From Hectic to Holy

The current corona virus crisis has a lot of people frazzled and short tempered. Occasionally, that includes me too. I miss my Bible study sisters. I miss going to church services. I miss going out for barbecue on Friday nights. I miss hugging people. I miss a lot of things. I’m sure you do too.

One of my friends emailed me saying she thought she’d get more rest during this “self isolation” period we’re going through, but she’s more tired than ever. Author Chris Hodges in his book The Daniel Dilemma says that “real rest doesn’t come from simply resting; it comes when your soul is connected to God’s power.” He points out how calm Daniel in the Old testament is–along with his chums Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego—even though they were taken captive, separated from their families and lived tumultuous times—the slaves of high- strung pagan kings in palaces full of debauchery.

The subtitle of the book is How to Stand Firm and Love Well in a Culture of Compromise. I have been reading short sections of the book each day during this Coronaggedon and have found it uplifting and encouraging. I am learning to rest in His Grace and Truth—despite these tumultuous times.  Yes, the author points out that even when we trust in God, will still wrestle with loss, disappointment and doubts and painful emotions, but as he says, “I’d rather have hope in what an all powerful God can do than certainty in what I am limited to do.”

God bless you.

Stay well.

Keep the Faith.

Shirley

An award-winning writer and frequent conference speaker, Shirley Raye Redmond is the author of Courageous World Changers: 50 True Stories of Daring Women of God (Harvest House). She holds an M.A. in literature and has been married to her husband Bill for over forty years. They live in New Mexico where she is prayer chairman for her local Community Bible Study (CBS). Touch base at shirleyrayeredmond.com or Facebook.

                    

Courageous WorldChangers: 50 True Stories of Daring Women of God is currently on sale from Harvest House. Get free shipping with promo code STAY HOME.

Whiter Than Snow--A Musical Devotion by Catherine Castle

 

When I lookout my breakfast nook window after a snow I see a snow-covered hillside garden.  The scene always puts an old hymn into my mind—“Whiter Than Snow” (circa 1872). As I admire the snowy beauty, glad that I don’t have to get out in it,  I find myself  humming the tune and marveling at its words.

 If you aren’t familiar with the song, whose lyrics were written by James L. Nicholson, you can hear it on YouTube. Online,  I found six verses to this hymn, but my favorites verses are 1 and 6, and, of course, the chorus. These two verses, in my opinion, sum up a Christian’s assurance of heaven—our confession of faith in the Lord, our baptism, and God’s response to our surrender.

 

Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole; I want Thee forever to live in my soul;

Break down every idol, cast out every foe—Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

 

The blessing by faith, I receive from above; Oh, glory! my soul is made perfect in love;

My prayer has prevailed, and this moment I know, The blood is applied, I am whiter than snow.

Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow,
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

 

The song’s inspiration was most likely Psalms 51:7: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

 

As much as I love the beauty of a fresh snowfall, its glory will diminish as time goes by. Children will roll snowmen in the front yards, exposing the brown grass and mud beneath the snowflakes. Cars will splatter gray mush onto the pure white edges of the road. And eventually the sun will come out and melt away winter’s glory. The picture perfect moments that have drifted from the sky aren’t permanent. 

 

But when God washes us and makes us whiter than snow, that purity won’t fade as long as we are His.  In the book of Revelation, Jesus said, “They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of Life.” (Revelation 3:4-5)

 I don’t know about you, but I take great comfort in knowing that my walk with the Lord has made my soul whiter than snow.

 So, the next time a winter storm comes your way, remember this old hymn and celebrate the storm’s beauty—even if you have to shovel ten inches of snow. Because as the song says, The blood is applied, I am whiter than snow. Oh, glory! my soul is made perfect in love. And that’s something to celebrate.

 

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing, reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon.

