Devotionals for the Heart: Finding Joy

Finding Joy in the Losses
A devotional by Peg Arnold

“God, investigate my life;

get all the facts firsthand.

I’m an open book to you;

even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.

You know when I leave and when I get back;

I’m never out of your sight.

You know everything I’m going to say

before I start the first sentence.

I look behind me and you’re there,

then up ahead and you’re there, too—

your reassuring presence, coming and going.

This is too much, too wonderful—

I can’t take it all in!”

—Psalm 139:1-6 (The Message Bible)

Have you ever had to give away or sell something that you love?

You may have found yourself in this situation for many reasons: financial need, a job change, or a move. Seven years ago, we were preparing to leave our home of 32 years. I couldn’t believe the time it took packing our belongings, throwing away what we couldn’t take with us, making critical decisions, and saying goodbye to a house filled with memories. I wasn’t prepared for the grief of letting go. It felt like a part of my heart was being torn out.

But God has a purpose in our transitions, moves, losses, and changes. He lovingly accompanies us, preparing new experiences and relationships on our new path. He composes the melody of our lives through each moment, weaving together joyous chords, minor melodies, pounding bass notes with drums, and sweet harmonies in our life song. At the same time, He uses what we give up or leave behind to bless others.

It was hard to leave my old home, but God revealed new insights to me that inspired me to write a poem. Read it below.

Melodies of the Home

Empty rooms and echoing halls once filled with

the music of laughter, voices, and footsteps.

Walls that were decorated with faces of loved ones’ smiles,

are now bare, with only the years of memories soaked inside.

Oh if these walls had voices, the ballads they would sing

If the floors were instruments, the rhythm of life would be a symphony

First the bouncing beat of babies and toddlers

Full of giggles and teary-eyed cries

Boo boos being kissed and bedtime stories retold

Next the chaotic cacophony of schoolbooks and

choruses full of chatter, chiding and cheers,

Interspersed with descants of backyard picnics,

Refrigerator Picassos, piles of laundry, and insatiable appetites.

As the family grows into the teen years, the symphony reaches a climax of

the dichotomous joys and challenges that accompany emerging independence,

Ending with a mournful melody interspersed with harmonies of joyful expectation!

This home embraces the many memories and movements carved into the

walls and floors from each season of life,

But just like seasons, houses change, families grow up and move on.

This house now silent, cleaned spotless, swept clear of generational legacies,

Becomes an empty score for the composition of a new family chorus.

God bless this home, the tunes that dwell within, and the harmonies of a new song.

Now, think about the changes you're going through. Maybe it's not about moving out of a house, but something else is changing. What's the tune of your transition? Is it a mournful melody or filled with joyful chords? What's there to appreciate in the midst of these changes? What life lessons can you take away from this experience? Look for a glimmer of hope!

Let’s Pray:

Dear Lord,

You are the composer of our lives. You see our past, and you know our future. You know how we will respond when we encounter changes and seasons. Help us to see the joys amid the losses, the hope instead of the fear, and cling to your faithfulness through it all.

In Jesus’s Name, I pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection: “Seasons Change” by Crystal Lewis. Listen to it here.

~*~
Author Bio:

Peg Arnold, Speaker/Author/Teacher is a Drama Queen for Jesus. 

Her vibrant, interactive, and soul-stirring messages encourage all to embrace their God-given value. As a mom, wife, nana, mentor, with a master’s in counseling, she connects on a personal basis by sharing her joys and challenges of many life experiences through her dramas, messages, and witness. Whether talking with a friend over coffee or addressing hundreds of people at a conference, her passion for equipping women is contagious.

She has published devotions on YouVersion and in The Upper Room. In addition, she has contributed to two Chicken Soup for the Soul books, three anthologies, numerous articles, and blogs. Her devotional, Devotions for the Distracted Heart, received a 2022 OASIS award.

Peg desires everyone to know that their story is important and has a purpose. She grew up in Michigan and raised her family in Maryland. Later in life, Peg and her husband relocated close to their family in Colorado.

~*~
Connect with Peg:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arnoldpeg/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pegarnoldwow
Website: https://pegarnold.org/ Get some freebies when you visit!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC51V_iWr0RfGAQvQnWVXEoA
Devotions for the Distracted Heart blog: https://pegarnold.wordpress.com/
YouVersion: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/22261-devotions-for-the-distracted-heart
Holiday YouVersion: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/28680-holiday-devotions-for-the-distracted-heart
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/peg-arnold-wow

Devotionals for the Heart: Waiting for when there will be no more night

Hoping and Waiting
A devotional by Christa MacDonald

“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word, I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

–Psalm 130:5-6 (NIV)

If you’ve been a parent, then you know that children’s fevers, the scary ones, seem to come at night, usually on a weekend when the doctor’s office is closed.

