Corona Devotionals

Missing someone today?   We've all lost someone we love.  A parent/friend/grandparent/spouse/child...and the emptiness without them is very real.   Do we have fresh sorrow for someone today?   ...And every one of us have aged-aches for loved-ones that we lost yesterday, and many yesterdays ago.  Life is just not the same without them.  We never really release that natural tinge of pain in losing them from our day to day. Just one more time ....what we would give to see them and be with them just one more time. But--what if I told you that we will  see them one more time? What if the Bible  (God) tells us that we will  see them one more time ?    We will see them one more time and then: for all time , and because of this, we can have hope  today.   And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no h...

The cultural mantra and the doctrine of today is for us to be for us.   Whatever feels good or seems good to us... we should do , they say.   It's all about what we want... right ? Well, it depends on who you ask, and on who we are seeking to serve.  I f we are seeking to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, and inviting others in to see who He is and the change that He can make in their lives...then,  No , it's not about us.  It's about God and preferring others in order to open the door to Him. This is a hard one to swallow in today's culture, which advertises, encourages, endorses, and saturates people of all ages with the lie that serving (only) ourselves is fulfilling and purposeful.  Jesus says, teaches, exemplifies, and confirms (by His death on the cross) that the exact opposite is true. ~~~ What part of "us" is standing in the way of us presenting the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ to someone else today? And what (personal/emotional/physical/spiritual)...

For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.   (3)  God’s will is for you to be holy...  ~I Thessalonians 4:2-3 ~~~ You are doing great! Keep it up! Look how far you've come...and you are heading down the right path! ~~~ Encouragement and direction.  I try to give both of these to our kids regularly.  I compliment them (sincerely) on where they are, and then I remind them of God's good, gold standard, and encourage them to keep on keeping on.  Sometimes I encourage my husband in the same way.  Acknowledging all that he has done with God already (today, this week, this year, this marriage, and this life).  And then (in prayer and in person) I try to build up his confidence and strength for today's attempts at living holy for the Lord.   Encouragement and direction.  I try to breathe it into myself too, but not through my words, which eventually cannot bear weight or save...but  through God's Word...

There's an old Chinese proverb that says, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single ____". We can fill in that blank: step . This week my husband and I were blessed to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. Certainly we have beloved couples in our lives and in our hearts that have shared many more years than twenty together, but for us this was a blessed big deal. Twenty years is a long time, but as we reminisced and remembered and counted our blessings, I realized something: twenty years happened one day at a time. This is how our lives are built-up and determined: one day at a time . So teach us to number our days, t hat we may gain a heart of wisdom. ~Psalm 90:12 Be intentional today: To love God. To serve Him. And to love and serve others in His name. Whether we are talking about developing (and maintaining) a strong marriage, rearing a child, training a puppy, working a job, or anything at all: everything is established one intentional day at a time. Le...

Have you read the Bible?  I mean the end of it: last pages and Chapter.  It's slightly concerning, because we are not in there.  Well...as Believers we are surely in there (and in Eternity!). But as a nation, America is not found in the last days of the Bible.  That could be up for interpretation and I am no "End Times" scholar, so please don't freak out on my observation.  But I do love to study about God and His one and only Son, and I have noticed a recurring theme in Their nature and Their love for us: We serve a God of second chances. God WILL forgive if people's hearts are repentant.  God will forgive IF  people's hearts are repentant.  If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed,  ( 8)  and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.   ~ Jeremiah 18:7-8 When God speaks to Jeremiah about the ...

Once , one (single!) morning of approximately three thousand, three hundred and sixty (3,360) mornings over my 14 years at my current job....just/only/merely... once,  I found a mouse stuck to a trap in the bathroom.   I hate mice. Just once has this ever happened, and I know the old adage that "there is never just one mouse", but I can also attest that once that one (ugly/disgusting/pesky/dirty/vermin) mouse was removed...I've never seen evidence or proof of another since. But... Every day  I peek at the (new) sticky mouse trap in our office bathroom, just in case, and to be sure there is not another one.   Every day.   Every.  Single.  Day. I'll never forget that (yucky) mouse sharing my space...and I never want to forget it.  I stay vigilant in watching-out for another.  Every day. ~~~ If one tiny mouse can make me do a double take at the back bathroom wall at work every single day ...then why are we not half as vigilant a...