Devotionals for the Heart: Shellie's thoughts on science and Heaven

When We All Get to Heaven
A devotional by Shellie Arnold

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 
~Revelation 21:4 (NIV)

My husband, Stephen, loves science. Science, astronomy, nature—they all point him to God. For Stephen, watching the stars is a spiritual experience. They provoke him to worship.

So, you’d think I’d support that, wouldn’t you? My husband learning about science, nature, the stars, details about God’s creation. The problem is, he usually shares these facts when I’m trying to go to sleep. And I don’t care. Because I want to go to sleep.

One time he was trying to explain to me that scientists had recently stumbled onto a new fact—I don’t even know what the fact was—that pointed to (wait for it) the possibility of the creation of our world being the result of intelligent design. Stephen loves those kind of “discoveries.”

But I was irritated. I wanted to go to sleep, but he kept talking.

And mean Shellie came out. She doesn’t appear very often, but this time, she did. I sat up in bed, and I said: “You know what? When we get to heaven, God is going to take all you science types into a big classroom. And He’s going to ask every one of you, ‘How do you think I did it?’ and you’re all going to have the wrong answer. Then He’s going to say, ‘This is how I did it." And you’re all going to say, ‘Wow, I never would have thought of that.’”

After having this particular conversation with Stephen—aside from being convicted and having to apologize for letting “mean Shellie” come out—I started thinking about heaven. And the older I get, the more difficult things I face, the more I think about it. Because sometimes what gets me through the week, or the day, or the moment, is focusing on heaven and what it will be like.

The above verse tells us there will be no tears in heaven—over tragedies, frustration, or rejection. Can you imagine?

There will be no death in Heaven. From cancer or Alzheimer’s or MS. There will be no more mourning in Heaven.

There is no more crying in Heaven—over disappointment or betrayal.

There will be no more pain in Heaven—emotional, physical, or otherwise. Everyone there will love God. Every touch will be right and honest and pure.

In Heaven, the old order of things will pass away. Pride will no longer cause discrimination. Power will no longer corrupt. Greed won’t exist. Shame won’t exist. Every beautiful thing we lost when Adam and Eve sinned will be restored.

You see, Heaven is the anti-thesis of all that is awful and painful here on earth. The complete opposite of everything that wounds and scars us.

It’s relief. Blissful, permanent relief.

When life throws things you didn’t expect at you, remember heaven with all its promise. You can make it through this—you can, with God’s help and strength—because on the other side, all of the things that made this side so difficult will be gone.

The One thing that will be the same, is Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Our lives on this earth are merely a taste of what being close to God will be like. Because finally, finally there will be no barriers between us. We will see Jesus. We can touch Him and feel His scarred hands cup our face. We can look into His eyes and find Heaven.

Don’t give up when life kicks the breath out of you or when one (or more) of these insidious things that inhabit our world happens to you.

Because for you and me, Heaven is just around the corner!

~*~
Author Bio: 

Shellie Arnold is a writer and speaker on marriage and family. She truly believes—despite baggage, neglect, or mistakes—if a husband and wife listen to God, they can live happily ever after. Her passion is sharing how God is helping her do exactly that.

She maintains a blog at www.shelliearnold.com and is the founder of YOUR MARRIAGE resources.

Shellie is a mother of three and has home-schooled for over twenty years. She lives in Ohio with her husband of thirty-one years.

~*~
Connect with Shellie:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/shellie.arnold.7
Twitter - https://twitter.com/ShellieArnold1
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/ShellieLArnold/
Website - www.shelliearnold.com

Devotionals for the Heart: Hospital Codes and God's Grace

Reason Together with God
A devotional by Shellie Arnold

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land." ~Isaiah 1:18-19 ESV

I once worked in a hospital as an admissions clerk. As part of the job, I was responsible for inputting all pertinent patient information, especially regarding insurance coverage. This information had to be documented on the appropriate computer screens—sometimes several of them—via the appropriate codes. The information had to be complete and correct. After all, timely billing depended on accuracy. Those screens directly affected how the hospital got paid.