 

Birds of a Feather

Visiting Nassau’s Ardastra Gardens was one of the highlights of our Bahamas vacation. My husband and I laughed as we watched the world famous marching flamingos circle the performance ring. With their long spindly legs and graceful S-shaped necks, the birds obeyed the commands of their “drill sergeant.” Around the ring they marched, puffing out their chests. When the “sergeant” blew his whistle, the birds would do a quick about face and head the other way. They were hilarious. After the show we learned that this particular generation of birds hadn’t been trained at all. Decades ago, the owner of the gardens had trained a few flamingos, as part of an experiment. Now the younger birds mimic the older birds, and so it has continued for generations of the garden’s flamingos. It reminded me of that game follow the leader we used to play as children. Even as adults we still follow leaders, don’t we? Pastors and their wives, mentors, teachers, supervisors at work, and others. Are we choosing to follow people who are worthy to be followed? Keep in mind that others are watching and following us—our children and grandchildren and neighbors, for instance. Are we leading them as we should? Not all leaders do so—consider Adolph Hitler and Mao Zedong, for example. Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  (Matthew 16:24--NIV) Jesus calls us to follow him too. He will not lead us astray. Nor will he suddenly order us to do a spiritual about face. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. 

An award-winning writer and frequent conference speaker, Shirley Raye Redmond is the author of Courageous World Changers: 50 True Stories of Daring Women of God (Harvest House). She holds an M.A. in literature and has been married to her husband Bill for over forty years. They live in New Mexico where she is prayer chairman for her local Community Bible Study (CBS). Touch bases at shirleyrayeredmond.com or Facebook.

A Time to Pray

There is an occasion for everything,
and a time for every activity under heaven:
a time to give birth and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to uproot;
a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to tear down and a time to build;
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance;
a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing;
a time to search and a time to count as lost;
a time to keep and a time to throw away;
a time to tear and a time to sew;
a time to be silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (HCSB)

My heart has been heavy lately with how things are progressing in the United States, as well as in the world as a whole. The more that sinful ways are glorified and justified, the more discord breaks out. We find that our Christian faith and belief system is being challenged on many levels.

For today, why don't you take time put of your day to get on your knees and pray for our Nation, our world, and for God's light to be shone to those around us. Ask Him how you can be that light.

What action step can you do today to show God's love to a dying world?

Jodie Wolfe creates novels where hope and quirky meet. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and Romance Writers of America (RWA) and has been a semi-finalist and finalist in various writing contests. A former columnist for Home School Enrichment magazine, her articles can be found online at: Crosswalk, Christian Devotions, and Heirloom Audio. She's a contributor and co-founder of Stitches Thru Time blog. When not writing she enjoys spending time with her husband in Pennsylvania, reading, walking, and being a Grammie. Learn more at www.jodiewolfe.com.

 

Soul Seeds by Catherine Castle

Soul Seeds

 

Image by Susanne Jutzeler, suju fotografie from Pixabay

 

“God created man, in the likeness of God made He him. Male and female created He them and blessed them.” Genesis 5:1-2

 

Have you ever wondered about seeds?

 At first glance, there is nothing special about a seed. Some might be little, black, round seeds. others are knobby tubers, or have brush-like fibers tipped in black and gold. Some seeds are prettier than others, but none are so extraordinary that you would exclaim over them. However, hidden inside each seed or bulb is the DNA for complete plant. Encapsulated in speck, some no bigger than a period on a piece of paper, is a living thing. A flower or vegetable with its DNA pattern stored within the tiny black dot. Plant a seed and nurture it and a beautiful flower, tree, bush, tasty vegetable, or a weed grows. What a marvelous wonder that is.

 Have you ever wondered about humans?

 At first glance, there isn’t anything special about most of us. We can be mild tempered, happy-go-lucky, or bad tempered. Some of us are short. Others are tall. We can have ordinary faces, natural beauty, or even no beauty at all. But hidden inside each of us, like there is in each seed from which a plant grows, is the potential to become something more beautiful than we appear to be. It’s not a DNA thing or a unique chromosome that creates our beauty. Instead, it’s our souls, made in the likeness of God with the ability to respond to God’s love and infinite grace. When we surrender to God and let His word and His love nurture our souls, we have the potential to become beautiful beyond our wildest imagination.

