Devotionals for the Heart: Why we need to have a child-like faith in God

A Child’s Faith in God
A devotional by Karen Marstaller

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”—Matthew 18:3 (ESV)

As the youngest of four girls, my childhood revolved around hand-me-downs. Most were clothes, which always came in handy, but my favorite relics were the dolls my sisters had outgrown and passed along.

The soft-bodied baby dolls were precious to me. They needed lots of feeding and burping and changing of their perfectly clean diapers. Little nightgowns were for sleeping, and for an outing they needed to put on hats and coats before they were bundled into the doll stroller to get some fresh air.

Playing dolls was so important to me that I even convinced the little boy next door to play “Pioneer Family” with me. We set up our “cabin” under some shade and then moved in the doll beds and highchair. Then, while I tended babies, he went to “provide food for the family” which entailed elaborate hunts for imaginary deer, a much more pleasurable pursuit for a young boy.

But all that play set the stage for maturity. Especially as I became a young mom, I loved holding our boys, tending to them, and watching them grow into their little jeans and T-shirts. They discovered any kind of ball game, and I watched hours of T-ball, Wiffle ball, and eventually, tennis as our children matured.

In God’s perfect wisdom, He created families where little kids could grow up, start new families, and then teach their children to grow into healthy, happy kids, teenagers, and young adults. It’s an amazing cycle of birth, growth, adulthood, and parenthood—complete renewal.

As we tend to the kids around us, the most important thing we teach them is to love God. The child-like faith of a little five-year-old is precious to behold. She trusts God to bring her alcoholic parent to Jesus Christ. Her innocent prayers are dear to her Father (God) in Heaven, and He hears her cry.

One of our then three-year-old granddaughters found a most curious bug crawling on the driveway and excitedly asked me to take a picture. That photo remains a favorite to this day. I didn’t know how to switch the camera to take a selfie, but she did, and right as I took her bug picture, she switched the view. Her look of fascination far surpassed the fantastic bug she’d found. The faith of the child with eyes wide with wonder is a breath of exhilarating air. This child found such delight in her find, and I found joy in her.

The apostle Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:9 (ESV), “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

This is child-like faith, to savor the days of dollies and little bugs, imaginations and dreams. It is ours if we exercise the Lord’s patience with the children in our lives. The children in the “Pioneer Family” grew up to start their own families, teaching their own children and grandchildren about Jesus. The young bug watcher is now a dedicated animal and insect lover. And the little girl who prayed for her Daddy saw him come to know his Savior. It was almost 50 years of waiting, but the Lord was patient with them both.

This same child-like faith can be ours for all of life, as well. There are sacrifices to be made along the way, of course. Staying up all night battling mosquitoes became the preview of a meteor shower that set a teenager on a life-long quest to explore the great outdoors. His photographs grace my wall with the pages of the newest calendar he and his family created. Then there’s ascending a mountain you never thought you could climb, but the view from the top changes your whole perspective. And the joy of the Lord is in them both.

And sadly, we often miss out on so much because we want to control the outcomes of our lives. We want to make money, or we let age creep up on us, a ready excuse not to climb to the top of the hill. Perhaps our love for Jesus has grown old and cold. It takes the faith of a child to open our Bible and ask God what He wants to teach us today. And then it takes child-like faith to obey what our Savior tells us.

Jesus says in Matthew 19:14 (ESV), “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” He is calling to us, dear sisters and brothers, to embrace the faith of a child.

Let’s Pray: Lord, You have shown us the joy of children as we watch Your magnificent ways. Please teach us to wake up every morning with excitement and eagerness as we wonder what new thing You have in store for us. And then give us strength and courage to embrace a new day full of Your possibilities. In child-like faith, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Song of Reflection: “A Childlike Faith” by The Pfeifers. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Karen Marstaller is a retired high school teacher who spent most of her career challenging creative students to write. Her heart is for her readers. 

She writes to encourage them, to make them laugh, to show them that life is a beautiful journey, and regardless of their past, to show them that there is joy ahead if they will just keep looking.

Karen and her husband live in central Texas in a sweet little home that they completely remodeled. They enjoy spending time with their family, which includes seven precious grandchildren.

