I am a Christian, a retired teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I love to read and I love the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless otherwise specified ,all visual illustrations are from the YOU VERSION APP of the Bible.
Author: vicklea
I love to read! I’m a retired teacher with a spouse of 45 years, three amazing children and nine wonderful grandchildren. I am blessed!
There are a lot of things these days that can cause sleepless nights for me and a lot of anxiety, not the least of which is the fear of another excruciating headache and loss of vision. But God has been speaking softly and reassuringly to my heart, telling me that He is with me and not to fear.
God is helping me to trust and to rest peacefully. And when I have difficulty falling asleep, He puts a song in my heart and off I drift to slumber.
God’s love surrounds me, at home, in doctor’s offices and even in the hospital. He is the only one in whom I have complete trust and hope.
Giving God the glory because He is worthy helps my mind to recall all of the good things He has already done and that my future is in His hands. So, praising Him helps restore my hope and my peace.
This book is coming in for a landing tomorrow, so I want to put it on your radar today so you can get the freebies that are being offered for preorders. Just preorder and then go to http://www.missinginalaskaseries.com for information about how to claim your freebies.
Don’t miss this riveting romantic suspense that will hold you on the edge of your seat! (I will be posting a full review next week, but just let me say that this book is five plus stars!)
When I was growing up, my mom was an absolute stickler for good manners and followed Emily Post religiously. When holidays or birthdays came and we children received gifts from relatives, the thank you notes came out and we were tasked with writing a thank you note to each person, naming the gift and telling how useful it would be for us and how much we sincerely appreciated it. When I graduated, I can remember having a mountain of gifts to write about, mostly checks or cash, that would help me in my quest to go to college. I wrote thank you notes for days, it seems, until at last, I was done and my mother was satisfied that I had fulfilled my duty to my family members and friends who had been so thoughtful.
I formed a habit in my youth of writing thank you cards to people who had gone out of their way to provide something for me. As I read my devotional this morning and this Scripture verse was part of it, I realized that sometimes I take God’s gifts for granted and become like one of the nine lepers who walked away without thanking the Lord. Last week when I got out of the hospital, I thanked God before I left but then, as I was getting into my own bed that night, I remembered that I had not said thank you once I got home. I was beyond grateful to be around all of my familiar things, eating food my husband and I chose together, and going to the bathroom whenever I needed to do so. I had only been home for a few hours and already I was taking these things for granted. How often do each of us do that in our daily lives? I am more aware than ever of my total dependence on God for every breath I take, for the minutes without my head aching or my blood pressure spiking, for life in general and the blessings that I have every day.
If I sat down to write a thank you note to God, I don’t think I have enough paper in the house for all the gratitude that I have. Last night, one of my young grandchildren called to FaceTime me and practice her new skill of reading. What a delight to be able to share that time with her! I talked to my daughter about the other children and some challenges with school this year. I sent a birthday wish to my daughter-in-law and got photos of her outings with her family. I talked to my sister for a couple of hours, both of us grateful that I was alive and able to talk and laugh together. So many, many things to be thankful for! And everything comes from God…my health, my family, my peace, and most of all my faith and belief that God is with me now and in the future. I am more aware than ever of just how quickly life can change and how grateful we should be that God is in control and His love is operating in our lives.
Yesterday, my prayer was focused on Israel’s physical enemy. Today, my prayer will center on their spiritual well-being. It is not a new truth that the people of Israel need to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior and most have not accepted Him as their Messiah. So, let us pray together for their salvation, that many will come to know the Lord even through this great suffering in their land.
I pray that they will see the need for Jesus and confess their belief in Him and His resurrection. That is the only way to salvation. The Israelites know much about the Old Testament and the Law. I pray for God to open their hearts to the truths of the New Testament and all of the prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
May these blessed and chosen people of God believe with their hearts and be justified, professing their faith in the Lord aloud and rejoicing in the salvation that comes with their belief in the only One who can truly save them. Jesus is the Passover Lamb, the final and ultimate sacrifice. May the Lord open their eyes and hearts to see and believe.
It is only by grace that any of us has been saved. It is a gift, and no amount of following God’s laws can save us. Only God’s grace and our faith in Him can lead to salvation. May the eyes of the Jewish people be opened and their ears attentive to God crying out to them to turn to Him.
No one…not one person can be saved without believing in Jesus. My prayer is for the Jewish people, especially those in Israel, to see their need for a Savior and the truth that the Messiah has come and will come again.
None of us is better than another. God desires to save both Gentiles and Jews. My emphasis today is on the Jewish people who have suffered so much for so long, in the darkness and without hope. May the Lord bring them into the knowledge of His Son as their Savior and into the light of His presence where there is hope and life everlasting.
It is fitting to end my prayer back in Exodus where I began yesterday. I pray that God will use His unfailing love to lead His people and to guide them to the real promised land, eternal life with Him.
Part of my devotional each morning is a study of the Old Testament and our online group is currently in the Book of Exodus. Today, I read Exodus 15 and as I read, the Holy Spirit prompted me to turn some of the verses into a prayer for Israel.
Lord God, I pray that you will once again be the strength and song of your people Israel. I pray that you will grant them victory so that they will be reminded of all you have done for them and will be able to exalt and praise you as in the days in the wilderness. The battle is yours, Lord!
It is you, Lord, who crushes the enemy, the evil ones who destroy, pillage and take humans as hostages. Do not let this evil stand, O Lord, I pray. Stretch out your right hand against this powerful foe and smash them completely so that they may never rise against your people again.
