Everyone says that the person you need to believe in you is yourself. That is sweet but is it true? Maybe for some people. I recently have realized that having others believe in you is an amazing motivator. If no one else thinks you can do it that doesn’t mean you should give up, it simply means that no one else gets your vision. That said, the people around me have always been really supportive. I mean, I’ve dealt with haters, but the people who matter, my friends, my family, especially my parents, have always been supportive, even when that support is a critique or correction to push what I am doing into a better place. Because I know that they support and believe in me then I can take them at their word and not be too offended when that word stings a little. Knowing that when you doubt yourself someone else feels that you can keep going forward is amazing. You all knew that I was rounding this back to this statement so here it is. God believes in you more than anyone else can. He sees EVERYTHING about you. He gave you your gifts and talents, He gave you your drive and He believes that you can do it because He knows that He can do it and He will be forward guard for your every step.
Don’t give up! Your father believes in you!
Category: Devotional
The Huguenot
Lent devotional 10
Today I ran across this painting by John Millias. The name of the painting is
‘A huguenot.’ You may not find that very interesting, but looking closely at the painting I found it intriguing, I wondered what was up with the white sash and why was the man pulling it away from his arm. When I did some reading on the painting I found out that it is a love story about a Catholic and a Protestant in Medieval France. The Catholic woman was tying a white sash around her protestant lover’s arm so he would be assumed Catholic and not be killed. The man is looking at her with love, but gently pulling the sash away, refusing to deny his true beliefs.
That was a long explanation I know, but I am getting to my point, though it is probably obvious by now.
We as Christians, find ourselves in positions often where we can either proclaim or deny Jesus as our savior. We are traitors if we deny Him, and we do not love Him. Jesus died for us we must be willing to do the same for Him. We must not hide and pretend to be someone we are not out of fear. Yes we may be ridiculed, in some countries we may even be killed but we must stand up and say, “I am a Christian.”
That is easy to say in the safety of Canada I know, and we may never know truly if we love Jesus enough to suffer for Him until we experience such a situation, but acknowledging Him in small things also shows how much we care. At work, at school, on the subway, on Facebook.
Don’t hide, proclaim.
Held by strings
Lent devotional 9
Held by strings
Today on the TV I saw a woman who had been so broken that as she was speaking you could see that she was trying to be strong, while falling apart. These past several days we have seen a lot of people, women and men, who have been trying to hold their voices steady as they speak, trying to swallow back tears while being determined to push forward. You may not be in the middle of a war zone; you may have recentally lost a loved one, or a job, or perhaps you feel like you are losing yourself, your sanity in the swirling mess of what society has become- many are feeling that these days. Suffering, loss, even change has become so wearing and hard to handle that we feel like a dog’s teddy bear, torn apart and held together with streatching strings. We are wondering how many more times we can be sewn back together before there’s nothing left to attach. Humanity feels like the dog has our body under his paws and he is yanking on our arm, determined to pull it off. We wonder. Where is God?
He is here, sewing us back together everytime another part of us comes off. Our fallen world is imploding, just like He said it would. Does that make it easier to handle? No! Does that mean the death and suffering doesn’t matter? Of course not! But God promises that even when the world itself is falling to pieces that He is still there, He promises that even when we scream out ‘how can you let this happen God?’ That He still holds us tight and loves us. Why doesn’t He make it all end and save us? I don’t know. It’s the stuff that we can’t explain that makes us doubt the existance of a loving God, because in the pain we forget the good things we have seen God do. When the children of Israel were in the desert everytime they fell apart God had to remind them of the amazing things and wonders He had done for them, because when you are hanging together by one final thread all you can see is the pain you are in, you -we -I forget the times we have seen God help us and save us and provide for us, but He has and He still does. In the moment you are in right now, hold your hands infront of you, close your eyes and say with me, ‘God, it all so big and such a mess. You know what I am feeling and the pain I am in, and I know that you love me even in this moment that hurts so bad, hold me close please Jesus and help me know that you know what you are doing and that you will never let me go. Amen’
Lent devotional 8
Taken your meds today?
The other day my dad said something really funny. It took an everyday moment and made it brighter because it made me laugh. Later I shared what my dad had said with my mom, who had gone to bed before dad made his five star funny. Guess what? She laughed too, then we reminded my dad about what he had said so he ended up laughing at himself.
When people say ‘laughter is the best medicine’ it’s true. When you laugh, or cause someone else to laugh, it makes you feel better. It takes a God who delights in His people to create laughter. Is it necessary? Maybe not. Does it make life more enjoyable? Yes. God likes to see you smile and laugh, He likes to see you spread joy to others, if He didn’t He would have made mouths a single, straight line and He would never have created the chemical released by your brain that makes you happy when you laugh. So laugh. Tickle yourself pink ( okay, maybe don’t do that, that would be a sign that you couldn’t breathe) but laugh, find joy, and always remeber that God likes to see you smile, He delights in you.
Woman’s day
Lent devotional 7
Woman’s day
My mother and I have a saying, ‘I can’t fix all of it, all I can do is what is infront of me at the moment.’ We say it often because it is hard to follow through with. We get our heads so attached to everything all around us that we can’t even begin to focus on what we have to do at the moment, then nothing gets done and we get frustrated. There were many women in the Bible who did amazing things for God, by doing what was right infront of her to do at the moment. She couldn’t fix everything that was happening around her, but God gave her a role to play that led to the solution of the big problem. If she had gotten caught up in the big picture and couldn’t focus on what she was supposed to do, nothing would have changed. In Esther’s case it was a dinner party that led to the King knowing that he was being swindled into killing all of Esther’s people. All she had to do was what she knew how to do, give a party, God caused everything else to fall into place. For Mary, it was to wash the feet of Jesus with her hair and thus fulfill a prophecy. For Mary Slessor it was to go to country she had never seen to help people she had never met, to stop the killing of twins, to forward woman’s rights to live and receive medical care despite the teaching of their ancestors that these woman had no value. All she could do was be the powerful woman she was and do what she saw infront of her to do.
We get caught up in our own heads that we forget that God has that big, scary big picture in His hands and all He wants is for us to do our best at the task He has given us, then He wants us to let go and give everything over to Him.
Lent devotional 6
Civered by His feathers
Covered by His feathers.
Recentally I watched ‘After Earth’. The scene that caught my mind and caused me to cry was of course the scene with the eagle. I think she was an eagle at least. When she takes the boy and hides him from the overtaking sudden earth freeze, then he wakes up to find she has died because she covered him with her body to save him. It reminded me of the stories my grandpa tells of times on his farm as a boy, several times he witnessed a mother bird cover her babies with her feathers and fend off fire, rattle snakes, even large cats, sometimes dying in the process, but her babies always came away unharmed because of her sacrificial love. There is a reason God says He covers us with His feathers and shelters us with his wings (Psalm 91:4)
Because the wings of a protecting parent are warm and strong and secure, even when stretched out to cover their young to protect them from a death that the parent takes willingly in their place, the wings never fail to be a safe place of hiding. Find shelter in His wings dear fledglings, they will always be there to shelter you, they took pain and death for you before, don’t ever doubt that they love you enough to sheild you again.
Don’t let the giants get so imbeded in your mind that you can’t see anything else or think of anything else so you end up doubting God- Poppa
Lent devotional 4
To be a hero
To overcome the crisis in front of you, by giving everything you’ve got, and save people no matter the cost- that’s what makes someone a hero.
-Allmight
Right now, all over the world we have people, boots on the ground, in places marked as danger zones, helping people. Oh sure, they aren’t power punching a villan, but they are feeding the hungry, bringing medicine to the sick, holding the weary and broken. They don’t wear flashy costumes or say memorable quotes, so you might miss them; in fact they aren’t very loud about their presence at all, because in same places it is life threatening for them to be there. But they go anyway. Out of cost from their own pocket, leaving jobs on hold and families waiting, these quiet heros go To overcome the crisis in front of them, by giving everything they’ve got, and save people no matter the cost. Because that’s what Christians do. It could be as simple as shoveling the steps of an elderly neighbour, even though it’s -40.. or it could be as drastic as flying to a country that has been devestated by a natural disaster or a recent war, to give food, medicine and to help rebuild what has been destroyed.
We are called to be heroes, you are called to be a hero, don’t doubt what you can do for others, just do what you can and believe that everyone else who is doing just what they can will make up the difference of what you can’t do alone. You don’t need to wear a mask, just do what’s infront of you that you can do, do it with full cowling (wink), and never give in or give up when there are people to save.
Thrown away
Lent devotional 3
Once there was a young man sitting with his youth group, a new girl was brought to the group, she was introduced and then sat down next to the man. She said nothing, but played with her hair as the youth pastor talked. When the group was asked for responses to the lesson everyone joined in, except the new girl. Later the man took the opportunity of a snack break to speak to the girl. He asked her the basics, where are you from? What’s your name? So on. When she mentioned her dad was a soldier, the man inquired to what her mom did, was she a stay at home mom or did she have a different job someplace in the city. The girl blushed and pulled on her hair. Her mom had left them when she was born, the doctor had said that she might have brain damage and that her father had convinced her mom to have her anyway, but after her mom had left because she didn’t want the baby.
