Trust in the Lord~

Let's begin by giving a well-deserved shout out to Marco Rubio. Time magazine recently labeled him the "Savior" of the Republican Party, and Rubio rightly tweeted that, " There is only one Savior, and it is not me #JESUS."

Time magazine probably wasn't implying that Rubio was the actual Savior, but let's be honest. That word immediately prompts a specific image and thought about what Jesus did and Who He is, and Rubio is wise not to allow even the slightest association with the sanctity of THAT name to his own. Kudos kudos kudos!!!

Anyway...

Yesterday I received a call from a dear friend. She is an amazing, funny, compassionate, deeply devout, godly woman who radiates impossible amounts of sunshine.

When she was 17 she was diagnosed with lymphoma. At 39, it was breast cancer. At 41, it was thyroid cancer. At 49, it was ovarian cancer. And yesterday she called that the cancer is back again. This time it's in her abdomen.

She called for prayer, and I, who am rarely at a loss for words, almost went mute. Almost...

What, dear Lord, can I say to this young woman, whose daughter, by the way, is getting married in May of this year?

Honestly, I think we all sometimes struggle with the notion that praying is a waste of time. But, it is precisely at times like these where we must not allow the overwhelming disappointments and tragedies of life to keep us away from our only Hope. That would be the ultimate tragedy!!! So with our little mustard-seed faith, we prayed. This is not the first time we have cried out to God about this (but I hope our last), and we were bold and shared exactly how we were feeling.

When all was said and done God whispered a beautiful passage to our hearts.

Proverbs 3:4-5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.

When we finished praying we both accepted as fact that God indeed will reward her trust and lead her down the path of the best and most effective treatment.

Those really are comforting verses, and they can be applied to anything and everything in life.

PRAYER:
Dear Lord, There is so much we do not understand about life. So much suffering, disease, heartache. But we take a step of faith today and declare that we trust You. We also seek Your will for ourselves and our families. Show us all which path to take because Psalm 25:10 says that, "All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness." In Jesus name, AMEN~

On Time~

Sometimes these DEVOs get a lot of feedback, and yesterday was one of those that prompted a lot of comments from ya'll. Yeehaw!


Here are some:

"A new heart? That would be so nice and a welcomed relief."

"Someone who would actually help me as opposed to making my life more difficult?"

"My children could and would actually listen and recognize that the boundaries we have in place are for their own good?"

And on and on it went...

And the answer to all those questions is YES!

I did a little research on the internet and found out that the average heart transplant takes about four to five hours. Doesn't seem like a long time considering what's at stake.

I know what you're thinking; you wish it would only take four or five hours to see the new heart in your loved one. Sometimes we do see immediate answers, but more often than not, everything in life is a journey.

When a woman is pregnant, the process takes nine months to see the glorious baby. Any sooner than that might even complicate matters.

I am not suggesting that every single prayer request takes nine months to get answered. What I am saying is that there is a perfect time to see the answer, and we must not give up until it comes.

Ecclesiates 3:11
"He has made everything beautiful in its time..."

God does it when the time is right. In the meantime, your prayers keep you in peace and God's hand steadily at work.

And remember one very important thing--If you don't pray about it the answer will always be NO!

PRAYER:
Dear Lord, Now that we know what You can do, we are eager to see it and the sooner the better. Yet, we also understand that You are doing serious, life-changing work and that takes time. It is sometimes difficult to accept your timeline, but we all understand that we are "pregnant," and we want the delivery when all conditions are just right. In Jesus' name, AMEN~

A New Heart~

Greetings :)

Today’s DEVO is written in response to a similar complaint I have received from a few of you.


“My significant other is no help. He/she is selfish, uncaring, cold-hearted, uninterested in our children, no longer tender toward me, rude, downright nasty, has no desire to pray with me, for me, or over me…I feel so alone…

I sort of lumped all the complaints into one long ramble because at the heart of this matter is, well, the heart.

