Devotionals for the Heart: Everything

He Left Us Everything
A devotional by Nanci Rubin

I’m reading a memoir and the title is “They Left Us Everything.”

It is written by a woman who recently lost her mother, her father died years previously and she’s in the process of cleaning out the family home. A house she and her three brothers called home for over half a century. She, now in middle age along with her brothers are left to ‘empty out’ a twenty-three-room house where every corner in every room offers a memory. Middle-agers who have gone through caregiving and burying our mothers will find this book relatable.

As one reviewer wrote, this book, “hits you deep in the gut…amid the scraps of paper left in jacket pockets, family photos and pieces of furniture, part of the ‘everything’ our parents leave us with are our memories of them, good and bad. Perhaps figuring out what to do with them is as close to a manual of grief as we get.”

This book has opened a plethora of memories for me. I lost my mom two years ago, and I still find pieces of memories in out of the way places, little things that remind me of how much I miss her.

This morning I got up early, not because I wanted to, but because my darling cat, Juliette was hungry. She has learned to wake me gently, and I appreciate her respecting my rest. The title to this book grabbed me in a profound way. They Left Us Everything. I saw Jesus in this title and through Him God has left us everything!

I was reminded of a time twenty-years ago shortly after my brother died. Losing him at such a young age rocked my world. I’d thought we’d grow old together. It was a difficult time for me while grief devastated me. It was during my caterwauling and pity party that God spoke to my spirit reminding me that He understood my grief. He’d sacrificed His son for humanity. It quickly put things in perspective.

I bemoaned why Ronnie, my brother, wasn’t healed and the unfairness of it all. God is so patient with us. We can’t know everything. It was Ronnie’s time. He’d rededicated his life to Christ before passing, and he was actually ready. I wasn’t. I didn’t want him to leave.

God also reminded me that the blood of Jesus, the Cross, and The Comforter are all we need in this life to overcome the world and our eternal enemy. He’s done all He’s going to do. The rest is up to us. I began to search the scriptures to confirm what He’d shared.

John 3:16 (KJV), the very first scripture I committed to memory, took on a whole new meaning. It reads: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth in you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.”— John 14:16-18 (KJV)

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” — Ephesians 1:7 (KJV)

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.” — Revelation 12:11 (KJV)

BC (before Christ), these scriptures were just words. They didn’t gird me, heal me or penetrate the armor I wore daily to circumvent any emotional conflict. I didn’t want to feel anything. Many of us walk around numb, defeated and allowing the cares of this life to drag us down.

AC (after Christ), once I understood the weapons of our warfare, the power in the blood of Jesus Christ and the guidance from the Holy Spirit, I knew what the Father meant. 

Accepting Jesus opened my blind eyes to see and my deaf ears to hear. I saw the world around me with the blinders taken off. He did leave us everything.

What’s even better? The best is yet to come!

~*~
Author Bio:

Nanci writes Inspy Amish romance. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and two fur kids, Romeo and Juliet, rescue cats. She is working on her debut novel, Plain Justice.

She retired earlier than planned from nursing to care for her mother, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Her mom passed last year at the age of ninety-nine and Nanci has delved more into her writing.

She is active in an intercessory prayer ministry in her church, belongs to The Woman’s Club, a service-oriented volunteer organization dedicated to the welfare and enrichment of the community and volunteers two days a week at the Mary Washington Museum.

Currently, she's enrolled in Rhema Bible College’s correspondence Bible studies. She belongs to ACFW and RWA. When she’s not working, reading or writing she’s hiking with her husband at Shenandoah National Park.