All of today’s post that is in bold is from The Bible in One Year 2020 Devotional by Nicky Gumbel on the YouVersion Bible App.

Forsaking All I Take Him (FAITH)

‘Faith is not shelter against difficulties, but belief in the face of all contradictions,’ wrote Paul Tournier.

Feeling Afraid I Trust Him (FAITH)

John Paton (1824–1907), a Scot, had travelled to the New Hebrides (a group of islands in the south-west Pacific) determined to tell the tribal people about Jesus, but he struggled to find the right word for ‘faith’. One day, when his indigenous servant came in, Paton raised both feet off the floor, sat back in his chair and asked, ‘What am I doing now?’ In reply, the servant used a word that means, ‘to lean your whole weight upon’. This became the expression that Paton used. Faith is leaning our whole weight upon Jesus.

I needed this devotional today because although I do have faith in God, my faith has been at a low point recently. Two of my daughter’s very good friends were hospitalized within days of each other. One had a punctured lung and the other has a tumor on her spine. The one with the lung issue has been discharged to recover at home but still needs to be on oxygen. The other young woman has been undergoing radiation and chemo treatments and can only have one family visitor at a time. Please pray for both of these women. The one with cancer is a believer, the other not so much, but both need a touch from the Lord.

Then, the election happened and is still happening. I have ceased watching most news because it all upsets me too much and I was going to bed nightly with a severe headache. Unfortunately, my husband likes to report all things about politics so he reports the news that I’m missing to me in all of its detail. Nevertheless, I have a handle on my faith now. I listen to praise music, read my books, pray and ask God for His mercy and grace to be on our nation and for His love to rest on His people. I can even listen to my husband’s excited reports about the current event without getting an immediate headache.

I will close with a scripture verse that means a lot to me these days, and every day, really.

May you be blessed in the knowledge that God is ever present and ready to help you.