One of my absolute, hands down, favorite verse of all time is found in Ezekiel 36:27-27

”And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”

I almost want to cry whenever I read that verse because it teaches us so much. At the core of many of our problems is a cold-hearted heart. A cold heart is selfish, and its way is the only way. Many of us try to change the heart of those around us, but it’s in vain people. GOD is the one Who gives a new heart. Knowing that He is the one who performs heart transplants takes the load and pressure off me and you. Many many times, particularly when my kids were adolescents, I prayed for God to change their heart toward me and my husband—to be kind hearted in their response and wise in their choices. When you pray for God to give your loved one a new heart, have the faith today that He will. And it will be a heart that is tender and responsive. Isn’t that a beautiful depiction?

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, What a beautiful verse and a beautiful promise. You are a skilled heart surgeon, and many of us need someone in our life to receive a new heart. Maybe we even need it ourselves. We invite You to perform this surgery because living with those who have tender and responsive hearts will bring many blessings. And remind us that we can’t change anyone, but when we pray, You always do Your thing. In Jesus’ name, AMEN~

Back to Life~

Regarding yesterday's DEVO, one of you lovely folks asked me what the part in the verse that said, "...God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus," meant.

It means that when we die, those of us who know and accept Jesus as the One and only Savior of our souls, will live again just as Jesus did. Each of us will live again and have an eternal blast. Can you imagine no anxiety ever? Or boredom? Or abuse? Or injustice? Or suffering of any kind? What about perfect love? Perfect peace? Perfect joy? (No need for hope because everything we have ever hoped for will be fulfilled).

Are you having trouble wrapping your head around the awesomeness of that?

Read these next words carefully.

1 John 5:20
"The Son of God has come, and He has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and He is eternal life."

PRAYER:
Dear Lord,
Sometimes it is hard wrapping our finite brain around the infinite goodness You have prepared for us. But by faith we believe that You give us understanding and enough understanding to know You. We do have fellowship with Jesus because we pray to Him and read the Bible, but even so, help us grow stronger every single day so that we may live a life of hope until the day we no longer need it because we are with You. In Jesus' name, AMEN~

Sorrow ~vs~ Despair

Let's take a moment today to support one in our DEVO group whose father passed away last Friday. Her father is living a glorious and great life right now, but the separation remains difficult for the family left behind.


This brings up a good talking point: What is the difference between sorrow and despair?

Sorrow is grief and pain, and we experience it the most when someone we love dies.

Despair, on the other hand, is the loss of hope.

We DEVO readers have learned that we will have sorrow, but we will never despair.

I Thessalonians 4:14 Do not grieve like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word. Jesus died and broke loose from the grave; God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus.

There is a difference between the way those of us who have hope grieve and those who don't have hope grieve. You and I know that the grave is not the last of it, but truly only the beginning. I love how this version of the Bible says that Jesus broke loose from the grave.

Oh yes He did, and because He did, you and I will never despair. We will have sorrow, and that is part of life. But just knowing that each day we live brings us one step closer to those who have gone on before us who are now fully alive in heaven, fills our hearts with joy and expectation.

Ask yourself, if you had the ability to yank your loved one out of paradise and bring them back to this earth to live again, would you do it?

PRAYER:

Dear Lord,
Thank You that Jesus broke free from the grave and now we have eternal life. Eternal life is something so awesome that the Bible says we are incapable of understanding it. Good! Because we truly want it to be beyond-words amazing. In Jesus' name, AMEN~

Faith~

Greetings :)


Do you think it would be cruel and/or ridiculous of me to expect a toddler to cook dinner then clean up afterward? What about asking an elderly person in a sick bed to drive themselves to the doctor? How about insisting that Rayray sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl?

