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!
Do you know what the people in the world do endlessly? They tear others down so that they look better. If you don’t believe me, just spend five minutes on social media and you will see that it’s all about how great they are compared to others. Or sit in a restaurant and watch how the customers treat their server. Some snap at the server for slow service or demand extra attention or amenities. Or go to a store and listen to what people say to the cashiers or the employees throughout the store. Impatience and rudeness seems to be a part of today’s culture.
I don’t want to be one of those who tear others down, but rather I want to build up others. I can only do that if I am confident in my place in the Lord, letting others know that they can have the same peace, the same patience and the same love that Jesus showed to others. They just have to surrender their lives to Him.
Some of the least likely people need encouragement. Pastors, teachers, evangelists…those serving the Lord daily and pouring out their hearts and lives for Him. How long has it been since you said an encouraging word to your pastor? Don’t just conjure up a word because I said to do so…pray about it and say it from your heart.
The regular people that we meet or come in contact with every day are hurting and need our encouraging words. It can be a simple smile, a heartfelt “thank you” or a sincere, “you’re doing a good job.” I seldom go out shopping anymore. It’s so much more convenient to shop online, have boxes delivered and move on to the next thing on my list. But I do come in contact with people, some deliberately and some just an accidental encounter. I know that I am responsible for each word that I speak to each person I meet, so I want each word to be purposeful and uplifting. I hope I am not, but I may be the only positive person that they come across that day.
No matter how we are encountering people, online or in person, we can be encouraging. I want to be known as a “Positive Polly” not a “Negative Nellie.” So, give everyone the benefit of the doubt and let them know that you appreciate their efforts to help you, serve you, talk to you, whatever it is that others do to interact with you. Let’s be the kind ones, the ones who truly set out to make a difference in a world that has become increasingly impersonal and self-absorbed.
In order for Noah to have an ark to go into for safety, he had to obey God and build it. God didn’t make the ark and tell him, “Here you go! Your safe space is ready for you!” Instead, Noah had to pick up his tools and work hard at building a huge boat for which he was ridiculed. Think about it. You’re doing what God tells you to do and everyone else is making fun of you. Hmm. Sounds somewhat familiar at times, doesn’t it?
When Noah finished building the ark (after about a hundred years), God told him it was time to go into it. It’s a good thing that Noah was tuned in to God’s instructions. We need to have that same mindset…just do what God says to do and the reason may/may not be told to us later, but it will be a good one.
Why was Noah called into the ark? Because God saw him as righteous before Him. The world was a wicked place, kind of like our world today. The only way we can be righteous before God is to accept His Son as our Lord and Savior. When we have done that and become the Christians that He desires us to be, adopted into His family, then we are invited into the ark. The ark is not a physical boat of safety. Rather, it is the place we can always turn to in order to be safe from the world’s temptation and sin. We are invited to go in, but we have to take the steps to get there. God will not shove us into a place of safety; rather, He woos us with love and patience, reassuring us constantly that He knows what is best for us.
There is a lot we can learn from Noah…obedience, listening for God to speak and doing what God says when He says it. We have a shelter provided from all of the storms of life. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be storms, just that we won’t suffer all of the consequences that we would without an ark to take refuge in.
Sometimes, I feel as though I am all alone, fighting the battle against my own sinful nature. Today’s devotional was a welcome and humorous reminder that I am never alone. I used to watch the Popeye cartoons every Saturday morning. In spite of the fact that the show always ended the same way, I sat in front of the TV weekly to get my weekly look into heroism and true love. The answer was in a can of spinach. (Yuck!)
These days, when I am battling against temptation, I have only to call upon the name of the Lord and He is right there, reminding me of scriptures that I have memorized and testimonies from my past. God is always there and He does truly love me. We are all blessed to have a Savior as close as the next prayer and always willing to help us in our struggles.
From the YouVersion Bible App, “Daily Power, Day 9” by Craig Groeschel
I loved the old Popeye cartoons. You know, Popeye the Sailor Man? It was clear he was our hero and Brutus was his natural enemy, threatening to harm poor Olive Oil, the love of Popeye’s life. Every episode, after Brutus’ taunting and bullying, Popeye reached the point where “that’s all I can standz, and I can’t standz no more.” Out came his can of spinach, down it went, and suddenly his muscles were popping and fists were flying. Brutus didn’t stand a chance!
