my lil love...

my lil mini-doxie, petey, is the love of my life...

he is my best friend and i love him beyond thought or measure.

a week ago yesterday i had to bring him into pet ER clinic for a small infection.

i thought i was losing him and was absolutely devastated...

the antibiotics were finished yesterday and then last night he swallowed a small portion of sport's tape from my girls' bedroom floor.

the tape can hurt his digestive track and cause an infection...

they wanted me to bring in petey but i can't afford it -

(it cost me $244.00 to take him to the pet ER clinic last sunday)

if he starts the 'v' word or the 'd' word (sorry, i hate both of those words) he has to be seen immediately.

he has to be watched carefully for the next week...

now i will be afraid of losing him for another week and after speaking to the nurse over the phone,

i just cried and cried.

even if you don't know me, could you please say a prayer for petey?

i've lost too many people to lose my precious lil friend as well...

thank you for listening and for any prayers you offer up on me and petey's behalf...

may God bless you all,

laineyrose

i love this devotion...

Stressed Out,
by Patrick D. Odum

"So do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?"
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own."
(Matthew 6:31-34 TNIV)

Please pardon me if I seem a little stressed out.
I really can't help it.
After all, I apparently live in the most stressful city in America.
Yes, Chicago was recently named in an article by "Forbes Magazine" as the most stressful place
in the United States to live.
Forbes based their evaluation on several factors, including air quality, unemployment rate, the cost of housing
and gas, and population density.
Chicago scored high enough in all these categories to push our lovely city past New York, Detroit, Los Angeles,
and San Francisco and claim the title of "Most Stressful Place in America."
Whoo-hoo! We're number one.
Actually, it could have been worse.
The "Forbes" article based its conclusions in part on the fact that gas in Chicago costs "a nickel under four dollars." Those were the days.
Funny thing, though.
I've lived in Chicago for seventeen years and, aside from a little high blood pressure, I'm in pretty good health.
You'd think all that time living in the most stressful city in America would have taken more of a toll.
In fact, I know lots of people who live in other places who seem to have at least as much stress in their
lives as I do, if not more.
And I'm sure there are places in other parts of the world that make Chicago look about as stressful as a quiet tropical island.
Though we use it to refer to almost anything that makes us worried or anxious,
the word stress originally described "the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change."
In other words, stress is the general symptoms we feel when things don't go as we planned.
It's what happens to us when we're forced to adjust on the fly.
If that's what stress is, then I think we're left with an inescapable conclusion.
We can't avoid stress.
I know, I know.
You're welcome.
Look, I'm with you;
I think I might enjoy a life in which the only stress I had was deciding whether to have crab or steak for dinner.
I've come to the conclusion, however, that God hasn't seen fit to give me that life.
I'm pretty sure that isn't your life, either.
In fact, I'm pretty sure that's no one's life.
If stress is the body's response to any demand for change, then short of having absolute and complete control of your life, and the lives of those around you, stress is inescapable.
Stuff will happen to you that you hadn't planned for.
Stuff will happen to you that you might have planned for, but sooner than you planned.
Stuff will happen to you that you planned for, and you'll find that your plans don't cover it.
Or if it's not you this week, it will be someone you love, and that person's stress will cause you stress.
We might as well stop being surprised when unexpected things happen.
We might as well recognize the stress we feel for what it is:
a biological reaction to the upsetting of our apple carts.
Be it a lane closure or a foreclosure, the birth of a baby or the death of a parent, starting a new job
or getting fired, marriage problems or dating problems.
Something happens that demands change, or adaptation, or fight, or flight, and our bodies amp up
the energy level and take stock of options.
Not just in Chicago, or even especially in Chicago.
Anywhere.
Everywhere.
Jesus suggests that we focus our energies on seeking God.
I think a lot of what we call stress is really worry, and what we usually worry about are the things
we can't do much else about.
It's funny how we are, really;
we worry most about what we can do the least about.
Somehow, though, we seem to be under the impression that by obsessing over it and fretting about it,
lying awake all night turning it over in our heads, and driving everyone we know crazy endlessly retelling
and rehashing it, we can somehow solve it.
That's why we don't like it that Jesus seems dismissive of the things that stress us.
"Don't worry," he says, and being wired the way we are it's little wonder that our knee-jerk response
is something along the lines of, "Yeah, right."
But don't tune him out, because what he suggests is that worry is a theological problem.
We worry, he claims, because the God we believe in isn't powerful enough or loving enough or concerned enough
to watch over us.
Thankfully, he reminds us that the God we're supposed to believe in is our "heavenly Father,"
and that he cares for his children.
Jesus suggests that we learn some life lessons from the birds and the grass.
Neither are strong in the area of strategic, long-range planning.
Yet, by and large, God cares for them.
The birds seem to have all they need to eat.
The grass is clothed in flowers as bright as the finery of a king.
They go about their business, they do what they do and live their lives, and God cares for them.
"Are you not much more valuable to God?"
Jesus asks us – who are made in his image, shaped by his hands, animated by his breath.
"Don't you think your Father in heaven will care for you at least that well?"
Worry, Jesus says, is the response of pagans to a world that's out of their control.
The response of believers is faith in a God who knows exactly what we need and is happy to provide it.
The response of believers is prayer: to give thanks for his care in the past and ask for it
to continue in the present and future.
Instead of worry, Jesus suggests that we focus our energies on seeking God:
his reign over our hearts and lives, his righteousness lived out in what we do and say.
It's kind of a nice way, I think, of telling us to just try to do what God says and be the people he made us to be, and leave the planning to him.
That's scary, for some us.
For all of us, to an extent.
Then again, there's something attractive about it, too.
To live with joy and expectation and trust, instead of anxiety, worry, and gloom?
We can.
We have every reason to live that way.
Leave worry to those who don't know our Father in heaven.
That's not for us.
The God we know cares for the birds and the grass and loves us even more.
So much, in fact, that he didn't even withhold his Son from us.
Trust his power and love, seek his presence and his will above everything else, and you'll be ready
to deal with any kind of stress life may have in store for you.
Why, you could even live in Chicago.