More nights than I can count, I’ve sat beside a miserable kid, staring at a thermometer with phone in my hand, waiting for the on-call nurse. I’ve watched over my children, waiting for daylight and hoping for the fever to break. Whenever I read verse above, I think back to those nights where my whole being was focused on waiting in hope.

One of my favorite poems is by T. S. Eliot. It’s called “The Four Quartets: East Coker”. I’d like to share my favorite stanza from that poem. It reads:

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope

For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,

For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith

But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.

Eliot wrote these words in 1940 after living through a pandemic and World War I. When he wrote this poem, he was then trying to survive World War II. In those dire circumstances came these words about hope and waiting.

We are presently living through a fractious time. Many of us have personal struggles on top of the discord our world is showing. It’s hard to have any hope at all, much less the right sort. The world’s version of hope is more like wishing—hope that is fixed on an outcome or an object, which isn’t lasting. Human hearts are fickle. We change our minds about what we want with the slightest impetus. As soon as an urgent need or want is met, where does our focus go? To thankfulness to the God of Providence or to that next urgent need?

We typically spend our days moving from one desire to the next, fooling ourselves that we’re “living our best life”. We’ll end up with what we wanted but still feel empty. The kind of hope that matters, the true hope that can transform a dark time, is the sort that is born out of faith in God. As the Psalmist says above, “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word, I put my hope.”

Wait. It’s a hard thing to do even when it’s just a whim, but when it’s life and death, it can seem impossible. Waiting in hope beside a hospital bed is a terrible place to be, especially when a miracle is all that stands between you and immeasurable loss. It’s truly a dark night of the soul. When the miracle doesn’t come, only a hope that is rooted in faith in Jesus Christ can stand.

Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33). We can place our faith in Him and wait in hope knowing that He is with us and will not fail us. The watchmen waiting for the dawn didn’t doubt it was coming. They waited knowing they’d see the sun rise. We have even more reason to hope.

Let’s Pray: Heavenly Father, please help us wait in hope through whatever it is that is troubling us. Change our focus, keep our eyes upon Jesus and our feet on the right path. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

~*~
Note from Alexis: Christa’s devotional reminds me of the song “No More Night” by David Phelps. Listen to it here. 

~*~
Author Bio:

Christa MacDonald is a 2017 Carol Award finalist for contemporary Christian fiction. 

She began her writing career at the age of eleven, filling a sketchbook with poems and short stories. After publishing a few short pieces in her college’s literary magazine she took a long hiatus during which she embarked on a few different careers, got married, had three kids, and renovated an old barn masquerading as a house.

Her most recent work, The Redemption Road, finished the Sweet River Redemption series published by Mountain Brook Ink.

When not working or writing Christa can be found ferrying her kids around, reading, or attempting something crafty. She and her family live along the coast of New England.

~*~
Connect with Christa:
Website: www.christamacdonald.com
Newsletter: https://christamacdonald.com/connect-with-christa/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1538432676468229/
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Christa's book publisher: http://mountainbrookink.com/about-us/authors/christa-macdonald/

Devotionals for the Heart: Change

Change is on the horizon
A devotional by Chaplain Paul Anderson

Dorothy Law Nolte penned a poem in 1972 about how children learn. The poem is titled, “Children Learn What They Live.” 

I found it to be captivating and relevant to our modern times. For the purposes of this devotional, I’d like to share the full poem with you. This is what it says:

Children Learn What They Live

A poem by Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.

If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.

If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.

If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.

If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.

If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.

If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.

If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.

If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.

If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.

If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.

If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.

If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.

If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.

If children live with fairness, they learn justice.

If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.

If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.

If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

Copyright © 1972 by Dorothy Law Nolte.

Most people learn best by watching and hearing. Surgeons learn their craft like carpenters and plumbers. “See one, do one, teach one” is a humorous saying. The same is true of employee/employer relationships. The corporate culture is visually instructive.

Visual learning is also true of mentees and mentors, privates and sergeants, lieutenants and generals. Too often, though, management is backward looking and focused on duplicating past successes. Too often, leadership leans forward, simply to hone effective techniques of management, motivation and in worst-case scenarios, manipulation.

In this way the cycle of culture becomes a narrowing vortex of perception that can become tribal, insecure and defensive. Pretty soon we no longer see what is around us, but what is within us. Anaïs Nin, a 20th century essayist memorably coined the phrase “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” We see as we are, until some event shocks us into a blinding, new realization which demands that we rapidly adjust and ultimately change.

We are there. However, ideally, transformational leadership is a catalyst not merely a reaction.

Transforming a culture requires iconic, positive thought leaders who create new realities by casting infectious visions of things that never were but can be.

George Bernard Shaw said, “Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say why not.”

Jesus Christ was like that. He was a visionary leader who transformed an ancient culture in three years. In the past nine days, we have watched a transformation of the American spirit.

A new generation of young people has galvanized a movement that envisions and is demanding a new era of social justice.

