Losing ME

By Jarrod Spencer –

We live in a world full of “ME.” Under someone’s facebook links was a cartoon that was supposed to say “America” at the top. All the letters were on the bottom of the cartoon except for M & E. My thought is that America is becoming more and more like that. ME is the most important person in the country. One of the issues with that is there are millions of MEs. With losing a few pounds a common New Year’s goal, why not try to lose a different kind of weight, the ME weight?

Losing excess pounds will help make your life healthier. Losing excess ME pounds will make your life healthier, too. If ME is weighing you down, causing you to be less healthy, you are probably being prevented from doing some really amazing things!

As a way of shedding the ME pounds, think about these suggestions to having a healthier life.

One: Examine what areas are preventing you from accomplishing your goals. Make a list of these obstacles. Look at what ME areas are the biggest obstacles and seek a way to lose them.

Two: Refrain from “I can’t.” When you are thinking about accomplishing a goal do you tend to look at the negatives so much that you say “I can’t”? That phrase has the potential to keep you from great things. This may be one of the weights you must remove in order to have a healthier future.

Three: Take a step. Think about stepping forward to start accomplishing your goals. Losing the ME will help you be on the path of accomplishment. Is there something that you could use your talents in, but aren’t sure how? Take a step and see how God uses the opportunity. Have you wanted to meet that neighbor that you frequently drive by? Take a step and go out the door to shake hands and simply say, “Welcome to the neighborhood!”

Your ME may be preventing you from seeing what you can do with life. Shedding the ME weight may not be an easy process, but what weight loss ever is?

PRAYER: Father, help me to remove myself from Your plans for me. Help me to be submissive and attentive to what You would seek me to be involved in, who to be involved with, and how to be the most useful servant in Your Kingdom.

“Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth” (Matthew 19:21-22 NIV).

Today’s devotional is by Jarrod Spencer. He is a seeker of God’s surprises in everyday life, looking for ways to be used by God with anyone he comes in contact with. He has a passion for encouraging people through the written word and exercises that passion with blogging and sending out a weekly text of encouragement. You can read more of his writings at http://jarrodspencer.blogspot.com and his church’s website is http://www.colbychurch.com.

The Dog Ate It

By Rhonda Rhea –

Anytime it takes me an entire half hour to write out my to-do list for the day, I know it’s a day I’m likely in for some hullabaloo. That’s what hullaba-happened yesterday. I’m not the most organized cookie on the block. The to-do list helps keep me from wasting my day flitting here and there without accomplishing the things that are most vital. So I built my list and numbered each item in order of importance. Okay, since organization is not my best thing, the list was on a napkin. But at least I made it. In a few hours I had a couple of items checked off with about a dozen more to go. Still overwhelming but I was making progress.

I figured I could make faster progress if I had coffee, so I went to whip up a pot. Here’s my to-do list tip for the day:  If you’re going to put your to-do list on a napkin, at least make sure you put something on top of it so it doesn’t float off the desk. By the time I got back with my coffee, the dog had run away with it. She was under the table in the dining room. Shredding.

The next part of the hullabaloo involved an intense chase scene. I fished most of the list out from under the table and a few pieces out from between LuLu’s molars. A half hour spent on a list that was suddenly coleslaw.

LuLu was trying to look innocent. Maybe she was even trying to help me. No to-do list means nothing to do, right? Isn’t a good shredding even better than a few checkmarks? Still, the list of all the work I was trying to accomplish at home was dog chow. The dog really did eat my homework.

It was a good reminder, though, that there are times when all those things on the to-do list need to give way to things that are most vital. It’s always a good test for me when I have deadlines up to my eyebrows and I get a call from a friend who needs a listening ear. Or even when my kids want to play a game. Am I willing to shred my own agenda when the Lord might have a different one in mind? If there’s something that will bring Him glory that’s not on my to-do list, am I willing to trade my list for His?

Colossians 3:2 says to, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (NIV). Then a few verses later, we’re given this reminder:  “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Whether in word or deed, whether on a napkin or over the phone—or even playing tiddlywinks—I want my agenda to ever and always line up with His.

Of course, we’ll have trouble playing tiddlywinks. LuLu ate them. I think she thought they were baked beans. Which I’m guessing she thought would go well with the coleslaw.

Rhonda Rhea is a radio personality, conference speaker, humor columnist and author of seven books, including High Heels in High Places and her newest book, Whatsoever Things Are Lovely: Must-Have Accessories for God’s Perfect Peace. You can find out more at www.RhondaRhea.org.

