Category: Devotions
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He is in the boat with you.
Last year was dark and stormy. Seas that had long felt like home, raged in painful barrage. Each morning I awoke to a wall of water, menacing attacks I couldn’t see around. The dark presence of despair camped next to my bed at night. Sunlight seemed hidden, and at times I lost sight of hope.…
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God With Us
One hot summer night a few months ago my husband couldn’t sleep. Awakened at 3:00am, his mind drifted. Though triple digit heat lingered long in our central California city, our own lives seemed to be tucked inside a season of prolonged winter. As I neared the final stretch of a two-year graduate program and our…
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God is Builder
Listen, All you who are pouring your lives into something meaningful. Things wouldn’t be so hard if you weren’t fighting for something real. Something that matters. Apathy is not for you. You are doing hard things because they are right. Because they are important. Along the way of doing what’s really worthwhile in life, all…
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Jesus is Baptizer
At 5:30am that morning I got the text that a pipe had leaked in the baptismal and all the water had flooded the Sanctuary. The maintenance team grabbed fans and towels and began trying to dry out the carpet in that area. But what about baptism? We had 8 people ready to go. As we…
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God Reveals Himself
When I was a teenager I told myself by the time I was 40 I would drive a black Lexus with gold trim. I thought driving such a flashy car would mean I was a success in life. Well, here’s the thing. Tomorrow is my 41st birthday, and although this is the last morning I will wake up as a 40-year-old,…
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The Lord is There
Who hasn’t asked (or yelled, or wept), “Where are you God?!”. Maybe it comes out when life presses in or when suffering nearly suffocates. Sometimes our spirit whispers it when we are desperate for a miracle. So where is God? Where is God when things don’t line up? Where is God when things fall apart? In the crazy…
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God Rewards Those Who Seek Him
What tastes, smells, sights, stir your imagination? I relish the smell of lavender, coffee brewing in the morning and pine forests. The taste of fruity green tea and dark chocolate bring comfort. The restful sounds of falling rain, the magical sight of firelight and the soothing feel of warm sand on the skin all make me feel alive.…
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Jesus Fills
Modern marketing campaigns broadcast a continual unspoken message in hopes the world’s watchers will buy: life is empty without ______. (Fill in the blank with whatever calls out to you: this car, that purse, those shoes…). Commercials, magazines, pinterest, and social media flash images of “the good life” with exotic vacations, dream backyards, good looking families, mouth watering…
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Jesus Makes The Broken Whole
Today I feel broken. Up late wracked with the stomach flu and the guilt of yelling at my kids, I didn’t have the strength to hear this morning that our last working vehicle needs thousands of dollars in repairs and two people I love dearly are struggling with major health issues. Brokenness. It’s something we’d rather run away from,…
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God Is Rescuer
Let’s be honest. Sometimes we just need to be rescued. From ourselves, from bad choices, from circumstances, from attacks. I can’t fix all my problems or make it all better. Sometimes I’m a mess; life is a mess; situations are a mess. So what can we do about that? We can remember who our God…