Tag: devotional

Be Like A Child

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Life knocks you down. Life knocks you down hard. If we let it, life can harden our hearts, making us cynical and negative. Worry and doubt become our closest companions. We lose touch with the child within—the one who is resilient, carefree, and eager to embrace life’s joys.

Yes, life is full of pain, but it’s also filled with miracles. As we become more aware of life’s tragedies, anxiety often takes root, stealing the laughter from our days. Fear becomes a shadow over our joy.

Be like a child. Seek joy, even when life brings you to your knees. Let yourself find wonder, even in the smallest things, and keep the spirit of resilience alive within you.

Remember, in each day, there are small moments of beauty and magic waiting to be found. Embrace them, and let them soften your heart.

Soften The Heart: Devotional #25

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“Not my will, but yours be done.”

Luke 22:42

What a powerful statement. What Jesus said right here is, I trust you.

I love this scripture so much because it reveals that without a doubt we are going to go through some really hard things, just like Jesus did.

And instead of questioning God, we stop.

We eventually, ultimately, surrender.

We acknowledge that this isn’t what we want, but we say I trust you God.

We say, if this is how it’s suppose to be I trust you. I know you are with me, I trust you. And then we fully give it to GOD.

I said this prayer just a few days ago to God while in great pain and suffering…..not my will but yours be done.

I more so told God in my head that this isn’t what I wanted but if this is the plan for me and this is how my life is suppose to end I fully trust you God. I told God that I surrendered.

I told God that I trusted him and that if this was my time to go that I would accept it. I wasn’t going to question what was happening. Even though it’s not what I wanted I let God know once again that I trusted Him. I told God that I would be sad to not watch my children grow though.

After I spoke with God, I let it all go.

The rest was completely out of my hands and how this was going to end was something I trusted with God. I trusted his plan for me and my family.

How thankful I am for my faith and for Gods Word. Countless times I feel as if my hand has been held.

Now, what led me to that moment with God was I woke up with some minor abdominal cramping, very minor. As the morning continued the pain increasingly progressed to the point where I could barely even walk.

I called for my husband and he rushed home from work and raced me to the ER.

After an hour later of excruciating pain they discovered that I had a twisted intestine and that it was attached to a scar adhesion from a precious c-section.

Things got real, real fast when they said they were sending a helicopter for me to get surgery right away.

It was in that moment where I knew this was very serious. I was in too much pain to be scared but I knew my husband was terrified.

This is where I surrendered. I wanted the pain to end. I was letting go while fighting. It’s a hard thing to explain.

But I can fully say that I put my trust in God. Words can’t fully express how I felt when I woke up after the surgery and even how I still feel in this moment.

My testimony has grown in a way that excites me and that I’m eager to share. I have been redirected in the most beautiful way.

The word of God gives hope. The word of God gives peace. The word of God gives us strength.

What I have gone through God has been with me the entire time.

And I’m so grateful to have trust Him.

Thank you Lord, amen.

Soften The Heart: Devotional #24

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“Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.

“You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

“But the hour is coming, and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

“The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

“Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

John 4 21-26

After reading this full scripture it makes me think about times God has talked to me or communicated with me and I had not known. Just like the woman at the well.

I imagine her being like, “Uh, huh. Yeah when the Messiah is here he’s going to explain all of that.” And then here is Jesus like, “I’m Jesus Christ.”

What a humbling moment!

We think we know, and God reveals to us exactly that. We think we know. But we don’t. We have so much growing to do.

We are still children and acting as children do. No sense of boundaries, we hear what we want to hear, what are consequences you say?

I just described a toddler.

For some reason we think we know more than we actually do.

Eventually I feel like God makes it click for us, partly because of us His love for his children and because of his patience.

Then we begin to make the connections and understand.

If only we took things serious the first time could we have avoided some struggling. Maybe.

Let’s break down this scripture a little bit though.

What does “the hour is coming” mean?

When Jesus says “the hour is coming” in the scriptures, He is often referring to a specific moment or event in God’s divine plan, particularly His crucifixion, resurrection, and the coming of God’s kingdom. This phrase points to a future fulfillment of God’s purpose for salvation.

For instance, in John 4:23 as we read above, Jesus says, “The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” Here, He’s referring to the future when worship will no longer be tied to specific locations or rituals but will be through a genuine connection with God.

