Devotionals for the Heart: Why it is important to share our heart with God

Sharing Every Moment with God
A devotional by Karen Marstaller

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”—Isaiah 57:15 (ESV)

Becoming a grandparent has been one of the most delightful experiences of my life. To share in the wonder and awe of little eyes as they investigate the world around them, or to talk about the latest interesting facts, or to share in the hurts in prayer, all bring great joy.

But as much as I love my grandkids, I’m not very good at showing it. At supper one night, our youngest showed me something on a little necklace she was wearing. I missed her shining eyes and excited smile in my hurry to greet all the rest of the family.

Finally, I took a seat, and my daughter-in-law gently prodded her little girl to try to show Grama what she wore. With my reading glasses on, I could see the small pink square. It was a tiny book, and our littlest one had received it to commemorate the first chapter book she’d read all by herself. What a moment!

As we talked, I was overwhelmed with guilt. Our precious little girl had eagerly waited all that day to share her good news with her grama, and I didn’t even take the time to embrace her milestone. All I could think was bad grama as I apologized to her, but with a sweet smile, she assured me that it was okay, and then she proceeded to tell me the plot of her first big read.

God never does that to us. He knows all our joys and our sorrows. His desire is for us to bring all the moments, both good and bad, to share with Him. He instructs us to seek Him wholeheartedly (Jeremiah 29:13) and He doesn’t say to only bring our needs to Him. We can bring our happy moments to share, too.

If we take Him at His word, we approach Him with shining eyes as we tell Him about the wonders of jellyfish. God made every one of them, of course, but what a privilege it is to share the joy of discovery with Him!

We can stand at the rim of a vast crater and look across the crystal blue water to see the bowl of the lake with a mirror image of the landscape around it. We stand in awe at the work of His hands, and we worship Him.

On other days, we stand at the kitchen sink while washing dishes and pray for the neighbor across the street who is sick and hurting. He encourages us to give Him all our cares (1 Peter 5:7) and then gently reminds us that He inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). He hears every prayer, and He strengthens and stills our hearts.

Our news today is filled with videos of fires, floods, and tornadoes, along with images of catastrophic accidents in a world gone mad. All of them prompt us to find comfort in the Lord’s peace in the storm. He collects every tear in His bottle (Psalm 56:8) and He is with us as we mourn.

And there are the myriads of blessings, too: engagements, marriages, graduations, and all the wonderful firsts of life, including a first chapter book! God gives us each of these mountaintop experiences so we can catch a glimpse of His glory. Our hearts swell with the exquisite beauty of these special treasure moments.

So, we keep seeking God with humble hearts, no matter what our circumstances may be. Our heavenly Father is an ever-present fountain of hope, shelter, and deep, abiding joy. Whatever is on my mind is also on His mind because He knows all my thoughts (Psalm 139:2). And as we pray to the One who created us, He helps us to see how He magnifies our delights, while at the same time He shares our burdens. He is Immanuel, God with us! (Matthew 1:23)

Let’s Pray: Dear Holy God, we thank You for knowing us inside and out. Thank You for hearing every one of our desperate cries for help, and for our exuberant praises of joy, too. Please help us to stay close to You. Help us to make room for You in every prayer of our hearts, and to trust You as we try to humbly obey Your Word, The Holy Bible. We ask all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Song of Reflection: “The Maker” by Chris August. 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

Devotionals for the Heart: You are a masterpiece created by God!

God’s Masterpieces

A devotional by Karen Marstaller

“For we are His workmanship, created by Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” –Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

When I was young, my Grandma taught me how to Cross-stitch.

She was an expert with a needle and embroidery thread, and I spent happy hours going through her thread box, choosing colors, and then learning how to make beautiful stitches. Her handwork was exquisite and every time I look at an art piece that she created, I’m reminded of the Great Craftsman of my life.

In Ephesians, Paul teaches us to walk in Christ. He reminds us of our beginning—we are God’s workmanship, His handiwork. As we take a close look at our hearts, we see some characteristics that really don’t remind us of the Lord’s creative genius, and yet the psalmist proclaims in Psalm 139 that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Every fiber of our being was deliberately and intricately designed by the Author of life. Even when we sin, He knows our every thought, and He remembers why He created us. On top of that, He forgives us when we ask Him, and He sets us back on the good path He’s chosen for us.

As our Savior, Christ Jesus created us for good works. These aren’t the petty little deeds we do in hopes of receiving a pat on the back from other people. Good works are actions of the heart, created by the Lord and presented to God as sacrifices to glorify Him. We don’t need to win a Nobel Prize or some great humanitarian award—we simply love our neighbors as we love God. If we show God’s love and mercy to those we meet, then we’re on the road to completing that for which He’s made us. With an open heart to serve others in humility, we obey our Lord’s commandment. Loving others like we love the Lord is our highest calling, and He sees our hearts.

