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.
Notice what comes after the action verbs. Trust in your unfailing love. Rejoice in your salvation. Sing the Lord’s praise. Why do we trust, rejoice and sing? Because the Lord has been good to us. Every day that we live is a gift. Every breath that we take is from Him. Instead of bemoaning circumstances that we cannot change, let’s choose to trust, rejoice and sing!
I have read a lot of commentaries and different Biblical versions about putting on the whole armor of God. But what goes under that armor is also important. Did you know that the Bible tells us how we are to clothe ourselves?
I have read the book of Colossians numerous times, meditating on its verses. But this verse somehow escaped my attention until our Bible study group met on Monday night. I pondered it then and today this same verse was in my daily devotional. God does want us to put on the whole armor of God, but underneath that armor, He wants us clothed with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. If we are clothed in something, that is what people see when they see us, those qualities that make Jesus’s presence evident to others.
The chapter continues with this verse about forgiveness. How can we be clothed with Godly characteristics if we don’t forgive? The answer is that we can’t. It’s like going out in public with a shirt that is ripped down the middle and expecting no one to notice. Lack of forgiveness causes a root of bitterness inside the person who chooses to hold on to it. The person you are not forgiving is either not aware of it or chooses to ignore it. Either way, it doesn’t hurt them as much as the lack of forgiveness hurts you. The very important word in the verse is “as”. A tiny little word that means so much…the same way the Lord forgave you is how you should forgive others. He forgave each of us of everything, so we should do likewise to others. Grudges are not an item of clothing that we should be wearing around our shoulders.
Finally, there is love, the binding agent. I vaguely remember my chemistry class in which we were making a glue-type substance and we were told that one of the elements we were using was the binding agent, so we had to be careful to add it at the proper time. Love has to always be added to all of the other clothing that we are wearing because it is the seam that holds the clothing together on our bodies. Without love, we can’t exhibit the other qualities in any way that creates unity. In this divided world, love is an absolutely necessary quality for Christians to put on daily. You don’t like someone’s politics? Love them anyway. You don’t like someone’s selfish actions? Love them anyway. Someone is rude to you, in traffic or in a store or at work? Love them anyway. Love is the one thing that will draw people to you and to your witness about Christ. Once they see love, they can look at the other “clothing” that you are wearing and examine the gifts of His character that God has put on you. But first they must see love.
You can count on God in all circumstances. What you are going through does not change who God is. I would appreciate prayers for my granddaughter Teryn. She has an injury to her clavicle that the doctors cannot explain but the specialist is insistent that she give up gymnastics. She qualified for nationals, so this is a really hard thing for her. Please pray that her bone will get the blood supply it needs and that her mom will be able to find a suitable replacement for gymnastics that she has been competing in for about ten years. We are all praying and waiting for God to act. I hope that you will join us.
This book made my heart race and my pulse pound as I raced through the pages to the satisfying conclusion. The story of Natalie, an insomniac who does not trust her husband and Michael, the husband who has many secrets to hide from her, is mesmerizing. Neither narrator is particularly reliable since Natalie never sleeps more than a couple of hours per night and Michael has a vested interest in hiding his past. I totally enjoyed getting to know the characters and guessing what their next step in the twisted plot would be. The fact that Natalie flees from her husband because of her suspicions and that Michael pursues her and the children had me absorbed and waiting for the next red herring to be thrown into my path. I really liked the character of Kate, a former classmate of Natalie’s who lives on a farm and who agrees to shelter her. She seemed strong and reliable whereas Natalie seemed somewhat weak and undecided about some of her actions. Michael teams up with a police detective from his past, Amos Kennett, to track down Natalie and the twist there was worth reading the whole book. In fact, this is one of the best books that the author has written (and I have read all of his psychological thrillers), with an endangered family and deceptive spouses making me wonder who could be trusted. Excellent book with lots of action, great characterization, plenty of mystery and suspense and thrills!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher 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, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
We give thanks to God because He is good, not because of what He does for us, but just because He is God. Think about that. He is all goodness and we are not.
I know that you have probably been on a roller coaster ride and your companion probably looked at you and said laughingly, “Hold on tight!” Well, that happened to me once and only once because I am not a fan of roller coasters. I hate the feeling of not being in control and hurtling around corners and down hills at a high rate of speed. My children had assured me that this particular coaster was very mild and I could check off my item on my bucket list about riding a roller coaster. (Actually, I don’t remember putting that particular item on there, but I was assured that it was there.) So, with much fanfare and hesitation, I rode the coaster, watched my husband’s eyes twinkle as he told me to hold on. I don’t remember much of the ride, just the terror and the screaming because my children’s idea of a mild ride was not the same as mine.
Sometimes I think that life can be like a roller coaster ride, with unexpected twists and turns, a slow move to the top of the hill and a death-defying plunge to the unknown at the bottom. Throughout life, God has always been there for me and never wavered, always reminding me to just hold on to Him. I may not know what is coming or how the future may affect me, but God does and He is always faithful. I don’t have to be afraid or anxious in any way because God is the one who has told me to hold on and He will do the rest!
For almost four decades, I was in a classroom teaching children. Sometimes I taught younger children in a Christian school, but mostly I taught high schoolers in a public school environment. No matter where I taught, I rarely heard the words, “I don’t know. Teach me.” The problem seemed to be that the students didn’t know what they didn’t know so they didn’t know to ask to be taught. That is also my problem when I approach the throne of God. I don’t know what to pray. But today’s Scripture verse addresses this dilemma.
