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.
When my military husband was deployed, I missed him. The children missed him. We all counted days or made paper rings to count them, a countdown until his return. Then, we would make a cake, his personal favorites for dinner and wait expectantly for his arrival home.
I miss a lot of loved ones who have gone to heaven to be with the Lord. My mom died in 1983 and my father in 2017. My grandparents died in 1991 and 1992. My best friend Heidi died in 2017 also, only a few months before my father. I miss them, but I don’t wish them back because this life is hard and I hope that they have gone to heaven and they wouldn’t want to leave there.
I want to see my loved ones when I get to heaven, to be reunited with them at last. But I really want to see Jesus.
Jesus’s prayer to the Father is for us to be with Him. I think that He misses us, not the same way I miss my lost loved ones because Jesus is in contact with us through prayer and the Holy Spirit. Don’t ask me to theologically explain that because I can’t. But I do believe that the Savior who died for me longs for me to be with Him, and yes, He misses me being right there with Him. You know the videos in which the family is reunited with the spouse returning from his deployment. The child is surprised at the football game. The mom at work. Imagine all of the videos we could play of our meeting Jesus. We know Him in our hearts and when we get to heaven, we will know Him and be able to be right there beside him, much like the beloved spouse returned from the battlefield.
We are fighting a battle now. We are deployed on the earth to fulfill the mission that God has given us to do. Jesus is watching over us, along with the heavenly host. Can you imagine His cheer when we make a right choice or repent of a wrong one? Yes, I think He longs for us to be with Him. The time isn’t now, but it is coming when we will be untied with Him. That will be a day of rejoicing, a day when we see His glory and behold all of the love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I don’t know exactly what it will be like, but I know that Jesus wants me to be with Him, in the Father’s time and when the Father calls me home. We should all long for that day and know that it will be a joyous homecoming and a special day for the Lord and for us. We can be encouraged that Jesus misses us and wants to be with us, just as we want to see Him.
I know you will find this hard to believe, but I have never run a physical race before. First, there is the whole asthma thing in which walking fast can make me lose my breath and gasp for air even as I reach for my inhaler. Second, I will be totally honest. Even if I could run, I probably wouldn’t because I hate to sweat. If I feel perspiration creeping down my neck or across my forehead, I head to the bathroom to take a shower or at least wash off. I know…strange, right?
But there is a race that I am running, every day. Some days, I think I am making progress and other days, I feel as though I am just standing still, running in place. But, I am still running, still listening to that still small voice that tells me I’m going to make it, to just keep going.
God has a race marked out for us to run and we all need to run it whether we are athletically inclined or not. The stakes are high and the prize is eternal. So how do we get ready for this race?
I have four grandchildren who run cross country. They have informed me repeatedly that you have to run every day to be ready for the race. Sometimes their run is with others at practice and sometimes they are running solo just to keep in shape. Sometimes, we run our race alone and other times, we are with other believers. But we never stop running.
So, for my race, my everyday run consists of spending time with the Lord daily, first thing every morning. I may not feel like it, but my feelings don’t count because God is waiting for me, so off I go to read His word, pray, meditate and spend time with Him. I call that preparing for my race. The race is starting the minute I get up from my chair and start my day.
The phone rings with someone needing something. Do I blow them off, tell them I’m busy (which may actually be true) or do I offer to help however I can? Remembering that this is part of my race, I choose wisely and offer to help. I have to run errands and my husband is still sleeping. Since he and I go on errands together, do I wake him up or let him sleep, knowing he stayed up late watching sports? The little voice inside me that is impatient tells me to wake him up, but I walk away quietly and wake for him to awaken naturally, refreshed by getting enough sleep. Still running that race! I make lunch and spill the soup on the floor as I try to balance it with my walker. I could spew a string of words that are not for polite society. But, instead, I get paper towels and silently clean up my mess. You know what is happening here? Life! Life is what is happening. And as someone once said, life is not what happens to us, it is how we respond to it.
