Devotional 10-25-19

When we mismanage powerful emotions and fail to completel embrace the pain or release control, the emotions can bury themselves  like the root of a noxious week that sprouts again when most unexpected to spoil the landscape of our lives.  -- Elizabeth Barker

Resentments can destroy your life the same as weeds in a garden and when we think we are just setting things right by letting others know how a person hurt us we are really hurting more than them. We hurt ourselves, we hurt that person’s reputation and we can hurt other’s opinion of them. If we can’t give a person grace, then just shut up and take it to God. He is the only one who can bring peace to any situation or circumstance or heart.

I failed in this regard. Learn to pause. Learn to reign in those powerful emotions that can destroy us. That is when we are our most vulnerable. That is when we will make mistakes. That is when we will fail if we are going to fail. It can sneak up on you. Sometimes it takes a long time to fall. By the time you land face down with dirt packed in your throat, it’s too late for wishing you had controlled your emotions. It’s been years but I still taste the dirt in my mouth from bitterness. Not the bitterness of what that person did but the bitterness of my own hard heart. Take it to God. Never run from God. He is grace. He is never the cause of your pain. He is the rain of love that surrounds and enables us to get through any circumstance or emotion. Pause and Pray. Pause and Pray. Pause and Pray. Don’t run. Stay close to God.

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that "no root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. Hebrews 12:15

Barbara Smith Lavalley

Devotional 10-18-19

Inspired by Psalm 145

I speak for the moment.
I speak in the time I have available to me.
I pray that my words of praise to God
would last forever.

My gratitude stretches across time,
into eternity,
My thankfulness is for today,
for it is all I have,
but I offer it to you, and
and I praise your name forever.

Great are you,
my God and King.
My creator,
for without you I would not live today.
My redeemer,
for without you I would not live tomorrow.
My sustainer,
for without you, I would not live at all.
Great are you,
and worthy to be praised.

You are unknowable,
Unsearchable,
and yet you hold my heart
in your hand.

I pray my generation,
my children's generation,
and those who come after me
who I cannot even imagine,
know you,
and declare your work
in their lives.

My mind,
my heart,
my breath
are full of your grace and mercy
and I pray I will never forget.
I pray that my words of praise
would last forever.

Kim Matthews

Devotional 10-4-19

"Because of the Lords great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
Lamentations 3: 22-24 NIV

 In Lamentations 1: 1-6 Jerusalem is in mourning. Psalm 137 is about suffering in captivity. I have never experienced physical captivity, but I am all too familiar with mourning and the captivity of grief. In January, as most of you know I lost my 26 year old grandson. In April, I lost one of my best friends since 7th grade to brain cancer. During that time I also lost three old friends that although they were no longer a part of my life, were still friends who will always have a special place in my memories and in my heart.

Our church has also had more than its share of mourning and grief in the past 12 months. We have lost people who we felt were irreplaceable to us personally and to our church. We have experienced the ups and downs of joy and fear as three of our grandchildren were born with health problems. We have celebrated, cried, prayed, and loved each other through all of this and so much more.

How do we as Christians deal with living in a world that will never be quite the same without our loved ones in it? In Philippians 4: 4-7 NIV Paul tells us: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." How do you "Rejoice!" when you heart is breaking? When I am feeling sad, it helps me to remember the good times and to thank God for that person, the relationship, the love, and all the joy that they brought into my life and the lives of many others. Could this be a way rejoicing?

Because of the Lords great love, we are not consumed by our grief, for his compassion never fails. I will wait for him--for his healing love.

Margaret Williams