Before we were even born, God set His plan in motion. His design is for us to be the lovely canvas where His perfect plan blossoms. In His hands, our lives make sense. Even when we’re heartsore and afraid to hear the latest pandemic reports, we turn our eyes to Jesus and are comforted by His words, “You are My workmanship, and I have something good for you to do.”

How do we know what to do? The best answer I’ve heard these past few months is, “Do the next right thing.” Choosing to serve the Lord by serving our brother is always the “next right thing.” We have a divine responsibility to lavish good on our fellow sojourners. We’re all His workmanship! It’s time for us to act like we understand what it means to be His creation, and His handiwork.

It doesn’t matter if we’re from French Guiana, Canada, or Brazil, just as it doesn’t matter if we hail from Indiana, Georgia, or Oregon. What matters is that we’re a product of God’s own heart. Every one of us is His design. We’re exactly as He created us to be, and the beautiful thing about God is that He always sees what He plans. What if my life doesn’t look like it’s going according to plan? Not to worry. A repentant heart brings us right back into His perfect place, and His perfect peace. With good works for us to do with our next step, or with our next breath, we reach for His hand. Our Good Father always knows the way. We trust in Him.

In our living room, a framed counted cross-stitch holds a prominent place. In the center of the shadow box, it says, “His Name is Jesus,” and around the sides are the many names by which our Lord is called.

Every time I look at the beautiful handwork, I’m grateful for the connections I have to my friend who embroidered it, my grandma who taught me to appreciate hand crafted art, and especially, to my Wonderful Savior who created me for His good works. Contemporary Christian music artist Steve Green sings this beautiful song based on Philippians 1:6 (ESV) where the Lord says, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.” Listen to the song on YouTube for free! Here's the hyperlink.

What an astounding privilege it is to be one of the myriad colors of thread in His great creative work. Hallelujah! Thank You, Heavenly Father (God)!

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Author Bio:

During this time of quarantine, Karen enjoys reading, writing, and connecting with friends and family via phone calls, texts, emails, blogs, live-streams, and video conferencing. 

She is grateful that the Lord has provided so many ways for humankind to stay in community, even when we are all hunkering down in our homes.

Karen says, “In this unprecedented time, we know that He has prepared us for such a time as this! To God be all the glory!”

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

Devotionals for the Heart: Devotion

Hopefully devoted
A devotional by Jessica Brodie

When I think of the word “devoted,” my Gram immediately comes to mind.

A child of the Depression, she learned to make do in a tough world. She moved with her entire family to Miami from Brooklyn, New York, when she was thirteen, and by the time she came of age, World War II was in full swing. She met and married her husband, my grandfather, at age nineteen, and raised three kids in the suburbs while working as a bookkeeper and keeping house.

I loved him dearly, but I imagine my Gramps wasn’t an easy man to be married to—and yet my Gram was always there by his side, devoted, in spite of his temper and other quirks best left to time.

When her children grew up and left home, Gram continued to be a devoted wife, but also a woman devoted to many others in her life. Her widowed mom began a battle with Alzheimer’s, and so my great-grandmother moved in with them, and Gram became her full-time caregiver until my great-grandmother’s death. Shortly after her passing, my Great-Aunt Ethel took ill. Again, Gram didn’t hesitate—Aunt Ethel moved right into the vacant spare bedroom, and there she remained, happy and well loved until her death.

Over the years, Gram took in a host of people in need—my cousin Vikki and Vikki’s young son when they fell on hard times; her childhood friend Annie when Annie’s family no longer had enough space; eventually my Gramps himself, between cancer and a long and difficult battle with dementia. Even a litter of alley-kittens (in spite of Gram’s horrible cat allergy!) became her “flock.”

In her care and devotion for others, Gram embodied love. She embodied Jesus.

Gram’s love and devotion brings to mind for me the Apostle Paul’s reminder to the early church to “be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves” (Romans 12:10 NIV).

Devotion is a big word. Essentially, it means “all-in.” It’s a sacrifice of self, a sacrifice much like Jesus made for us on the cross: one that sometimes saps our strength and our pocketbooks, our time and our energy. It means giving relentlessly, radically, fully.

It’s the kind of love embodied by my Gram, who gave of her body, her soul, her time, her heart, her home, her finances—everything she had to care for those under her watch.

Be devoted, as God is, was, and has always been to us—a nonstop, all-in, all-consuming, total love. For in loving others, we love God. And we model God’s love for us.

