Devotions

[PippaJane]

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When the Winds of Life Swirl, Do This
April 4, 2025
by Katy McCown

“Their mother has been unfaithful … She said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’” Hosea 2:5 (NIV)

Several years ago, on live TV, I watched a man who dared to cross a gorge thousands of feet deep on a tightrope without a net.  Of course, the man had prepared for this event. He was, in fact, a professional tightrope walker. Still, his quest was dangerous and would've had real, irreversible consequences had it gone wrong.  In today’s key verse, we encounter God’s people facing the real, irreversible consequences that came with veering off the path of God’s unconditional love. In the book of Hosea, God instructed the prophet Hosea to marry an unfaithful woman. This marriage then served to represent Israel’s unfaithful relationship with God. Hosea spoke of his wife, symbolic of Israel, in our key verse:  “Their mother has been unfaithful … She said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink’” (Hosea 2:5).

Hosea cited food, water, clothing and drink as the things God’s people looked to gain from other gods. Israel had stopped listening to the loving voice of their Father and found themselves hedged in, held back and headed for disaster (Hosea 2:1-13).  When I read verses like this, I wonder how God’s people could have drifted so far from the path. I certainly want to avoid the same outcome! I think we can find an answer to this question back on the tightrope.  As the man took one calculated step at a time, the wind blew sometimes so hard he had to squat down and wait for the gusts to calm. Despite my doubts, he made it across, and I believe there was one crucial thing that allowed him to stay the course safely and successfully.  As he traversed the gorge, his father spoke into a microphone linked to an earpiece his son was wearing. The father encouraged, supported and guided him along his way. As the father talked, the son walked.  If only we will choose to hear our heavenly Father's voice and follow Him (Hebrews 3:15; Matthew 13:15)! When we desire protection, provision or peace, the Bible assures us that in Christ, we have all we need (2 Peter 1:3). Jesus is the Bread of Life and the Living Water (John 6:35; John 4:10-14). He urges us not to worry about our lives but to count on His perfect provision (Matthew 6:25-26).  Often we may be inclined to silence God’s voice and go our own way. But today, let’s stay alert to His calling. When the winds of life blow, may we remember what Christ has already secured for us and choose to trust, listen to and follow Him, one step at a time. 

[Lost Soul]

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Jesus Will Give You Rest
April 7, 2025
by Dana K. White

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

I love staying in an Airbnb. The best part?

Someone else has made all the decisions for me.  The decor might not be what I’d choose, but I didn’t have to choose it. That means I automatically like it. Where should the dishes go?

What is the best spot to store extra pillows?

Who cares?

Wherever the owner puts the coffee cups or bowls is fine with me. I usually don’t even mind the required cleanup procedures because they’re listed out, and I just need to check them off. No decision-making needed.  Decision fatigue is a thing. Emotional exhaustion is real. Sometimes I think to myself, I’m tired! only to realize I feel physically fine. It’s my brain that’s desperate for rest spiritual rest. Relief from the weights upon my mind and soul.  I used to think of rest as stopping. As a state of zero responsibility and zero effort expended.  But those moments are rare and unpredictable. I can’t schedule a work emergency to happen at a “good time.” When my kids were little, I couldn’t know when a stomach virus would hit. And now that they’re in college, I can’t predict when a “Mom, can you talk?” text will come. I thought I’d planned out my year, only to find out my parents want to downsize their home. It’s important to me to help them.  Still, rest is possible because Jesus promises it. He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Thankfully, He explained how: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29, NIV).

Jesus promises rest for our souls. Rest for the emotionally exhausted and stressed.  According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, a “yoke” is “a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that they are to pull.”  Jesus isn’t saying He’ll help us nap. He’s saying to get under His yoke with Him. He eases the emotional exhaustion from so many of life’s hard things. He removes the angst of constant decision-making because we can walk alongside Him on the path He makes clear. As Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (ESV).

Walking with Jesus, living life alongside Him, is rest. He gives rest to your soul in the midst of all the responsibilities of your life.