All the above are unreasonable expectations. To this day no one even knows if Rayray can sing. She has not once ever sung in front of her father or me, and that one year she was in the school choir was one big lip-syncing fest. The only reason she even joined was to go on the end-of-the-year trip to Disney. As the trip approached, an overzealous mother almost had it cancelled over a ridiculous accusation, and Rachel was in spasms for days worried that all her effort would be for naught, but I digress.

Back to unreasonable expectations. We read over and over again in the Bible that in order to please God and receive answers to prayers we must have faith. How unreasonable would it be for God to expect faith from us knowing that as humans beings, seeing is believing. We have all, at one time or another, wondered if God hears us, is aware of our need, if He even cares, if He's powerful enough to help us.

Before we go on, let's define faith.

Hebrews 11:1
"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see."

Faith is hope that God is going to get involved and make it right even when you see no evidence of His presence. And again, He requires it in order to act on our behalf. But how do you know you have enough and how much is enough?

Look at these other verses.

Matthew 17:20
" I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Mark 9:23-24
“Everything is possible for him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

In these verses we see the win-win situation that is always ours. God expects our faith, but He doesn't demand an exact or outrageous amount. All we need is faith the size of a mustard seed. Google mustard seed, and you will see that it is the size of a period at the end of a sentence. And even when we do believe, we can still ask God to help us overcome any unbelief.

God asks for our faith, and no matter how small, He will accept it and make it grow.

I know that as time goes by my faith grows. As I receive answers to prayers, I am strengthened to see more answers for other prayers. I can say the same about each of you. Something within each of you compels you to read these DEVOs and say the prayers at the end. Something within you is telling you that these moments spent nourishing the soul make a difference. That something is faith. How do we know we have faith? Because I wouldn't bother writing these DEVOs and you wouldn't bother reading them if we didn't believe that God exists and that He is here to help. And all it takes is a little itty bitty amount, and we all have at least a mustard seed-size faith. Did you know that the mustard seed when planted will eventually grow into a 20 foot tree? That's where we're headed folks. Glory!


PRAYER:
Dear Lord, Thank You that it only takes a little bit of faith to please You. Nevertheless, take our faith today and help it grow. We want our faith to grow as big and strong as a mustard tree so that we can encourage others around us--starting with our own families. In Jesus' name, AMEN~

Expect the Best~

A happy heppy hippy hoppy huppy afternoon to you all:)


And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

Last night I took a concealed weapons license course. This gal, whose code name is Agent 775, hosted the event at her home, and I thank her for the fine hospitality, sandwiches, beverages, and cake:)

It was very interesting, to say the least, but one thing the instructor said stands out in my mind. When someone asked about what they should do if someone attacked them from behind etc... he said, "Pray for the best;expect the worst."

"NO!" I screamed inside. And because I am a trained spy (in my mind), I acted like everything was fine and decided to address the matter today.

What he said goes against every single thing you and I stand for.

When we pray do we expect the worst? Or do we expect the almighty Creator of heaven and earth do something awesome?

If you and I are praying for God's best--God's provision of health, protection, guidance, income, joy, peace, hope, faith--let's not expect illness, danger, misdirection, poverty, anxiety, hopelessness, and fear. Let's actually believe for the best.

Ask yourself what you expect from God when you pray. Do you expect everything to change for the better? Do you expect rewards from Him like the verse says He is willing to give, or do you expect a penalty, which is the opposite of a reward?

It all comes down to faith. Why do I even bother to include a prayer at the end of every DEVO if I don't believe God will answer us with the very best answer? By the way, what exactly is faith and how do we know we have enough? We'll talk about it tomorrow.

Let's pray~

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, We come before You today expecting the best of the best from You. Not because we are good or deserving, but because You are good and desire to bless us. We need so much from You, and we are eternally grateful that You have an unlimited supply of every single thing we need. Thank You, in Jesus' name, AMEN~


(Each of us is in a different place in our life. Some of us may need help with a relationship, wisdom for dealing with a child, or help with anxiety etc... No matter what you need, please use our prayer time at the end of the DEVOs to include your own personal requests from God).