O Lord of Hosts, You alone are the pre-existing One (Nehemiah 9:6). You made the visible universe, with its prairies, mountains, streams, and oceans. Everything beneath my feet and above my vision came into being by Your spoken Word (John 1:1). When I consider the galaxies You affixed into place, I grapple to understand how each star may represent an …
Holy Father, As I come before You today, I realize that within my flesh lies nothing good (Romans 7:18). In and of myself, my wisdom is inadequate concerning what to do about _______ (2 Corinthians 3:5). But this doesn’t deter my need to pray. In my weakness, You do not condemn (Romans 8:1). You merely say, “Call upon Me, and …
I get discouraged. Discouraged at my unanswered prayers. Discouraged at my slowness of growth. Discouraged at my tendency to fail. I used to think that after some mature moment in my Christian walk, this wouldn’t happen anymore. However, I’ve realized that as long as we live in this world, but not of it, God’s children can struggle with discouragement. A …
My Child, I see you. I see your fears, your fatigue, your frustration. You fall exhausted into bed each night because you’ve forgotten the Source of your strength. The truth is that you alone cannot fix it. The loneliness, the hurt, the grief. No matter how you try, it’s not within your power. You can’t find your son a job …
Holy Father, You promised that You will not break off a battered reed or put out a smoldering wick (Matthew 12:20). Yet, at this time, it seems that (parent’s names) are broken and snuffed out. We realize that Your ways are higher than our ways and Your thoughts much higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9), but this doesn’t seem …
After a physically exhausting day with children or an emotionally exhausting day on the job, I often find myself craving power. I search the Scripture and pray that I, like Paul, will be “strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might” (Colossians 1:11). Yep. That would just fit the bill for my needs today. Lots of power …
Holy Father, Thank You for being My Lamp this past year. As I look back, I see that You were always there, shining Light on every dark situation (2 Samuel 22:29). I have to admit that there were times that I felt quite blinded, like someone was holding their hand in front of my face. But, thank You that …
In the inky darkness of 2:00 a.m., we awoke to the groaning of our twenty-five floor apartment building. An earthquake rocked us out of our beds on the seventh-floor. Feeling that our apartment was nearing ground level with every tremor, we jumped out of bed, grabbed our children, and escaped into the night. For weeks after this 7.6 …
I stopped singing and looked around me. Almost every voice were mouthing the words, “Break my heart for what breaks Yours.” How many of us meant it? Did I? The pastor spoke about a desire to know Christ (Philippians 3:10). “Preceding the power comes the sufferings.” How many of us want to know Him enough to endure? As I exited that …
“Do my cool hands feel good, Mama?” I watched from the bedside as my mother touched my grandmother’s face tenderly. We had gathered around the frail eighty-eight-year-old woman to be with her in her final hours. Actually, for my own mother, it hadn’t just involved a few days of care. Mother had been tending to her …