(c) 2008 Patrick D. Odum
~this and other devotions can be found at www.heartlight.org~

who do you say that I am?

VERSE:

"But what about you?" he asked.

"Who do you say I am?"

Peter answered, "The Christ of God."

~Luke 9:20~

THOUGHT:

A lot of people have their opinions about Jesus’ identity.

The real issue, however, is what you believe about Jesus.

What you decide about God’s Son means everything for you and for those you influence.

So listen to Jesus' question to his disciples as if he is asking it of you: "Who do you say I am?"

I pray that your answer is the same as Peter’s:

“You are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

PRAYER:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus, who is my Lord, Savior, friend, and older brother in your family.

I praise you for sending him to reveal yourself to us and I thank you for your love demonstrated by him on the Cross.

I do believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and the only Savior who can bring freedom, pardon, cleansing, and complete salvation.

Thank you!

In Jesus' mighty name I pray.

Amen.

~this and other devotions can be found at www.heartlight.org~

freedom...

VERSE:
"Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to
everyone, to win as many as possible."
~1 Corinthians 9:19~

THOUGHT:
Grace frees us from the law of sin and death.

But, our freedom is not to be used for rebellion or for self-gratification.

Instead, we are to use our freedom redemptively, just as Jesus did

(cf. Philippians 2:5-11).

We can voluntarily limit that freedom to help others still caught in bondage

to sin and false ideas about God.

We can use the freedom of the Spirit to be transformed to be like
Christ (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).

Let’s use our freedom to rejoice and to bless.

PRAYER:
Thank you, great and mighty LORD, for setting me free by your grace.

I know, dear Father, that this gift was given to me at great cost ~

the humiliating torture, death, and burial of your Son, Jesus Christ.

So use me, dear Father, to bless others who have not
yet found their deliverance and freedom in Jesus.

I pray this in the name of my Savior, Jesus.

Amen.

~this and other devotions can be found at: www.heartlight.org~

just thank You...

dearest Father,

though i am undeserving and unworthy for even an ounce of Your Mercy, Grace and Forgiveness,
i am so grateful to You for not giving up on me...

thank You for loving me, my Abba.
thank You for forgiving me.
thank You for taking pity on me.

thank You for the people You put in my path...

my mom and dad
my children
my petey - my friend
my sisters
jay, one of my best friends
cindyluwho
lauren
nat
lydia
all the sms drivers
all the nurses
all my doctors

all the wonderful receptionists
all the radiologists
everyone at my dentist office - (they are kind, understanding and knowledgable about the liver disease too)
all the kind and funny people at Yoke's - (we will miss you, jeannette!)
my patient and understanding pharmacists
all the friendly and helpful people i've talked with at avista, city of airway and qwest...
and more besides.

i know they are in my path because of You, Father.
help me to be just as big a blessing to them as they have been to me...

i don't deserve You, my Father...but that doesn't change how very much i need You and want to reflect who You are to the world around me.

so, Abba, thank You

and this one's for You...