That is our daily race, which some call the “daily grind.” Day after day, things happen and we react or respond, hopefully with God in mind and the Holy Spirit ruling our response, but honestly, that doesn’t always happen and we have to confess, repent, and keep going. Regardless of the events in our lives, we keep running the race. Our eyes have to stay focused on Jesus, not on the events that are happening to us or around us. The world is filled with distractions to try to get us to quit the race and join in their revelry, the sin that has already entangled them and they want us to join them in it. But, we don’t quit! Why not? Because our eyes are on Jesus and He did not give up on us. He didn’t quit but rather went to the cross, suffered and died. That was His race and He ran all the way to being seated next to the Father.
Was Jesus tempted and opposed? Constantly! The Pharisees and other religious leaders were always watching Him, waiting for Him to break their numerous laws and standards. Jesus indeed broke many of their laws and established new ones. He healed on the Sabbath and was condemned for it. He spoke words of truth from His Father and was ridiculed for it. He spoke out for the underdogs, the sinners who were around Him and following Him everywhere. He touched them and allowed them to touch Him. He was running His race and knew what the end would look like for Him, yet still He ran, faithfully and daily. Can we do any less?
Others are watching us, too, hoping that we will “grow weary and lose heart.” They want us to turn away from God so that they can say to themselves and others, “See, I told you this salvation thing isn’t real.” So, we have to keep running, not just for us, but for all who need to see the race and know that our faith is real, our God is real and there is a real heaven (or hell) waiting for everyone.
Thus, I am running my race and I know that you are, too. Your race probably doesn’t look like mine, but it’s the same race, just a different track. Some run through woods with lots of obstacles. Some run uphill a lot and feel as though their body cannot take any more. Others are running in a flat valley with a cool breeze and thanking God for the respite from the hard places that they have just left behind. Just keep running. The end of the race is coming, although we don’t know how or when. We know what is waiting for us at the end, so we just keep running, cheered on by a heavenly host that wants us to finish and finish well.
I think that we can all agree that this toy car is past the ability to put it back together again. I remember when our children were young that they would break a toy and bring it to me to fix. Well, I am not good at those kinds of things, unless it was a wheel that needed to be put back on a car or a head back on a doll. I could sew eyes back on stuffed animals, too, as well as apply bandaids to their “owies” in order that my child was mollified and would continue to accept and play with the toy as it was. In general, my usual reply to the problem of a broken toy was that they needed to find something else to play with because that toy was headed to the trash pile.
I was once like that broken toy. I needed all new parts, a lot of banging dents out and a lot of careful attention to the details so I could work again. That’s when Jesus came into my life.
I am, you are, we all are healed by the Lord Jesus. That is not to say that we don’t have physical ailments. That would be a lie. Our bodies were not made to last forever; rather, they are a temporary abode for our soul that will go to heaven to spend eternity with God. Sometimes, God does heal us physically, but it’s not something that we can “name it and claim it” and it happens. I am thankful that God healed me when I had a stroke, but honestly, I was too unaware of what was happening to really know what He had done until after it was finished. Then, I realized what God had done for me and was thankful and amazed.
I think what I am trying to say is that Jesus healed our brokenness on the cross. He healed the relationship between us and the Father, and that is a healing that is always there for us because that was all part of God’s plan of salvation. But it upsets me sometimes when I see people desperately ill with terminal diseases like cancer and they are not healed of the sickness. Instead, they are generally taken to be with the Lord (if they are Christ believers). I have thought about that long and hard and come to the conclusion that that is the ultimate healing. There is no more pain after that. No, their physical bodies did not survive, but their soul is happily ensconced in heaven with the Lord, which is what we should all be looking forward to.
