I mull over this phrase from time to time as I consider the many opportunities I’ve had, the many opportunities I’ve botched and the many opportunities I’ve either missed or passed up through the years. The missed and passed up opportunities have probably hounded me as much or more than the opportunities I’ve botched. Usually, but not always, I’ve had or take a second opportunity to repair or at least attempt to make up for that botched opportunity and usually (but not always) things have turned out okay. But still, it’s those occasions I missed or passed up — those…
-
-
This morning I’m reading in 1 Chronicles 21 & 22. There King David, yielding to the Lord’s chastening, chooses his punishment: “…let me fall now into the hand of the LORD: for very great are His mercies; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” (21.13) For his sin of numbering the people, it’s interesting that David would choose not three years of famine, nor three months being chased by his enemies, but three days, the sword of the LORD — choosing to place himself at the mercy of the Living God. He emerged from that…
-
There are times when nothing soothes or encourages me quite like the writings of women who’ve journeyed with the Lord a long while and have traveled paths paved by those who’ve forsaken all and have followed Christ to “the ends of the earth” literally or when they’ve come to the end of themselves and pressed on in faith. This devotional was a great blessing to me as I consider the living sacrifice or both women’s lives — Elisabeth Elliot’s and Amy Carmichael’s. So, it is with great respect and gratitude to the Lord that I share this piece with you.…
-
I received this letter… and it’s too sweet to not share with you. I console myself with this letter — that perhaps one day I will have a mind to write such a letter. I loved his wife, Florence, even giving our last baby, our daughter Amelia her name as a middle name… and I added “Joy” to it because Florence brought me great joy and encouragement. Amelia bears the name well… as she does for the other woman she’s named after. Although, I never called Mrs. Pais: Amelia, it was, in fact, her name. Paul Turnidge writes: Hello All,…
-
Throughout this past week, I’ve been steeped in thinking of patterns and pieces and things fitting together and how God creatively and masterfully gathers pieces of our lives from here and there — new and old — and fits them together according to His pattern. Ezekiel 43.10-11 Thou son of man, show this house to the house of Israel that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them understand the pattern. And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form of the house, and its pattern, and the goings out thereof, and…
-
I mull this thought over and over as I stir my coffee: How is it that you do not understand? It is a question Jesus asked His disciples *after* the feeding of the four thousand as they were reasoning among themselves about their lack of bread. (Mark 8.16-21) We ought to ask ourselves this question — especially if we’ve walked with Jesus a long time — especially if we’ve seen Him do above and beyond all that we could’ve asked or imagined. So this must be us, too, because we have seen and experienced the provision, the miracles, the touch…
-
“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:” –1Peter 1.6-7 There seems to be no lonelier place than the den of rejection — few trials more painful and few trails more uncertain. And for us, as Christian women – wives and mothers, the enemy is at his fiercest when we give in to…
-
The older I get, the more I see it: the look — the longing look in a mother’s eyes when things didn’t turn out like she hoped. It’s not necessarily disappointment or despair or even bitterness — it’s just sort of: sorrow. There’s another look, too — it’s the hopeful look in a mother’s eyes at the mention of one of her children, a memory or an event from days gone by… it’s joy. Joy is in her eyes. Well, that’s what I’ve come to think motherhood’s all about: joys and sorrows. Motherhood is a call to sorrow; Motherhood’s a…
-
As I read year-end letters, more Christmas cards and letters, headlines and articles, a common theme is always revisited this time of year — sure as New Year’s resolutions, are the slogans and affirmations: Out with the old, in with the New! This Year’s the Year for You! The sentiments may have very different motivation, very different context, but the intent is the same: This year’s going to be the best year ever! And they always are. Today. Today is the first day of the New Year… clean, fresh slate, an unmarked calendar, a new dawn, a bright new day…
-
May the Lord, indeed, crown your year with goodness ♥ and may the coming year be your most blessed year in the Lord. Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed. 2 O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. 3 Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. 4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy…