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May it Be (D48)

“I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others” (Genesis 12:2) “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11) Stories about the great themes of life are powerful because they inspire us to be true to the amazing destiny meant for us.…

Easter Wuhan Style

Easter Wuhan Style The following is an excerpt from a Christian family currently living in Wuhan, China, day 48 in quarantine as of 3/14/20: “God is providing so many opportunities for good while we are here and he is showing his goodness every single moment.  We are at peace in the epicenter of the virus.  We are at peace in the epicenter of his will.  Fear is a faithless coward and has no place in the lives of believers.  Fear…

Thanksgiving

In the Chilean village of Chungungo water is a valuable commodity.  The area is very parched, forcing villagers to truck in water from miles away, with most people only able to afford 4 gallons a day.  Bathing became a luxury!!  Scientists began to experiment with a new water collection system involving finely woven propylene netting.  The nets were set up in the mountains and designed to sift water from the numerous clouds that swept in from the Pacific Ocean.  Each…

The Power of a Story

Dr. Paul Brand was speaking to a medical college in India on “Let your light shine before men that they may behold your good works and glorify your Father.”  In front of the lectern was an oil lamp with its cotton wick burning from the shallow dish of oil.  As he preached, the lamp ran out of oil, the wick burned dry, and the smoke made him cough.  He immediately used the opportunity.  “Some of us here are like this…

Walk in the Light

One of the things many people love about Florida is the great amount of light we receive in this part of the world.  The Sunshine state averages 268 sunny to partly cloudy days per year.  We’ll take that, especially during the winter months! The theme of light is prevalent in the Bible.  John reminds us “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us…

Celebrate Freedom!

Conflict between the colonies and England was already a year old when the colonies convened a Continental Congress in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776. In a June 7 session in what would be Independence Hall, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia presented a resolution with the famous words: “Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection…

The Cross on the Hillside

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:55 (NIV)             Weary, I picked up my daughter and headed home as my work week drew to an end.             With a nagging head cold, I wanted nothing more than to put my feet up and have a nice hot cup of tea, but I didn’t have time to relax. I was throwing a surprise fiftieth birthday party for my friend Jeanette. All our friends…

Jesus Will Rewrite Your Story

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13 (NLT)             I was in a dark depression.             I could not even go get groceries. I just wanted to smoke my cigarettes and drink my coffee and be in my room. I put dark towels around my windows so that no light could come in.             My family planned out a surprise party for my birthday. In the middle of the party, I turned to…

The Fruit of My Womb

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb… Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:13,16 (TEB)             My husband and I were in Jamaica on vacation, spending time talking with friends one evening when one of them, a medical doctor, began to stare at my neck.             “Don’t you see that you have a goiter?”…

Plant a Tiny Mustard Seed

“I tell you this: if you had even a faint spark of faith, even faith as tiny as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and because of your faith, the mountain would move. If you had just a sliver of faith, you would find nothing impossible.” Matthew 17:20 (The Voice)             When my girls were young, we had a neighbor named Andrea. While she had brothers and sisters of her own, they were…