As I write this, I am having a stomach issue with a lot of pain and bathroom trips to eliminate whatever is making me sick. Would I like to be healed physically in this moment? Of course! It’s no fun becoming good friends with the toilet seat. And I prayed that God would take care of me and help me to get better. But if the instantaneous does not happen, I know that God is still working on the soul part of me to draw me closer to Him in spite to the illness. I don’t want to be like some and get angry with God because I prayed and He didn’t instantly answer. God is not my personal wish granter. He is my Heavenly Father and I trust Him to take care of me, even if it’s through the sickness instead of a miraculous healing. After all, I know what a miracle is. I had a massive stroke and I am still here almost eleven years later. I can walk, talk, eat, sing, smile and enjoy life because I was healed. I have been blessed with enjoying the company of ten grandchildren, after the stroke. I celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary, after the stroke. Even my neurologist says I am a walking miracle. Does God care about the little things like a stomach bug? I’m sure He does because I think He cares about everything that happens in our lives. Will He suddenly heal me? Maybe. But the healing of my physical body is not what I seek after. I seek after the spiritual healing, the touch I receive daily from the Lord that inspires my posts online and helps me to understand His Word and to get closer to Him.
God doesn’t want anyone that He loves to continue through life in the shape of that toy car, broken and discarded. He fixes us from the inside out, starting with our hearts. We were all once broken, but now we are “fixed” by the Master Craftsman who created us. He fixed us and continues to do the necessary repairs to make us whole and ready to live with Him forever.
Prayer from the YouVersion, Daily Refresh, 11-08-25
I had not heard this section of scripture called this before, but when I looked it up in my Bible, I found that it is indeed attributed to Agur.
This is a prayer for God to help him not to lie, but it is also a prayer asking for contentment. Notice that he doesn’t want to be impoverished or rich. In our era, the propensity is to want more and more, no matter how much you have. Contentment is fleeting. Agur wants a daily provision so that the doesn’t have too much and then think he doesn’t need the Lord anymore. Nor does he want too little because then he may be tempted to steal which would dishonor God.
Wouldn’t it be great if everyone prayed this prayer and meant it? Instead, we are focused on praying for a better car, a larger house, a bounteous feast for Thanksgiving, etc. All we really need is the food to nourish our body every day and a shelter to live in for protection from the weather. That food is really more than bread though. I think it also means the spiritual food that we need daily in order to continue on the right path with God.
Agur had the idea of contentment long before it was a memory verse from the New Testament. I desire to be content like Agur, not too much or too little, but just enough and exactly what I need for every day. God is in the habit of providing what we need when we ask in faith and according to His will. He may even provide some of our wants, too, but we should be content with having our needs met, don’t you think?
In the last decade, one of my specialists decided that since my bones are so thin, I needed a special medication to be infused into my system every six months. To obtain this “miracle medicine” as he called it, I had to get the insurance to approve it and then show up at the infusion center in his office, where I spent a half hour or so with an IV in my arm while I sat in a comfortable recliner. I followed that procedure for about five years. But my bone density test showed no improvement, my kidney kept declining and the medication was no longer safe or effective for me to use. So, the doctor told me that I need to be very careful not to break bones because they are so thin and I am so much at risk. Bottom line, the infusion of the “miracle drug” did not work in my body.
I have a niece who is diabetic and has been diagnosed since she was in primary school. She had to do finger pricks and insulin injections regularly until just last year when she got a fancy glucose monitor that checks her glucose levels and automatically administers the correct dose of insulin. I have no idea how it works, but I do know that she is much happier and more stable health wise with the monitor than her own personal checks.
My point with these illustrations is that if we allow ourselves to be, we can be hooked up to God twenty-four hours a day and receive all of the faith, grace and mercy we need all the time. Our responsibility is to stay “infused” with His presence so that we receive from Him what we need when we need it. We don’t receive too little or too much, but just the right amount to function with each day’s challenges.