Most of all, Karen writes in obedience to the command to love your neighbor, to offer a cup of water to those who are dying of thirst, and to comfort others with the comfort she has received.

You can reach Karen by emailing her at this address: klmarstaller@gmail.com

Romantic Reads: Delayed Justice

The Story Behind Delayed Justice by Cara Putman:

If you've followed along with my writing for any length of time, you know I love writing. It's also one of the hardest things I do. Writing is hard work plain and simple. To give readers an emotional experience I have to dig deep. I need to cry. I'll want to chortle. For any emotion to resonate, I have to be willing to go there.

For some books that's relatively easy. I'm writing a book set in WWII on the home front. There's rationing. There's boys going to war. But there's also dances. And games. And the importance of family.

Then there are the books that require deep things from me. Delayed Justice was one of those books. Jaime Nichols was a character who was shy to make her story known. In Beyond Justice, she said a few snarky lines and gratefully slid into the shadows. In Imperfect Justice, she hinted at darker secrets, but kept her difference. But in Delayed Justice her story erupted. It oozed with pain and angst...and to get her to a point of healing and hope, I had to walk through the pain, too.

That meant I had to research the lingering effects of childhood abuse on adults. I had to explore the trauma's impacts in emotional and physical ways. I had to talk with survivors and read their stories, so I could honor their experience in the telling of Jaime's. I also wanted to write the story in a way that conveys hope without triggering those who may have experienced the painful realities.

To do that I balanced Jaime's journey with her stand-offish cat Simba and a lovable Golden Retriever named Aslan. The two of them provided comic relief and a mirror for the growing friendship between Jaime and Chandler Bolton. The animals also reflect the shifting nature of Jaime's spiritual journey. I also surrounded Jaime with friends, and made sure she couldn't escape one. It was impossible for her to continue to hide behind a mask when Caroline is around. We all need friends like that, don't we?

The other element that made Delayed Justice a challenge to write is that Jaime doesn't know God as her personal Father. She's heard about Him from her friends, but He's not good and He's not safe. If He were, He would have protected her. As I was writing Delayed Justice I was wrestling with those questions in a very personal way. I'll be writing more about that in the coming weeks, what God's been showing me and what I'm trying to learn.

God actually used the writing of this story to allow me to wrestle with some of these hard questions. Where is God when things don't go well? When we obey and follow Him and He drops us off the cliff? Where is He when we're hurt or abused? How do we reconcile that reality of living in a fallen world with the truth that He is good?

These are hard questions. They don't have easy answers.

And Jaime wrestles with them, just as I wrestle with them. Maybe you do, too.

Isn't that what a faith journey is about?

Some days we are running down the path God has in front of us. The path is clear. The light shines brightly and I can see Him. I can see His smile. I can feel the warmth of His love.

Then there are other days, weeks, and months, where the path is shrouded in fog and darkness. In those days my journal is filled with questions. God, where are You? What did I do? What am I supposed to learn? Help me follow You when I can't find You or see You. These are the days that faith is hard. Some days I have wrestled to continue believing what I know is true, when my heart is broken and hurting.

But I'm finding after the deconstruction comes reconstruction. It's hard work, but God meets me in it. Jaime gets to discover some of that truth too.

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Book Blurb for Delayed Justice:

Jaime long ago gave up the desire to be loved. Now she only needs to be heard.  

Jaime Nichols went to law school to find the voice she never had as a child, and her determination to protect girls and women in the path of harm drives her in ways both spoken and unspoken. As Jaime, now a criminal defense attorney, prepares to press charges against someone who wronged her long ago, she must face not only her demons but also the unimaginable forces that protect the powerful man who tore her childhood apart.

Chandler Bolton, a retired veteran, is tasked with helping a young victim who must testify in court—and along with his therapy dog, Aslan, he’s up for the task. When he first meets Jaime, all brains, beauty, and brashness, he can’t help but be intrigued. As Chandler works to break through the wall Jaime has built around herself, the two of them discover that they may have more to offer one another than they ever could have guessed—and that together, they may be able to help this endangered child.

This thrilling installment of the Hidden Justice series explores the healing power of resolution and the weight of words given voice. And as Jaime pursues delayed justice of her own, she unearths eternal truths that will change the course of her life.