 A good botanist or gardener can often look at a seed or tuber and know what kind of plant will grow from it. They know the right conditions needed to help the plant succeed. They know what to do to protect the plant from natural enemies. They know how to make the plant grow. The wonder of seeds is that all the ingredients it needs to become a plant are captured within its shell, whatever that may look like. Add some sunshine and water and the plant grows.

 We can’t look at a person and know what they will become. We can’t discern what choices they will make or where those choices will lead them in life. We can’t accurately predict anything that happens in their lives. Only God knows that.

But we can make our own choices to help our soul seeds grow. Through Christ’s sacrifice and God’s grace we can bask in the light of the Son and drink the Living Water of the Word. The soul that God planted in us can grow into something more beautiful than any flower that ever sprouted from a seed. For a gardener like me, that’s something to look forward to.

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog

 

Are You a Servant or a Servaholic?

Do you have a servant’s heart?

Don’t be too quick to answer YES! Consider this: Do you become resentful or impatient when asked to perform a service for others? Do you feel that any of the required tasks are beneath your dignity? Are you reluctant to perform small favors for those outside of your church family? Will you want credit or recognition for each task you perform? If so you may be more of a servaholic than a servant-leader.

God’s Word calls us right into the tension between self-love and self-denial. Jesus assumes that we love and care for ourselves to some degree (Matthew 22:39) but he also calls us to radically die to our own desires (Matthew 16:24).

How are we to navigate this paradox? To what degree should we care for ourselves—and why is it important to do so? Can we live out Jesus’ call to self-denial while also living a healthy, balanced life? The tension between self-love and self-denial is not easy to sort out. How do you care for yourself—body and soul—in God-honoring ways? What do you see as the right balance between self-love and self-denial?

The bottom line in servant leadership isn’t how far we advance ourselves, but how far we advance others. We must do the things that God would have us do. This can only be achieved INTENTIONALLY.

Serve joyfully, not out of compulsion or for a desire to be significant in the eyes of others. Serve as Jesus would have you serve.   

An award-winning writer and frequent conference speaker, Shirley Raye Redmond is the author of three inspirational novels, as well as two dozen children’s books, including LEWIS & CLARK: A PRAIRIE DOG FOR THE PRESIDENT (Random House), which was a Children’s Book of the Month Club selection. Her book, Courageous World Changers: 50 True Stories of Women of God will be released by Harvest House in January. Touch bases at shirleyrayeredmond.com or Facebook

When You're Thrown a Curve Ball

Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. 
James 1:2-4 (HCSB)

I grew up surrounded by baseball. I have two older brothers and they were either playing on a team, practicing in our back yard, watching it on TV, collecting baseball cards, or talking about it. When we played together at home, they usually teamed up against me. It took me a long while to figure out why I never won. :)

Through the years I remember hearing about a pitcher throwing a curve ball and how it made it difficult for the guy at bat to hit. It's hard to anticipate where that ball is going to go.

Have you ever felt that way in life? That you've been thrown a curve ball, and you aren't sure how to respond or where you go from there? Just last week I found myself in that situation. It had been a rough month physically as I ended up in the hospital for several days and kept experiencing health issues that the doctors puzzled over. Long story short, we think we finally have come up with the answer. Apparently, I am now a diabetic.

I still am on a roller coaster as we try to regulate diet, exercise, and medication. I have times when I feel almost back to normal and then times where I hit a real low and feel pretty lousy.

My pastor is doing a sermon series on suffering right now. While to most, what I'm going through wouldn't be considered suffering, but honestly there are times that I really struggle. When my physical body is exhausted, dizzy, and I have difficulty thinking/concentrating, I wonder if I will ever get 'back to normal'. I pray that even when I'm in the midst of the fog, that God will use this disease to bring about spiritual growth and maturity in me. Above all, I desire for others to see Him through me.