This is ultimately what I need to be taught, to do God’s will. He is my Lord and Savior and He constantly leads me on safe ground so that I will not fall or stumble. I can trust Him to teach me to do His will while I am on earth, to follow Him as a sheep follows its shepherd’s voice. I have to learn the lesson of letting go and just following where He leads. Is this a lesson you need to learn, also?
These verses were in my devotional this morning and they are so appropriate that I just have to share my testimony about what happened at the retina institute yesterday. As I wrote previously, my ophthalmologist had diagnosed me with dry macular degeneration. My sister has the wet kind which leads to blindness and insisted that I go to see a retina specialist since mine is just starting. So, I jumped through all of the insurance hoops and three months later (yesterday) I got an appointment at the Retina Institute of Virginia. I had to be there alone because of restrictions about patients only, so I was really nervous. Where was my faith? It was still there, but the real me was anxious to find out what was going on with my eyes and what the solution would be, if any.
The first nurse was very nice, jovial and encouraging and explaining all the drops that she had to use in my eyes and how the ocular thing worked with pinholes in it. Then, I sat in a dark room for about ten minutes waiting for my imaging. The next lady was quite rude and impatient, but I prayed for me and for her to get through that part of the test and eventually we did. Next step, a dark room to wait to see the doctor and get his diagnosis of my condition.
I was there long enough to start being assailed by doubts and fears. Of course, it didn’t help that my sister has told me repeatedly for the last three months that I’m going to be blind. (She is not just a cup half empty person; her cup is also cracked and leaking.) Anyway, my answer was to pray and ask God for His presence to be really near me. I cannot say that I heard an audible voice but I did hear God speak to my heart to hold my hand out and He would hold it and be with me. Honestly, I have no idea what I was thinking, but I put my hand out on my lap and the Lord spoke to me and told me He had my hand and I was not alone and all would be okay, no matter the verdict from the doctor. I prayed quietly, thanking God for His comfort and calming presence. I can’t say that I felt the Lord holding my hand, but I felt comforted and knew He was there with me.
When the doctor came in, he showed me the photos of my eyes and told me that my left eye has a trace of macular but my right eye has no signs of it at all. He finished his exam and told me that he would see me in a year, that he’s pleased with the radiograph and the photos. My response was to thank him and to thank God, of course! He had me all along, even in that dark room where I was feeling so alone and frightened, He took my hand and spoke words of encouragement to me.
Naturally, when I called my sister to tell her, her response was negative. She informed me that the disease will get worse, there’s no cure, it will go into my right eye and I will go blind, just later instead of sooner. But you know what? I didn’t argue with her or point out to her that God is taking care of the whole situation for me. I knew that in my heart, but she doesn’t know or accept God and His truths, so I wanted to just hold His love for me close to me and enjoy it rather than listen to and accept her harsh words. Shortly thereafter, my husband arrived to take me home and my trial was over. I shared with him what had happened and he was like, “That’s good. That’s really good news.” The best news is that my faith was renewed (again) because God showed me not only that He is powerful but also that He cares about the tiny details in my life. Since I needed someone with me, He was that someone for me. Always there, never intrusive, always willing to console and encourage. That’s my God! I’m ashamed that I needed to be reminded, but I wanted to share my humanity with you all. I don’t have it all together all the time, but God does and knows just what I need and how to meet those needs.
As a new Christian, when I read this verse, I was overjoyed with the thought that whatever I asked for, God would make it happen. Five decades later, I know that the verse is true but my heart had not yet been trained for what it really means. First of all, delight means extreme satisfaction or pleasure. Do you feel extreme pleasure in the presence of God? The second part of that sentence in the verse says God will give you the desires of your heart. The thing is, as I have grown closer to God, my desires have changed. The physical wants that I thought I one time I just had to obtain have been replaced with spiritual needs that I yearn for. My greatest desire is to be close to God and to hear His voice as I go through my day. Along with that is the desire to see loved ones in a relationship with our Father in Heaven. Does that mean that I have stopped wanting nice things? No, but they are no longer a priority.
The other important word in the verse is commit. It means to devote yourself to a person or a thing. Are you devoted to God? Is He the most important person in your life? When the path we want to take is devoted wholly to the will of God, that is when He acts on our behalf and brings our prayers to fruition.
God is not a genie in a bottle that we say the magic words, He appears and takes care of all of our problems, answering all of our prayers just the way we ask them. God is the God of the Universe, making decisions that are right for all of mankind, not just for me or for you.
I’m praying today for a good visit with the retina eye specialist. A few months ago, I was diagnosed with dry macular degeneration. My sister has been undergoing treatment for the wet kind for several years, going every 4-6 weeks to get shots in her eyes. Having accompanied her to those visits, I am not excited about the whole process. Nevertheless, I continue to believe that nothing will happen today that God and I can’t handle together. I don’t know what the doctor will say, but I already know what God has said to me. He speaks softly to my heart and tells me He is close by and that it will all be okay. And it will, because He is my Father and will never leave me.
As you ponder the verse above, please consider how close you are to the Living God and how close you allow Him to be to you. What are your expectations of God for your life? More importantly, what are His expectations for you?
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 