Six months into the job, I learned that on that particular payday, I would not be picking up my check from the payroll clerk, as usual. Rather, my paycheck was held by my supervisor. Twice a year, I was required to meet with my supervisor and get my paycheck directly from her. What I did not expect, was sitting with my supervisor and being shown every error I had made on any patient information screen for the previous six months. Literally, someone had been assigned to go behind every admissions clerk (not just me) and audit their work. The errors were printed, and the corresponding stack of errors was given to each employee, along with our checks.

My stack of printed errors was huge. So huge, I was put on probation. I was at risk of losing my job.

Understand, I had pages of notes from when I was trained. Every day, I carried with me a full notebook of memos containing policy and procedure changes. And I consulted them throughout my work shift. Still, my number of mistakes was very high.

As I looked through the printouts, I realized I hadn’t made dozens of different mistakes. Rather, I’d made a few, same mistakes dozens of times. I was consistent. Consistently wrong, but still.

I shared this with my supervisor. “You can see I was consistent, which meant I thought I was doing it right. Why didn’t anyone tell me before now, instead of letting me do these things wrong for six months?”

She had no answer other than to quote the departmental policy, which in my opinion was flawed. Why set up your employees to fail?

I am so glad and thankful God doesn’t treat us this way. When I discovered Isaiah 1:18-19, I understood I was never at risk of having the same dynamic in my relationship with God. He doesn’t keep a running list of mistakes, simply so He can surprise us with them later. He doesn’t keep a tally to make us feel guilty and afraid.

Instead, He invites us to talk with Him about everything, even our sin. Scripture encourages us to “reason together” with Him. When we approach Him with a willingness to be obedient in the future, God will talk with us about our failings and mistakes. He wants to help us understand why we do the things we do, say the things we say, and think the things we think, even if those things aren’t necessarily pleasing to Him.

He doesn’t leave us alone to figure out how to live righteously. No, He’s always there, waiting to converse with us. Explain things to us. Share truth with us. Teach us. So that next time, with our better understanding, we might make better choices and suffer fewer consequences.

Don’t hide your failures and sin from God. Talk to Him about them. Ask Him why you did what you did. Ask Him how you can behave differently next time. God wants you to be successful in your spiritual journey. He’s not setting you up to fail. He’s in your corner. And He’s ready to listen and talk.

~*~

Author Bio:

Shellie Arnold is a writer and speaker on marriage and family. She truly believes—despite baggage, neglect, or mistakes—if a husband and wife listen to God, they can live happily ever after. Her passion is sharing how God is helping her do exactly that. 

She maintains a blog at www.shelliearnold.com and is the founder of YOUR MARRIAGE resources.

Shellie is a mother of three and has home-schooled for over twenty years. She lives in Ohio with her husband of thirty-one years.

~*~
Connect with Shellie:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/shellie.arnold.7
Twitter - https://twitter.com/ShellieArnold1
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/ShellieLArnold/
Website - www.shelliearnold.com

Devotionals for the Heart: God as your source of strength

Where Strength Is Found
A devotional by Shellie Arnold

“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” 

~Isaiah 40:31 ESV

In August 2002, I was a homeschool mother of three (including one toddler), I worked part-time, and my husband commuted over an hour each way to work at a church that had seven services each weekend. I was pursuing a career writing and speaking on marriage and family issues. Busy doesn’t begin to describe my life.

I was also scheduled to have a much-needed surgery that included three procedures. I was nervous about that, and a bit unhappy about the recovery time involved, as well as the accompanying disruptions to life and schedule. Consequently, in the days leading to the surgery, I had trouble sleeping. I expressed as much to my doctor, and he prescribed something to help me sleep.

Unfortunately, I was highly allergic to that medication. After taking it, I had an anaphylactic reaction and almost died. My husband found me and called an ambulance, and I spent the rest of that night in the critical care area of our local emergency room.

