worst thing that we have had to endure?  What's the most horrible fear that we can think of occurring? Bankruptcy? Dementia? Loss of abilities or faculties? Terminal illness? Losing a loved one's life?   Losing our life? ~~~ Scripture gave me a new "worst-fear" today: the idea (and reality) of God turning away from us and giving us over to our sins (Isaiah 64:7) . Can we truly think of anything more disturbing?   Because, if you ask me,  We can handle  any thing  (and some of us  have )..., We can handle  the worst things  (and some of us  have )...                AS LONG AS  God is with us.   But what if He is not?   I cannot think of a worse thing to endure. Through the prophet Isaiah , God speaks to the people and He is blatant with them in acknowledging their sin against Him.   The people don't care about God

My husband and I watched a movie the other day about the life of John Newton.   Heard of him?  No, he wasn't the guy credited with discovering gravity because an apple fell on his head...that was Sir Isaac Newton. John Newton ( born July 24, 1725, London  England —died December 21, 1807) wrote the song, "Amazing Grace".   Now have we heard of him? We might figure that the man that wrote that famous hymn must have been raised in the church and grew-up steeped in Scripture.  But we would be figuring wrong.    John Newton had a fascinatingly hard life, but he always persevered.  He had so many difficult twists and turns that it was almost hard to believe them all.   His mom died when he was six.  He persevered.   He had a temper.  He got kicked out of schools, and his dad (a sailor) took him to sea with him.   He persevered.   He became distanced and bitter with God.  He still had a temper.  He got sold to another boat captain.  He got sold again and became a slave to a woma

All day long, God's Word rings true in our lives. All day long. I will tell of the kindnesses of the  Lord ,  the deeds for which he is to be praised,  according to all the  Lord  has done for us— yes, the many good things  he has done for Israel,  according to his compassion and many kindnesses.   ~Isaiah 63:7 I started my day with an exercise embodying these verses and I praised the Lord into my day.  A sister-in-Christ sent me a worship song and it woke up my spirit and my gratitude for God at 5:00 AM.  God invoked  these verses in me before I even read them.   I will tell of the kindnesses of the  Lord ,  the deeds for which he is to be praised,  according to all the  Lord  has done for us (!) ...   ~Isaiah 63:7 He has done  so much for us.     I will  tell.  I have to  tell.  I am blessed  to tell of the kindnesses of the  Lord .     If we were to list them ( the deeds for which he is to be praised ) , how long would we write?  Forever ?   Think, ponder, boil-it-down, and sto