Perhaps what we have seen is a fulfillment of a prophecy from the Old Testament prophet Joel who said in Joel 2:28 (KJV), “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.”

Perhaps, as in the second chapter of the Bible book of Acts, the Spirit of God is pouring out a 21st century Pentecost. Can you see the flames? Not the ones of riotous behavior, but the incandescence of brotherly love? Can you feel the passion of the people who are marching in advocacy of equal justice and reforms of the judicial system?

There is a movement going on. God is shifting the atmosphere in American culture. This movement is intergenerational and multi-ethnic. It has forced liberals and conservatives, military and civilian, Democrats and Republicans to agree that our society has reached a tipping point.

Changes are imminent. The B.C. (Before Covid-19) era has expired. New horizons, new perspectives and new initiatives are flowing like springs into a desert. May they converge and form a river of providential fulfillment that not only counts everybody but make everyone count.

Let’s be on the right side of this prophetic fulfillment.

Let’s embrace the changes and lionize the leaders rather than resist and demonize the ineffable.

~*~
Author Bio:

Chaplain Anderson served for 20 years as a U.S. Navy Chaplain. Over 26 years of active duty, he was promoted through the ranks from Seaman Apprentice (E2) to his final rank as Commander (O5) in the Chaplain’s Corps. 

Prior to his Naval career, Chaplain Anderson pastored in the Allegheny East and Potomac Conferences of Seventh-day Adventists. His undergraduate preparation for ministry was completed at Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Md.

He has subsequently earned four graduate degrees: a Master of Divinity from Andrews University in Michigan, a Master of Education in Counseling and Personnel Services from the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland and a Masters of Sacred Theology in Religion and Culture from Boston University. His Doctor of Ministry degree was conferred by Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.

Chaplain Anderson also completed four units of Clinical Pastoral Education at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He also holds certifications in Suicide Awareness and Prevention, Civil Mediation, Alternative Workplace Dispute Resolution, Temperament Analysis, Marriage Enrichment, Workforce Diversity, and is a certified Life Coach.

Devotionals for the Heart: Don't Quit!

Don’t Quit!

A devotional by Chaplain Paul Anderson

“Stay with God! Take heart. Don’t quit. I’ll say it again: Stay with God.” 

– Psalm 27:14b (The Message Bible)

A few years ago on a hot summer morning, my wife Debra went from the kitchen in our house, to the garage. 

She intended to get something out of her car and quickly return to the cool comfort of the house. Unfortunately, the knob to the kitchen door had been locked. She could not get back into the house. 

Her cell phone, keys, shoes and other comforts were on the other side of the door. She picked up a hammer and started banging on the knob. She valiantly attempted to break the lock. We had spent well on the lock and it did not break easily for her. She gave up, climbed into her car and started to pray that I would come home. She looked for paper and a pen to scribble a note as she wasted away in the sweltering car. 

I was at work, but I felt an inexplicable urge to return home. I had felt that sensation before and knew that it was a foreboding herald. When I drove up to the house and opened the garage, she was sitting, forlornly in her hot car, crying.

I was alarmed and asked what had happened. She explained and pointed to the hammer and the dents on the door. I picked up the hammer and with a single blow, broke the lock and opened the door.

She came to me later and asked me if I thought that the lock would have broken if she had hit it one more time? Rather than say yes, I spontaneously, recited the poem below:

Don’t Quit

(A poem by John Greenleaf Whittier)

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is strange with its twists and turns

As every one of us sometimes learns

And many a failure comes about

When he might have won had he stuck it out;

Don't give up though the pace seems slow—

You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out—

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell just how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far;

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit—

It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

I shared this poem with you in case you are trudging uphill, feeling exhausted, locked out or discouraged. Don’t quit. God’s delays are often preparatory or protective. Don’t quit because we can see His mercies more clearly when we are in extremis.

~*~

Author Bio:

Chaplain Anderson served for 20 years as a U.S. Navy Chaplain. Over 26 years of active duty, he was promoted through the ranks from Seaman Apprentice (E2) to his final rank as Commander (O5) in the Chaplain’s Corps.

Prior to his Naval career, Chaplain Anderson pastored in the Allegheny East and Potomac Conferences of Seventh-day Adventists. His undergraduate preparation for ministry was completed at Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Md. 

He has subsequently earned four graduate degrees: a Master of Divinity from Andrews University in Michigan, a Master of Education in Counseling and Personnel Services from the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland and a Masters of Sacred Theology in Religion and Culture from Boston University. His Doctor of Ministry degree was conferred by Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. 

Chaplain Anderson also completed four units of Clinical Pastoral Education at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He also holds certifications in Suicide Awareness and Prevention, Civil Mediation, Alternative Workplace Dispute Resolution, Temperament Analysis, Marriage Enrichment, Workforce Diversity, and is a certified Life Coach.