In other passages, like John 12:23 (“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified”), it refers to His upcoming death, where He would complete His mission on earth.

In summary, “the hour is coming” points to a pivotal moment in God’s plan, often linked to the transformative events in the life and ministry of Jesus.

But how do we worship the Father in spirit and in truth?

To worship the Father in spirit and truth, as Jesus describes in John 4:23-24, involves a deep, sincere connection with God that transcends external rituals and locations. Here’s how:

1. Worshiping in Spirit:

Worship in spirit means connecting with God on a spiritual level, from the heart and soul, rather than relying solely on outward acts or physical locations. It’s about an authentic relationship with God, led by the Holy Spirit, where worship is heartfelt, personal, and not limited to rituals or ceremonies. This kind of worship engages our whole being, aligning our spirit with God’s Spirit.

• Romans 8:14 says, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Worshiping in spirit is being led by the Holy Spirit, letting Him guide our hearts, prayers, and lives in a way that honors God.

2. Worshiping in Truth:

Worship in truth refers to worshiping God as He truly is, in alignment with the truth revealed in His Word, the Bible. It means worshiping with sincerity and understanding of who God is, grounded in the knowledge of Scripture. Jesus is the embodiment of truth (John 14:6), and worshiping in truth involves acknowledging and following Him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

• Psalm 145:18 reflects this, stating, “The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.” Worship in truth rejects hypocrisy or superficial worship and embraces an honest, authentic pursuit of God.

In summary, worshiping in spirit and truth means bringing together heartfelt devotion and sincerity with a grounded understanding of God’s Word and His true nature. It’s worship that’s both inwardly genuine and outwardly aligned with God’s revealed truth in Scripture.

Wishing you love and blessings.

May our hearts and ears hear when God is speaking to us. And even so, may we continue to have greetings at the well.

May God never stop revealing himself to us even when we have lost our sight.

May we share our wisdom with others when God makes it very clear who He is to us.

May we honor the Father and The Son.

Amen.

Soften The Heart: Devotional #23

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Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.

Psalm 127:4-5

In this scripture we understand the significance of children. It is made clear how much of a gift that they are. Children are the arrows, they are the direction, they are the way. If we pay attention to the children they will lead us to the answers that we seek.

You’ve heard before that, “Children are the future.” Thats because they are THE FUTURE.

To have any children in your life is a blessing. Whether you have children of your own, nieces or nephews, maybe you’re a teacher, counselor, you’ve adopted, etc. “Bless is he whose quiver is full of them.”

(A quiver is a case that holds the arrows of the warrior.)

God has placed the children in your life as a blessing. See them as such.

With this awareness you can become more mindful of your influence around children. With this awareness, you understand that you are the one shaping them. Whether you have given birth to them or not, you are apart of their “maintenance and care”. So that they, like arrows, may be strong and sturdy. That they may hit their intended target.

Born doesn’t just mean to to give birth, it mean’s “to bring forth”. Any children brought to you in your life are a blessing. The scripture tells us this.

This scripture also tells us that we need children as much as they need us. How does a warrior fight without his arrows? How does an arrow fly without its warriors?

We are to be strong warriors with our bows and arrows (patience, calm, precision, is what makes a good archer) and we are to direct them. We are responsible for the accuracy and sharpness.

God has given us the best weapon to defeat the evils of this earth. To restore peace and love. We have been given the gift of children.

God also reminds us that we will struggle inevitably out there on the courts. In life.

However the more arrows that we have in our quiver the better. Which I interpret as the more children you influence in a positive way the more that they will influence others in positive way.

For every hand you touch, you touch every hand they touch as well.

We have great power to influence children and this awareness helps us to be more observant and patient with them. WE are what shape those arrows, WE are the ones that pull the arrows back and release.

Arrows that are shot with no intention can hurt and destroy. It’s important and vital that we understand who we are, that when the time comes to launch our children out into this world, they too will be warriors.

Soften The Heart: Devotional #22

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“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 6:23

The payment to live and be with God is death. We know that we are alive, and that one day, we, and everyone else will die. Death is the gateway to be with THE ONE.

Death can be thought of like taking a shower. Our earthly lives are covered in mud. We are head to toe covered in mud and gunk. And no matter what we do we can’t really get clean in this life.

Jesus let’s us know that when we die the mud will be removed. We gain peace knowing that one day, we will actually be clean and free.

