Devotions
Desert Thirst – Psalm 42:1-2
For nearly twelve years, I lived in the deserts of southern Arizona. And every summer I would hear news reports of hikers who had to be rescued from various mountain trails due to severe dehydration, heat stroke, and sometimes even death. They would show pictures of emergency personnel carrying a man or woman on a stretcher. Helicopters would hover ready to airlift him or her to the [...]
Full Is Better – Ephesians 3:19
This summer, I’ve taken a break from eating dessert. No brownie or cookie after dinner. No ice cream or chocolate Frosty either. Not even a snack-sized bag of gummy bears. And let me tell you, it has been h-a-r-d. Much harder for this sugar addict than I ever thought it could be. I didn’t realize how unfulfilled I would feel without my tasty treat at the end [...]
Smell the Roses – Psalm 145:9-10
Every week, my husband cuts a bright, red rose for me from our rose bushes that grow in a mulch patch in our backyard. He never tells me he’s going to do it (although sometimes he holds a rose up for me to smell). He never draws attention to the little glass vase sitting unobtrusively on our kitchen island either. He simply cuts the stem, slides a [...]
In the Fire – Daniel 3:25
Sometimes I wonder if Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego saw Jesus in the fire. Oh, He was there. Protecting them. Supernaturally intervening for them. But when King Nebuchadnezzar threw these young men into that blazing furnace after they wouldn’t bow down before him, all we’re told in scripture is the king himself sees Jesus, not these boys. The king, the one standing outside the fire, is the one [...]
Touch – Mark 1:41, Mark 8:23
“Hold! Hold!” A little boy cried, his hands reaching toward me as I walked into the toddler classroom one Sunday morning for my regular volunteer shift. His parents had just dropped him off, and he was struggling. He didn’t want to play blocks, drive cars, or cook in the little play kitchen with the other kids. Only arms around him—even those of a stranger—would do. Have you [...]
Sun and Moon – Psalm 74:16-17
Sun and moon. Have you ever noticed they look exactly the same size in the earth’s sky? The sun is actually four hundred times larger than the moon, but the moon is four hundred times closer to earth than the sun. Hence, they both appear to have the same exact circumference. A coincidence, astronomers call it. Some bit of random chance. A lucky anomaly. But what would [...]
Getting Pecked – Isaiah 40:31
I’ve felt pecked at a lot these days. Have you? Pricked by the not-good-enough vibes. Cut down by hasty words spoken, negative thoughts zinging, social media feeds touting unrealistic pictures of beautiful women with smoother complexions cooking better meals saying catchier catch-phrases than what I could ever possibly achieve. All I want to do is pull the covers back up over my head sometimes. At least when [...]
Swim Time – Joshua 3:8
This summer I’ve been trying to teach my daughter to swim. She’s terrified of deeper water, however. In fact, one day after many lessons and hours of practice, I challenged her to wade out with me to a deeper area of the pool. We both could still touch the bottom, yet she screamed, “Why are you doing this to me?” To be honest, I was startled by [...]
Count It All Joy – James 1:2-3
The last conversation I had with my mother before she died was about picking blackberries that grew wild in the fields out behind our farmhouse. We talked about picking them by the bucketful. We talked about those delicious cobblers she would make with heaping cups of sugar. We also talked about all the scratches our arms would have to endure to retrieve each plump and juicy berry [...]
Father Love – Luke 15:22
Many years ago, the famous author Hemingway began his short story "The Capital of the World" with two boys named Paco. One Paco is fatherless. The other Paco, however, has a father desperately searching for him. This dad is so lovesick, in fact, he travels all the way to Madrid, Spain to put an advertisement in the newspaper. The advertisement reads: “PACO, MEET ME AT HOTEL MONTANA [...]
Reach Out – Matthew 26:38
I came across a news story not long ago about an extraordinary rescue at sea. A family had gotten caught in a riptide and was unable to make it back to shore. As they drifted further out, the parents frantically screamed for help. Holding their children above the waves, they flailed their free hands, desperately hoping to attract the attention of other beachgoers before it was too [...]
Plant Anyway – Ecclesiastes 11:4
I’ve always wondered why planting season and storm season coincide so precisely in the Midwest. As the weather warms up and the ground becomes ideal for seeds to take root, monstrous hail and tornado-producing supercells roll through. These storms wreak havoc on the plans of even the most experienced farmer. And for those wannabe gardeners like me, the threat itself—just the possibility of a storm—can keep us [...]
