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.
From the Holy Bible
I am all about visiting the National Parks, especially since I have been reading Suzanne Woods Fisher’s series called National Park Summers. I am learning a lot and eager to travel, vicariously of course, due to health issues. For those of you still healthy and able, take time to go to a National Park this year and enjoy the creation that God has blessed us with.
We all have invisible tethers that carry us through the day. Some are our relationships to friends and family, knowing that whatever we are going through, they will be praying for us. But what are you tethered to when you are all alone and all is quiet around you?
In our world today, people rarely allow the silence to wrap around them so that they can clearly hear God’s voice when He speaks to us. Instead, this is what just about everyone almost always has on and active.
So, what is this nifty handful of technology tethered to?
A tower with waves of communication in the air that we cannot see, but we know it works because we can check maps, listen to music or books, go on social media, etc. at all times of the day or night. One of our grandchildren indeed stays up most nights to communicate with people on the other side of the world. But I don’t think this tethering is healthy or safe. There needs to be limits and a realization that God is not on the other end of that phone or the tower.
The ruler of the kingdom of the air (including, I think the air waves through which we communicate) is Satan. Let that sink in. To whom are you tethered?
I am not saying don’t ever use your devices or anything radical like that. What I am saying is to be careful. Don’t use the devices without knowing who controls those air waves and who can intervene and cause miscommunication and false information. After all, Satan’s priority is chaos and destruction, not peace and harmony.
So, what are we to do?
We are supposed to be firmly tethered to our vine, the One who is helping us to grow to be more like Him and to produce more fruit for His kingdom. My recommendation is that when you are waiting for an appointment or at a stoplight, don’t pick up your phone. Lift your voice to the Lord, then sit silently and wait for His to talk to you. Be tethered to the vine so that when hard times come, you keep flourishing in Him, not withering away because your devices don’t have the answers you seek.
Just my two cents. What do you think? Convenience or constant temptation? Say no to temptation and yes to time with God, staying tethered to the One who is intent on helping you get Home without a GPS.
There are some important words in this scripture verse for me. First of all is the verb “is”. Present tense…right now, in the middle of my messy and frustrating life. Also, the other two present tense verbs: “trusts” and “helps”. God doesn’t stop being trustworthy or stop helping me just because the challenges get harder. He is right there the whole time.
My favorite part of the verse is: “My heart leaps for joy” because no other part of my body is capable of leaping right now. But I can feel the excitement and anticipation in my heart of a new day with God and waiting to see what He will do in my life today. That is what brings a song to my heart and praise to my lips. Not because all if going well, but because God is right here with me in the middle of it all and He isn’t going anywhere.
What do you check on your device every day, just like clockwork and a habit you have formed? For me, it’s first text messages, then email, and maybe social media if I have time. But priorities dictate that I should be checking my heart every day and starting each day with time with God. That’s a habit that is easy to break because God doesn’t have a red circle above His head with a number on it impressing you to check in right away. What He does offer is peace, security, and His presence to calm you, along with answers to all of your questions.
Email tells me what friends and authors are up to. Texts tell me what’s on sale (gotta love that spam!) and how family is doing, along with some nice photos. But nothing there is going to affect my eternity like my time with God. Sometimes, my time with the Lord is abbreviated due to appointments that I have to rush to get to, but I always, always set aside time to be with Him. He is waiting for me, and I know it, even without the big red numbers that are my nemesis of attraction online.
I don’t ever want my time with God to be part of a list that I check off..done! No, rather, I want my time with God to be the most important part of my day, kind of like the necessity of taking a deep breath and feeling the cleansing it seems to bring deep inside. So, when you are just checking your device, how about putting it aside, turning the sound off so you aren’t distracted (I turn mine face down so the notifications don’t annoy me) and then just spend time with the One who created you, knows you best and loves you most? What is God going to tell you today? You won’t know until you check in with Him, will you?
Whoever tells you that you are too bad, too unworthy, too awful for God to forgive you…they are wrong. God is right. He is always faithful. Just as He was the One who clothed Adam and Eve when they recognized that they were naked, He is the One who draws us to Him so that we can have a relationship with Him through the free grace and mercy that He offers. Believe the truth, not the lies.
Mercy Said No-Zach Williams, Carrie Underwood, Chris Tomlin and Brandon Lake
God I Tried But I Fell Again-Chris Stapleton and Lauren Daigle
When I say I am trying something new, it is usually a new food, a new outfit or a new habit I want to form. When God says that He is doing something new, it is an unimaginable totally new thing. After all, He is the Creator and can create new things from nothing.
So while I am trying on a new pair of shoes, God is changing the world for the better. A pathway through the wilderness? Yes, please! How many times have I felt stuck in a wilderness (usually of my own making) and walk in circles trying to find the way out (an answer to my prayer)? Meanwhile, God is right there creating a pathway and I have to open my eyes to see it. That’s the problem…God is always working but I am not always seeing what He is doing for me.
