I heard something in church one day that served as a gentle reminder to abide in the vine. “I was seeking after the fruit of the Spirit,” she said, “when I realized that seeking God was all that I needed to do.” How many times do I need to be reminded of that before it sinks into my heart and stays there? Thank you for being patient with me, Lord. Thank You for gentle reminders that strengthen my faith. Those who seek to find joy apart from their faith are like branches that long to bear fruit apart from the vine. But when we abide in Christ and He in…

A.W. Towzer once said, “For the Christian, humility is absolutely indispensable. Without it there can be no self-knowledge, no repentance, no faith and no salvation.” I suppose that’s why Jesus spoke well of the centurion in Luke Chapter 7, saying, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” The Bible tells us that the centurion’s servant was sick, and because he cared for his servant, he sent elders to Jesus in hopes that he might be healed. As we read through this chapter, we see that the centurion was compassionate, widely-respected, and most importantly, he was humble. Notice the contrast in this chapter as the centurion is…

I open my Bible to Joshua 4, where I see 12 men who have just crossed over the Jordan River, hauling stones, and I get to wondering what that’s all about. I’m reminded of a little obsession I had few years back, when I started collecting big rocks. My kids remember that summer too well as we hauled a few stones each day from the garden centre to our front yard. The bigger the better I thought, and yet not so large that they couldn’t be moved. In my opinion, it was well worth the work as the garden looked pretty amazing. Oh how I wish I had 12 men…

Reading Luke Chapter 6, I come to verse 20. And just like the multitude that pressed close to see and to hear, I open my ears to God’s Word. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. (Luke 6:20-22, KJV) With…

My husband likes to take things slow. He likes to think things through and give it time. He doesn’t proceed until every detail is planned. I’m the opposite. When I get an idea I jump on it–today. I don’t need weeks to get my ducks in order, I need hours. I want things done well, but I also want them done quickly. I don’t see the point in waiting just for the sake of waiting when I can proceed on what needs to get done. And so we balance each other out. He slows me down while I give him a push, and somehow we tend to meet in the…

I’m back! It feels like I’ve been gone forever, but I think it’s been five weeks. During this time, I’ve come awfully close to finishing the Bible study, and I will have details on that one soon! This time away has helped me to get my ducks in order and make a much-needed decision. After doing daily devotions, Bible studies, 2 podcasts, marriage prayers, and running social media accounts, I realized I don’t have enough hours in a day to do it all. And so, I’ve decided that I’ll be cutting back to 3 devotions/week instead of the 5 I’ve been doing. I hope your summer is going well. Mine…

Drawn from my archives In one of his sermons, Charles Spurgeon shared a parable of a man from the East who came upon a mountain. Looking down from the mountain, he saw the sun shining brightly on a river stream. It looked beautiful from afar, but as the old man made his way down the mountain, he soon discovered that this river was muddy and unfit for drinking. Nearby, he saw a young shepherd boy busy filtering water. With much effort and time, he sifted and filtered the muddy water each day for his flock. Little by little he purified the water, collecting it in a cistern so the animals…