What curve balls have you been thrown in life? How do you deal with them?

Jodie Wolfe creates novels where hope and quirky meet. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and Romance Writers of America (RWA) and has been a semi-finalist and finalist in various writing contests. A former columnist for Home School Enrichment magazine, her articles can be found online at: Crosswalk, Christian Devotions, and Heirloom Audio. She's a contributor and co-founder of Stitches Thru Time blog. When not writing she enjoys spending time with her husband in Pennsylvania, reading, walking, and being a Grammie. Learn more at www.jodiewolfe.com.

God’s Sweet Whisper of Comfort

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast…when I awake, I am still with you. Psalm 139:9-10, 18

I had almost reached my interstate exit that morning. Two more minutes, and I would’ve been on the off ramp, headed to the college to deliver my first oral presentation in more than two decades. I had sweated this moment the whole semester! Now the day had arrived, and I couldn’t imagine anything more terrifying than standing in front of all my classmates and speaking.

Until…

Ahead of me and to my left, a car started spinning. Cars in my lane came to an immediate stop. I narrowly missed hitting the bumper in front of me by inches. I wish I could say the same for the truck and car directly behind me. The crashing impact reverberated in my mind for weeks afterwards. But for the next forty-five minutes, I sat on the side of the interstate waiting for my turn to talk to the police. This was definitely worse than public speaking.

We have a way of thinking about what we perceive to be our biggest challenge, and then life happens. Often nothing goes as planned and tragedies happen—or conversely, unexpected blessings flow our way. Either way, God is in the midst of both to comfort and encourage us.

If we’re not intentional about our relationship with God through prayer and Bible study, it’s difficult to rest in the faith that he’ll come through for us. Even worse, life’s curve balls can make us cynical. After all, why plan anything if life can derail at any moment? But the bigger picture shows that God is in every moment, often ahead of us, waiting to offer assurance of his presence.

My wreck and the aftermath of insurance claims, my car being totaled, dealing with bureaucracy and then car shopping, reaffirmed to me that God’s sweet whisper of comfort is a necessity. I remind myself every time I go through a challenge that, like the Psalmist said, every day when I awake, I am still with God! He hasn’t left. And he’ll always be there to see me through the day’s challenges.

Can you think of a better promise to cling to than that? 

Laura Hodges Poole is a Christian writer with dozens of articles, devotions, and short stories to her credit. She is the author of five books and contributor to two others, all available on Amazon.  Laura is a 2019 Selah Awards finalist, the 2016 ACWC Badge of Honor winner, a 2014 ACFW Genesis semi-finalist, and a 2012 RWA Emily finalist. As an editor and member of The Christian PEN, she enjoys mentoring and helping other writers polish their work. When she’s not writing, you might find her hiking, playing the piano, or being crafty. A mother of two, Laura lives in South Carolina with her husband and son. 

Website: https://laurahodgespoole.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Laura_Poole

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/#!/LauraHodgesPoole

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lhpoole/

Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com. 

Remembering

Today is a day to remember. Remember those who gave their lives for our country... for our freedom.

While I'm extremely grateful for my freedom and those who willing serve our country, I can't help but think about this verse from Psalm 78:5 (NIV)

They remembered that God was their Rock,
    that God Most High was their Redeemer.

Today as you celebrate Memorial Day with friends or loved ones, don't forget to give thanks and remember God, our Rock.

Jodie Wolfe creates novels where hope and quirky meet. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and Romance Writers of America (RWA) and has been a semi-finalist and finalist in various writing contests. A former columnist for Home School Enrichment magazine, her articles can be found online at: Crosswalk, Christian Devotions, and Heirloom Audio. She's a contributor and co-founder of Stitches Thru Time blog. When not writing she enjoys spending time with her husband in Pennsylvania, reading, walking, and being a Grammie. Learn more at www.jodiewolfe.com.