I’m convinced we occasionally need to choose a “Popeye moment.” When the Enemy attacks and we keep struggling, we need to “draw a line in the sand” and have a showdown. That’s all we can stand, and it’s time to change.
What fight are you facing today? Are you overworking, missing what’s most important in life? Are you battling an addiction and telling yourself it’s not that big of a deal? Are you putting off a conversation, hoping the problem will solve itself? Are you making excuses as to why you can’t drop the pounds, making jokes about it to help relieve your pain?
Maybe it’s time to stop. Make a decision. Enough is enough. It’s time to change. The good news is your strength doesn’t come from a can of spinach. Yours comes from our God. His power is available to you. His strength dwells within you. His spirit will help you do what you can’t do on your own.
Power Lift: That’s it, Lord. I’m tired of fighting temptation and giving in more times than I can count. Help me change—and help me change now!
I really enjoy poetry, the rhythm of each verse, the way the words flow together to paint a beautiful picture, the different ways poems can be written. I loved the analogy in today’s devotional about being a poem created by God. We are each His masterpiece and each of us has a specific purpose to fulfill. Like poems from poets, we are meant to be in the world and help others to see the imagery that the poet was inspired to write about. God wants others to see His Son in us and He wants us to know how very much He loves us, so much that He created us to be a unique part of His creation. I am, and you are, exactly who God created us to be, a masterpiece meant to serve and love God and others.
From the YouVersion Devotional, “Daily Power, Day 8” by Craig Groeschel
I’ve seen a bumper sticker on several cars that makes me chuckle every time. It simply says, “God don’t make no junk!” (Ironically, it seems like every time I see this bumper sticker, it’s always on an old clunker.) But it’s true: when you’re in Christ, God don’t make no junk!
You are the masterpiece of God, created for the Master’s purpose. The reason it’s important for you to believe this is because when you know who you are, you’ll know what to do. Otherwise, you might be tempted to accept the labels others stick on you and settle for much less.
You are special in Christ, the Master’s creation, created for the Master’s purpose. The Greek word translated as “masterpiece” here in Ephesians 2:10 is poiema (POY-ay-muh). To be “God’s poiema” literally means to be “a work made by God.” Because we derive our English word “poem” from this word, I like to think of us as his beautiful poems.
In Christ, your life should be a poetic statement of God’s glory. The master artisan designs each of our lives to join and interlock to create a big picture, a giant living tapestry, woven of people. Sometimes, from where you’re standing, you might not be able to see where you fit. But if you can take a step back and look at it from his perspective, you can see the overall masterpiece, the perfect workmanship of God.
Power Lift: God, help me to remember that I’m your masterpiece, as unique and beautiful as a poem. I am not who others say I am but who you say I am. My identity rests in you.
From the YouVersion Devotional, “Daily Power, Day 7” by Craig Groschel
When I was growing up, it seemed like every adult I knew smoked cigarettes. I never realized the effect it had on me until I went away to college. After being away for several weeks, when I came back home, I thought, “Man, this place smells like smoke! Wow, I never noticed that before.” Then I kind of got used to it again and didn’t think about it until I got back to my dorm Sunday night.
When I walked into my dorm room, my roommate said, “Dude, get out of here! That’s rank! Where have you been—inside a chimney?”
Then it dawned on me. For the past eighteen years, I’d lived in this smoke-filled environment and didn’t realize the toll it had taken on me. I had been breathing in this secondhand smoke, this poison, and it was affecting me and I didn’t even know it.
So often our culture affects our souls the same way. We breathe in secondhand toxins that infiltrate our minds and hearts and make us sluggish. After a while we don’t realize it and are just going with the flow, doing what everyone else around us is doing, not what God wants us to do.
If you want to build a stronger relationship with Christ, you have to live apart. You have to follow his ways and not the crowd. You have to recognize the impact that those around you are having on your faith.
Power Lift: Father, thank you for calling me to a life that’s set apart from the world. Today help me see the ways I have been affected by spiritual pollution.
My Thoughts
I grew up in a household in which my mom smoked constantly. I wasn’t aware of the effect on my health until I left home and was not around smoke anymore. My asthma was definitely exacerbated by the presence of smoke, and I am still really allergic to any hint of smoke in the air around me. Thank goodness that God has taken care of me!