The Power to Heal

By Carin LeRoy –

She went to Jesus out of desperation. Her last bit of energy was spent as she walked through the village and pushed her way through the crowds. This was the last ounce of hope she had left for healing her sick body. She knew Jesus could help. She pressed on through the throngs of people getting a glimpse of Jesus. Reaching forward, she touched the hem of His garment. Immediately, she was healed.

“Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

Knowing she would not go unnoticed, she fell trembling at Jesus’ feet. In Luke 8, we read this story of the woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years. I’m sure she was physically exhausted, discouraged and financially strained from visits to doctors who could not heal her. Yet with one touch, Jesus could.

I know she must have questioned the reason for her suffering for twelve long years. Yet it was her faith in Jesus and His power that ended her suffering. Instantly, God had the power to change her life.

Let’s worship Him today as we remember these words, “How awesome are Your deeds! So great is Your power” (Psalm 66: 3 NIV). We believe in a great God whose power can change our lives, just as He did those many years ago.

PRAYER: Lord, help me to remember that You are a God with the power to heal and change lives. Thank You for Your wonderful and awesome deeds.

“Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend Your works to another; they will tell of Your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and I will meditate on Your wonderful works. They will tell of the power of Your awesome works, and I will proclaim Your great deeds” (Psalm 145: 3-6 NIV).

Today’s devotional is by Carin LeRoy, wife to Dale, mother of three grown children and one high school teenager. She has served as a missionary with PIONEERS since 1982. Her passions are family, playing and teaching piano, missions, and writing stories that show glimpses of God.

Meaningful Work

By Cynthia Ruchti –

“Meaningful work.”

That’s what I said over the phone when in conversation with someone who shared my rant over the four-volume to-do lists sneering at us both. Looking for a spark of hope in the murky fog of responsibilities, I cheered the caller with the line, “Our lists remind us we have meaningful work to do.” Nervous little laugh. Then came the soul-heavy recognition that the Lord had just spoken, not me. And not through me but TO me.

My mom’s final days on this earth, almost a year ago now, were marked by struggle and a pathological inactivity that often rose with a greater ferocity than her pain. She mourned her loss of strength and the steady decline of her ability to breathe, but of greatest concern was the loss of something meaningful to do.

She’d battled congestive heart failure and all…yes, all…of its complications for many years. She understood that physical activities would be sloughed off like dead skin cells. One by one, she gave them up—traveling, gardening, cooking, pulling her great-grandchildren into her lap. Eventually even reading—a great holdout of joy in her declining years—was taken in brief one or two minutes snatches before she tired.

Diligent to the end to pray for those she loved, for her church family, and even for her hospice caregivers, all other avenues of meaningful work disappeared. No to-do lists. No responsibilities except for the labor of breathing.

Not having more than that on her list broke her heart.

Reflecting on the depth of her disappointment, I’m thanking God today that there’s more than one thing waiting for my attention. A robust list. And whether today or tomorrow or next week, they’ll all get done, by God’s grace.

PRAYER: Lord, thank You for cheering my heart with this wave of gratitude. Even when the list threatens to choke me, it won’t. And it is evidence that You have given me an abundance of meaningful work.

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17 NIV).

Today’s devotional is by Cynthia Ruchti, writer/producer of THE HEARTBEAT OF THE HOME radio ministry and past president of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). Cynthia’s debut novel—They Almost Always Come Home—and “The Heart’s Harbor” in A Door County Christmas novella collection released in 2010. Cynthia writes stories of hope-that-glows-in-the-dark (www.cynthiaruchti.com).

Get the Brush Out of Your Life

By Teresa G. Lusk –

My middle child has hair just liker her mom’s, thick and long. Brushing her hair is an ordeal daily. To make the hair brushing process smoother, I asked her not to bring me the little blue brush she likes so much and instead use only a large squared brush that hurts less and gets tangles out quicker.

The explanation to why she should use the large brush had been something she heard several times and there was no doubt to why she should use it, to keep her from pain.  Still, she often chose to bring the little hurtful brush and all I heard was crying and complaining as was the ritual.

In our home, we try to use simple opportunities to teach life lessons as we did that day when I had had it. Again, she brought the little blue brush shortly after the tears rolled in. I began to explain that the brush was like sin in our life. That we have a choice to do the right thing or the wrong thing according to the expectation God has for us. If we continue to choose the wrong thing, then we will have pain in our life. That brush was like sin in her  life and when something is causing her pain, she needed to do something about that.

Then, the big question proceeded. I said, “If your brush is causing you to hurt, what should you do with it”? She said, “Get rid of it”! That is right! Get rid of the brush that causes pain in your life. To the trash the brush went and we added on more life lesson to her little heart and mind.

Teresa G. Lusk is the author of Good Enough to be a Homemaker and CEO and a Motivational Speaker. Visit www.teresalusk.com for more information.

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