Tag: Strength

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DEVOTIONAL WRITINGS

God Cares

People often quote the saying of Maya Angelou “when people show you who they are believe them.” That’s true but one thing I know for certain is when God shows you He cares about you and (believe me He does) we should believe Him. There are so many ways I have experienced God’s caring for me both in my own sickness and in my health. God shows me how to read His word and rest in it. Can I testify a second here? God wakes up the birds so I can hear them sing. God drops food off at my door so I can share a meal with a neighbor. God sends encouragement through greeting cards in the mailbox, sent text and phone call messages through friends and family both near and far so I can be reminded of His love, and God allowed many prayer warriors to stand in gaps I thought were too big for me so I wouldn’t fall through the cracks of life. God cares for us and He has a unique way of showing us how to trust Him with everything. There is no room to doubt how much God cares for us because it doesn’t stop there. It’s daily. Our imperfect walk, repenting of our sins and our souls being revived to cry out again, go for it again, live on pitch again is what God cares about.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for caring so much and watching over us each day. Amen

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DEVOTIONAL WRITINGS

Surrendering Thoughts and Prayers

My thoughts have been going sort of like this, I’ll have multiple “Lord have mercies” in one day and a whole lot of “Lord help” the next. This week has been extremely tough and it’s not quite over. I had to stop and just ask God’s help. Have you ever had to do that? Just stop. Ask God. Help Lord. Our help will surely come. I am a witness to it. When things are off pitch in your life just stop and ask God for help. We must learn to obey the stop signs in life and sometimes it can be hard to recognize them. Crazy situations and conversations, chaos and short fuses are all stop signs for me. I’m learning to ask God for help. I am sharing a portion of my personal prayer this week. I am sure God will hear us when we reach out and surrender all.

Lord help me surrender to you when everything seems to be going wrong and it looks like nothing is working out. Help me surrender to you when life gets busy and there’s not enough time to do the important tasks. Help me surrender to you when things and people just don’t make sense. Help me surrender to you when trouble comes, when the news is not good, grief strikes and fear stops me in my tracks. Help me surrender to you when I don’t understand how I’m going to make it through another week or another day. Lord help. I am confident that You Lord are my help.

The next time things start spinning around out of control just stop and ask God for help. He’s sure to be a very present help in your time of need.

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DEVOTIONAL WRITINGS

Refreshments Served

acts-3_19-refreshment

I love refreshments  served at church.  When I was a little girl growing up in church we always had some kind of refreshment in between service.  It was ginger snaps and lemonade after Sunday School and in the afternoon program services it was always cake and punch.  We would line up and wait patiently as we were served something light to help get us through the next service or to take home with us.  Now as I look back, they may not have been the healthiest of food choices but the main idea of leaving refreshed was a very healthy choice.  The story of the lame man being healed in Acts 3 is a refreshing one to me.  Peter and John had no silver or gold to give him, but they gave him Jesus Christ who was the healer.  The man’s feet and ankles were strengthened by Peter’s prayer in which he called on the name of Jesus.  God healed him and gave him refreshment, a testimony and a story to tell for the rest of his life.  In verse 19 of that same chapter in Acts, it tells us times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord.  It is only when we repent of our sins and turn to God that we experience true refreshment.  Just like the Sunday snacks or light refreshments I was served at church, being in God’s presence always helps me get through life’s journey.  Some days I feel like I’m sitting at a gate just waiting for a miracle of some sort. I want someone to come by with refreshments.  I want to be offered something more that will cause me to rise up and walk.  My feet and ankles are tired, I get weak, both physically and mentally.  I want to just sit down sometimes and do nothing. No serving, no thinking, no feeling, no dreaming and no helping or encouraging.  That’s when I know I need refreshment.  I need to pray and spend time in the presence of the Lord.  Sometimes God sends people, a text or a phone call.  Sometimes I intentionally pause and take a few moments to pray.  I  ask God to strengthen and refresh me.  Are you sitting at a gate today?  Will you allow God’s presence to  provide you with  what you need to get through it all?  I guarantee His presence will have you leaping, walking and praising His name in no time.

Prayer: Dear Lord thank you for your presence today.  There really is nothing like it.  Refresh me and renew my strength today.  Help me walk again, strengthen my feet and my ankles when I feel like I’m collapsing or sitting down too long.  I confess my sins to you, for you alone are able to make me rise up in this situation. Give me hope and strength for today, in the name of Jesus.  Amen.