The smoke I was around could be seen, smelled (in the air and on my clothing) and was a real problem for my physical health. But the things that I allow into my mind and the people I associate with have an effect on my spiritual life. It is my choice to distance myself from harmful things spiritually, just as I would not stay around smoke because of the detrimental effects on my lungs. Being around people and taking part in things that do not help me grow spiritually is harms my spiritual growth. We are to be in the world but we shouldn’t do as the world does or begin to think and act as they do. I can love people without accepting their non-Biblical beliefs.
Click on the image to make it larger so you can read the small print. 😊
I don’t make resolutions. I found out long ago that making a resolution was an exercise in futility that generally ended up frustrating me because I couldn’t carry it out. Lose weight? Good idea…but didn’t happen. Sleep more by going to bed earlier and sleeping later. Great idea…again, didn’t happen. So, after years of promising myself that I would do better, I changed my resolution to a focus word. I have been doing that for the last five or so years now. My focus word for 2024 was “trust.” I have always had difficulty trusting people after my father disappointed me so much, so I also had problems trusting God. I didn’t (and sometimes still don’t) want to relinquish control. Having “trust” as my focus word made me more mindful of when I was holding too tightly to the reins and not trusting God to be in loving control.
This year’s word is “listen.” I thought I was listening to others and to God, but I have discovered through self-reflection that I was treating God just like I do people. I was always thinking about the next thing I would say instead of listening with complete attention to what He was saying. So, for this year, I want to try to work on my active listening skills, with people and with God.
Honestly, I made excuses for my behavior, telling myself that at my age, if I didn’t say my thoughts, chances are I would forget them. God has been dealing with me about trusting Him to help me remember what I want to say and, in the meantime, to actually listen. You’re probably saying to yourself that listening isn’t hard and shouldn’t require practice. But ask yourself how many times you listen so attentively that you can paraphrase what the person said and respond to it appropriately. How many times do you “zone out” or interrupt? For me, it isn’t easy to listen attentively and actively, so that is why it’s my focus word.
I found this graphic online to help me to remember what active listening looks like.
The big one for me is DO NOT TALK! God will be speaking to me through His Word and I want to express my opinions to Him. That shouldn’t be happening. I can talk to God when He is done talking to me, and not one minute before. Can you imagine Jesus interrupting the Father and telling Him just what He thought about the whole crucifixion thing? I am pretty sure that Jesus spent a lot of time listening to the Father because He consistently quoted the Scriptures in His teaching.
My point is simple. I wish for you all to have a happy, safe and healthy new year. Of course, I want that for me, too. But I also want to learn to be a better listener, someone with empathy and compassion, not someone who comes across as just too busy to take time to listen. And I want to hear what the Father is saying because He is the One with all of the wisdom, so I am thinking that listening to Him may improve my ability to apply wisdom to the circumstances of my life. At the very least, I want to be more aware of when I am actively listening and try to improve my stats on that skill.
Another short graphic to remind me that listening shows respect. ATP: Attend, Think, Participate (I love to use acronyms!)
Finally, from Scriptures I have found about listening:
You have to listen in order to hear; then you can reflect on what you have heard and give your answer. From experience, I know that when I don’t listen to what my husband says, we end up having a disagreement, all because I didn’t take time to listen.I really don’t think that I want to be known as a fool, so I would rather learn to keep quiet and listen. It’s amazing what you can hear when you are tuned in! Wow! The promise is that God WILL tell me great and hidden things. How will I know what He is saying if I am not willing to be quiet and listen? When we ask for wisdom or any kind of help in a situation, do we actually sit and wait, listening to the answer? Or do we move on with our day, without paying attention to the fact that God was speaking if we had only listened? I am talking to myself here, but if this truth applies to you too, I’m glad that we can work together on the skill of listening.
There is one true God. The Bible says this truth over and over. Yet there are many in the world today who don’t read or believe the Bible and they are chasing after other gods, trying to get the spiritual food they need from the wrong source. Sometimes each of us is probably guilty of chasing after counterfeits, the next great thing in the spiritual world. There are false teachers everywhere trying to get us to turn from God and towards them, but they are crafty and use God as their hook. Then, they reel in the unsuspecting and unwise person until they are trapped in the lie that they fell for. I am kind of like a banker who recognizes counterfeit bills because they handle real ones all the time. The more I press into God, the less likely I am to fall for counterfeits. Today’s world is very sneaky…the false gods are on the computer, the television and even in books that seen innocuous. But I believe that if we have a close personal relationship with God, the Holy Spirit that lives within us will warn us of danger when a fake god tries to captivate us with promises of wealth, health and long life. God gives the promises we need to spend eternity with Him, and that is enough for me.
