Category: Devotional

The Finished Product

I was following a crafting group. It took over my Facebook feed and threw up at least 50 posts a day. That was okay, but what really helped me decide to stop following them is this comment on almost every single post: “I made this; I know it’s not perfect; what do you think? positive comments only.” I don’t know why, but something about seeing that insecurity over and over just finally got to me.

We crafters truly are an insecure bunch. Honestly, there’s not a piece of work I do that ever completely satisfies me. I may be happy with the design and the size, but as the creator of the article, I see the flaws and mistakes I made. I see where I missed that stitch. I see that uneven corner. I see it all. I’ve gotten into a crochet project by dozens of rows and completely ripped the whole thing out and started over, sometimes with a totally different pattern in mind. You see the finished project; I see the finished project with the flaws. And I always pray that it is liked by the person to whom it is gifted, because it’s made it with good intentions, patience, and much love.

Thankfully, God is not insecure about His finished product (and He doesn’t make mistakes). He sees our lives from beginning to end. He sees our flaws borne from a sinful nature, and sometimes He rips into our lives to change the pattern (or allows it to happen), to make a “purer” person. It hurts, and sometimes those changes can be time-consuming. But ultimately, God knows what the final “product” will look like. If we allow our Father–who works His will in our lives with patience and perfect love–to make the adjustments needed, one day we will stand before Him a perfect, finished life. And we will hear Him say, “Well, done.”

It’s all about Him, y’all. May the work He does in my life cause me to show the world HIS workmanship.

The Enemy is a Liar

On several occasions in my adult teaching years I have noted that God sends the same focused message out to many pulpits and classrooms. I love it when He does that! They are timely for us; they were planned by Him.

Our church has lately gotten back to Sunday school and we are slowly working our way back from 2020. As one of the adult class teachers, I had considered the several study options available, but one kept rising to the top, a study on the lies of the enemy (“The Truth about Lies,” by Tim Chaddick). Not totally convinced about it, I took a few days to pray and consider. During that time, I traveled to Pennsylvania to visit with our son’s family, giving me plenty of car quiet time to think. At one point I grew tired of the silence and dialed into a Christian station. The first song I heard was “Truth Be Told,” by Matthew West. Following right behind that was “If We’re Honest,” by Francesca Batistelli. Hmm. After hearing those songs and having my creative juices begin flowing, I felt confirmation that the study about lies of the enemy was what I would go with.

Just yesterday, I grabbed my phone to play some music on the way to church. My phone has car mode, and based on my past song lists, it picks music for me, so I’m not messing with buttons while I drive. The first song it played was “Fear is a Liar,” by Zach Williams. This song is not in any of my playlists–it was just a random song Amazon picked based on my music interests. Just further confirmation for me that our current Sunday school study was on track, and relevant for the times. Then, during morning worship–with no knowledge of the subject being taught in the adult class–our pastor brought a message titled, “Fear is a Liar” (Numbers 13-14). And for the final song of the service, he played the song “FEAR IS A LIAR”…!

Fear causes us to question the promises and goodness of God. It is one of the enemy’s greatest lies and a weapon he uses to keep us from experiencing the blessings of God.

I know a lot of people don’t feel that God works in this manner. That’s okay. I honestly believe that the Holy Spirit worked through these means to confirm my prayer about what to teach. Someone needs to be reminded that we need not fear a defeated enemy. Someone needs to be reminded that the world is full of lies and liars and that we must be aware. Someone needs to be reminded that God will always tell the truth and is always trustworthy. He has not changed His mind about what His word tells us, and anything that deviates from that is not truthful.

1 Peter 5:8-11 – Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. So resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brothers and sisters who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.  To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Y’all, the world will try to tell you that what you “want” is what you should have. Check it out with God first. If He has a word to say about it, trust that. Do not let the fear that the world will scoff at you or mock you for following God keep you from overthrowing the lies of the enemy in your life.

…Also Known as Borrowing Trouble

It used to be that the \”what ifs\” kept me awake at night. You can read about that here. That doesn\’t happen a lot these days, and I find it pretty easy to transition from having slept in my recliner for two or three hours to getting right back to sleep in the bed.

Nowadays, sleeplessness shows up at dawn–if dawn arrives at 4am. Waking up that early isn\’t so bad. It\’s an opportunity to sit in our quiet home and read the Bible and pray. It\’s just that the time between that moment my eyes open and when I finally get up is a bit problematic; because most mornings, as soon as my eyes open, this big old giant elephant rushes in and jumps onto my chest, almost suffocating me with heavy and unwelcome anxiety. Awful thoughts pour into my brain in those few moments.

