“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8, NKJV
The last few days, my family and I have had the opportunity to spend time in a warm climate, leaving behind the chilly days of winter at least for a brief time. My grandchildren are older and spread across the United States in different colleges, so these are cherished moments, especially for me; moments I never take for granted.
One of my favorite hymns is In the Garden by Charles Austin Miles.The lyrics tell the story of God leisurely walking with one of his children in a beautiful setting. God is attentive, not out of duty, but out of love. He is not distracted, in a hurry, or looking at his phone to see who else might be on social media. God is fully invested in the moment.
As much as I love my family and long to be with them whenever possible, my heavenly Father wants even more to spend time with me because I am one of His children. The good news is that God is never too busy to find time for any of His children. Would you invite God to stroll with you today in the beauty of His creation? Tell Him what is on your mind and heart. Winter, spring, summer, or fall He is waiting.
“Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool.” Isaiah 66:1, NKJV
A few years ago, I had the wonderful occasion to watch a documentary about the Hubble telescope. If you have never seen the images captured from space as depicted with this amazing telescope, you must do so without delay. Looking beyond the earth’s atmosphere into the vastness of outer space, one can only feel so small and insignificant. The beauty and placement of every planet and star is awe-inspiring. Distances in space need to be measured in light years. According to Google, one light-year equals about 5.88 trillion miles. WOW! My brain has a hard time trying to grasp such information. Perhaps even more perplexing in my brain is the reality that God, the Creator of all things both seen, and unseen has written in His Word, “Even the very hairs on your head are all numbered” (Luke 12:7). What?
If you find the absolute greatness of God mindboggling, you are not alone. On one hand, God envelopes everything on the largest scale, yet He directs the smallest organisms as seen through the most powerful microscope. Admittedly, I am no expert in either science or math, however, I do understand enough to worship my heavenly Father, who knows me better than I know myself; this truth is both awesome and scary at the same time.
When God created humankind, He knew that at the height of our intelligence we would still be limited in taking hold of who and what He is and always has been. No unit of measurement can calculate His size; no AI programming can surpass His intelligence; and nothing can escape His knowledge of what has been or ever will be. When identifying Himself to Moses, God simply said, “I am that I am” (Exodus 3:14).
If something in this writing about the characteristics of who God is has not touched your senses, let me leave you with this thought: The “I am that I am” delivered Himself into the world He created, as one of the most vulnerable among us, a baby. He became one of us. Why? The most obvious answer is because He loves us.
“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1, NKJV.
A friend included a small card inside of a larger personal note that reads: “O taste and see that the LORD is good.” (Psalm 34:8). On the reverse side of the card, a suggestion is offered: “Draw or write about all the good blessings in your life right now. Then spend some time praising God for his goodness as shown to you.” The suggested exercise touched my heart and challenged me to give intentional thought to the many ways God has blessed my life. How many mornings do I wake up, shower, get dressed, eat my breakfast, and begin the day, presuming these things are simply normal? Have my needs been met so long I have taken God’s many blessings for granted? Oxygen to breathe, lungs to receive it, clean running water, both hot and cold at the turn of a handle; clothes and shoes (too many!) to wear, healthy food choices at my fingertips; these comprise only the short list of God’s sweet blessings.
The world is in turmoil, although this has been true since Adam and Eve were thrown out of the perfect and most beautiful Garden of Eden for their disobedience to God. To be sure, the chaos revolving around the human experience is not the fault of our Creator, who gives you and me “every good and perfect gift…” (James 1:17). Tribulations, sickness, disintegrating relationships, wars, fires, floods, and yes, even tragedies in the skies, and ultimately, death are all the result of living in a sinful world. When calamities strike, leaders around the world encourage us to “pray.”
Friend, may I challenge you to join me in remembering to pray thanking God when life is “simply normal?” Of course, remembering others in times of trouble is important, but even then, shouldn’t we be mindful, that what we ask of God then is nothing short of who God is always? In both the small and great prayers, in times of ease and times of suffering, God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow…good!
Children for generations have played a game called blind man’s buff. You may remember, the premise of the game is that one person is blindfolded (that person is labeled it, as in you’re it, versus, not it) while all the other players are not blindfolded. The “blind man” is spun around several times to disorient him, or her, and the other player’s scatter. Once the person who is “it” stops spinning, they must find and tag someone who then becomes the new blind man. The object is not to be tagged. To add a twist to the game, playing at night somewhat levels the playing field and is more fun.