From the YouVersion Bible App Devotional, “Daily Power, Day 6” by Craig Groeschel
I am not a “people person.” In fact, I am an introvert who enjoys books and interactions with people online, but I don’t enjoy going out to be among the masses of people. In fact, I was once diagnosed with agoraphobia (fear of crowded places) and was on medication and therapy as a result. I say all that because today’s devotional deals with stepping out and being with people. I cannot see Jesus just texting someone the answer to their prayer. He reached out and touched them. He spoke to them personally, listening and getting to know them and their needs. Jesus was a “people person” and if I am going to be like Jesus, I have to step out and be there for others. I am not sure how to begin, but as my father-in-law used to wisely say, “The best way to begin is just to start.”
From the YouVersion Bible App Devotional, “Daily Power, Day 5” by Craig Groeschel
Some people blame our lack of genuine community on the invention of the air conditioner. Before AC, people would sit on their front porches in the evenings and try to catch a breeze to cool off. They would wave at neighbors and visit with the ones who stopped to chat over a glass of lemonade. With air conditioning installed, people can stay inside and don’t have to interact with their neighbors.
Attaching garages to our houses didn’t help either. Instead of walking from our driveways or detached garages and exchanging greetings with neighbors along the way, we pull in, shut the door, and we’re inside our house. Fences, gated communities, answering machines, and caller ID reinforced this notion that we want to be left alone. We don’t have to interact with anyone, so we don’t. Now people interact online and through social media and really never have to interact. You can even shop online.
But Jesus always had time for other people. He talked to them, fed them, healed them, and forgave them. He often met physical needs in order to address spiritual needs. If we’re too busy even to interact with the people around us, let alone engage with their struggles, then we’re not following Christ’s example. And we’re also missing out on the blessing of loving and serving one another.
Today take the time to stop, listen, and talk with someone you see every day but rarely slow down to get to know.
Power Lift: Lord, it’s easy to make excuses about why I don’t engage with more people in my daily life. But you remind me to show your love to everyone I meet. Give me wisdom to know when to interrupt my schedule in order to bless those around me.
Knowing God is trusting God to do what is best for all, not just for me. I confess that there have been many times when I did not understand God’s will and why things were happening. My trust faltered, and in my weakness, I would find myself crying out to God and asking for reassurance that He is still in control. One such time was when our daughter miscarried when she was almost seven months pregnant. We had just spent a week together in a cabin, enjoying games, outings, food and fellowship with her and her family. The last days we were there, Hope stayed in bed, saying she wasn’t feeling well and just needed to rest. When she and the family left, she told me that she felt fine and was eager to get the sonogram done early that week that had been scheduled for a while already. My husband and I were still at the cabin, this time with our son and his family taking their turn with us. Then the phone call came. Hope was sobbing and I could barely understand her words. But they became plain soon enough, “She’s gone. The baby died.” I don’t know if I have ever felt such heartbreak before. Our beloved daughter was feeling so lost, and we were well over a day’s travel away. We hastily explained to Scott what had happened, packed up and went home (three hours away) and then re-packed and headed to Pennsylvania, praying for God to be with Hope and Aaron and the four children as they grieved. When we arrived the next day, we found that the obstetrician had Hope go through labor and give birth to the deceased infant. Tessa was perfectly formed, but tiny. Tests showed that she had a tumor and died from it. The family was in shock and inconsolable. My lighthearted and faith-filled daughter was silent and sad. My grandchildren didn’t understand how such a tragedy was possible. We went through the days following the loss trying to help Hope cope with the loss and to choose to move on. She was convinced that this was her last baby and she had lost her. Tessa Serenity was never going to walk the earth. I took walks with the younger children around their large property and we talked about where Tessa was now…in the arms of the Lord and happy to be there. But the sadness prevailed. Hope mustered her belief in a good God the best that she could and went on with life. Two summers later, we met at a shopping center on our way to the beach for a trip together again. I had kind of dreaded the trip because the last time we had been together for a vacation had ended in such heartache. When Hope got out of the car, she had on a shirt with a rainbow that said something like, “God keeps His promises.” She then told us, right there in the parking lot, that she was pregnant and that this baby was a “rainbow baby”, a gift after the loss of a beloved child. We cried together and rejoiced in God’s goodness. Less than five months later, little Teagan Noelle was born. I guess I should add here that Hope and Aaron name all of their children with the letter T and online she calls her children T1, T2, etc. The latest, little Teagan, is not called by a number because it was too difficult to skip the number 5 that belonged to Tessa and Teagan and the other kids didn’t understand the number 6. So Teagan became “sweet Tea” and that’s her nickname to this day. She knows that she has a sister waiting for her in heaven who was to be number five. And we all praise God for the blessing that she is. She just turned eight, a precocious and loving child who is the delight of all in her family. So why did Tessa have to leave this life so early? I don’t know and probably never will. But these events led me to lean hard into God and to trust His sovereignty even when I don’t understand it.
