Devotionals for the Heart: Reasons why we can completely trust God

Trust With Abandon
A devotional by Cyndi Staudt

The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you. He drives out the enemy before you; he cries out, “Destroy them!” 

–Deuteronomy 33:27 (NLT)

Years ago, on a trip to Texas to visit my sister and her family, I learned a valuable lesson about trusting in God. We had gone to the community swimming pool to find relief from the intense summer heat. My youngest nephew, not yet knowing how to swim, seemed perfectly content wearing his swimmies on his arms playing safely in the shallow waters of the kiddie pool.

I vividly remember his face lighting up with delight when his daddy decided to pick him up and take him into the big pool. He seemed satisfied resting in the security of his daddy's arms as he carried him around the pool. But soon he was begging his dad to take him to the side so he could jump in. I watched with nervous anticipation as his father set him carefully on the pool deck, wondering if he would chicken out. On the contrary, as soon as his little feet hit the deck, he turned around and flung his little body boldly into the air, confident he would land safely in the arms of his father.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we would have that kind of total trust and faith in our Heavenly Father? Instead of being apprehensive or fearful, or dwelling too much on the past, what if we would just exercise courage and trust about plunging into the unknown, anticipating stepping into something incredible?

Those without God must forever be cautious. One mistake may wipe them out. But as believers, we should be more like Peter, confidently climbing over the side of a boat to walk upon the waves of the sea, knowing that even if we falter and take our eyes off God, He never takes His eyes or focus off of us. We should maintain what I like to call “vertical vision”, fixing our eyes on Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith.

Moses’s declaration in Deuteronomy 33:27 is that God is our refuge, our only true security. So often we entrust our lives to other things such as money, career, a noble cause, or a lifelong dream. But these things will always fall short of providing any guarantees or anything of lasting value to our lives. Our only true refuge is the eternal God, who always holds out His arms to catch us when the shaky supports that we trust collapse and fail. No storm can destroy us when we take refuge in Him. No weapon formed against us can prosper.

Because we live for God, we can dare to be bold. We can take chances and step courageously into all God has called us to be. Like Esther in the Bible, we can risk putting our neck on the line knowing that the God who loves us enough to die for us goes before us and paves the way for our victory. We can live fearlessly, daring to believe that God has exceedingly more for us than we can ask or imagine. Whatever God has ordained for our lives He has also equipped and empowered us to fulfill. Let’s commit to aim for new heights today and not worry about falling, because the arms of our Heavenly Father are open wide and ready to catch us if we slip.

Let’s Pray: Loving Father, thank You for being my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer. Forgive me for the times when I put my faith in other things only to come running back to You when they let me down. I choose to remove fear and anxiety from my life, placing my complete trust in You to guide me and lead me into Your perfect will, or catch me when I stumble and fall. Help me to live with abandon, stepping confidently into Your will for my life. Let me dare to be bold as I live for You and seek to walk out this life You created me for. To You and You alone be the glory, in Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

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Author Bio:

Cyndi Staudt is a Jesus-loving, adrenaline junkie who is devoted to living her life for Jesus Christ until the day she is living with Him. 

With a passion for cultivating a craving for God’s Word, her devotions and Bible studies are saturated with faith and hope to stir your soul to connect with God in deeper, more intimate ways.

Through her writing she hopes to ignite your desire to read God’s Word, invite your heart to experience God’s love, and inspire you to live your live life “souled out” to the One whose love has no limits.

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Connect with Cyndi on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/souledoutcyndi/

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!

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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.

Interview with Gail Pallotta, author of "Barely Above Water"

Let's welcome Gail Pallotta to the blog today. She's the author of a book called Barely Above Water and today she's here to talk about it! Enjoy! :)

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My interview with Gail

Alexis: What inspired you to write this Contemporary Romance, Barely Above Water? Talk about how you chose the title too.

Gail: I have Chronic Lyme Disease, but by the grace of God and with excellent care I’m able to lead an active life. By way of the grapevine, I began to receive inquiries asking how I found help. Hearing people’s struggles to find treatment, I decided to write a book detailing some of my symptoms and treatments and include a section in the back by two experts.

I wanted my novel to be fun to read, so I added a romance and a rag-tag swim team. My daughter’s many years of swimming and eight years of coaching inspired the team.

I titled this book after much thought. A reference to water seemed a natural choice because the story involves swimming and it’s set in an area that’s a peninsula. However, I needed words pointing to a struggle to survive. Thus, "Barely Above Water".

Alexis: Tell us about your story’s heroine, Suzie Morris. Describe her looks, heart, and passion for life. Include insights into her personality and the reason for her character flaw.

Gail: In Matt’s thoughts, Suzie is a “hot chic.” She’s thin, and quite a few of her clothes are baggy because she lost weight when she grew ill, but she’s still attractive. When Matt’s co-worker suggested Matt hang out with Suzie, Matt “could see Suzie’s crystal clear, blue eyes, her little nose and thin, perfectly etched lips. She was kinda’ skinny for an athlete, but gorgeous.”

Suzie’s passion is to get rid of the illness wreaking havoc on her life.