Sometimes, one might think God is playing a heavenly version of blind man’s buff, when we see ourselves as the “it” player and Jesus is trying to avoid being found; just when we think we are close, He weaves and dodges our request. Or, maybe when we pray for something, and the answer is not what we expect or want, we get frustrated or angry and want to quit seeking God altogether. In other words, we don’t want to “play” anymore.
Many years ago, I was navigating a personal crisis. Confident after praying for the most logical solution, you might imagine my disappointment when God did not follow my line of logic. However, more than disappointment, the All-Powerful Creator delivered me into His classroom of His sovereign authority. For months, I searched the Bible and discovered people just like me who had come face to face with one of the mysteries surrounding God’s omnipotence. Many such stories exist, but the one that spoke volumes to me and continues to resonate in my heart and my mind is Job. Job was a godly man, always seeking God’s will, but he was also flesh and blood just like me. He suffered great loss and endured excruciating physical pain, with no explanation as to why; yet without understanding, he remained steadfast to his knowledge of God’s sovereign power.
And then, there is Jesus, God’s only Son. Jesus agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was crucified, praying “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from me; nevertheless, not My will but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42, NKJV). We know God’s answer, and today, on this side of the resurrection, we understand that God’s solution was the greatest, sweetest gift humanity has ever been given.
Friend, if you are wrestling with God in prayer over something, anything, please know He hears you. God’s answer, as it is for all His children is for your good and His glory. (Romans 8:28).
“Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.” Isaiah 55:6, NKJV
Forty-two years have passed since my life changed for eternity. In January 1983, our young family moved from the northern side of the Potomac River in Maryland to Richmond Virginia. Moving from one state to another can be difficult, especially when dragging two pre-teenage daughters who exclaim, “I will never be happy in Richmond, and it will never be home!” My husband, Richard had taken a new job, that instigated the move. For a variety of reasons too numerous to list in this writing, I looked forward to returning to Virginia, the state in which I was born and had lived all but the ten years spent in Maryland. For me, Virginia was going home.
Moving in the month of January meant our daughters would begin a new school in the second half of the year to make new friends in a new city, leaving behind the only friends they had known. Even with all the crying and expressed displeasure, we were confident with time, they would adjust and make new friends.
Before continuing with my story, it is important to share something that happened not long before the move. Richard and I had started attending a church not far from our house in Maryland, where I had gotten involved in the choir and our daughters were attending Sunday school. Richard’s attendance was sporadic because he often worked on the weekend. One Sunday morning, I sat on a pew, alone, trying to hold back the tears threatening to expose my sadness. Quietly, I hung my head and prayed, God, please give Richard the desire to come to church with us…please.
Once we settled into the house in Richmond, we joined a tennis club where I met a new friend who invited me to her house for a Bible study. I had never been to a Bible study before, or studied the Bible, but she was so kind, I said yes. We studied the Book of Romans and to my horror, I discovered that I am a sinner!
Well, on this cliffhanger, let me fast-forward to January 2025. As you might imagine, God has been very busy at work in my life. While I would like to “fill in all the blanks,” time and space on this paper will not permit; perhaps you will read it in a later writing. But the “short story” is that for all these years, I have experienced the sweetest, most loving relationship with Jesus that is even sweeter today, forty-two years later. And the prayer I spoke to God on that Sunday trying to hold back tears…several years before Richard died in 2014 from early onset Alzheimer’s disease, my precious husband made his profession of faith in Jesus Christ. After moving across state lines, upending our children’s lives, God had a plan. The adventure of His plan is yet ongoing. And oh, by the way, our children live right down the road from me, having raised their children in the same town they would “never call home.”
Sometimes the “interruptions of manmade plans” are just another opportunity for God to surprise us in the best way.
“This God is the One who gives life, breath, and everything else to people. He does not need any help from them; he has everything he needs. God began by making one person, and from him came all the different people who live everywhere in the world. God decided exactly when and where they must live. God wanted them to look for him and perhaps search all around for him and find him, though he is not far from any of us…” Acts 17:25-27, God’s Word Version.
The day was cloudy and dreary. Our plane was taxing to the runway, pilots were revving up the engines for takeoff, while my thoughts and emotions matched the heaviness of the weather surrounding us. December is an emotionally difficult month for me and always has been ever since I was a little girl. Throughout the years (I am now 77 years old), I have tried to understand the weight of dreaded feelings that start to overwhelm me immediately following Thanksgiving. Perhaps December holds too much anticipated excitement. Christmas, Advent, the winter solstice, even my birthday is in the month of December, and on the 31st of the month, we say goodbye to another year, which stings of melancholy. Then, like the plane lifting off the ground and into the sky, we head into another year of the unknown, leaving behind memories, some good, some bad to start all over again.
