Phil. 3:13-14 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
If you haven't noticed, our little girl comes in handy for devotional topics. It's funny, we thought we'd be teaching her but boy, is she teaching us some great lessons!
Over the Fourth of July weekend last summer, our family enjoyed a delightful time at Chincoteague Island with some close friends. Elianna had never been to the beach before and today was her day. She'd always loved bathtime but this was like the biggest bathtub she'd ever seen and she was LOVIN' it!
We all sat around sunning, chatting, and relaxing on the beach as Elianna sat beside us playing in the sand and enjoying the inflow of bubbly white water creeping up into the little sandpit we made for her right next to our umbrella. Suddenly, with no warning, the tide shot up in one wave and swept Elianna backward, eyes, nose, mouth full of saltwater, sending her a couple of feet backward. We were absolutely horrified and scooped her up at once. It took Elianna a few seconds to get her bearings and I was sure at this point we'd need to be heading back for the day. After that experience, surely Elianna would be too traumatized to continue playing on the beach.
But to our amazement, Elianna opened her eyes, let out a cough or two, looked around, and then motioned she wanted to get right back to playing! Not even a tear! She took that wave like a pro and just kept on going, happy as before.
Sometimes life can throw us a sudden wave and knock us around a bit. But, like Elianna, we need to get right back up and keep going! Heavenly blessings await those who endure trials and keep pressing forward for the Kingdom!
Have you been sideswiped recently? Don't let it get you down! Let's get right back in there and make the best of our time here on this earth. Soon we'll be hearing the words, "Well done thou good and faithful servant!"
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]F.B. Meyer once said, “The education of our faith is incomplete [till] we learn that God’s providence works through loss…that there’s a ministry to us through the failure and fading of things. The dwindling brook where Elijah sat is a picture of our lives.
Most people reading this passage tend to focus in on the fruit that is produced. Okay…But a closer look will reveal that the Lord is really focusing on the tree. The fruit merely demonstrates the quality of the tree. We have all encountered this: there are trees whose fruit is healthy and delicious, and there are trees whose fruit is scarcely edible, or even useless.
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on in every person. He said, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’. One is evil — it is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good…
There’s an interesting story about the great English actor, Macready. A respected preacher once asked him, “I wish you would explain something to me.”
We live in a day and age that everywhere we turn, there’s a “self-help” theory. Books, videos and dvds, websites, world-renown speakers, you name it — all dedicated to helping us “feel good about ourselves”. Yet somehow, still many of us struggle with self-consciousness, even as Christians!
Early in the last century, sculptor Gutzon Borglum gazed at the cliffs of South Dakota’s Black Hills. As any great artist would, He saw what no one else could the sculpted faces of US presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. After 14 years, he finally completed his project — Mount Rushmore.
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