"I Need You More"

I need You more
More than yesterday
I need You Lord
More than words can say
I need You more
Than ever before
I need You Lord

I need You Lord
More than the air I breathe
More than the song I sing
More than the next heartbeat
More than anything
And Lord as time goes by
I'll be by Your side
Cause I never want to go back
To my old life
I need You Lord

~Lindell Cooley~

freely given...

"I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid.
I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord;
and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin."
~Psalms 32:5~

David's grief for sin was bitter.
Its effects were visible upon his outward frame: "his bones waxed old";
"his moisture was turned into the drought of summer."
No remedy could he find, until he made a full confession before the throne of the heavenly grace.
He tells us that for a time he kept silence, and his heart became more and more filled with grief:
like a mountain tarn whose outlet is blocked up, his soul was swollen with torrents of sorrow.
He fashioned excuses;
he endeavoured to divert his thoughts, but it was all to no purpose;
like a festering sore his anguish gathered, and as he would not use the lancet of confession,
his spirit was full of torment, and knew no rest.
At last it came to this, that he must return unto his God in humble penitence, or die outright;
so he hastened to the mercy-seat, and there unrolled the volume of his iniquities before the

all-seeing One, acknowledging all the evil of his ways in language such as you read in the fifty-first and

other penitential Psalms.
Having done this, a work so simple and yet so difficult to pride, he received at once the token of divine forgiveness; the bones which had been broken were made to rejoice, and he came forth from his closet

to sing the blessedness of the man whose transgression is forgiven.
See the value of a grace-wrought confession of sin!
It is to be prized above all price, for in every case where there is a genuine, gracious confession,

mercy is freely given, not because the repentance and confession deserve mercy, but for Christ's sake.
Blessed be God, there is always healing for the broken heart;
the fountain is ever flowing to cleanse us from our sins.
Truly, O Lord, thou art a God "ready to pardon!"
Therefore will we acknowledge our iniquities.

~Other Charles Spurgeon's devotions can be found at www.heartlight.org.~

great storms...

"There were also with him other little ships."

~Mark 4:36~

Jesus was the Lord High Admiral of the sea that night, and his presence preserved the whole convoy.

It is well to sail with Jesus, even though it be in a little ship.

When we sail in Christ's company, we may not make sure of fair weather, for great storms may toss

the vessel which carries the Lord himself, and we must not expect to find the sea less boisterous

around our little boat.

If we go with Jesus we must be content to fare as he fares;

and when the waves are rough to him, they will be rough to us.

It is by tempest and tossing that we shall come to land, as he did before us.

When the storm swept over Galilee's dark lake all faces gathered blackness, and all hearts dreaded shipwreck.

When all creature help was useless, the slumbering Saviour arose, and with a word, transformed the

riot of the tempest into the deep quiet of a calm;

then were the little vessels at rest as well as that which carried the Lord.

Jesus is the star of the sea;

and though there be sorrow upon the sea, when Jesus is on it there is joy too.

May our hearts make Jesus their anchor, their rudder, their lighthouse, their life-boat, and their harbour.

His Church is the Admiral's flagship, let us attend her movements, and cheer her officers with our presence.

He himself is the great attraction;

let us follow ever in his wake, mark his signals, steer by his chart, and never fear while he is within hail.

Not one ship in the convoy shall suffer wreck;

the great Commodore will steer every barge's safety to the desired haven.

By faith we will slip our cable for another day's cruise, and sail forth with Jesus into a sea of tribulation.

Winds and waves will not spare us, but they all obey him;

and, therefore, whatever squalls may occur without, faith shall feel a blessed calm within.

He is ever in the centre of the weather-beaten company: let us rejoice in him.

His vessel has reached the haven, and so shall ours.

~Other Charles Spurgeon's devotions can be found at www.heartlight.org.~

not forsaken...

VERSE:

"He answered me, "The sin of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great;

the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice.

They say, 'The LORD has forsaken the land;

the LORD does not see.'"

~Ezekiel 9:9~

THOUGHT:

In times of evil and adversity, God's people can lose sight of the Father's "great and precious promises."

God has faithfully kept these promises through the ages.

This past faithfulness is our reminder that we can trust his promise of the salvation we willfully

experience with him one day.

Even in our darkest night, God has not forsaken us.

He sees and knows what we do and how we feel.