Why? Why does this happen? Did the dreams I can never remember assault my mind while I slept? Is the enemy attacking, hoping to paralyze my day with fear? Am I doing this to myself? Because, if I\’m doing this to myself, I\’m going to be really mad at me!

These days, my anxieties aren\’t because one of my kids might fall into a well (read the article). And I know I\’m not alone in this–we all have concerns, right? The \”what ifs\” invade our minds, the elephant makes a trampoline of our chests, and our peace becomes a ruins.

Jesus knew this would happen. Matthew, chapter 6, is a gold mine of encouragement and instruction for those of us who are overtaken by the anxieties of life. Jesus told his followers, \”For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?\” (6:25)

But what about sickness, Jesus? People I love are sick. \”And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?\” (6:27)

And then there\’s this precious exhortation: “… do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.\” (6:34)

I know, I know. Some days this is so much easier to say than to do. I\’m there right now. Very serious concerns have visited our home. It\’s easy to fill my mind so full of anxiety that I completely lose all peace. But the great Peace Maker won\’t let me. He sticks close beside me; He is the shadow on my right hand (Ps. 121:5), and all I have to do is look to Him and be assured He won\’t leave me. Peace ultimately arrives and pushes the anxiety into the background. Oh, how I wish I could say it goes away and never returns. I\’m working on that.

In the meantime, I keep certain verses close. Psalm 94:19 – \”When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.\” I begin my mornings with this verse, remembering all the blessings in my life, thanking God for everything wonderful that comes to mind. Take that, silly elephant! And get off my chest.

Here are a few more verses I remember; perhaps they will bless you, too.

Psalm 142:3a – \”When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path.\”

God told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…\” (1:5a). He knows us, too. He knew before we were born what path our lives would take. He knew the struggles we would fight, the fears that would overwhelm.

GOD KNOWS, friend. GOD CARES for us. He will never leave us on our own. 

When I told the world about my husband\’s cancer diagnosis, I was overwhelmed by the compassion of friends. More than one friend referenced Psalm 121, which I have now adopted as my \”rudder\” as I steer through these new and treacherous waters. It\’s a beautiful promise, and I can barely read it without shouting. \”I will life up my eyes to the hills; from where shall my help come? MY HELP COMES FROM THE LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; HE WHO KEEPS YOU will not slumber.\” (Psalm 121:1-3).

God is my keeper, my shade, my protector from evil, the guard of my soul. He\’s my Good Father. Amen.

God bless your day, dear friends. And remember, it\’s all about HIM.

Our \”Adopted\” Children

In addition to our own two children and five grandchildren, Dave and I have a number of young people we refer to as our heart children. They\’ve come into our lives through the years and captured our hearts. We don\’t know what it is that caused us to love them, but we can\’t deny that God placed a deep love for them inside of us.  Most of them belong to happy, loving families, so it\’s not like we feel the need to \”rescue\” them. For some of these young folks, it\’s almost like the scripture that talks about souls being knitted together. I clearly remember looking at a young couple visiting our church and immediately loving them. Dave and I barely knew their names, but we knew they were going to be our \”kids.\” To this day, they have our hearts, and have also given us a heart-grandchild (he calls us Grandma Claudette and Grandpa Pastor).

To my memory, it began when a friend of one of our children called us \”mom\” and \”pop.\” At first we were surprised, but it didn\’t take long to decide we really liked the reference. Considering us in that way represented to us a sort of trust that we were there for them. Even today a few of our kids\’ friends continue to refer to us in that way, even though they are now grown and have children of their own. At one of our churches, one of our members called me mom because, in his culture, pastor\’s wives are considered the church mother or first lady. He and his wife remain precious to us to this day. Kids who grew up in churches Dave pastored occasionally still seek us out for advice. I have some \”adopted\” kids that I met through various online forums. Our grandsons friends call us grandma and \”dad.\” We love each and every one of these young people, and we are honored that they share their lives with us. We consider it a high calling and a great privilege.

As believers in Christ, it doesn\’t surprise God when we call Him Father, or Daddy, or Papa. In fact, He rather enjoys it. We have been adopted as His children, and His heart is knitted to ours.  Because we are His children, we are precious to Him; and like the Good Parent that He is, He is interested in every aspect of our lives. He forever wants the best for us. I don\’t understand why God loves me, but I know that He does. I am grateful to be His child, and I know that I can always depend on Him to care for me and love me unconditionally.  

Ephesians 1:4-6 says, \”… He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.\” (NASB)

How wonderful is that?

Have a great day, everyone. Remember, it\’s all about HIM.

 

Life Under Construction – Finding Peace

In my search for some peace of heart and mind during this life-altering time in history, I\’ve been reading through the Psalms, searching for a balm to cover my grief. I\’m not going to even try to explain how I feel about what is happening to our once beautiful and free country, because the proper words just won\’t form.

