Corona Devotionals

I had a little pebble in my shoe the other day.  A tiny little thing, but oh  how that little stone bothered me.  It was always there.  Sometimes it would shift in my shoe, and I might not notice it for a step or two, and then ouch , there it was again.  It wasn't going away. and it was constantly rubbing me, bothering me, wearing me down, and hurting me.   I had to stop and deal with it. And as soon as I did...there was relief.   Immediately.   It was wonderful, and I had to ask myself why I didn't stop and take care of it in the first place, instead of letting it wear on me and wear me down. ~~~ Do we have a "pebble" of unforgiveness in our shoe today?   Something that we need to deal with?  Something that isn't going away?  Something that is rubbing us the wrong way?  Something that might shift for a while, but that ( ouch ) always resurfaces?  Something that is wearing us down and hurting us?   Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to

Let's keep reading this Bible, because I can't get over how God uses His Word to speak to us, to encourage us, and then to circle back and confirm what He has3 already said to us through it.   It's wild.  It's uncanny.  And it is the process of how we can catch glimpses of God (the One True God!) working in our (simple) lives and hearts.  And it is fascinating enough to keep me reading the Bible.  We have to see what God will do next. For instance, in August of this year, I was reading in 2 Corinthians , and the Lord laid a verse on my heart in reference to our kids and the school Bible groups that they lead.   And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.    ~2 Corinthians 5:18 I felt compelled and motivated for our student ministries by the encouragement that (I felt) God gave to me through this verse.   And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.    ~2 Corinthians 5:18 God has given everyone   this task , but I took (and take) the ver

Who is our joy and crown ?      Who comes to our Bible study?        Who sits (and wriggles) in our children's ministry class on Sunday mornings?        Who has joined hearts and hands with us in prayer?        Who worships with us?        Who listens as we explain Scripture or read the Bible?     Who meets before or after school for Bible club?     Who prays with us?     Who reads our devotional? Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters,  stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work.  ~Philippians 4:1 There is a purpose and a point to what we do for the Lord each day, and there is reward in sharing God's hope and love and Truth with people.  People (God's people) are our joy and our crown . God made us this way--to be fulfilled ( joy ful!) in doing His work and in sharing His love and Truth.  For each of us, this ministry-delivery will look different, but we will know  when we are living with Jes

Remember our  first  feelings/euphoria/understanding/obedience/submission to the Lord?  We were so eager to please Him, and driven to understand what  pleased Him.  We loved  God, and our actions/intentions/desires exemplified it. We followed  God, even through the wilderness .  We were all in.   Overcome.   We were filled-up with Him, and  God remembers that passion from us too. ~~~ The  Lord  gave me another message. He said,  ( 2)  “Go and shout this message to Jerusalem. This is what the  Lord  says:  “I remember how eager you were to please me  as a young bride long ago,  how you loved me and followed me  even through the barren wilderness.  ( 3)  In those days Israel was holy to the  Lord ,  the first of his children.   All who harmed his people were declared guilty,  and disaster fell on them.   I, the  Lord , have spoken!”  ~Jeremiah 2:1-3 Remember the courtship and early days of marriage?   Remember the attention and fire that burned within us for our spouse?  Ignited us?  Mot

We went gem-hunting the other day.   Ever had the thrill of spying a plump red raspberry that's hidden under a leaf?  Or glimpsing the black glitter of a shark's tooth on a sandy beach? Digging through the red dirt in a South Carolina mine and looking for a finger of amethyst or crystals of quartz is the same-kind of adrenaline rush.  And we were ready.  We had shovels.  We had spades.  We had brushes to scrape the dirt off of our finds, and buckets to carry out our finds.  We had a packed lunch and a couple hours, and we were excited to hunt gems. But a funny thing happened during gem mining.  The best "gems" I found weren't in the dirt or a geode. In the air we heard a hum all day, and it was locusts.  So ugly they are beautiful, I was enraptured with them as they flew in the air and perched on the dirt, and once in a while on our shirts. Squinting for quartz and squatting to dig, I found myself eyelevel with a green anole. And the joy of my people unearthing &q

Hazelnut coffee.  Gardenias.  Earrings to match every outfit.  Dirty Dancing.  Matlock.  McD's Double cheeseburger.  Tribe fan.   Thank you notes and Christmas cards.   Junk-food junkie.  Musicals.  Generous.  Fun.  Glass-half-full. My mom was a treasure. I hope yours is/was too.   It's Mother's Day.  Our thoughts (naturally) turn to the woman that bore us.  The lady who labored for us at birth and our whole lives.  The damsel who delivered us on the day we were born and many other times too.  Today we think about the female example that we carry in our hearts and our lives of what a "mom" is. Today we honor our mom's, and while God created and enabled the possibility and sacrality of motherhood, the Bible reminds us today that even before "mom" loved us, God did. ~~~ People have argued back-and-forth about w hich came first: the chicken or the egg.   But here is another question:  What comes first...a baby or God's knowledge of that baby?  And m

I know that God loves me.  But sometimes I need a reminder that He is watching me. Wellllllll, we can all get a little lax from time to time, can't we?   Maybe we didn't return the shopping cart to the designated area and instead left it in the parking spot next to ours.  Maybe we've fallen out of the habit of writing thank you notes for gifts that we have received.  Or maybe we have "forgotten ourselves" in conversation, and let our tongue lash out.  Or perhaps our eyes are watching/viewing/lingering on images and writings that we have no business taking in.  Or maybe we have become lax in another area that is too unbecoming to put in print. We know that God loves us, but maybe today we need a reminder that  He is watching us. Then the  Lord  said to me, “Look, Jeremiah! What do you see?”   And I replied, “I see a branch from an almond tree.”  ( 12)  And the  Lord  said, “That’s right, and it means that I am watching, and I will certainly carry out all my plans.”

We're  not too young ...or too old to serve God.   We can't be...because the oxymoronic (contradictory) thing about serving God is that He does the work , but He is looking for someone (young or old) who is willing to partner with Him in deployment.   Young  or old,  are we willing  to step into what God has for us   today?  Because God has set us  apart and appointed us   to share His Word and ways and love to the nations. ~~~ We had a vacancy in leadership for our middle school Christian club this week.  Our weekly leader (our daughter) was out of town, and as I prayed about who could lead, I got the impactful idea of having some high school Christian-club students come and speak to the middle school Christian-club students about how they've seen God work (faith!) in their lives.   And the truth is, I don't think it was my  idea.  I think it was God's idea.   But...have you ever asked a high schooler to share their faith publicly to a group of students?   No one