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.
This is a good verse to remember. God provided for our forgiveness and redemption, but we have to reach out and call on Him. His love is always there, just waiting for us to realize how close He has been the whole time.
May your day be blessed with the reality of the presence of the Lord!
Have you ever had a really good friend who knows everything about you and still loves you in spite of it? This was my meditation this morning and I am blessed by how well God knows me and still loves me. He even knows my thoughts and my words before I speak them. Even when I speak from anger instead of love, God knows and loves. That is a sacrificial love that chooses to love in spite of who I am and not because of who I am. It’s WHOSE I am that really matters to Him! The really good news is that He loves each of us the same way, with the same fervor and the same knowledge. How can we do any less than seek to know Him better each day and to be pleasing to Him in our thoughts and words?
Have a blessed day and enjoy your fellowship with the Lord today!
Less than a decade ago, I shared my thoughts about everything that matters to me: life, death, politics, abortion, etc. I spread my thoughts everywhere, thinking perhaps that I was giving others the benefits of my vast knowledge and experience. No, what I was actually doing was being shortsighted and setting myself up for failure when I tried to share the Gospel with others.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I was not trying to start a quarrel, but that is usually how things went. My liberal family members had met their match in having the last word with me since I was determined to have it. Fast forward a decade or so and I have learned the hard lesson to just be quiet. Yes, the other person may think that I know that my point of view is wrong so I’m not defending it. Or, they may be thinking that they have won an argument that never got started because I refused to participate. What really happened is I got wiser with age and just don’t want the drama of arguing just to win a point. In gaining that point, I may be destroying my witness to that person, and it’s not really wroth it. Thus when friends or family pontificate about how wrong I am about current issues, I just listen. I don’t nod in agreement or smile or anything. I just listen. Did you know that after only a few minutes, they cease to lecture me on their worldview, seeing as I am not being at all argumentative and thus cutting off the water supply to the dam of their outrage that is about to break?
We would all do well to remember this adage from Abraham Lincoln. I have sat in the company of what I would call many foolish people determined to prove that their point of view is the right one, in fact, the only one. I figure that eventually, either on this side of Heaven or the other one, they will be proven wrong by the One who is greater than they. Jesus never argued His points; He should stated them and people could accept them or not. Then He moved on. That’s a good example to follow, don’t you think?
May your day be filled with wonder and blessings!
There are multiple ways to be blind. One, of course, is physically being unable to see. That condition sadly is happening to my sister now as she has macular degeneration. I have watched her go from seeing well, to seeing poorly and now to having difficulty seeing things at all. She uses a huge bold font on her e-reader to be able to read her beloved books. It breaks my heart that she is losing her vision in such a stealthy manner.
Others are blind and don’t know it because they are spiritually blind. That is what I think God is referring to in this Scripture.
I’m glad that God takes our hand and leads us when we are blinded to His truth, smoothing the way before us to accept Jesus as Lord. And the promise that Jesus made in Matthew is here, too. He will never leave us nor forsake us.
One of my heart’s desires is to see my sister come to salvation so that although her physical sight may be diminished or gone, her spiritual sight will be just beginning. I’m spending the week with her and trying to be a good witness. She is so depressed about having to move to NC after living in VA for almost five decades. I don’t know how to help her, but I can pray and I hope that you all who believe in the power of prayer will pray with me.
I hope that each of you has a blessed day, clearly seeing the path that God has established for you for this day. Each new day is a miracle, so reach out to others and start working with God!
There are a lot of people in our world today that will convince you that they are smart. But then when you really listen to them and what they believe, you know that their intelligence is for nought. Instead of worshipping our Creator, they worship things: “Mother Earth” or its creatures, or worse, they idolize themselves and all of their accomplishments. I feel sorry for these people because they don’t know the blessing that they are missing by not acknowledging God as Supreme and accepting that they are part of His creation. I appreciate the earth and all that God has given to us on it, the beauty of nature and the songs of the birds, the butterflies that flutter and the flowers that bloom. But I don’t worship nature and I don’t call it my mother because I have a Father who made it all and who wants me to serve and worship Him, for my own good. There are too many looking to serve a host of other things, especially self, and that is to the detriment of themselves and society as a whole. God will have the last say in the end. He started this world and I have complete faith that when He is ready, He will end it. I hope and pray that many will see their foolish pursuit of pleasure and idolatry for what it is and turn back to the Creator who never stopped loving them.
Have a blessed day, my friends. I am here in NC with my sister and plan to be a blessing while I am here. Time to unpack some boxes for her and help her to make this place feel more like home.
As a grammarian, one of my pet peeves of misuse of words is when someone asks how you are doing, your answer is, “I’m doing good.” I made it a habit to consistently correct my students who said this because as I told them, Mother Theresa “did good” so what you mean to say is that you are doing fine. After many years of following this habit, I just gave up. After all, it’s in common use now. But as I gave up the grammar rules, I did not give up on the hope that indeed they are “doing good.”
We do good for others and eventually we may reap a harvest, the harvest of their souls that live eternally with God. We just keep doing good in spite of all of the evil in the world that assaults us daily and in spite of the attacks from those who would thwart our good. So, how am I doing today? I’m planning on doing good and I hope that you are, too.