This awareness brings joy. We don’t have to waste anymore time scrubbing away “this mud.” We CAN’T scrub it away anyway no matter how hard we try!

There are others who live who are still convinced that they can get clean and wipe this mud away themselves. They spend almost their whole lives scrubbing and wiping this mud, convinced that they can become clean without anyone’s help.

To die, is to truly remove the mud that is clung to each of us like wet clothes. Death is the ONLY way.

Death is a gift. Death is removing the chains of sin to be with God.

I know the talk of death is scary. It is. It’s scary because there is still much unknown what’s on the other side. It’s scary to think of the separation from the ones we love on this earthly life. But it will okay.

We have been gifted with faith and assurance that it will be okay. That we are loved. And whether we know it or not, this is something we all actually really want.

We have been given a great gift. Many want to point and blame God for the suffering in this world. However it is the suffering that will actually strengthen our bond with God, it’s the suffering that will provide understanding. To recognize the sin in this world is to cry out to God.

You are loved, always and forever. And you are never alone. May peace be with you.

m.g.

Soften The Heart: Devotional #21

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“Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from Your presence,

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,

And uphold me with your generous Spirit.”

Psalm 51:10-13

The Bible shares with us that each of us are salves in this world. We are either a slave to sin or a slave to Christ. Either way, we are owned.

God granted us the choice in whom we will serve. We have been gifted a freedom to make mistakes, question authority, challenge ourselves, and find ourselves. In our freedom we begin to understand humility and love. We learn, grow, and teach (intentionally or unintentionally).

In choosing God, it is also mentioned that the path of Christ is not an untroubled one. Many tribulations will follow each us in our lives. However there is a degree of peace, patience, and assurance when strengthening your faith and choosing to be a slave of righteousness.

It’s a difficult web to be caught in. And we are all in it.

We need help each day to choose God over the traits of this world. Some days we have slips and will continue to have slips. But we must not shame ourselves, we must give ourselves grace and others daily. We must exhort ourselves, challenge others, and be brave to do what others may not be able to.

To seek God is to have the fog lifted in your life.

Fog can keep us stagnant because we are unaware or afraid. Since we can’t see beyond it, we decide to remain stationary because we only trust what we can see.

To have the courage and hope to seek something greater is to discover what’s beyond the fog. It’s to surrender to the unknown.

And it’s the discovery that there is indeed more than what meets the eye.

Soften The Heart: Devotional #20

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“For the Lord is a sun and shield;

The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold

From those who walk uprightly.

O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!”

Psalm 84: 11-12

Do you ever think about what would happen if the sun were to just disappear, vanish, be gone!

Have you ever asked yourself what really does the sun provide to us? What’s it’s purpose and how do we, and life benefit from it?

Well, one thing for certain without the sun we wouldn’t even be able to exist and earth would completely freeze over if the sun were to disappear. Life would very well come to an end.

The sun is essential to life. Nature knows that but do we? How many of us take our sun for granted and rarely acknowledge it’s importance.

The sun is earths guardian and giver. The same way the Lord, God, is ours.

To trust in our Lord is to trust in God, and those who seek God know that he is essential. He is the provider and giver of our lives. He remains very present and so many of us take our God for granted and do not know of His importance.

May we continue to reach for God the way nature reaches for the sun.

An example of nature reaching for the sun is take a plant inside your home and you will notice that it will always lean and grow towards where the sun is shining. Even if you turn the plant, it will change direction and always follow the sun.

The next time you go outside with the sun shining bright take a moment of gratitude and be reminded that we have our own sun providing, protecting, and giving us life. To each and every one of us.

“For the Lord is a sun and shield”

Amen.

Soften The Heart: Devotional #19

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“…for all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Luke 18:14

Let’s define a few of these words so we can better understand this scripture and message.

The definition of the word humble is having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance.

The definition of the word exalt is hold (someone or something) in very high regard; think or speak very highly of.

If you reread the scripture with those definitions you could say it says that whoever thinks very high of themselves will be brought to their knees and a person who lives a humble life will come out on top. Possibly a more fulfilling, peaceful life.

This scripture instructs us to not look down on others. We are instructed to remain humble at all times. And if we fail to do so God will definitely interrupt and remind us of our place. We will be reminded that we know very little to what we think we may know.