I know we each feel our own way about all that\’s happening and how we should respond–and I\’m not looking for platitudes or advice from folks–so I\’ll leave this alone and get to the real point of my thought for today–I am in a state of unrest, and the only answer I know to help me find calmness is to pray without ceasing and stick close to my Bible. As in other times of studying them, I find that the emotions of the Psalms speak to my heart like no other book in the Bible. It\’s like David snuck into my diary and read it.

And as God would have it, today\’s verse just happens to come from the Psalms, from one of the daily devotions I receive in my email each morning; and it\’s perfect!

Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.  — Psalm 62:8

I love God\’s way of putting the same theme in His Word into the hearts of the many at the same time. It reminds me that I\’m not alone and that others are struggling with the same emotions as I, and that many of us need to hear the same reassurances from the Word. Cool.

I went to Psalm 62 to read the \”rest of the story,\” and here are a few other verses I found in this little gem:

\”My soul waits in silence for God  only; from Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken\” (vss. 1,2).

\”My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be moved\” (vss. 5,6).

And listen to this!–\”One thing God has spoken; these two things have I heard: that power belongs to God; AND lovingkindness is Yours, O Lord…\” (vs. 11, 12a).

Well, there you go. God has all power, AND He loves me. That\’s just pretty wonderful.

What is your verse for this day? How has God spoken to you this morning?

Have a great day, dear friends. God IS in control; that elephant just needs to get up off my chest and move along.

Love you all.

Immediately

(View this devotional thought on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/SoO6b4svKC4)

One little word–\”immediately.\” I read it, read past it, and then the Holy Spirit prompted me to back it up and read it again. Like a bolt of lightning, my heart leapt within me, and my soul was charged.

\”But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, \’Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid…Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him…\’\” (Matthew 14:27, 31).

We know the story from Matthew–the disciples were alone on the sea while Jesus was away praying. A storm came up and tossed the boat about, the disciples saw a figure walking on top of the water coming towards them, they thought it was a ghost, Peter walked on water, Peter began to sink.

BUT JESUS.

Jesus didn\’t wait. The disciples didn\’t recognize Jesus, because they were too busy being afraid of the ghost on the water (and it was a dark and stormy night…). Still, Jesus immediately reassured them. Peter began to sink on the water and cried out for Jesus to save him, and immediately Jesus took his hand.  There in the midst of their fear and confusion, Jesus immediately assured them of His presence and comforted them.

So why do I sit around, waiting for peace in my life? Why do I allow myself to feel alone, discouraged, or afraid, as if there is no comfort to be had? The same way Jesus responded to His disciples then is exactly how He responds to his followers now. When I awake with that dreadful anxiety clutching at my insides, Jesus is immediately there to soothe my soul. When that sudden fear strikes at me, Jesus offers immediate reassurance of His presence.

After His resurrection, just before He ascended to the Father, Jesus told His disciples He would be with them always. He didn\’t say He would come to them, He said He would be with them, always (Matthew 28:20). This is true for every believer in Christ. We can\’t touch Jesus physically, as the disciples did, but we can feel His presence in us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Whether we speak His name or not, Jesus is with us–immediately.

It\’s going to be a great day.

Again I Say, Rejoice!

\"\"I learned something new from the Bible this morning: the phrase \”rejoice in the Lord\” is only found twice in the New Testament (Philippians 3:1 and 4:4). Also, did you know that Philippians 3:1 and 4:4 are a command? You can put the words \”You shall\” before \”rejoice in the Lord\” based on the language of the words. \”It\’s a command to obey. It\’s a part of obedience and righteousness, and neglecting it is a sin.\”*

Paul\’s letters indicate that he likely suffered from anxiety to some extent, so to come to the point of telling us to rejoice in the Lord meant that he had experienced some victory in that area himself after reading about the Old Testament holy men and women and understanding their secret of perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds.

You can find the phrase \”rejoice in the Lord\” eleven times in the Old Testament: 1 Samuel 2:1, Psalm 32:11, Psalm 35:9-10, Psalm 64:10, Psalm 97:12, Psalm 104:33-34, Isaiah 29:19; 41:16. Joel 2:23, Habakkuk 3:17-18, and Zechariah 10:7.

Of those verses, Habakkuk 3 reached out and grabbed at my heart this morning: \”Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.\” (emphasis mine).

I don\’t have any fig trees, olives, or livestock; but translated into today\’s vernacular, it might go something like this:

\”Though the car won\’t start,
though my paycheck doesn\’t stretch far enough,
though my children live in rebellion
and my household is in disarray,
yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.\”

There it is, right smack dab in the middle of the confusion of our lives. Rejoice. A command from God.

