So much joy occurs in watching your baby take the first step! It is so exciting! Picture grandparents crowding around with the camera ready. Mommy, behind the baby, holding her up. Daddy, with outstretched arms, inviting his baby to walk toward him, encouraging her to take that first step… and each one after that!
Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Do you detect the urgency and excitement in these questions? If someone said that to me, I would want to know more. What information might the person have that I did not? I would definitely listen to what was said next.
By the end of May the Covid threat was lessening, so when aunt ‘Chelle called to recruit blueberry pickers, grandson #3 and I jumped at the chance. It was a gorgeous day. Didn’t matter that we had to drive twenty minutes. Didn’t matter that they had to take our temperature. We were free, our masks were off, and the blueberries were plentiful. Armed with the secret to efficiency—attach your pail to your belt so you can use both hands—we found a row to ourselves.
How many of you can relate to the feelings of the disciples in our passage? Have you ever been caught in a storm in your life? Have you had a time when your problem seemed too big and your faith was too small? Have you ever felt threatened by the storm and its uncertainty?
My girls love to eat blueberries. Once we get our delicious batch of this fruit we are to wash and look through them to pick out all the shriveled up blueberries. Sometimes there are bad blueberries mixed in with the good ones. The bad blueberries get tossed and the juicy and plump ones get to be enjoyed as a wonderful snack or dessert for the whole family to share.
What lesson can we learn from Satan's fall? First, we need to be alert and guard ourselves against our own pride. Satan and his demons love to see prideful Christians. Our testimony is damaged and we are hurt in the long run.
Paul encourages me day by day… to go through my life, focusing on my relationship with the Lord and the supernatural power of God’s presence within. This is the treasure! My strength will be renewed by His Holy Spirit. I am to trust Him to fill me with His amazing love, strength, and peace. He will help me live the worthy and called life.
I have learned there is a difference in knowing God’s truth in my head versus accepting God’s truth in my heart. When God’s truth moves beyond my head, fills my heart and touches my soul – at this point – I change and become more like Jesus. God’s truth becomes such a part of me, that obedience follows my heart change.
Adoption stories can be very sweet, emotional, and inspiring to hear and share. These stories often involve unexpected twists and incredible bond-forming in families. They can highlight love, resilience, and connection so that instant families turn into forever families.
Jesus explains that if I keep on asking, seeking and knocking for things from a worldly perspective that I think have purpose or that I think are wise, I will probably be disappointed.
Consider how difficult it is to pause and look back, to be confronted with your ungodly mistakes, your unjust ways, your lack of worship and caring and forgiveness and love. Frankly we’d rather not go there. But it is regret and humility that lead us to lament, to grieve well, to change our ways. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time (1 Peter 5:6).
The buds on the camelia outside my window survived the January frost again this year—a hint of full blossoms to come. During frosty troubles we too long for perfect days to bloom. “Somewhere deep within each of us is a desire, a longing for a world very different from our own. …The stunning beauty of a sunset, the awe of starry heavens, a deeply moving story or poem, can arouse within us for a brief moment an awareness and desire for our true home.”**
Excuses were rampant. It’s not the right time (Haggai 1:2). We have to panel our own houses (Haggai 1:3). We don’t have enough food nor drink nor warm clothes nor money (Haggai 1:6). But God was quick to counter: your problems are of your own doing (Haggai 1:9-11).
The term providence came to my attention this past year. Frankly, I didn’t know how to define providence; I had to look it up: “The theological doctrine of providence is that God both possesses and exercises absolute power over all the works of his hands.”* Constable goes on to say, and this I love, that providence means “the hand of God is in the glove of human events.”*
Based upon this biblical definition, believing failure to be beyond God’s redemptive grace, self-deprecating thoughts, and chronic negative attitudes qualify as strongholds. This sobering awareness challenges me to carefully evaluate any thinking pattern that limits my ability to know God as He truly is.
Jesus comes to help with my struggles just as He came to Joshua. Because He is with me, I will never face a battle alone. He is still the Commander of the hosts and has given me His promise, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Heb. 13:5b).
Flood water at the recreational complex as well as the Old Testament story of crossing the Jordan River at flood stage provide useful images of how sin creates a barrier between us and God. Only a holy, sinless, and perfectly righteous person has the authority to make a way for me to receive God’s precious promises of forgiveness of sin, salvation, and eternal life with Him.
God asks me to trust Him in both big and small situations, just as He asked the Israelites to trust Him for crossing the river. God’s previous faithfulness in my life plus biblical examples like the crossing of the Jordan fuel my trust in Him for facing new personal challenges. I have learned to trust that He holds me safely in His grip of love—just as He does for everyone who belongs to Him.
Jenny, an elderly donkey, failed to show up for her daily serving of grain. After several days I decided to search for her. I walked acres of pasture with the hood of my jacket pulled tight under my chin. I repeatedly called her name then paused to listen for her distinctive brae. I thought of Jesus as I trudged along, when he told the parable of the shepherd who leaves the flock of sheep to search for the missing lamb—an illustration of God searching for the lost.