And the passage continues in the next verse that we are to do good at every opportunity. In fact, I think that we are to look for ways to do good to/for others. The young man in line behind us looks longingly at a snack at the checkout counter. Purchase it for him and tell him to have a blessed day. The young clerk in the store looks so weary that a smile is not part of their greeting. Smile at him/her and tell them what a good job they’re doing and that you appreciate their hard work. There are small things we can do everyday and there are people who go about the world doing their jobs but they don’t seem to be seen, like the housekeeping people in the hospital or the man who collects the trash every week. They deserve our respect, our gratitude and for us to take time to do good for them. A prayer is one of the best ways we can do good for others. It may not be seen or heard but my faith says that it will be felt and it will make a difference.
I hope that you all have a blessed day and that you are all “doing good.”
Oh, my! My eyes are still leaking tears as I ponder what to write in a review that would do this incomparable book justice. It is the story of an elderly woman who goes to hospice and the reporter assigned to write her obituary and eventually her story. Mrs. Kip is just the person I aspire to be, pouring out her life selflessly for the sake of others in need, including the young cub reporter Aidyn Kelley. The assignment meant to be a consequence for Ms. Kelley turns out to be the biggest blessing of her life as she discovers what it means to walk a life of faith, no matter the cost. Some of the story is based on facts about the Laotian refugees who settled in Kansas City and the volunteers who offered them hope in a new world. Mrs. Kip’s story of her exploits with the refugees was nothing short of breathtaking and awe-inspiring. In fact, her entire story is one that makes me want to know this fictional character in real life, and if I can’t know her, I want to be just like her. Her battles on earth were not just against the death encroaching on her now, but they were always waiting for her to surrender to the despair and hopelessness that she should have felt in the presence of insurmountable circumstances. I cannot write too much about the plot without giving away spoilers and it is my desire that everyone who reads this review get a copy of the book and savor it as I have. It is a book to read with others, discuss with book groups and to carry in one’s heart as a testimony to what can be accomplished by one person who stands in the gap. If you only read one book besides your Bible this year, let it be this one. This is inspirational fiction at its very best and deserves much more than the five stars that I can give it. It is without any doubt the best contemporary Christian fiction book that I have ever read!
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m a people-pleaser. I started that habit as a child to receive approval from a very critical mother. I would do whatever it took to get someone to notice that I was doing good things and to praise me for it. I would like to think that I have outgrown that habit, but I probably haven’t since I still find myself sometimes saying “yes” a lot when what I really mean to say is “no.” I think that’s the people-pleaser in me coming out.
Part of my devotional today is about pleasing God, making wise choices with my words and my thoughts. To do that, I have to spend time with Him, making sure that I’m on the same page as He is. Sometimes lately I have found that God has moved on to the next page, or even the next chapter, and I’m still standing in the past demanding that He fix things for me. Then He speaks quietly to my heart and tells me to just move on with Him, that it will all be okay.
If I please God, then I will be pleasing to Him and that makes my heart happy.
Have a blessed day and may you find yourself on the same page as God and be able to find pleasure in pleasing Our Maker.
You know you aren’t thirty anymore when you try to stay up later to read and drag yourself to bed, barely able to brush your teeth before falling on to the pillow. I haven’t been thirty in over four decades and this has been one of those weeks in which I’m feeling my years. My darling cat Daisy plopped herself down on the bath mat right in front of me and in trying not to step on her, I pulled a muscle in my leg. Ouch! So, I hobbled around for the first part of the week. Thanks, Daisy! But feeling my age isn’t all bad as I discovered this morning in my devotional. God has promises for those of us in our golden years, too.
The fruit I want to bear is more people hearing about God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness. I volunteered to work at VBS this year at our church. No, I cannot run around with the kids but I can be there for them, to sing and to pray and to just be a witness to God’s great love and the fact that He is their Rock in times of trouble.
You know, there is no greater sustainer than God and when He promises to sustain me, I believe it. No health problems are too big for God. As I have told my very negative sister multiple times, I’m not leaving this earth until God calls me home, so I’m not worried about when or how I will die. I just want to keep on working for Him until He calls for me.
How about you? Do you have a promise from God that He spoke into your heart this week? Please share it in the comments. And have a blessed day!
Former SEAL Ranger Kingston is involved in a mission to rescue a group in Nigeria from Boko Haram. In fulfilling this mission, he meets Noemi Sutton for the second time and realizes that they may be destined to be together. With his brothers Dodge and Colt, Ranger runs toward danger and this book is chock full of action from page one all the way to the end. Set mostly in Nigeria but also in Alaska, the descriptions themselves make the book worth reading. The characters were take-charge and rough and ready kind of people. I especially loved Noemi’s family in Nigeria, particularly her Aunt Precious and Uncle Efe who loved her so much and wanted to take care of her. The celebration that they organized for her was sheer perfection to read and an education about customs in Nigeria. Ranger’s family in Alaska is a daring one, with a sky rescue service and the willingness to go wherever they were needed. So much was happening in this book at all times that I almost got whiplash from reading it! This was a fun, entertaining and edge-of-your-seat read that I had difficulty putting down. Each time I returned to it, I was so happy to see that the characters were all still alive because it was that realistic. I loved every minute that I spent engrossed in this book and I’m already looking forward to the next book in the series. Fans of romantic suspense, with the emphasis on thrilling suspense, will devour this book and clamor for more from this talented author.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 