[Cocopops]

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I Have More Than Enough
April 8, 2025
by Shirlee Abbott

“The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” Psalm 23:1 (NIV)

When my sons were little boys, they eagerly collected Star Wars action figures. The back of each package displayed a tiny picture of every available figure. Even before they freed the new character from its cardboard wrapper, they studied the back.  “I don’t have this one or this one or this one ....”

They focused on what they lacked.  One day, I’d had enough. “No more action figures no more spaceships! Make do with what you have.”

All too often, I’m like those little boys. I focus on what I don’t have: the latest fashion, a bigger salary, more social media followers. Like my children, I fail to notice my many blessings: comfortable clothes, means of supporting my family, my real-world friends.  I wonder what does God think when I focus more on what I don’t have than on what I do have?

What would it be like to make do with what I have?

Much to my surprise, the edict I issued to my sons opened a door to creativity. Over the next months, our boys constructed a room-size space station out of shoeboxes, paper towel tubes, and “treasures” given to them or picked out of the trash. Their action figures lived in a labyrinth of interconnected rooms. There was a cafeteria with tables and stools made from empty spools found in my sewing box. Cardboard walls and floors were covered in white tiles leftover from a neighbor’s bathroom renovation.  What they had were assorted pieces of junk and their God-given imaginations. It was more than enough. This reminds me of our key verse, Psalm 23:1: “The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.”

I, too, have more than enough to accomplish God’s purpose for my life. But when I focus on what I don’t have, I’m stuck thinking I need one more skill, one more opportunity, one more missing link to succeed.  With their eyes focused on plastic creatures created from someone else’s imagination, my children didn’t see the value in empty shoeboxes and cardboard tubes. Likewise, when I focus on someone else’s success, I don’t see the value in the resources and skills God has given me.  If I open my eyes, I discover my own boxes of opportunity: a talent to start using, a friend to encourage, a new way to serve. Like empty spools, old skills can be used in new ways. I can pick up the leftovers of a previous project and turn them into something very different.  Take this devotion, for example. It started with an old memory, which morphed into a casual comment, which reminded me of a Bible verse I memorized as a child. With writing skills God has allowed me to hone over the years, I had everything I needed to string together these words.  God has already provided what we need to do His will at this moment in time. We lack nothing.

[Cocopops]

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The Beginning and the End
April 9, 2025
by Carole Holiday

“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’” Revelation 1:8 (CSB)

My friend teaches high school English. So when his birthday approached, I thought it would be fun to make him a card with first lines from famous novels. Why would I be surprised, then, when he cleverly countered with a birthday card for me including famous novels’ last lines?

The first and the last. They stick in our minds, right?

Maybe God knew they would stick in our hearts as well.  In Revelation 1:8, the Lord God announces that He is both the first and the last: “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’”

Both beginning and end. The divine bookends of the universe. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last letter — so our key verse encapsulates God’s eternal nature with one stroke of the pen.  God’s story, as told in the Bible, is varied, complex and difficult at times. Hmmm sounds like our lives. But on either end of the tumult sits the Alpha and the Omega  anchoring the promise that what He has begun, He will complete. His story has starting blocks and a finish line. It ends with an exclamation upon which we can plant our flag of faith, a reminder of His sovereign title: “the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).  When life feels uncertain and stormy, I remind myself I’m living in one volume of a very long story. The injustice, heartache or grief I’m bearing, bound in tears and toil, has an end.  And you, friend, who are living in a script you didn’t want or imagine, can count on an ending penned by the Almighty, who will finish the story with justice and the wiping away of your tears (Revelation 21:4).  When I feel depressed or sad, I try to find something to look forward to a grandchild’s birthday, a friend’s visit, a rainy day to simmer that yummy soup I’ve been dreaming about. It’s a good thing to anticipate something that makes me smile.  God wants us to anticipate the good that is coming too. I think that’s the whole point of Revelation, this incredibly dynamic last book of the Bible.  Read with me, again, the last part of Revelation 1:8: The Apostle John, the author, wrote a description of God as “the one who is to come.” Our longed-for, holy Father reminds us there is more on the horizon.  The One who is to come is what we can look forward to. He is who we can look forward to, anticipating that with one sweep of His hand, the world will be set right.