How do we stay so connected to God? I’m glad you are still reading and want to know the answer. It’s actually very simple. Through His Word! God gives us all that we need every day, all day in His Word. Need encouragement? It can be found in His Word. Need wisdom to make a decision? Call on God and read His Word for the answers you need. Need comfort? Peace? Love? Everything we need is right there waiting for us, but we need to pick up our Bibles and use it. It is our infusion center, the place where we are most connected to God and from which we venture into praying to Him and seeking Him more in our lives. Like me going to the infusion center, I had to do my part and show up. The nurses then hooked me up to the IV and the medicine flowed in. Likewise, we have to do our part and show up daily to spend time with God. Then God, through the Holy Spirit, does His part and infuses us with the faith, grace, mercy and whatever other power we need that day to make it to the end of the day. One more analogy and then I will let you get back to the Word yourself. You don’t pull up to the gas tank at the service station, sit in your car and talk on your phone and then pull away from the tank without filling up. Your tank is still empty. You can’t go before God and just sit there. You need to be actively engaged in reading His Word and listening for His voice to speak through it. Infusion from God comes from those who are willing to allow God to work in our lives, not those who pull away because what is happening may be uncomfortable (truth often is). Stay there, fill up and then move into your day ready for whatever happens. After all, that is part of putting on the armor of God that I addressed in a previous post. (See Ephesians 6.) Since all things come from God and we live through Him, let’s start our day with an infusion of His power and presence.
I pray for each of you to be infused with so many good things from God that you can’t hold it in so it has to overflow to others! We are blessed to be a blessing!
Have you ever been on top of a mountain and stopped at an overlook? We don’t do that much anymore, but my husband and I and our children would pause from a long trip and just take in the view. It was refreshing to be out in the nice clean air and look at the clear sky above us and the beautiful farmland and houses scattered in the valley below us. From that perspective we didn’t see the troubles people were having, the traffic snarls or the billboards that interrupted God’s creation. We saw the beauty, the peace and the stillness that comes from rising above all of it and looking down. A totally new perspective! We would linger a few minutes, do some stretches and head back to the car to continue our journey. Our mood is better because we got to take a break from the stress of the long trip.
I think all of us need to take some time at various intervals in our lives just to rise above the circumstances that are plaguing our lives and get a new perspective. God isn’t bothered by the cacophony all around us, but we are. We need to rise above it and rest with Him, seeing things from the protection of His comforting arms and love.
What we oftentimes see as a disaster about to disrupt our entire lives ends up being a small thing instead. As I write this, I am thinking about the looming storm heading towards Jamaica and other Caribbean islands. They indeed have a disaster about to happen. I am praying that the people there will take refuge in God and that God will have mercy on them. I would like to hope that the storm will turn and go out to sea, but the prognosticators say this storm will hit the island directly and cause massive damage. I am saddened by the plight of this nation, but I know that this storm will pass as so many others have before it. It will leave destruction behind, or that is the expectation of a Cat 5 storm and helpers will appear to offer assistance and hope.
Meanwhile, we are safe in our homes, with gray skies perhaps and a storm raging in our hearts because of the circumstances in our lives. We may not have a hurricane barreling towards us, but there is always a storm somewhere waiting for a period of time when we leave the shelter of God’s protection and venture out on our own to find out what is happening in our world. My answer to that is “nothing good” so it is better to keep our eyes focused on God and stay sheltered by Him. Let the storms find us in the shadow of His wings, not running around looking for troubles. May God help us learn a lesson from the storms that others face and endure!
The lesson that I am still learning after weathering various storms in my life is that I cannot change the direction of the storm so that it changes the direction of its course, but I can change my attitude. It is in praise that I find my peace and security in God. If I look at the circumstances when I am in the middle of the storm in my life, I lose hope and begin to focus on the solutions that I can come up with in my finite mind. But when I focus on God, I have a new perspective. I rise above the storm and see things in a different way that I never expected to see. My attitude is changed from one of hopeless surrender to one of victorious expectation.
God is and always has been faithful. We change, wavering with the winds that blow into our lives. What we forget is that the winds will die down, but God will still be there, right there beside us, waiting for us to take shelter in Him. For many, that means quietly waiting before Him for an answer. For others, like me, it means singing through the storm and repeating scripture verses to help remind us of God’s faithfulness. God doesn’t change just because our circumstances do. He is always the same—always loving, always present, always ready to help us if we just try to rise above the circumstances and take time to be with Him instead of wallowing in our problems.
I was guided to a new-to-me song in my devotional this morning. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do. It seems to be based on Psalm 57 and spoke to my heart about taking shelter in God and not in man-made, temporary solutions.
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 