Winter Wilderness

By Art Fulks –

It always amazes me how many friends and family I reconnect with at some level during the holiday season. Many times, it is a simple passing conversation at the mall while shopping or a few connecting moments at a Christmas gathering. On a common holiday mission, we make commitments to connect on a more consistent basis and to invest in the relationships. But as the new year begins, realities set in and life sometimes seems even more overwhelming. Although we just spent an entire month in a consistent oasis of social interaction and purpose, it is easy to suddenly find ourselves lost and dried up in a winter wilderness. We are people…not camels.

Personally, I find myself in the winter wilderness for three main reasons:  (1) unmet expectations of myself; (2) unrealistic expectations of others; and (3) unrecognized fresh water right in front of me. Practically, I need to focus on pursuing a few consistent goals for growing in my journey and intentionally invest in one or two new realtionships. Also, it is unrealistic to think that every intention stated by others in passing will be made a priority. Finally, when I focus on unmet expectations of myself or others, I often miss the provision of my Heavenly Father who has promised to supply my needs day-by-day.

Sometimes the winter wilderness is unavoidable, but God can do amazing things with barren land.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, may I find my encouragement from Your daily provision. Help me find consistent direction and purpose from You, the only One who always exceeds my expectations.

“He turns a wilderness into a pool of water and a dry land into springs of water” (Psalm 107:35 NASB).

Today’s devotional is by Art Fulks, a church planter/pastor at Connection Fellowship in Greenville, South Carolina. Married for 22 years and a father of four, Art is a graduate of The Ohio State Univeristy and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a passionate Bible teacher, speaker, musician, worship leader, and life coach. Read more at http://www.connectionfellowship.org http://artfulks.blogspot.com.

Forgiveness Trumps Conventional Wisdom

By Bruce Hebel –

Brad and Molly came to us in crisis. Three weeks earlier Molly had discovered Brad’s pornography addiction and his multiple affairs, including Molly’s best friend, Brad’s best friend’s wife and prostitutes. She was shocked.

A couple of days after the initial confrontation, Brad picked up his Bible. As he began to read, something inside him broke. For two hours he tearfully read the Bible and for the first time, understood the grace of God and the forgiveness provided for him through the blood of the cross. He was dramatically transformed. Heart cleansed. Desires changed.

Molly recognized the change but couldn’t get over the offense. “I thought we had a great marriage. I swore I would not be like my mom, but now I have become my mom because he has become my dad.” She went on to explain how her father would leave her in the car as an alibi while he had affairs with women.

Conventional wisdom wouldn’t give this couple good survival odds, but conventional wisdom doesn’t understand the power of forgiveness. I looked at Brad and asked who hurt him as a child. He described the horrific sexual abuse his sister committed against him from the time he was five years old until he was age eleven. We gently told him, “You must forgive your sister.”

As Brad began to forgive the numerous wounds from his sister, Molly began to weep uncontrollably. Toni knelt beside her and cradled Molly in her arms. After Brad finished forgiving the wounds from his sister, he forgave himself.  I asked him  “How is your heart?” He told us he would never have believed his heart could be any better than the day he trusted the Lord, but in fact it was better now than ever. He was unmistakably free.

Then Toni looked at Molly and said, “You won’t be free, totally free, until you also walk through forgiveness.” After forgiving Brad and her father, the change in her countenance was remarkable and as they stood up to leave, Molly embraced Brad for the first time in three weeks. In fact, on the way home, she unbuckled her seat belt and slid over and snuggled next to him. He almost wrecked the truck! When we saw them a month later she told us their marriage has never been this good. Forgiveness trumped conventional wisdom.

AUTHOR QUOTE: Jesus never let the offence determine whether or not He would forgive someone!

“He himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2 NASB).

Today’s devotional is by Bruce Hebel, President of Regenerating Life Ministries (forgiving forward.com) and Adjunct Professor at Carver Bible College. Bruce is the author of the seminar and soon to be published book “Forgiving Forward: Unleashing the Forgiveness Revolution” He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and, along with his wife Toni, has served in pastoral ministry for over 35 years.

Better Part of Valor

By Jane Thornton –

Prom night, thirty years later, still resonates with emotions. Mostly self-mockery at this stage, but I remember the heightened feelings of anticipation and giddiness. Hours spent applying my first set of fake fingernails, a mad dash to the florist for the forgotten boutonniere. For years I planned to wear the floating dress of a southern belle, but, as an oh-so-adult senior, I switched to the sleek, sophisticated look of polyester.

That night, adorned in chic maroon (not pastel), I traipsed into the ladies’ room with a friend to freshen my makeup. Among the throng in front of the mirror, I spotted a dress with vaguely familiar lines.

I elbowed my friend. “Look at her dress. It’s an awful lot like mine except hers vees in the front and mine in the back.”

Eyeing the unaware target of our interest, my friend nodded. “It even has the little cape top.” (I told you this was thirty years ago).

