Time For God

By Pat

I admit that it's easy for me to allow my days to sometimes jump into action without having my quiet time with God first. Sometimes it's not my fault, but more often it is. I allow myself to become caught up in the day without first reading devotionals and having a nice, quiet chat with God, and then I find myself in the next day or two (or sometimes more...) trying to "catch up" by reading all the days I missed at the same time. But sadly, I can't catch up. What I have done in reality is to skip what should have been a priority, and in so doing, missed out on beginning my day with a word from God which may have been meant for me at just the right time. I cannot catch up on that.

When Nehemiah wanted to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, he never made one decision, never took one step, without first consulting God. His success was due to the fact that he put God first. He sought him continually and God rewarded that devotion by leading Nehemiah from start to finish. If Nehemiah had not made God's word his priority throughout the project, perhaps there would have been a different ending to the book!

If you skip breakfast, you can't eat it simultaneously with lunch. It's too much. Shoving it all in at once just doesn't work. Eating meals at their proper time keeps us balanced, just as daily devotions and time with God keep us focused. If God gets the best of our day, He'll be more present in the rest of our day!

"The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him." (Lamentations 3:25)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

Hope!

By Pat

A friend of mine is currently going through a very difficult time in his life. His burdens are heavy, his responsibilites are great, and his once strong faith has faded. His joy is gone. He is finding himself in a place where each of us at some point has been. He is in a spiritual drought. He is presently "going through the motions."

What do we do at these times? Giving up on God would be the easy thing-but God never said life would be easy, did He? In fact, if you look at the Biblical heroes, you see that each of them became mightier in God's kingdom through trial and adversity.

Psalm 100:2 tells us to "worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs," and verse 4 says to "enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name." But how do we worship with gladness and sing joyfully when our hearts feel so full of darkness, worry and despair? That's when we feel ourselves going through the motions. We praise, we worship, but our hearts aren't really in it. It's at those times we need to cling desperately to our life-preserver, Jesus, and His promise of hope.

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One Word At A Time: Future

By Ginny (MAD21)

I'm going to let this video speak for itself. But as you listen to the story, I want you to ask yourself how this one act of kindness changed the lives and futures of all of those involved in this event. For the families who loved on and cheered for the other team, and for the players who thought they were coming to just lose another game, only to win so much more.

Do you know of any children who need you to "be in their corner?" I challenge you to get out of your comfort zone and love on them. Give them "reason to look ahead." Let our families never be too big or too busy to offer others hope for a better future.

"Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for." (Galatians 3:23-24, The Message)

This post is a participant in a blog carnival over at Peter Pollock's place.
Be sure to go and check out what everyone else wrote on: Future.

Christmas Reflections

By Pat

A friend of mine asked me to write a devotional about Christmas; memories, lessons learned, etc. Where could I start? What could I say? Like most of us, I have enough Christmas memories to fill an entire notebook. Baking cookies, wrapping gifts, decorating trees. Family, friends, food. Lovely, warm memories that bring a smile to my heart when called to mind.

There have been lean holidays, and more prosperous ones. Some hectic, and some, more peaceful. We have, through the years, said sad goodbyes to loved ones, and have also happily welcomed new little lives into our family.

Times have changed, things have changed, we have changed, and certain aspects of the fabric of our family have changed. But one thing that for me has never changed, except to grow stronger, is the feeling that overcomes me this time of year, no matter what else is going on around me, and that is the feeling of hope.

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One Word At A Time: Hope

By MAD21

We have a good friend who is going through a pretty traumatic time in his life. In most cases, people generally have some responsibility for the situations they find themselves involved in, but this time the pain is being caused by another person. I wish I could say that this is something that is a one time thing, something that just happened and that he will be able to move past it quickly, but unfortunately our friend has been living in this nightmare for a few years and can only pray it will be resolved soon.

We pray daily for him to have perseverance and strength, and for everyone involved to be wise in the decisions that need to be made. We pray for resolution, for peace to come into his life so healing can begin. But in the midst of the storm, how do you help someone find hope?

Most of us have lived through terrible events in our lives. Some short, some long, but either way, the pain and disappointment can be unbearable. When your life takes a sudden unexpected turn and you have no control over the direction you are now taking, how do you not lose hope?

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