That reaction fried something in my brain and left me with residual symptoms that increased over time. I experienced coordination issues, tremors in my hands, memory issues, and headaches. But the worst problem was intermittent paralysis on my right side. As days and weeks passed, my right side often looked like I’d just had a stroke—my right foot turned in, my right hand drawn up, my head falling over, mouth and eye drooping. Eventually, I had to take a medical leave from work, I could not drive, go to church, or do other normal life things to take care of my family. My career pursuits completely stopped.

To say I struggled with God during that time is an understatement. I could not reconcile a holy God who called me to write and speak, yet left me with a body that could not write or speak. Sitting in church while others sang around me, left me feeling hurt and abandoned.

As I sought God and He impressed upon me three things: Shellie, do not go to dark places inside. Do not tell yourself your life is over. Thank me for every breath.

With all my physical abilities nearly gone, I determined to be obedient to what I felt God saying in my spirit. And I decided if the only thing I could offer as a sacrifice to God was my attitude—not my writing or speaking or anything else—I was going to have the best attitude possible.

So, I waited for healing. I waited and waited, following what God had spoken to me, and maintaining the best attitude I could. Positive, hopeful, and thankful. And I learned the meaning of Isaiah 40:31.

It is in the waiting we find strength. Not when our needs are met. Not when we get relief from our burdens. Strength is found only when we wait on God. When we stay in His presence, listening for His voice, following His directives, and in total dependence on Him. That’s where strength is found.

God healed my brain on May 18, 2005, almost three years after the reaction. But I know it took more of God to carry me through those years than it did for Him to heal me. If I had not found strength in waiting on Him, I’m certain I would have lost hope, become bitter, and turned from Him.

I’m so thankful for this verse because it takes the pressure off. We don’t have to figure out the answers to our challenges. We don’t have to guess or figure out how God is going to take care of us. Rather, we simply have to wait in His presence with hopeful expectation as He does His work. Rest in Him, my friend, and find strength.

~*~
Author Bio:

Shellie Arnold is a writer and speaker on marriage and family. She truly believes—despite baggage, neglect, or mistakes—if a husband and wife listen to God, they can live happily ever after. Her passion is sharing how God is helping her do exactly that.

She maintains a blog at www.shelliearnold.com and is the founder of YOUR MARRIAGE resources. 

Shellie is a mother of three and has home-schooled for over twenty years. She lives in Ohio with her husband of thirty-one years.
~*~
Connect with Shellie:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/shellie.arnold.7
Twitter - https://twitter.com/ShellieArnold1
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/ShellieLArnold/
Website - www.shelliearnold.com

Devotionals for the Heart: On Grief

The Blessing of Grief 

A devotional by Shellie Arnold

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” 

~Matthew 5:4 (ESV) 

I met Jesus when I was only three or four years old. I grew up attending church, learning about God, memorizing Scripture. But this verse always troubled me. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Even before I started first grade, I’d been hurt by others and experienced loss. This verse in Matthew seemed to contain a Christian-speak mind game, or bait and switch scheme. If you’re mourning something, you’re blessed. “Blessed” meaning ethereal goodness was at work in your life. Or, a “blessing” was coming. Simply call loss a “blessing,” and it was, because you’re a child of God, and children of God lead only “blessed” lives.

As I grew older, I couldn’t understand or see any blessing from old or new pain, and sometimes I’d get angry about that. I’d feel betrayed and think Where’s my blessing from mourning? I was looking for the blessing, something I could hold that balanced out the pain. 

Then this year the worst betrayal and mourning experience rushed upon me and my family like a tsunami. I was drowning in grief and shock. At the same time, God began making connections and opening doors I’d been praying about for years. Years!

When I could barely move. Could hardly think. And I had a book deadline and other commitments to keep, even though I couldn’t eat. The grief seemed to melt my very bones.

I could only weep and pray, listen to worship and weep some more, as I stared at my computer and rocked, trying to be faithful to the commitments I’d made. I felt the inhale and exhale of every single breath.

Then something miraculous started to happen. When I thought I couldn’t take another breath, I did. When I thought I couldn’t type another word, I did. God placed others in my path who needed to hear something I’d learned, and He gave me the breath, the words, and the energy to share.