A disdainful sniff scrunched my nose. “The vee in back is much more original.” But my eye was continually drawn to the similarities. “Lisa, I think it’s exactly the same, but she’s wearing it backward . . .”

Slowly an inkling of the mind-boggling reality seeped into my consciousness and horror dawned. “Oh no! I’m wearing my dress backward!”

My awkward words spilled into a sudden silence.

So many lessons can be drawn from that day and night. Vanity. Priorities. Friendship. The list continues. But the moral that resounds over the years is that I should have kept my big mouth shut.

As James 3:2 says, “For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way” (NLT). The price on prom night was just a few moments of excruciating embarrassment followed by a hands-on tutorial in learning to laugh at oneself. At other times in my life, the damage has been much worse.

I have lost count (and hope my children have also) of the number of bedtimes where I had to apologize for my harsh words during the day. I fear my example for handling stress has put the penalty for my loss of control onto my kids.

Although I know I’m forgiven, I still wince at certain memories. More than once my attempts at humor have resulted in a lack of discretion. My unruly tongue has victimized my husband, my friends, my siblings, and my children. Not malice, but a quick and thoughtless mouth, is the culprit.

Let’s not turn this into the tirade I deserve, but thank God for His incomprehensible grace in forgiving each stumble and listen to His guidance for the future:

“Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
and you are on earth,
so let your words be few.
A dream comes when there are many cares,
and many words mark the speech of a fool” (Ecclesiastes 5:2-3 NIV).

The Priority Shift

By Cami Checketts –

As we begin a new year, I always get excited to write a list of goals and envision how I’m going to improve myself and my family’s life throughout the year. But life changed at the Checketts’ home in 2010. I used to feel I was efficient and organized. I used to have a monthly goals and daily to-do lists and if I didn’t work towards each goal every day I would get frustrated with myself.

My fourth baby has recently changed all of that. My number one goal is to hold, love, and savor each moment with this chubby baby. If I don’t make it to the gym, turn on my computer, or fold the laundry, I don’t allow myself to obsess over my lack of ambition.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t have goals or write up a list of New Year’s Resolutions because those are extremely important and motivating things. We should always be trying to improve ourselves and the world around us. But sometimes we can go too far, get so wrapped up in the to-do list and forget about what’s most important. Maybe in our goal-setting this New Year we should make sure that some of those goals are focused on improving our spirituality and making it possible for us to slow down and focus more on family and those who matter most.

This is especially true if you and your family are overloaded with activities, going through a hard time at work or school or have health or family issues. Slowing down and focusing on the essentials will make it possible to accomplish the important things—things like scripture study, prayer, family meals, family activities and serving others.

I pray each of you will have a wonderful New Year and be able to accomplish the goals you’re setting for yourself while still focusing on what matters most.

Cami Checketts is a wife, mother of four boys, exercise scientist, and author. www.camichecketts.com  – http://camicheckettsbooks.blogspot.com.

Calling Out to God When No One Else is Listening

By Janet Morris Grimes –

There are few times in life when you may find yourself alone, all family and peer groups stripped away for a season. Life has a way of bringing us to this chasm that isolates us from the rest of the world. It may be a circumstance, such as the loss of a job or a negative diagnosis or test result you were hoping not to hear. It might be the death of a loved one, or a tough situation a child of yours may be suffering that leaves you certain that no one else in this would could possibly know how you feel at that precise moment.

But what I’ve found is that these are the moments we see and hear God most clearly. When He is all we’ve got left, with no one else to turn to, He reveals himself in the most beautiful of ways.

Think about it. The Bible is filled with such stories. Jonah-I’m quite certain there was no one else in the belly of that fish with him to point him in the right direction. Saul, who became Paul, but only after being blinded by the light. Blindness must have an immediate effect of making one feel alone. Joseph, who was beaten by his brothers, dropped in a pit, and then sold into slavery rather than being left to die. These stories demonstrate abandonment at its best. Or worst.

Jesus faced it as well, many times, but the difference was that He knew what was coming. In the Garden of Gethsemane, just before being turned over to the enemy to be led to his own crucifixion, Jesus asked his apostles to “watch and pray” but they were  too sleepy to even notice his anguish, even though He predicted his upcoming death numerous times.

Jesus shows us just how to handle those situations that knock us to our knees, leaving us in fields of abandonment. It was there, alone in the garden, that Jesus cried out to his Father like never before, referring to God as Abba, which means simply Daddy. And his simple prayer says it all.

“Abba Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me, yet not my will, but your will” (Mark 14:36) .

Jesus prayed for deliverance from his circumstances, and recognized that God had the power to change them. But He also accepted God’s will, knowing whatever He was about to face, He would never be alone.

The truth is that people let you down. Daily. And abandonment of any kind hurts us to the core. But it may be those moments when the world turns its back on us, that drive us toward God. He is always ready to meet us on the path, in the belly of the whale, or even in a pit, just as soon as we call His name. He is Abba, Daddy, the one who hears our cries no one else is listening.

“The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

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