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Author Bio:

Since the time she could read Nancy Drew, Cara has wanted to write mysteries. In 2005 she attended a book signing at her local Christian bookstore. The rest, as they say, was history.

There she met a fellow Indiana writer Colleen Coble. With prompting from her husband, Cara shared her dream with Colleen. Since those infamous words, Cara’s been writing award-winning books. She is currently writing book 35 and dreaming up future books, not hard when she sees what-ifs everywhere.

Cara Putman is an active member of ACFW and gives back to the writing community through her service on Executive Board. She has also been the Indiana ACFW chapter president and served as the Area Coordinator for Indiana.

Cara is also an attorney, full-time lecturer at a Big Ten university, active in women's ministry, and all around crazy woman. Crazy about God, her husband and her kids that is.

She graduated with honors from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Go Huskers!), George Mason Law School, and Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management.

You can learn more about Cara at www.caraputman.com.

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Buy Cara’s book:
Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble ~ CBD ~ Target ~ Walmart ~ Cara’s website

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Connect with Cara:

Website: http://caraputman.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/cara_putman

Facebook: http://facebook.com/cara.putman

Instagram: http://instagram.com/caracputman

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cara-putman

Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/939004.Cara_C_Putman

Devotionals for the Heart: Life Lessons from the kitchen and dish duty

Strength in Weakness
A devotional by Mirachelle Canada

‘But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, 

for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 

Therefore I will boast more gladly of my weakness, 

so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.’ 

–2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV)

Have you ever considered your greatest weakness could be God’s greatest strength within you?

As a child, one of my key strengths could also be my binding weakness. I was the youngest of my siblings and fiercely independent. I preferred to do things by myself. Case in point was during the nightly duties after dinner when I was to help my older brother and sister clean up the table and the kitchen. I would pick up my dishes and utensils from the table and carry them to the kitchen sink, but beyond that I milled around and eventually left the kitchen. My siblings would complain that I wasn’t helping them or doing my part. I would get mad, they would retaliate, and yelling would ensue.

One night, my wise mother decided to assign me the entire kitchen clean-up. To do it all by myself. After all the dishes were brought in, she tied an apron around my waist, stood me up on a stool in front of the sink, and let me go to town cleaning up everything, even the pots and pans. Much to everyone’s surprise I wore a huge smile on my face and cleaned with glee. There is even a picture of me to commemorate the event that is in our photo album to this day.

Rather than scold me or let my frustrated siblings accuse me of wrongdoing, my mother found a way to empower my independent nature. She knew I wasn’t being willful, that I could and did want to help, I just didn’t know how to contribute when there were too many people in the mix. I wanted to be the cook, and there were literally too many cooks in the kitchen. In order for me to succeed and not offend, I would have to learn how to use my independence wisely and carefully.

The apostle Paul represents a strong character with an independent spirit. One that God had to tear down and build up again by placing a thorn in his side because Paul was a persecutor of Christians before he became a believer and follower of Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 12:8-9, Paul pleads for the thorn’s removal, but God tells him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” God knew Paul’s potential and endurance even though most would have perceived his past as a disqualifier for him to author a majority of the New Testament. It was because of his confessions of weakness and desire to know and be one with God that he became known as a champion of Christ. God uses Paul’s weakness to show us an example of His great love and forgiveness of sins, but also to show us the full strength of someone’s character when he is fully reliant on God.

I am blessed to say that I eventually learned how to use my independence to benefit others rather than go it alone all the time. It can get very lonely on an island by yourself. Yet, like Paul, yielding my independent nature to God has also allowed Him to take me places I never could have imagined and further than I ever dreamed. According to 1 Corinthians 2:9 (ESV): But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.” 

Yielding our weaknesses to God opens the doors wide for His strength to be made complete in us. In this His love, power, and grace we can know no bounds. And like a proud parent, He will smile upon us as we do His will with freedom and glee.

Do you have a strength that others may perceive as a weakness?

Let’s Pray: Dear Lord, I thank you for my uniqueness and how you have created me differently for your purpose. I count it a blessing that you have put a specific character trait in me that is made strong even when I am weak. Guide me and my giftings with your love, power, and grace. That in all I do, I will honor you and who you created me to be. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

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Author Bio:

Mirachelle Canada is a writer, playwright, screenwriter, and theatre director/producer from Northern Virginia, where she teaches television production at her high school alma mater. 