Although most people probably have a different experience during December, many of my friends reading this devotion understand precisely my experience on a personal level. Regardless of our emotions, how we feel or however the climate of our lives may appear, God has a surprise for us.
After takeoff, our plane made the bumpy lift through the thick clouds. Rain drops rolled into straight lines across the windowpanes. The steep climb began to level off. Suddenly, like mountains of snow, we were gliding across the clouds instead of passing under them, and sunshine so bright permeated the sky. Like the plane and just as suddenly, my countenance lifted from feeling the weight of gloominess to knowing that my present and future circumstances rest in the hands of the One Who not only holds the Sun in place but also allows the rain to fall. God wrapped Himself in the flesh of a human baby to be born into the world, therefore, we have a Savior who understands both our joy and our pain. Jesus came to bring hope as seen through the wonder of His eternal eyes; the One Who from the beginning not only knew your story and mine, but He also wrote it.
And Wonders of His love,
And Wonders of His love,
And Wonders, Wonders of His love.
(Joy To The World, written by Isaac Watts, 1719)
“The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.” Psalms 65:8, NIV.
So often in the Bible, the human condition looks grim. From “In the beginning…” Genesis 1:1, until “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” Revelation 22:21, God works miracle after miracle, even when all seems lost. For example, Adam and Eve, the first two humans created by God on earth chose to disobey their Creator to be their own god. Their act of disobedience, which God calls sin, set in motion the cascading and endless downward spiral that would infect every human being thereafter. While our sin nature has been a part of the human DNA since the beginning of time, our story is one of redemption and brings us to how God always makes a way where there seems to be no way.
“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel (an unexpected messenger) was sent by God to the city of Galilee named Nazareth (an unexpected destination for an angel), to a virgin…[whose] name was Mary…Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and shall call His name Jesus” (Luke 1:26-31).
Nothing about the story in the Book of Luke, resembles any sensible pathway to the redemption of humankind, but then, almost everything about God’s divine methods of interacting with humans makes little sense. An angel? A virgin giving birth? Jesus, the Son of God?
Perhaps you are going through a difficult situation where you do not see a way forward: a diagnosis, a failing relationship, maybe a family or financial crisis. One promise that is tested and proven reliable is that “throughout all generations, according to God’s power within us, to the glory of Jesus Christ He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Eph. 3:20-21, paraphrasing mine). During the season of celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus, find comfort knowing that in the world of the “impossible,” we honor the One True and only God Who makes all things possible, to the glory of His Son, Jesus.
Friend, Merry Christmas!
“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21, NIV.
“Tis the season to be jolly!” Really? Tis the season to shop for everyone on my Christmas list, bake cookies and cakes, cook the expected traditional recipes for family and friends, decorate the house, entertain guests, etc., etc., etc. If I may use a track and field metaphor, Christmas season resembles a sprinting drill; the shot rings out, and from a dead stop, one takes off running as fast as possible for a short distance and then, abruptly stops. Now, the shot was heard and the “sprint” continues for the next few weeks, until everything comes to a screeching halt on January 1, the start of the new year. Phew! Exhausted and with full stomachs, many of us start the cleanup, putting decorations back in boxes, returning them to their assigned places in storage for easy access in time for the next Christmas “sprint” only months away.
Sound familiar?
Well, catch your breath and think about this: Christians all over the world are entering into the second week of the Advent season. Customarily, as followers of Jesus Christ, advent season is the time to thoughtfully ponder what Christmas is all about. Each week leading up to Christmas Day, one aspect of the meaning of faith is highlighted. Week one the emphasis is on hope. What is the hope of the Christian? Our hope is rooted in the blood of Jesus, that provides access to God the Father. Without Jesus, we have no hope beyond life in this world, but in Jesus, we have the hope of eternal life (John 3:16).
Throughout week two, we thank God for His peace. Before Jesus, we were enemies and at war with God, but in Christ, God calls you and me “friend” (Romans 5:10-21).
December can be a time of stress and a distraction from all that is important. Will you carve out of your busy schedule a quiet time to sit with God and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas? The Ultimate Gift that is not dependent upon one’s busy schedule, mood, or circumstances is available to all, but “on one condition;” you must ask for it. Jesus Christ is the Ultimate Gift!
“You will keep in perfect peace, all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” Isaiah 26:3, New Living Translation.