I pray I can follow in my Gram’s footsteps in my devotion to those in my world—family, friends, neighbors, and those in need.

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Author Bio:

Jessica Brodie is an award-winning Christian novelist, journalist, editor, blogger, and writing coach.  

She is also the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate, the oldest newspaper in Methodism. 

Learn more about her fiction and read her blog at http://jessicabrodie.com/shiningthelight.

Devotionals for the Heart: Joy

Gratitude Cultivates Joy
A devotional by Paula Moldenhauer

“And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

~ Ephesians 5:20 (NLT)

Grandpa and Grandma’s little brown house in the country boasted a big front porch and a big heart. On Thanksgiving, there wasn’t room for everyone at the table. This was not a fine china and crystal affair. Our extended family would spill all over the house and yard, our ample feast filling sturdy paper plates held on knees.

Grandma baked for days. Pies were her specialty. She also made homemade rolls, cornbread, and biscuits. She served at least three kinds of potatoes so everyone got his or her favorite—mashed, fried, stewed. The aunts and cousins brought more food. We never ran out of turkey. The family respected my dad’s status as preacher, so he usually gave the blessing.

My Grandpa and uncles were storytellers, and I loved to listen to them spin their tales of the old days. Our family had its issues, but this was family at its best. Good food and plenty of it, lots of teasing and laughter, and extra hands to wash the dishes at the end of the day.

It’s good to take a day to focus on being thankful, but daily gratitude is more powerful than most of us understand. In Ann Voskamp’s book One Thousand Gifts, she encourages people to journal gratitudes every day for a year. If you write three things a day, you’ll have a thousand! 

When I read that book, I had a hallway in desperate need of paint and a heart in desperate need of gratitude. It took me a year and a half to get to one thousand. I didn’t write every day, but when I did, I dated the entry and wrote in brightly colored sharpies until my mood lifted. I wrote of big things and small. Like the fragrance of baking bread, my son’s home run, and the joy of my daughter’s marriage. When I studied that wall, it never ceased to amaze me how much good there is in this life. We don’t notice the half of it.

A friend going through a hard time said God told her to “Cultivate a capacity for joy.”

I love that. He didn’t tell her to get over the grief, just to make space for joy. Focusing on God’s good gifts and thanking Him helps me cultivate a capacity for joy.

I no longer have a gratitude wall. (We won’t talk about how many coats of paint it took to cover that sharpie list!) But I seek to write gratitudes on my heart and His. To pause and notice the gifts in each day and to make time for good things. Sometimes it’s as simple as grabbing my cell-phone and taking a picture of the sunrise or lighting a fragrant candle.

I’m not a huge football fan, but I thank God for the Broncos! The community my family has fostered around those “stupid” games (doesn’t football last forever?) blesses me. There aren’t too many things more joyful than the deep-throated roar of celebration that explodes in my basement when the Broncos score.

This is the time of year I can buy my favorite apples. The fragrance of someone’s fireplace often fills the evening air. I love sunsets and long walks and even old bananas make banana bread.

Sweet friend, do you see it? The good all around us?

I challenge you to cultivate a capacity for joy. Notice your good God and His good gifts. Maybe it would help to write out things you’re grateful for. Put them in a jar on the kitchen table and read them aloud to yourself. Write notes of gratitude in your journal. Maybe, like me, you need to do it even bigger, and so you write the thank you list in big, bright letters with red and purple and yellow sharpies.

My Prayer: I give thanks to You, God, for You are good and every good gift comes from Your hand. Help me cultivate a capacity for joy, noticing the beauty around me and embracing the good moments of life.

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Author Bio:

Author, speaker, and mom of four, Paula Moldenhauer encourages others to live free to flourish. She shares this message when speaking at women’s events, and it permeates her written work. 

Paula has published over 300 times in non-fiction markets and has a devotional book series, Soul Scents. Her first published novella was a finalist in the ACFW Carol Awards, and she now has six published works of fiction. 

Paula and her husband, Jerry, are adjusting to a sometimes-empty nest in Colorado. Today’s devotion was adapted from her devotional book, Soul Scents: Flourish. 

Visit her at www.paulamoldenhauer.com where you can sign-up for her newsletter to get a weekly Flourishing Moments and periodic updates on free days for her books. 

For daily Flourishing Moments “like” Paula’s author/speaker page.

For a *free* Autumn novelette, Charisa’s Chance, sign-up for Paula’s newsletter: http://paulamoldenhauer.com/contact/newsletter-signup! 