She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Script & Screenwriting from Regent University and is an alumnus of Act One: Hollywood Film & Television Writing Program.

Mirachelle is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, American Fiction Writers Virginia Chapter, The Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild, and Your Novel Blueprint.

She is currently working on her first historical fiction novel set during WWII.

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Connect with Mirachelle:
Website: www.mirachellecanada.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mirachellecanada/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/miracan

Devotionals for the Heart: Fear Not

Letting Go Of Fear
A devotional by Julia Wilson

“There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear.” 

–1 John 4:18a (GNB)

Fear immobilizes us and keeps us from living the life that God intended for us.

Many times within the Bible we hear the phrase “fear not.” God knows that we are prone to be afraid but He asks us to fear not and to trust Him.

An acronym for fear is False Expectations Appearing Real. We concoct scenarios in our head that hardly ever happen yet we are still paralyzed by fear.

For much of my life I have been paralyzed by my fear of water. This stems from childhood – on going to my first swimming lesson when I was eight years old, the first thing the swimming instructor did was to get us all to jump into the deep end to show that we would float. You do not float when you panic, and I had to be rescued. My fear of water began. It was a fear that I passed down to our eldest son.

Fast forward nearly fifty years – I was in my church life group and one of the ladies prophesised in September 2016 that this was the year that God was going to cure me of my fear of water and I would learn to swim. I laughed at her, like Sarah in the Bible, and thought, “No chance. Does she not realize how deep my fear is?”

But God had other plans. Whenever we hear the phrase “But God … ,” we know that God is going to move mightily. According to Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV), God says, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you.” God’s plans are so much greater than ours. We need to ‘fear not’ and trust Him.

In January 2017, I signed up for a 10-week course for people older than 50 who want to learn how to swim. I was very frightened. I nearly did not go. But with the love and care of my swimming instructor Vanessa, I did learn to swim. I faced my fear and trusted Vanessa would not let me down. God asks us to face our fears and to trust Him to hold us up “Through All the Changing Scenes of Life,” as the old hymn says. 

When fear threatens to overwhelm, lift your eyes up to God. As the psalmist says in Psalm 121:1-2 (NIV), "I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." If we keep our eyes focused on Jesus, we are not looking at our fears and we will receive peace that passes all understanding.

When the road of life is dark and fear comes knocking, do not open the door. Run to God! He sees our end from our beginning. He will sustain you and He will not let you go.

When fear rules our lives, we miss out on all that God intends for us.

As a footnote, I had intermediate swimming lessons for six months and now swim four times a week for about ninety minutes and I love it. My only regret is that I did not learn to swim as a child. I missed out for nearly fifty years. Do not miss out on the life that God intends for you through fear. Give fear the elbow. Look to God. He’s got you and will never let you down. As the saying goes “Do not tell God how big your fear is, tell your fear how big your God is!”

Let go of your fear and watch where God will take you. He loves you and He will never let you down!

~*~
Author Bio:

My name is Julia Wilson but I also go by Christian Bookaholic.

I live with my husband and five cats in a small town in Worcestershire on the banks of the River Severn (England). We have four grown up children and three granddaughters.

I have always loved reading and have always been surrounded by books. I used to work as a teaching assistant for special needs in the local high school. Ill health forced me to stop working in December 2015. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (known as M.E.) and fibromyalgia. I now have plenty of time to read and review books!

Our eldest son set up my Christian Bookaholic blog. I review every book I read. I read over 300 books a year. I read Christian and mass market. I prefer stories set from 1850 onwards. My favourite type of books to read is stories set in WWI and WWII, and Russia under Czar Nicholas II.

I am a historian, having a Combined Humanities degree where I majored in History and minored in English. I also love swimming. I only learned how to swim in 2017 and go swimming four mornings a week for 90 minutes before breakfast, it keeps my joints going.

I am also a crazy cat lady. I absolutely love my cats. I have grown up with cats and cannot imagine life without them. My dream is to own an old fashioned seal point Siamese … but not while we have our young rescue cat as she hates other cats!

I love God and love going to a large lively church called Lifecentral. I cannot imagine life without God. He gives a peace even when life does not. He guides my life. He is my Rock.