Thank Goodness for Mercy

By Susan Dollyhigh –

Moca, my miniature dachshund, spent a week in the animal hospital recovering from pancreatitis. Afterwards, when I took Moca to the vet for a check-up, Dr. Brinegar asked,
“What’s going on with Moca?”

“Moca ate a baby bird,” I said.

Dr. Brinegar looked first at Moca and then at me. “I am an avian veterinarian, and I love birds,” he said.

I looked at Moca and thought; Puppy, you could be in big trouble. The man who holds your life in his hands loves birds. And he knows you ate one.

The vet’s knowing that Moca brought this illness upon herself by ending the life of an innocent baby bird could have impacted Dr. Brinegar’s compassion for my poor puppy. His mercy level could have plummeted upon hearing the dreadful news.

But it didn’t.

Dr. Brinegar spoke tenderly to the guilty puppy. He gently examined her belly. I think he cared…but he just didn’t judge what sin had gotten Moca into her predicament; he wanted to heal her and restore her to her loved ones.

Thank goodness for mercy.

Aren’t we glad that the One who holds our life in His hands has mercy on us?

King David, whom God referred to as a man after His own heart, cried out to God for mercy after a time of great sin in his life. King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed in battle. The child born of this affair died, and King David was a heartbroken man for a time.

But King David knew his healing could only come from God and he cried, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.”

When we, like King David, go to God and confess whatever sin has gotten us into a predicament, thankfully, the details do not affect the amount of compassion God has for us. His mercy level does not plummet upon hearing the dreadful news.

God speaks tenderly to our guilty spirit. He gently examines our heart. Regardless of the sin that has gotten us into our predicament, Our Father wants to heal us and restore us to a right relationship with Him.

Thank goodness for mercy.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for mercy, and unfailing love that You have for us.

I said, “O LORD, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against you” (Psalm 41:4 NIV).

A Trip to the Boonies

By Carin LeRoy –

The other week, I drove with my husband out to a remote location in the “boonies” of Florida to pick up a shipment for work. We grabbed the GPS, punched in the address and waited for the voice to prompt our turns. We arrived with ease.

On the way home, however, was a different story. When leaving, the GPS decided to die, and we were left to fend for ourselves to navigate the way home.

“Do you remember which way we turned? Was it left or right?”

“I’m not sure. I think it was left,” I said.

Wrong.

Twenty minutes later neither of us recognized anything or couldn’t find a road that led south. When we saw a sign pointing to New Smyrna Beach, we knew we were off track and turned around. Finding our way back was more challenging as we tried to remember the roads. After several missed turns, we finally made our way home the old fashioned way – by paying attention to road signs.

Let’s face it. We are a culture dependent on technology. If our GPS breaks, our computer crashes or our phone gets lost, we act like a two-year-old who lost their Mommy.

How would our lives as Christians be different if we were as dependent on God’s Word as we are on technology? How much pain and confusion would we spare ourselves if we became reliant on His direction and obedient to His voice? Instead, have we become distracted from hearing His voice, careless about meeting with Him in prayer and Bible reading, and consequently missed turns in our lives where He meant to bless us.

Let’s ask God to help us to evaluate the changes we need to make. God will never leave us to search alone, and His word is available each day to guide us. Let’s learn what it means to depend on God to lead us in the right direction. With His help, we can get there, with ease.

PRAYER: Lord, thank You that Your Word is available for guidance. Help me to learn to depend on it, to read it and look to You for life’s direction.

“Your word is a lamp to walk by and a light to illumine my path” (Psalm 119:105 NET).

Weak, and Proud of It

By Cheri Cowell –

“I just can’t go on,” the cry for help rises as a chorus from thousands of counseling rooms around the country.

There are many reasons for this cry, but one of the most common is despair and depression. I’m not talking about clinical depression, and if you have been feeling this way for a long time and it is affecting your ability to function, please see a counselor, for no one should have to suffer when help is available.

The kind of despair and depression I am referring to is a sense that the world’s problems are just too big, and we see ourselves as powerless and overwhelmed by the magnitude of the demands on our time and ability.

But God has an answer for our despair. It is called grace.

God’s grace is His unearned and undeserved favor. It is God, withholding what we deserve and instead giving us His acceptance and love. When He says His grace is sufficient, He is saying that when we fully realize He is giving us His love instead of what we deserve, that should be enough for us. If we were sufficient in ourselves and did not need His grace, then we could handle all of life’s problems on our own and we wouldn’t need Him.

However, since we are not sufficient and are instead weak and powerless, we need Him. It is only because we need Him, because we are weak, that He can be strong for us. His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses. When we see our weaknesses as opportunities for God to show His power, we can join Paul in saying, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

PRAYER: I praise You, God, for Your unmerited favor, for Your sufficient grace. Help me when I am feeling weak, to see my weakness as an opportunity for You to show Your power through me.

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV).

Hand-Me-Downs

By Robin J. Steinweg –

Five years of fashion separated my older sister’s wardrobe from my eager little frame. As I inherited the stylish clothes she grew out of, the clothes often hung off of me, because I could not wait until they actually fit. Many times, by the time they did, the trends had changed. Five years is a long time in the world of what-to-wear.

As a believer in Christ, I also inherited a wardrobe from Him: garments of salvation and robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10), a crown of life (James 1:12), a crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8), a crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4), and a full set of armor (Ephesians 6:13-17) which includes the accessories of shoes and a belt!

Garments from the first-born of creation (Jesus) never wear out and are always in vogue for Christ-followers of either gender. They provide the perfect fit.

AUTHOR QUOTE: I’m perfectly clothed wearing the garments of God.

“…to bestow on them…a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:3 NIV).

Surprise Me, God

By Jarrod Spencer –

One Sunday morning about five years ago, I was taking a shower to get ready for the day ahead. As I was praying, I asked God to surprise me. To be quite honest, I cannot remember if anything amazing happened that day or not.

What I do know is that that phrase in my prayer changed the way I looked at things from that point forward.

It was as if I was the blind man that Jesus placed mud upon his eyes, then scraped it off so I could see clearly. Or Saul, after his sight had been returned. I could now see things I had not been able to see before. It changed my outlook on the people I encountered throughout the day. I looked forward to situations that came about as “God-sent,” and not just coincidences.

I anticipated something great happening when I would go out into the world. I wondered, with an on-the-edge-of-my-seat anxiousness, what God was going to do with the people I came in contact with or where He was going to send me that day. I could sense the Holy Spirit working to connect me with people that needed Him. I felt so much a part of God’s earthly team that I was in the game the entire time, no sitting down to rest. I was looking forward to the next mountain-top experience that may be waiting around the next corner.

I would be lying if I said that everything I encountered was a mountain-top experience. However, as with sports, when you hit that “sweet shot” in any sport, you look forward to the next opportunity. Even though the next shot may not have been as sweet or powerful, I looked forward to the next opportunity.

I do know that about six months after praying this prayer regularly, we found out that we were going to have our first baby. This came after eight and a half years of not being able to have kids. Our excitement was indescribable!

As I mentioned, I am still praying that prayer and look forward to whatever, or whomever, God has in store for me on any particular day.

I challenge you to ask God to surprise you as you look to the future. It’s a wild ride, but quite rewarding!

PRAYER: Thank You, Father, for the many surprises You have given me. May I continually keep my spiritual eyes open to see what You bring into my life at any given time. Keep them coming, God! I cannot wait to see all that You will surprise me with tomorrow.

“She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, ‘Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus’” (Luke 1:29 MSG).

« Previous Page — Next Page »