For nothing is too difficult for you, Lord, so I call on your to swallow up the enemies. The Israelites have weapons and manpower, but they cannot win this battle without your right hand firmly holding them and on their side.
I pray for the peace of Israel, Lord, but as they are surrounded by such a great enemy, I pray that they will have the spiritual eyes to see your hand at work on their behalf. I pray that their leaders will have the wisdom to listen to your battle plan and that you will grant them victory and peace again in the land that you have given them.
Have you ever started something new and gave up after a few tries? Maybe you tried to create a new morning routine or Bible reading habit, only to give up after a few weeks? It can be hard to build enough discipline to start something new.
It is also hard to receive discipline from someone. Maybe you remember being disciplined as a kid by your parent. Or maybe you’ve been disciplined at work for a mistake you made.
In either case, discipline is hard and takes a lot of work.
Scripture says that for those who endure discipline and persevere, there is a harvest of righteousness and peace waiting for them. However, it doesn’t happen easily and often makes us uncomfortable. We have to be trained through discipline to create godly habits that will then produce righteousness and peace in our lives.
Take some time today to consider: Where can you allow the Holy Spirit to build discipline in your life? What daily habits should you begin working on today?
It’s always worth building discipline because the result is peace and righteous living.
I have generally always considered myself fairly well self-disciplined. The habits I have formed stem from a mother who was a strict disciplinarian and never wanted me to embarrass her. Now that I am older, the discipline I face comes from within me, and the choices I make are guided by my conscience and the Holy Spirit. I don’t like the strict diet that I have to follow because of my health problems, but I watch others enjoy potatoes and tomatoes and know that they could harm me irrevocably. I would like to partake of toasty breads but I know that they are off limits for me. On the other hand, God has gifted me with extra years of life, so I am thankful and continue to discipline myself. An area in which I faced difficulty in self-discipline is expressing my thoughts about what is happening in the world, the foolishness of our leaders and the godlessness of many in our nation. But I know that my spouting off my opinion will not lead others to agree with me, but it more likely to push them away so that they avoid me or don’t listen to me at all. Thus, I am learning the discipline of not saying everything that I am thinking. Just think if we were in error and God started spouting off His opinions about our actions. Would we be more or less likely to comply with His advice? As an adult, discipline is built from within but we have to be willing to listen to the Holy Spirit and follow His advice. He wants what is best for us and for others.
When I read this Scripture verse this morning, at first I was puzzled. Why are we searching for God when we know that He is always present? Why, indeed? Perhaps because we need to know that He can be found and when we are continually seeking Him, He is easier to find in our hearts. God’s strength is there for us when we call out to Him and tell Him honestly that we need Him, that we are not self-sufficient. This was brought home to me when I was in the hospital. When you are lying on your back most of the day and have nothing much to do or anyone to talk to, I found that talking to God not only passes the time, it also brings comfort and a sense of peace and hope. God wasn’t lost or anything…I just had to stop the self-focusing and focus on Him.
Likewise, we cannot hide from God. When we are being churlish or anxious or even bitter, God knows. He is always right there. And the good news is that He loves us in spite of how we are feeling or acting or being. I sing “Jesus Loves Me” to my young grandchildren and my favorite verse is this one:
Jesus loves me when I’m good, When I do the things I should. Jesus loves me when I’m bad, ‘though it makes Him very sad.
God never stops loving me, not when I am feeling sorry and lonely in the hospital, not when the pain is overwhelming and I am crying out to God for relief and a little upset that He isn’t sending it quickly enough, and when I am at home typing my blog and struggling for the words to write to express the deep emotions I have been feeling. I had so many specialists and nurses remind me that if this last episode was a TIA, it could be a warning of another stroke, and my risk is higher since I already had one, and I need to get to the hospital right away. Fear was creeping in, but God stopped it in its tracks and told me firmly that He is the One in control and He is with me to the end of this life and to the beginning of the next one. God is indeed everywhere and that comforts me that I don’t have to go far to search for Him. I just have to call out His Name.
You really find out what matters and what you can live without when all changes quickly in an unexpected way. That was me in the hospital. I could not go to the bathroom without calling a nurse to shut off the bed alarm. Even then, she stayed with me the entire time to make sure I did not fall and was okay. I could not rest well because there were constant disruptions to sleep, lie labs to be done and vitals to be taken. I was so thankful to get home yesterday, not just because it’s my place of rest and comfort, but I could take a shower, sit comfortably in my chair, talk to my husband face to face, eat the food that he had lovingly prepared for me (some of my favorites) and go to bed when I got tired instead of when I was told that it was time. There is so much that we take for granted. What matters most is Jesus and His love for us and then the love we show to others. I’m not sure if I succeeded in being a good witness in the hospital but I have to say that I consciously tried to be cheerful and agreeable and pleasant in spite of my circumstances. One nurse said that it was a pleasure to be with me. That’s what I like to hear, even as I am struggling to understand the situation, I want to keep my eyes on Jesus and realize that I always represent Him.
I can say this from a very thankful heart since I was admitted to the hospital Sunday, presenting with possible stroke symptoms again. Tests have come back negative so far. One more to go. I have had an ocular migraine which is worse than any headache I could describe. But I finally got meds for it and it has alleviated some. So, Praise God!
I’m trusting God that all will go well and I can go home soon. God is good, all the time! Two of my former students are my nurses, so I feel blessed.
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 