Thirty-eight years of suffering from an illness. That was the state of a man at the pool of Bethesda. He, like so many other sickly people there, was waiting for an angel to trouble the waters. The first person in the water, after the angel, was healed. Yet, time and again, the man couldn’t get to the pool first for…

Paul, on a ship with 276 other prisoners, was on his way to Rome to stand trial before Caesar.  During a portion of the trip, Paul warned a centurion named Julius that they shouldn’t set sail because doing so at that time would be dangerous to the ship and its occupants.  Julius ignored Paul’s advice but took the counsel of the…

Messy. Sometimes, life can be messy despite our efforts to avoid all things messy. I’m so grateful the Lord isn’t intimidated by our messy lives and works through it. God could have chosen an easier route for Joseph to rise to become governor. Still, He decided to take him through a massively messy process. God could have prevented Joseph’s brothers…

No one and nothing can silence the voice of God. Threatening God’s people, throwing them in prisons or a blazing furnace, sending them into exile, stoning them, scorning them, selling them to slave traders, cheating and lying on them, etc., nothing can silence His voice. The ten spies didn’t change the voice of God calling His people to their Canaan.…

Peter was so sure of himself when Jesus warned him about satan desiring to have him and sift him like wheat. Jesus added that even though this was what satan desired, He’d already prayed for Peter that his faith wouldn’t fail and that once converted, he would strengthen others. But Peter was in a good place in his head. At…

I wanted to cry. It had been a very long day at work. I was tired and frustrated, and the headache I nursed throughout the day was getting worse. I was mentally changing hats for the next phase of my day. There was so much for me to process and do. Yes, I wanted to cry. I walked into the…

Four young men, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, and Daniel, were among the Hebrews captured and hauled off to Babylon.  King Nebuchadnezzar changed their names to Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Belteshazzar as if to erase their old life, attempting to rebrand them to match their new surroundings.  Perhaps it was an effort to reinforce the idea that their past was over and…

Yesterday, I talked about Noah and how he waited for God to move.  God told him that in seven days, it would rain for 40 days and nights.  We have insight that Noah didn’t have when God shared with Noah how long it would be before He took action.  We know what rain is, whereas Noah did not have that…

Waiting. It can be challenging to wait when you feel like you should be doing something. But waiting is doing something. It’s the season when the Lord speaks to your heart and tells you to sit tight. He will give the next series of instructions when it’s time. Until then, wait. That’s what Noah’s situation looked like after building the…

What will you do with your God-given fresh start?Yesterday, the devotional was about the woman caught in adultery and Jesus giving her an opportunity to start fresh. She left Jesus’ presence knowing she was spared from death and had another chance to live. He did tell her to go and sin no more. What happened to her after that, the…

The woman caught in adultery was dragged to Jesus by her accusers. They used her as a pawn in an attempt to back Jesus into a corner. I can imagine the verbal blastings she received on the way to Jesus. Confident that their scheme was surefire, they eagerly pressed Jesus for an answer. He didn’t answer immediately but put His head…

Pressing on is a must, but it’s not always pretty! If it was easy, it wouldn’t be pressing on. It would be smooth sailing. No adversities, disappointments, delays, distractions, hiccups, outright destructive detours, etc.  When you are pressing on simple tasks, at times, morph into hurricane proportions, which seemingly end as fruitless.  Daily doses of anguish, heartache, and unanswered prayers raise…

Let go and hold on. The woman with the issue of blood tried everything to solve her problem, but nothing worked. But one day she’d taken hold of the thought that if she could touch Jesus she would be healed. She refused to be blinded by her very real circumstances. She would have never received her healing if she’d latched…

At one point or another, we have experienced times when we’ve given rave reviews about a thing/place/person/food item only to have someone come back and say their experience was horrible. What went wrong? Everyone has their own likes/dislikes. But what about the Lord? We all know people who say, “Oh, church isn’t for me.” Did God not “work” for them?…

Yesterday, I talked about how Jesus healed a blind man by making mud from spittle, putting it on the man’s eyes, and then telling him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash. He did so and received sight. Oh, the drama of the moment when Jesus spit on the ground and made mud. It was definitely an unusual…

Pulling back the layers. Jesus did it repeatedly with the disciples and those around Him as they often misunderstood life’s situations. Consider the account of a man born blind. The disciples presumed the man was born blind because someone in the family sinned, either the man or his parents. In their minds, sin was the only reason for the man’s…

Today I finally had a procedure done that I’d been putting off for years. Just the thought of it would cause my heart to race. I knew it was necessary. I knew it was a good thing to do – preventative care. Yes, I understood all of that. It was just that my heart was too tender, and I wasn’t…

Tucked in the daily grind of life, there is significance in your location, placement, or season of life you are experiencing. I know this is no news flash, but it’s just a precious reminder as you tick away the moments preparing for the next task on your to-do list. Remember the account of Naaman the leper and his healing stemmed…

The other day, I was immersed in the story of Joseph and his encounter with his hateful brothers. The part that caught my attention was how his brother Reuben planned to get Joseph out of the pit and return him to his father. God, however, didn’t allow Reuben to do it, for by the time he came back to the…

I was at work thinking about a situation presented to me when the Lord dropped the following story in my heart. It’s based on 2 Samuel 21:15-17. Yes, we know David was famous for killing Goliath. Over the years, he had engaged in numerous battles. However, the battle that rests on my heart today is the one that nearly cost…