From the YouVersion Bible App Devotional, “Daily Power by Craig Groeschel, Day 4”
Years ago my wife Amy’s brother, David, was very sick. He was in the hospital, so we had everyone we knew praying for him—for his health, for healing, for a full recovery. For weeks and weeks, we prayed and prayed. But after several months, God healed David in a way we hadn’t planned. My brother-in-law, who was only thirty-four, left this earth and joined God in heaven.
My wife lost her only brother. My in-laws lost their only son. We were devastated and it was hard not to wonder, “Where was God in that? Why did we have to lose David?”
I helped do the funeral, and I invited people to know the Jesus who had changed David’s life and set him free from the bondage of a dark past. That day so many people said yes and invited Christ into their hearts, including Uncle Blue, a great guy and one of our family’s favorite people.
Recently Amy and I were reflecting on the positive ripple effect we could see in so many lives—all because God did not answer our prayer the way we wanted. “Would you trade everything that’s happened to get your brother back?” I asked. Without hesitating, she said, “No way. What God has done through our loss is greater than anything I could imagine.”
God’s will matters in the midst of our prayers. You don’t always get what you want when you want it. But you can always walk by faith and trust in God’s will.
Power Lift: Dear God, there’s so much I don’t understand about your ways. Today help me walk by faith and not by sight, trusting in your perfect and holy plan for my life.
Jesus’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane should be our prayer daily.
From the YouVersion Bible App Devotional, “Daily Power by Craig Groeschel, Day 3”
Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep. My mind spins with thoughts of appointments, responsibilities, and obligations for the following day. I worry about my kids, my friends, and members of our church. When everyone seems to be doing okay, I worry that I can’t think of anything to worry about! The best thing I do, though, is simply pray about all that’s weighing on me.
Sometimes people say, “All we can do now is pray.” It’s tempting to treat prayer like it’s a last line of defense. In actuality, though, prayer is our first line of offense.
We all have so many people depending on us that it can be hard to feel strong enough to do all that needs doing. We want to keep standing firm in our faith, but we become weary and feel so exhausted. That’s when we have to cry out for help, just like the psalmist says in today’s verse. We have to put our hope in the promises of God’s Word.
When you wake early because your mind and heart are troubled, you can rest in remembering what your Father has promised. He is with you and will never abandon you. He is in control and devoted to your growth for his good purposes. You don’t have to do everything that’s spinning around in your mind.
Today you can rest easy knowing that your hope is in God and not in your own efforts.
Power Lift: Today I cast my burdens before you, Lord, and trust that you can handle all that weighs on me and more. My hope is in you and I trust your timing to meet my needs as you show me my next step.
My Thoughts
I come from a family of hand-wringers and worriers. So, you might say that I have been perfecting this art of worrying for decades. I have also been learning (for fewer decades) how to let go and trust in God. I am not there yet because I still awaken in the middle of the night with my mind spinning. But I have learned to take deep breaths, release the troubles to God and go back to sleep. For me, that is good progress. I also recite scriptures that I have memorized to myself and sing praise songs in my mind. Sometimes it takes longer to go back to sleep, depending on what the issue is. But my belief is that I am awakened to pray, so I do and fall back to sleep when I feel comforted and the reassurance that God is taking care of things for me.
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