Erase the mentality that you are more deserving than another person. Truth be told, we don’t know what others do in secret. One person may share their charity work publicly while another chooses to remain anonymous.

Erase the thoughts of it will never happen to me or assuming you have more time than another. No one is more righteous than another. We are all sinners and we are all broken in search of repairing and rescuing.

Many walk this life living unconsciously. Unaware that the past still has control over their wheel. They are stuck in their conditioning and haven’t gained the courage or knowledge to break the cycle. We are in constant need of God’s grace to revive us.

We must be patient and again humble ourselves. Change can be extremely difficult for many. And we are not judge those. Some do not change their lifestyles because it’s what they know. They are comfortable, and they feel safe even when their environment is questionable to another. They don’t know any different.

When Jesus was on the cross, during his death, he remained humble. He didn’t say anything cruel nor did he exalt himself. He said, “forgive them Father, for they do not know.”

Recognize how fragile life truly is and offer compassion and offer it fully to everyone. There was a time when you didn’t know. Just as children don’t know many things. With time they begin to understand.

But God calls us at different times. And when we are called we are to be examples.

Pray to God to correct you when you are exalting yourself, pray to be humbled and pray to be humbled often.

May we live with love.

– m.g.

Allow God To Catch You When You Fall

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When your child is just learning how to stand or learning how to walk you are either holding them, or standing very close by.

In case your child falls you want to be there to catch them, versus them falling down and hurting themselves.

Nobody wants to see their child hurt or in pain, so we stand very close.

In this walk of life, we are the child and God is our heavenly parent.

But like most children we are very stubborn. We believe we can do things on our own, better yet, WE WANT to do things on our own. Like we need to prove something.

The thing with this mentality is we end up falling many times in life and learn many things the hard way, and it hurts. It hurts really bad. And God is just there waiting, patiently, to help us when we are ready to ask for it.

It’s not that he hasn’t tried to help us, we have pushed Him away saying, “I can do it myself, I don’t need you.” So he watches us fall and thinks to himself, please let me help you.

He knows learning how to walk is challenging and He knows the walk of life can’t be done without the help of Him.

Actually, it’s not that it can’t be done, it can. God just doesn’t want it to be a hard walk of life. He gives us an opportunity to try on our own but he stands by waiting for the permission to help us.

He wants to catch us on those falls because he knows if we keep falling we will be become discouraged and won’t try anymore.

Nobody wants to crawl forever. We want to walk and RUN. When we allow God to catch us we will begin to take more risks, we will be confident, and we won’t be afraid.

When my children were small they would crawl to the edge of the bed only because they knew I would catch them. Imagine if they could talk at that age and say things like, “alright mom, stop, I want to crawl all over the bed myself without you hovering me.” But my children let me be there for them just in case. They felt safe. And they actually enjoyed me catching me.

If you don’t want to let God catch you when you fall that is ultimately your choice, however if you surrender and just let Him help you….your life will change in the most incredible way because you will know that you can do anything.

You can crawl to the edge of the bed with no fear, always.

If, you allow God to catch you when you fall.

– m.g.

Soften The Heart: Devotional #18

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“I WILL bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; The humble shall hear of it and be glad.”

Psalm 34: 1-2

We are surrounded by creation. We marvel at nature and it’s intricate details but sometimes fail to acknowledge the creator of it all.

How we are all so connected and dependent on one another. Creating some type of mysterious puzzle. May our eyes begin to see.

To even be apart of this creation is miraculous. To be conscious of it all is worth praising. We must give gratitude daily. What a gift every moment is.

Acknowledge this plan, pray without ceasing, notice even the smallest of details, and there are many. Hope is alive.

As plants reach and point to the sun, life points to something bigger than ourselves. Thank God for our senses to allow us to fully engulf what God has made for us to enjoy!

Such a power, such a gift, that our God wants to share with us, because He loves us! As a parent loves their child, you are loved very much.

But yet, we forget how amazing the details are. We chase the world. Our attention goes towards greed and power, constantly looking to satisfy what we think we need. We crave control and have a difficult time surrendering to our creator. The flesh is strong, but the spirit is stronger. This I believe. We must never loose sight of the important things in life.

God can be found in all things. But we must eagerly seek. Stay curious like a child.

Thanks to our Lord, who has provided such a path to draw us to our Heavenly Father. Who has given each of us life. We shall praise, and acknowledge daily. Turn from our ways and follow his.