The author I\’m reading says this: \”Waging war on worry begins with choosing to tap into the Lord Himself.\”**

Joy is an attitude, a choice we make. It\’s not a frivolous saying we throw out to show off our \”spirituality.\” It\’s a deep-down, gut-level decision to trust the One True God over the circumstances we face.

So this becomes my challenge. Instead of waking up and allowing the cares of my life to overwhelm before I even get out of bed, I must pray, \”God, even if nothing goes right today, no matter what happens, I trust You, and I will rejoice in Your goodness, no matter what.\”

May it be so.

*, ** – Worry Less Live More, by Robert J. Morgan

Life Under Construction – Aroma

When I was a little girl, our step-father took all us kids to a Christmas Party sponsored by the American Legion. At some point in the program, the host called all the children at the party up to the stage to sing “Frosty the Snowman.” Once up there, everyone developed stage fright and the only person who actually sang was me. I remember standing there while a photographer took my picture for the next day’s paper and thinking how neat that was.

Other than that instance as a child, I would say I have sung in public maybe a total of two or three times. You see, I have this problem—I cannot sing. At least, I don’t sing well. My range is very limited and rather low, so the soprano notes tend to come out of my mouth in a squeak or a broken line. Not pretty.

So while singing in public isn’t something I choose to do, when I am alone I sing. And I sing loudly, because one morning on my way to work, as I despaired about my lousy voice, my loving, encouraging Daddy guided my thoughts to promises learned from His Word about worship.  I was reminded that when I sing or do anything from my heart for Him, I am worshiping Him. He doesn\’t need perfection; He needs devotion.

I wish I could share a clear, lovely voice with the world, but I can\’t; so I will just sing to an audience of One. I’ll worship God with the other gifts He has given me, because I love Him, and I cannot be silent. There are many forms of worship, after all, and they rise as a beautiful aroma to our Father.

I Just Do What My Mind Tells Me

When they were little, both of our children knew they had to stay in their rooms until their dad and I awoke each day. Our daughter, who was an early riser, tried to be patient and wait on us. But after sitting quietly for a few minutes in her bed, her little self grew impatient to get into the activities of the day. So she began her chant, “It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up. May I please have a get up?” This was repeated continuously, until one of us gave her permission to get out of the bed.

These days, it’s not my daughter that wakes me early each morning—it’s my mind. The hours between four and five a.m. are when my mind begins to chant, “It’s time to get up. You have to start the day. If you get up now, think how much you can get done.” Who can sleep with reasoning like that?

Rising early affords me an opportunity to get a handle on my day. The world is dark and quiet. The morning is calm, which helps me to calm my mind. Diet Pepsi and breakfast bar in hand, I head to my desk. There, I sort through the thoughts that woke me. I do my morning devotions, pray, pay bills, plan the grandson\’s school day, work on internet projects, and any other tasks that need my attention.  By the time our grandson arrives at the house for his school day, I have accomplished many things. There\’s a peace in that, you know?

Of course, there are some days that I find my mind was more alert than my body at 4am, and a short mid-day power nap takes over. By takes over, I mean that one minute I\’m sitting in my chair working on my latest crochet project, and thirty minutes later I wake up, still holding my crochet hook! While my husband finds that humorous, he also tiptoes around the room to allow me those few minutes of rest. He\’s thoughtful like that.

The other option when my mind begins its morning ritual is to just ignore it, leaving me with a feeling of being rushed and unaccomplished. Having suffered through a few of those days, I\’ve learned it\’s just best to obey my mind and get up. And if I\’m honest, I have grown to love these quiet mornings. It truly does help me begin my day with a good attitude and a sense of calm.

\"\"

 

*Bible verse from NASB; picture (c) Claudette Wood, 2017.

\”It Is Written\”

As I read my Bible this morning, i was struck once again by the fact that the enemy knows the scripture. When attempting to tempt Jesus after His 40 days of fasting, the enemy said, in Matthew 4:6, \”…it is written…\” and then he quoted Scripture.

This is just another reminder to me that even folks who don\’t trust Jesus as Savior know the Word and that I must be careful to search the Scriptures and not be deceived. Unfortunately, some false preachers make their living off of trusting and Scripturally uninformed Christians. It is imperative that we Christians study the Word for ourselves and trust the Holy Spirit to teach us, so that when someone preaches the Word out of context, we are immediately struck with such a sense of dis-ease that we step back until we can research the Word for ourselves.

There are wolves in sheep\’s clothing out there–knowing the Word will help us to avoid being taken in by them.

Thank God for His Word.