A Guest Post by Christina Lorenzen about her new book "Healing Seas"

From Pirates to The Titanic 

A guest post by Christina Lorenzen

I was the kid in high school who had absolutely no interest in history. I loved English, creative writing and literature classes. I didn’t figure out how they could connect until years later.

It started when I picked up my first historical novel by author Julia Quinn. I had just finished that book when I saw a friend on Facebook talking about a Mary Balogh novel. So I picked it up. I was in the bookstore when the cover of a Sarah MacLean stopped me as I was making my way to the magazine aisle. No magazines went home with me that day, but that Sarah MacLean book did. I was pretty surprised at how much I liked reading historical romance. That’s when it dawned on me that history could be fascinating to write about. I regretted not putting more effort and interest in my history class in high school, but I was ready to write my first historical romance. But life gets in the way, and I was busy at the time as a freelance writer and working on another novel.

I’ve long since stopped freelance writing but writing three novellas and a novel has kept me busy. The push I needed to write my first historical novel came when my publisher, Forget Me Not Romances, announced they were putting together collections of novellas for each of the fifty states. I knew I wanted to write a story about my state, New York. When I queried about a novella, I asked to write a historical one. In my mind, I dreamed of finally writing a story about pirates that had been rattling around in my head for ages. And since I live on Long Island, just an hour from New York City, I knew I had the perfect setting. Long Island has a rich history that includes Captain Kidd himself staying here back in the late 1600s. I was buzzing with excitement, eager to get started.

Excitement was quickly replaced by anxiety and discouragement. While there was plenty of research and facts about Kidd’s visit to Long Island, too many doubts nagged at me. Would I be able to portray a time period so accurately? Would I be able to make the dialogue believable? I started reading advice from historical novelists. Don’t use period slang. Do use period slang. Within a few weeks, I scrapped my pirate story and decided to write about the rum runners on the island during 1923. As I thought about it in bed one night I realized I didn’t feel anything. No excitement. No anticipation. No real rush to get writing. The next night my daughter, having her own stressors over her college senior thesis, asked if I wanted to watch a movie with her. We’d watched The Titanic at least a dozen times together. It felt like the perfect escape.

Enjoying a late night snack, my daughter brought up the memory of her great-grandmother’s love of that movie. Grandma Dorothea was born March 3, 1912, just weeks before the greatest tragedy of that time took place. She used to love to talk about the stories she’d heard about the Titanic as a child. When the movie came out in 1997, my mother-in-law had no choice but to take grandma to see it. Up until she died she talked about that movie. Remembering the excitement in her eyes was a light bulb moment for me.

Forget pirates and rum runners. I was going to write a story about a woman who had survived the Titanic. The excitement was there. The eagerness to get started. The research was enthralling. And all along I felt as if Grandma Dorothea was right there as I wrote Healing Seas, looking on with that look of excitement she had all those years ago.

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Author Bio:

Christina started writing as a young teen, jotting stories in wire ring composition notebooks. Her first typewriter made it faster to get all those stories out of her head and down on paper. Her love of writing has sustained her through a myriad of jobs that included hairdresser, legal secretary, waitress and door-­to‑door saleswoman.

Luckily for her, writing proved to be successful and a lot less walking than going door to door. Healing Seas, her first historical romance, is Christina's fifth book. She is also the author of A Husband for Danna, its sequel, A Wife for Humphrey, Snow Globe Reunion and Harvest Blessings. She is busy working on a modern retelling of the classic tale, Rapunzel. 

When she isn't writing or reading, she can be found walking her dog, talking to her herd of cats and spending time with her family.

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Book blurb for Healing Seas: In just a matter of days, Addie Mayfield’s life is upended. Through an arrangement her father makes, she sets sail on the RMS Titanic as governess to the two young Fairchild children. 

When tragedy strikes, she finds herself rescued alongside strangers on the RMS Carpathia, headed for New York City. Far from home, she is taken in by the O’Reilly family to wait for her family to send for her. With no money for her passage home, she’s brought to the small hamlet of Montauk to become a caretaker for a great aunt she has never met. 

Captain Frank Shea is a man without a ship. Removed from duty as captain of the RMS Morrow, he’s come to Montauk to recover from a leg injury. More painful than the injury is his fall from grace after spending his entire life at sea. The ocean was his home and he has never needed anyone. Now faced with an uncertain future, he’s desperate for a way back to the sea. Until he meets Addie Mayfield, a woman who is just as lost as he is.

Can these two people find hope for the future after all they’ve lost? Can an unexpected love heal two broken souls?

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Buy Christina's book, available exclusively on Amazon

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Connect with Christina:
Facebook Author Page ~  Twitter ~ Website ~ Goodreads ~ Amazon Author Page