Quite often, however, the LORD is watching to see how we will live in tough times.

He wants us to show that we will be faithful during these times.

He wants us to see that he can be trusted and that he still is at work in our world and in our lives.

So let's be faithful, trusting that the God who preserved Israel and brought through Israel the

promised Messiah will also preserve and bless us!

PRAYER:

In my times of darkest struggle or of loftiest joy, dear LORD,

please help me to be found faithful to you and to your will.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

enjoy many other devotions at www.heartlight.org

Complete Joy!

"If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands

and remain in his love.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

My command is this:

Love each other as I have loved you."

~John 15:10-12 NIV~

"You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.'

The bride belongs to the bridegroom.

The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice.

That joy is mine, and it is now complete.

He must become greater;

I must become less."

~John 3:28-30~

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love,

if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete

by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than

yourselves."

~Philippians 2:1-3~

I have known exceptionally joyful times.

These include holidays, vacations, special family events, and occasional seasons of worship.

These joyful events involved spiritual highs, intellectual breakthroughs, and once in a lifetime experiences. However, there have been only a few times when I could say that I have truly experienced complete joy:

my wedding day, the birth of my children, the rebirth of my children, and recently when our son was married.

He has known his wife most of her life.

We have known her family since before any of us had children.

They have prayed and prepared and waited and planned.

Their decision to become husband and wife is the answer to numberless prayers, and the fulfillment of lifelong dreams.

What created this completely joyful weekend?

Everyone involved was like-minded.

The only concern of everyone involved was that the weekend would be what the bride and groom wanted it to be. From the flower lady to the flower girl, from the caterer to the videographer, and from the mothers to the brothers and sister, all attention was given to the bride and the groom.

Egos were shelved.

Whatever it took to make it possible for the couple to live their dream is all anyone wanted.

It was their day.

It was their wedding.

It was their time.

Joy is His promise to us!

Sacrifices were made.

Family and friends traveled long distances, went to great expense, and were willing to give whatever

was needed to make the day special.

God was present.

He was present in the ceremony.

He was present in the gift giving.

He was present in the discussions.

He was present in the relationships.

He was present in the promises made by the bride and the groom.

Love was obvious.

You could see it in the eyes of the bride and the groom.

You could see it in the eyes of the parents as they reflected on how swiftly the years have flown.

You could hear it in the verbal expressions of love, respect, and appreciation shared by the friends

and family members.

You could feel it simply by being present.

We experienced complete joy.

You can too, and it may not necessarily involve a wedding.

When we surrender our wills to His, get rid of our egos, sacrifice for the good of others,

welcome God's presence into our lives, and express our love to one another the Scriptures promise

that our joy can be complete.

You can experience it today by giving your life to Him completely.

Joy is His promise to us.

It is time.

The world needs to see it.

Let the joy be complete!

(c) 2008 Tom Norvell

enjoy many other devotions from www.heartlight.org

spend our strength in Love...

"Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?"

~Job 38:16~

Some things in nature must remain a mystery to the most intelligent and enterprising investigators.

Human knowledge has bounds beyond which it cannot pass.

Universal knowledge is for God alone.

If this be so in the things which are seen and temporal, I may rest assured that it is even more so

in matters spiritual and eternal.

Why, then, have I been torturing my brain with speculations as to destiny and will, fixed fate, and human responsibility?

These deep and dark truths I am no more able to comprehend than to find out the depth which coucheth

beneath, from which old ocean draws her watery stores.

Why am I so curious to know the reason of my Lord's providence's, the motive of his actions,

the design of his visitations?

Shall I ever be able to clasp the sun in my fist, and hold the universe in my palm?

yet these are as a drop of a bucket compared with the Lord my God.

Let me not strive to understand the infinite, but spend my strength in love.

What I cannot gain by intellect I can possess by affection, and let that suffice me.

I cannot penetrate the heart of the sea, but I can enjoy the healthful breezes which sweep over its bosom,

and I can sail over its blue waves with propitious winds.

If I could enter the springs of the sea, the feat would serve no useful purpose either to myself or to others,

it would not save the sinking bark, or give back the drowned mariner to his weeping wife and children;

neither would my solving deep mysteries avail me a single whit, for the least love to God, and the simplest act

of obedience to him, are better than the profoundest knowledge.

My Lord, I leave the infinite to thee, and pray thee to put far from me such a love for the tree of knowledge

as might keep me from the tree of life.

(Other Sturgeon devotions can be found at www.heartlight.org)