It was a sad story. But not all sad. Her father loved her and raised her by himself and she was cherished by him. But she still felt unwanted and thrown away because of her mother’s choices. She then blushed again. She hadn’t meant to say all that to this stranger. The man smiled gently. He cast around with his eyes until he found a stone and a piece of wood. ‘Let me show you something.’ He said. Then he sat down and the girl sat with him. ‘Open your hands.’ She opened her hands and cupped them together. Then he used the sharp edge of the Stone to cut away at the wood causing shards of wood to fall into the girl’s hands. The man continued to whittle away, to the best of his abilities, with the stone until he had a rough-hewn image of a bird. Then he looked at the girl and said, ‘ do you know what you hold in your hands?’ The girl shook her head. ‘If we were going to build a fire to roast marshmallows, or just wanted to keep warm, or any other reason we might have to build a fire we would use those as our base to get the fire going and to help it heat up. Those are valuble shards of wood called kindling.’ The man paused, ‘now, we aren’t going to build a fire, so we just need to throw those shards away, you could just drop them here in the grass, they aren’t sharp so there’s no worry.’ The girl drop the shards. Then she looked at the man. The man smiled again, ‘ don’t worry, those pieces of wood we have no need for won’t go to waste. Birds and mice, even insects will come and use the shards to build their homes. What we saw as trash and worthless, someone else we’ll see as a valued gift. But the animals each will only take as much as they need, they will leave the rest behind for someone else. What they discard and don’t want the next animal coming will find used for.’ The girl smiled softly, knowing what he meant. ‘So,’ she started quietly, ‘what one person may see as worthless or trash, another might see as a gift of great worth.’
The man nodded, ‘Don’t doubt your value because of someone else’s view of you. Ot wasn’t the fault of the wood chips that we didn’t see them as useful, it was us who were to blame for leaving them behind. It also won’t be their fault if several animals pass them by not realizing their value. Someday, someone will want them when they find them and will cherish them.’
The girl smiled. ‘Jesus always sees my value.’
‘Yes.’ The man stated, ‘and so do others, including myself. Just beleive in who God calls you to be. His.’
Lent devotional 2
What’s that you’re reading?
As I have been reading Brother Andrew, I have noticed a startling consistancy. Whenever he smuggles Bibles into shut door countries, the people who receive them treat them like they are holding onto Jesus Himself. So much love and tenderness is felt toward this book that we in North America take for granted. A minister in Poland recieved a Bible for the first time and he actually wept. He had borrowed Bibles from the two parishioners who owned a coveted and precious copy of this book, and for the Church survice he would borrow one to read from and then, with a lingering caress along the cover he would return the Bible to the owner. To suddenly have his own caused his hert to burst- true story.
Bibles were selectfully printed under the constraints of the government and then put to a price that the common person could not afford, that is why this pastor sufferd for so long without one. In another case, a pastor in another country who did have a Bible, a worn out copy he had purchased off a street peddler, worked day after day to type out the missing chapters of a Bible he had managed to purchase that had pages torn out which had been sold seperately so the person would make more money. While sitting at an ancient typewritter, the man worked alongside the first Bible he had in his possesssion to restore this “new” one so that he could give it to another pastor in a different region who’s church did not have a whole Bible, but only pages that had been handwritten from various people over the years who had been able to borrow a copy long enough to write out some of it’s contents- true story.
People say, “Ya, but that was then.”
No. This is now. There are still many parts of the world where this is exactally what the Christian lives are like. Some say we should keep our Bibles to ourselves and stop pushing them on other countries, but we aren’t pushing them on other countries, other countries are pleading for them. They are longing for a Bible of their own. Some say to leave these people alone because they are better off without God. Oh really? They don’t seem to think so. They came to Jesus on their own and only God, Himself knows how because it is not an easy task, nor is it even really legal in these countries. But somehow these people found Jesus, or He found them, and now they long for, cry for, yearn after a Bible for their church. One Bible for their whole church! This book that so many disdain and look down on, that sits collecting dust on shelves in people’s homes here in our country is so desired in other countries that people are willing to sacrifice their homes, their jobs, even their freedom, just to have a copy. One man was recorded bringing four Bibles to country churches whose pastors didn’t have a Bible, when asked if he was afraid of punishment if caught he responded, “This. This is nothing. Four Bibles is a small sentace, four months in prison at best.”
That’s a month a book. How many of us would feel the same? He didn’t even register that a four month prison sentence in deplorable conditions was a huge sacrifice in the eyes of us here. Compared to what he had suffered for his faith in the past, it was nothing to him. Oh how we take for granted that book so cherished by others. May we remember our family in Christ who longs for a Bible, and touch ours more tenderly and read it more often, knowing what a blessing and privilege it is.
Carried in the cross 