As far as her personality, she’s an extrovert who enjoys people. She has a healthy competitive spirit and thinks outside of the box. Right now, she’s lost self-confidence because the malady is causing her lots of problems, and her boyfriend dumped her because of it. She’s always loved God and depended on Him, but she needs His help even more than ever now, and she asks for it.

Suzie is dealing with a lot—an illness, being dumped by her boyfriend, not having family still alive and doctors who are clueless about how to help her. You’ve said that she is a Christian. How is her faith getting her through these tough times?

Suzie believes God directed her to the chiropractor who successfully treats her. She’s convinced if she prays and follows God’s lead, He will take care of her. Her faith gives her the strength to persevere and hope.

Alexis: Why did Suzie want the job coaching a swim team? Why is she passionate about transforming them into winners?

Gail: Suzie left her job as a magazine editor to move to Destin to receive the treatment she needed and took the only job she could find. 

As a championship swimmer in her teens, Suzie has a competitive spirit. That’s coupled with the fact that these swimmers are children of the city’s service workers who help make the tourist season succeed. Most of them have little experience swimming. Some don’t even know how. As Suzie works to perfect their technique, they grow encouraged and try to become accomplished. She wants them to see their hard work pay off and grow confident in their abilities, which will give them more confidence in life in general.

Alexis: What is Suzie’s boss’s name? In what ways does he renew “her belief in love” and does that renewal carry on through the story? Or do they face obstacles?

Gail: Matt, Suzie’s boss, has sworn off women, but he falls for Suzie, and she’s attracted to him. When he and Suzie go out, he’s complimentary toward Suzie and treats her well. For that reason and the chemistry between them, she opens her heart to him. Unfortunately, Matt’s had a problem coping with illness ever since his mother died from cancer. When he learns of Suzie’s mysterious malady, he breaks up with her.

Alexis: Tell us more about the hero of this story (Suzie’s boss). What is his background? What about Suzie attracts him? What are his likes and dislikes in life?

Gail: Matt’s a great guy, but he’s suffered losses that have left him going through the motions of living rather than embracing life. When he was in high school, he was a football star. He was really good and dreamed of a pro career. However, he injured his knee and ended up not playing anymore. Then, his mother’s death shattered his heart.

At first, he’s attracted to Suzie’s looks, but as he learns more about her, he respects her personality, intelligence, and problem-solving ability. Later, he’s impressed by her fortitude, which she attributes to her faith in God.

Matt’s heart’s still with football, but he also enjoys being around the swim team kids and wants to see them win. He likes his job as head of the parks and recreation department in Okaloosa County as well as he would any other than playing pro football. In his leisure time he enjoys walking on the beach, the harbor or a boardwalk. He’s a pretty laid-back guy without many dislikes, but he is bitter toward his dad and his high school girlfriend. They insisted he drop his dream of playing football, find a good business school and pursue a more realistic career.

Alexis: What was the most rewarding part of the writing process?

Gail: Knowing I was doing something that would help someone suffering. I realized I may never hear from that person or persons, and I probably would never know who they are, but I knew Barely Above Water contained valuable information about this little-understood disease.

Alexis: What’s the take-home message that you want your readers to remember about this book? 

Gail: The hope faith in God brings.

Alexis: If you were not a writer, what would you be? Why?

Gail: I have a background in public relations. Also, when my husband built houses I decorated them or worked with the buyers to do so. I enjoyed both. If I were to return to public relations, that would be because I enjoy talking with people. If it were decorating, that would be because I liked dreaming up a decor the way I do my characters. However, I’m happy writing books!

Alexis: Thanks for the interview, Gail! Would you like to share any closing thoughts?

Gail: Thank you for having me.

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Author Bio:

Award-winning author Gail Pallotta’s a wife, mom, swimmer and bargain shopper who loves God, beach sunsets and getting together with friends and family. 

A former regional writer of the year for American Christian Writers Association, she won Clash of the Titles in 2010. 

Her teen book, Stopped Cold, finished fourth in the 16th Annual Preditors and Editors readers’ poll and was a 2013 Grace Awards finalist. Barely Above Water won Honorable Mention in the Reader’s Favorite 2017 Book Award Contest in the Christian - Romance - General Category.

She’s published five books, poems, short stories and two-hundred articles. Some of her articles appear in anthologies while two are in museums. Gail loves to connect with readers. To learn more about Gail and her books, visit any of her social media sites.

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Book Blurb: An illness comes out of nowhere and strikes Suzie Morris. Her boyfriend dumps her. 

She has no living family, and her physician can’t diagnose the malady. Suzie relies on her Christian faith as she faces the uncertainty of the disease, and turns to a renowned alternative doctor in Destin, Florida. 

She takes a job coaching a county-sponsored summer swim team. She’s determined to turn the fun, sometimes comical, rag-tag bunch into winners. 

Her handsome boss renews her belief in love, but learns of her mysterious affliction and abruptly cuts romantic ties. Later he has regrets, but can he overcome his fear of losing a loved one and regain Suzie’s trust?

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Buy Gail's book:

Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble 

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Connect with Gail:

Amazon Author page - amazon.com/author/gailpallotta
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorsandMore
Twitter - https://twitter.com/hopefulwords

Website - http://www.gailpallotta.com

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