God’s new thing may not look the way I expect it will, but it will always be exactly what I (and you) need exactly when we need it. So, I exhort you to be ready, to look for that new thing that is not exactly what you were waiting for, but it is the answer you have been anticipating.
Love Compelled Him (Daily Refresh 6-17)
Jesus said a lot of powerful, enlightening, and important things. But there’s one command that sums it all up…
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
John 15:12 NIVIt sounds simple, right? But when we look at Jesus’ life, how did He love? And how can we strive to love like He did?
Love compelled Jesus to give up His privileges. As Creator and Lord, Jesus can do whatever He pleases. But instead, the Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14)—temporarily relinquishing His rights so that we could be right with God.
Love compelled Jesus to prioritize people. The woman at the well. The man with leprosy. A Roman officer. A blind beggar. Peter’s mother-in-law. The widow’s son. A despised tax collector. Even the thief hanging next to Him on the cross. Jesus didn’t see problems—He saw and loved people.
Love compelled Jesus to serve others. He washed His disciples’ feet, pursued the marginalized, had compassion on the sick, weary, and broken. In the end, He gave His own life for us.
Love compelled Jesus to value truth and grace. In a world where many elevate grace while others only magnify truth, Jesus valued both. He was passionate about God’s ways and God’s Word while also showing great compassion to those who needed it most.
If we’re ever unsure about how to love others, let’s look to Jesus as the ultimate example. He lived selflessly, prioritized other people, served to the point of death, and valued both truth and grace.
And as we love like Jesus, we will become more like Him.
My Thoughts
Loving like Jesus is not just good advice or an empty platitude. It’s an expectation that God placed on us once we decided to follow His Son. How do we love like Jesus? The video that goes with this devotional makes a good point. We aren’t supposed to be a ☕️ to hold the love that the Savior gives us. We are supposed to be a funnel. Love in…love out, all the time. Not when we feel like it or have some extra time on our hands so we might as well use it to show love to someone. We are a funnel of God’s love all the time. We are supposed to love on people, not our electronics that are a pseudo-representation of the people with whom we communicate. Each person whose life crosses ours today deserves to know that God loves them and we do, too. Loving selflessly is hard, but Jesus showed us the example to follow. We are COMPELLED to love just as Jesus was and still does. Each time we make a choice to love, we are becoming more like Jesus. And the Father smiles.
Can we just be honest with each other this morning? We are all juggling balls…trying to keep things in the air and not let anything fall. And, of course, feeling overwhelmed, frustrated and not a little impatient at how long it’s taking for the balls to just settle and be still. Let’s be even more honest. Most of us put those balls in the air to begin with and now we don’t know what to do with them.
My balls include the following:
~Health issues. I am scheduled to have a spinal injection on Friday but first I have to get my asthma/breathing under control. My peak flow is way down even after two rounds of steroids and all of my other meds. I may be wrong but I don’t think I can have a needle stuck into my spine while having a coughing fit. So, there is that ball.
~The AC at home has not been working right (contributing to my breathing issues, of course). My husband got up before six this morning to go to the AC repair place and snag a repairman.
~My grandchildren have been celebrating all kinds of milestones and I haven’t been able to travel to be there with them. Elementary school graduation, play performances, dance recitals, so many things!
~Books to read and review…so many books! Authors ask and I say “yes” and the pile is taller than I am.
~Family issues. My sister wants me to visit, but I have been ill. My husband wants to visit his brother, but he doesn’t want to leave me alone without a car.
I could continue the list, but now let’s get to the answers to the juggling balls. Naturally, the first thing we do is try to figure it out ourselves. That will not work! We need God’s input. So, pause, worship, pray and then be still and listen. This is what I heard this morning when I took time to forget about the balls and focus on God.
Before worrying about all of the balls you’re going to drop, why not ask God to help prioritize those balls and for help figuring things out. He promises wisdom, but you have the responsibility to ask for it.
So, having prayed and asked for wisdom, here are what my balls are doing now:
~I can’t change timing or my health issues, but I can change my attitude and relax into my breathing treatments. That really does help tremendously. So, ten minutes of nebulizer means ten minutes of not thinking about my balls falling but about spending time with God. He can hold on to the balls for me or let them fall…it doesn’t matter. Turns out those balls are a manifestation of my need for control and I need to let go.
~Hubby found an AC repairman and I am trusting that God will use them to show us grace, mercy and restore the cool air we need. Regardless, God gave me the breath of life and He can keep me breathing.
~One book at a time, one review at a time and a determination not to say “yes” to another book until I have finished two. I want to keep commitments since God keeps all of His promises to me. I just have to be practical and not so easily led to just say “yes.”
~An easy solution to my husband’s traveling. He can go see his brother while our granddaughter is still living with us. That way I have someone with me who has a car and Harry has the freedom to see his brother. Why didn’t I think of that before? Because I was too busy juggling balls! God took that ball away and told me I don’t need to be at all concerned about it anymore.
I confess that I have been uneasy about dropping any balls, but that is my firm desire to control things that are out of my control. So, I am letting go and being still and trusting God.
