Month: April 2025

God Rejoices

On By vickleaIn Admonition, promises, ScriptureLeave a comment

We have a lot of different kinds of celebrations during our lifetime. We celebrate birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and holidays like Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving. Each time there is a new celebration, we enjoy the food, the fellowship with others and the general well-being that we have. One of my morning routines is to review scripture verses that I am memorizing and this morning, my focus was on Zephaniah.

Zephaniah is a very short prophetic book but it has a strong message of repentance and turning back to God. According to Biblical scholars, Zephaniah was from the lineage of Hezekiah. If you recall this king’s story, he repented and God added years to his life. Zephaniah probably served as a prophet during the time of Josiah, a time when the people were repented after the reign of the wicked king Manasseh. The storyline of the Israelites seemed to be come to God and repent, turn from God and commit sins, then repeat. Their walk with God was not a steady and committed one, depending on who their king was and how closely they followed him.

This is one of my favorite verses in Zephaniah. Personalize it and it will mean even more to you. “The Lord MY God is with ME, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in ME; in His love, He will no longer rebuke ME, but will rejoice over Me with singing.” I am not one who likes correction, but I am happy that God loves me enough to correct me and set me back on the right path when I stray. If I stay on the right path, He doesn’t need to “rebuke” or correct me, so I need to make right choices to stay on the straight and narrow and keep my focus on following the Lord. The result is amazing! God rejoices over us with singing! Can you imagine the heavenly choir all together singing a song of rejoicing because we are making right choices and delighting the Lord in going the right way? God rejoices over His children who delight Him with right choices. He gives us the ability to choose, but then He steps back and leaves our final decision to follow or to go our own way up to us. And when we choose to follow, He rejoices. Such is the great love of the Father. He is a Mighty Warrior, but He is also our Creator, our Father who loves us so much that He breaks out into song when we do what is right.

This verse shows God’s love, His character and His steadfast presence in our lives. I know that when I make a wrong choice, I can pick myself up, ask God for forgiveness and move on, with Him right there with me, cheering me on to reach for the better way, the life with Him that I strive for daily.

Choose God…choose life…choose to have God rejoice over you!

Forgetfulness

On By vickleaIn Admonition, Scripture, testimony5 Comments

Never Forget (YouVersion Daily Refresh)

As humans, we tend to forget things all the time. Our car keys, our friends’ birthdays, our passwords… those things we tend to forget on accident, and it’s usually pretty frustrating when we realize what we’ve forgotten. But we can also forget good things that have happened to us.

When faced with hard things, we often beg God for miracles or plead for His provision. But when we don’t get what we prayed for, we can tend to forget what God has already done for us. If you’ve done that before, you’re not alone—the Bible is full of stories about people forgetting the good things God has done.

God has hand-crafted this breathtaking world and chosen the unique times and spaces in which we show up. And even though the world seems to get crazier and scarier by the minute, God is always at work in the mess.

We can fight against forgetfulness today—right now—by remembering that it was God who created this world and filled it with good things—including His people! It was God who offered us mercy when we didn’t deserve it. It was God who gave us real purpose: to love Him and love others; to know Him and make Him known.

So how have you seen God show up in a way that you never want to forget? Thank Him for what He’s done, and worship Him for who He is.

My Thoughts

I was reminded of the old song “Count Your Blessings” as I read this devotional this morning. I was also reminded that yesterday as we drove to our Monday Bible study group, my husband and I were talking about possibly having to get another car. He took our car into the shop yesterday and we had an $800 repair bill for regular maintenance and a valve cover gasket that was messed up. I told Harry that I never imagined I would live long enough to need to get another car. Then, I was reminded to be thankful that I am still alive.

Ten years ago when I had a massive stroke, I did not expect to live longer than a few months, perhaps a few years if God was particularly gracious. Ten years! Ten years and a bonus of four more grandchildren that I have gotten to know and love. The bonus of more years with my husband and family members like my brother who just had cancer surgery yesterday. (The doctor said he got all of the cancer and he has clean margins, so that is another blessing.) Ten years of going to the beach with our daughter and her family, celebrating birthdays with children and grandchildren. Ten years!

I recently had a pretty serious bout with lung issues, and it has just been in the last few days that I was able to not have to use my nebulizer regularly every day. A month of struggling to breathe, of having to walk a few steps and rest because the air just wasn’t there. But…God came through again! I am well again, or as well as someone who is asthmatic during pollen season can be. I am thankful that I could record a storybook for Evie’s seventh birthday. Honestly, I was fretting about how I would be able to do that when I was choking and gasping constantly. Then, God touched me in my weakness and I started improving. Last week, I read the storybook and sent it off to Evie for her birthday next week. God doesn’t work on our timeline, but He is always, always right on time!

So, as you face another day with all of its challenges and blessings, count the blessings first and the challenges won’t seem so insurmountable. I don’t want to suffer from forgetfulness where God is concerned. I want Him to be so much a part of my daily life that He is the first person I turn to when things get tough and the One I thank when the waters of life are calm. Forget is what God does when He forgives us of all our sins, not what we should do when He is blessing us with every breath we take.