Each day I return to the source of my encouragement, the Word of God. Here are the jewels that I found today. I pray that they will encourage you just as they have encouraged me.

I recently got an apron as a prize from an online book group. I don’t wear aprons generally, but I have it in the drawer if I need to be covered and protected from splashes and such. A devotional I read today compared an apron to God’s Armor that we wear to protect ourselves. Then, part of my Scripture reading today was Ephesians. It spoke to me of the protection God has for His people, not just during the crisis today, but every day. Like the apron that I have set aside, if we don’t wear the armor of God, then it does us no good.

So, my friends, I’m praying that God will help me to wear boldly the Armor of God and to be ready to fight spiritual battles against the enemy of our souls. Yes, what we are fighting now is physical, but I also think that it is spiritual. How many people will cry out to God in their despair during this time? How many will turn against God because they don’t understand His love and character? As His children, we represent Him to the world. Not many are out and about these days, but as Sue said wisely in her post, we meet people on the internet and therein lies our current sphere of influence. Wear your armor, my friends, and take the Word of God to a lost and dying world. We don’t know what tomorrow may bring, but we do know Who holds tomorrow.

I am reminded of this quotation from my daily devotional:

Mountaintops inspire us, but valleys mature us.-Nicki Gumbel