In that dark place, I began to understand. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” God was the blessing. His presence. His provision. The part of Him He lends us, so we can take the next breath, type or speak the next word. The power to live with and through the pain, despite our mourning.

I believe that’s the blessing of mourning. God’s Spirit being so near, so intimate, He breathes for us. He moves our fingers. He sets the words on our tongues and helps us rain them on others as we point to Him. Because one day, they will face a grief that threatens to crush them and take over their lives.

Mourning can be an experience that draws us closer to God than we ever thought possible. At least, that’s what happened to me.

~*~
Author Bio: 

Shellie Arnold is a writer and speaker on marriage and family. She truly believes—despite baggage, neglect, or mistakes—if a husband and wife listen to God, they can live happily ever after. Her passion is sharing how God is helping her do exactly that.

She maintains a blog at www.shelliearnold.com and is the founder of YOUR MARRIAGE resources.

Shellie is a mother of three and has home-schooled for over twenty years. She lives in Ohio with her husband of thirty-one years.

~*~
Connect with Shellie:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/shellie.arnold.7
Twitter - https://twitter.com/ShellieArnold1
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/ShellieLArnold/
Website - www.shelliearnold.com

Devotionals for the Heart: Hope for the weary and heavy laden

An Unexpected Understanding
A devotional by Shellie Arnold 

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." ~Matthew 11:28-29 (ESV) 

I’ve never been so tired in my life as I was after having my third child. A chunky, curly-headed baby girl. She was the answer to prayers. A miracle. And because of her digestive issues, I had no choice but to nurse her.

She is also a night person, like her father. As an infant, when 7 p.m. rolled around, Stephanie came alive. She needed interaction most when my system was counting the minutes until bedtime for her brothers, knowing if I didn’t get her to sleep before 11 p.m., she’d stay awake until 12:30 a.m. or later, yet still wake in the night.

Don’t get me wrong. Stephanie was a happy baby. She didn’t scream during the night, she simply wanted to play. For months I survived with a few hours of sleep per night on her bedroom floor. Yes, it is possible to spend an entire day with your pants on inside out and backward, but the nagging feeling something is wrong doesn’t quite get through the mental fog of exhaustion.

Often when I was in her room at night, I’d remember this verse and pray. “Jesus, please give me rest. Help this baby sleep. Give me rest.” As months passed, negative thoughts found fertile ground and set in. "I’m not a good mom. I’m not a good wife." Eventually, I felt worse inside than I felt outside.

One particularly long night as I pondered these verses, verse 29 caught my attention as it never had before. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…”. I easily identified with the “take my yoke” part. Follow Jesus’ example. Obey the Father. 

But I’d completely missed the “learn from me” part. And honestly, I took exception to it as I rocked and nursed my daughter, praying she’d quickly go back to sleep. Jesus was never a nursing mother. What could I possibly learn from Him about exhaustion? About being awake, alone, at night, with only prayer to keep you company.

An image of Jesus praying in Gethsemane came to my mind, the Holy Spirit gently chiding, yet encouraging me. As if the Father was saying, “See, He was tired, too. He could only pray alone, too. Even those who promised to pray with Him didn’t.”

Since then, I’ve found comfort in identifying with the tough times Jesus faced. I study how He reacted to betrayal. To rejection. To being misunderstood and labeled and forgotten. In times of my worst pain, I’m learning to encourage myself. “Shellie, Jesus has been here, too. You can survive this.”

And He’s always there to teach me through His Word and through His example. When I pay attention, I really can learn from Him.

~*~
Author Bio:

Shellie Arnold is a writer and speaker on marriage and family. She truly believes—despite baggage, neglect, or mistakes—if a husband and wife listen to God, they can live happily ever after. Her passion is sharing how God is helping her do exactly that. 

She maintains a blog at www.shelliearnold.com and is the founder of YOUR MARRIAGE resources. 

Shellie is a mother of three and has home-schooled for over twenty years. She lives in Ohio with her husband of thirty-one years. 

~*~
Connect with Shellie:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/shellie.arnold.7
Twitter - https://twitter.com/ShellieArnold1
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/ShellieLArnold/
Website - www.shelliearnold.com