Come – Matthew 11:28, Isaiah 55:1, Revelation 22:17
I’ve grown a little tired of putting on my “big girl pants” lately. Have you? Are you tired of saying, I’ve got this, I’ll take care of that, I’ll figure it out? Has it all been too much? Too many difficult decisions? Too many unexpected hurdles? Too many heavy loads to carry? Just put one foot in front of the other, the world says to us. Do [...]
Spiritual Hooky – Psalm 116:7
Out the window, white blossoms float down through the windswept branches of the tall crabapple trees. They cascade to the ground in wild flurries. Spinning and turning, they beckon me until all I can think of is getting outside. I want to lean my shoulders against those sturdy, sap-covered trunks. To smell the sweet aroma. To feel soft petals litter my long, dark hair. But the battle [...]
For Mom – Isaiah 49:15, 66:13
Being ‘Mom’ without having a mom can make not just Mother’s Day but any day of motherhood a bit difficult. Every new and happy milestone my children face often comes tainted with a smidge of grief, envy, fear, and even resentment. Every new season comes with unanswered questions too. What did she do when I was this age? How did she manage this situation? How did she [...]
A Near Miss – Psalm 46:1, Romans 8:31
A near miss. That’s what it was. The eighteen-wheeler barreled on down the road, but I sat there shaking. With white knuckled grip on the steering wheel, I felt a flood of gratitude mingled with that torrent of fear. I pulled at my seatbelt to remind myself, yes, I was okay. I’d gotten out of the way in time. I’d dodged, swerved, braked just enough to miss [...]
Rain Dancin’ – Hebrews 12:2
“Can we, Mommy?” Three pairs of little eyes stared longingly up at me. They wanted to go rain dancin’. To jump in puddles. To shuffle their bare feet over the wet grass and have their toes and bottoms wriggle and slosh through the water that flowed along the curb’s edge down by the street. But I hesitated. All I could think of was the effort it would [...]
Beautiful Sacrifice – Isaiah 53:2
Not long ago, I came across an incredible story—the story of Mary Ann Bevan, the “Ugliest Woman in the World.” She was actually a beautiful woman in her youth. She married and had four children. She was educated as a nurse and quite prosperous. Yet in her early thirties, she developed acromegaly, a disease that caused her face to become distorted and her body to grow abnormally. [...]
Stand In Awe – Psalm 95:2-4
Beside a long, winding two-lane road that climbs up Mt. Humphries almost to its peak is a popular hiking trail called Aspen Loop. At first glance, the trail has no eye-catching features. Its head, in fact, is littered with potholes and mud piles, byproducts of the high-altitude showers that come during fall and spring afternoons. Nevertheless, if you can endure the muck and have the patience to [...]
Copy Me – 1 Corinthians 11:1
“Stop copying me!” My oldest daughter yelled from across the kitchen table. I was busy chopping kale into a salad while the girls smooshed and cut balls of play dough into their own flattened piles of green. As usual, little sister was mimicking everything big sister was doing. “Why does she do that?” My frustrated girl asked, as I turned to intervene. “Because you matter,” I empathetically [...]
Sing a Song – 2 Chronicles 20:21, Psalm 32:7
On Monday, I awoke to a worship song stuck in my head. I’d heard it at church on Sunday and then again on the radio coming home. So, I made lunch while humming it. I cleaned the house, got the kids’ stuff ready for school, swept the driveway, all while continuing to let it roll around in my mind. I even went to bed singing it. And [...]
Laugh A Little – Psalm 126:2
I awoke this morning to the sounds of laughter reverberating down the stairwell just above my bedroom door. My three children were sitting in pajamas at the top of the steps. They’d tied blankets as capes around their necks and were giggling nonsensically about their superhero adventures, imaginative play at its finest. I listened to them carry on as warm, soft daylight began to filter through the [...]
Just Pray – Matthew 6:8, Romans 8:26
In hard times, have you ever struggled with knowing just how to pray? I certainly have. I thought I needed the ‘right’ words for God to hear me. A prayer with eloquent sounding phrases and perfectly articulated expressions would better warrant His answering or at least solicit His comfort and reassurance when I was hurting. When I tried, though, I couldn’t make my prayers sound eloquent. In [...]
For the Nobodys – Psalm 139:14
“I’m Nobody! Who are you? / Are you – Nobody – too?” When I was a sophomore in college, I recited these lines of poetry with gusto to an auditorium full of middle school students. I didn’t comprehend fully then what Emily Dickinson meant about that inner battle we all face between feeling like a ‘nobody’ while secretly wishing to be a ‘somebody.’ All I knew was [...]
