Category: Devotionals

I went with the other women, following along the marks on the pathway made by the cross He dragged. Spatters of blood muddied up the pathway. Even from a distance the groans that escaped His mouth sent daggers into my heart.

The men had fled. There was no hope of saving Him, so they saved themselves. But we couldn’t let Him die alone. The soldiers knew they had nothing to fear from us women so they left us alone.

His mother was with us. She had long pondered in her heart the words of Simeon, the day they took Jesus to be dedicated to the Lord. “Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also.” And now she knew. All these years she had kept these things in her heart.

After the soldiers nailed Him to the tree, we stood at His feet, mourning and weeping, until He turned to us. “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children.”

John who truly loved Jesus more than the threat of death stood at the foot of the cross, holding Mary’s arm. Jesus said to him, “John, take care of Mother for me. Mother, John is your son now.”

Jesus only spoke a few words after that. “I am thirsty,” and “It is finished,” then He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. And He was gone. The soldiers came by to break His legs, so He would die quicker, but seeing He was dead, they only jabbed the spear into His side. His blood and water ran freely to the
ground.

Joseph of Arimathea secretly begged for His body and buried Jesus in his own new tomb.

On Sunday morning, the other women and I went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ dead body and prepare it, but the stone was rolled back from the entrance and it was empty. Two men in shining white clothing spoke to us, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen.”

I remained there weeping while the others ran to tell the disciples. The gardener, I supposed, stepped out. “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Sir, where have you taken His body?” Then He replied, “Mary,” and I knew it was the Lord.

Then I remembered His words, “On the third day, I will rise.”

Jesus is alive.  And I believed.

 

My daddy smelled like strong coffee, cigarettes, and Coalgate Foamy shave cream. I loved to pat his soft cheeks and kiss him goodnight after he shaved at night. The memory of my daddy’s smell is still strong in my mind and my nose after all these years.

 

The first time I tried to butcher my own meat I found out the importance of the right equipment. We used a hatchet to detach the joints and a hacksaw to cut through the bones. I discovered that the knife I owned commonly known as a butcher knife wouldn’t cut soft butter.

Mom had a meat grinder. At least it was shaped like a meat grinder, had holes like a meat grinder, a handle that you turn like a meat grinder, but this meat grinder did not grind meat. It turned meat into mush.

When the afternoon was over, I had the smell of wild meat in my nose, the remains all over me, and I had only saved myself $35. Although the meat was edible, it would have been so much nicer if it had been in recognizable cuts of meat.

My husband and I agreed that the next year the carcass would go to the butcher where it would be cut and neatly packaged for a reasonable price. Our part was to deliver the carcass to the butcher, then pay for it when it was finished.

I come from a long line of do-it-yourselfers. I grew up believing that with the right information and the right tools I could do anything. We are that generation, no, that nation of people who believe we can do anything.

And working our way to heaven is one of the things we think we can do.

Ask the man on the street, “How do you get into heaven?” He will probably answer, “ By being a good person.” Or “Obey the Ten Commandments.” Or “Do good deeds.” But there are some things you just can’t do for yourself and gaining entrance into heaven is the main one.

Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3 and16 “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  There it is in Jesus’ words, what you have to do to get everlasting life and see the kingdom of God–simply believe in God’s Son Jesus.

You cannot do it yourself. Nothing you do or don’t do will get you into heaven. You must simply believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God.

 

It’s hard to make yourself cry, to produce tears. In movie-making, when the actress has to cry, I guess she has to think of something very sad to make herself cry, or they put drops of water in her eyes just before they start filming to make it look like she is crying.

When I first returned to the Lord, I found myself unemotional during the most holy portion of Sunday morning worship. I cried out to God, “Why can’t I cry? Why am I so hard-hearted? Please, God, return my tears. Help me feel your presence and be able to cry in your presence again like when I was young.” I wanted to cry but had no tears.

Physically speaking, tears are necessary for the health of your eyes. A medical condition called dry eye causes loss of tears, so that the eyes are painful and vision is often blurred. If your eyes don’t produce their own tears, you can use artificial tears. Or according to a commercial on TV, if you have been using artificial tears two or more times a day, you might be a good candidate for a prescription that enables your eyes to make their own tears.

During that time I just continued a lifestyle of Christian service—reading the Bible, attending church, and praying—but I was always dry-eyed. No tears. Oh, occasionally I might squeeze one or two drops out. I was crying on the inside, dry on the outside, but I never gave up.

Then one Sunday I suddenly realized that I was crying. Not only was my heart touched, but my physical body was responding too. And beginning that day the Bible began to open up to me. My spiritual vision cleared and I was able to see and understand things that had been a blur to me before.

“Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalm 126: 5-6 NKJV

God used the natural tears to open my spiritual eyes.

 

My first set of china in 1969 was from a gas station, 50 cents for each place setting with a tank of gas. My first set of eating utensils could hardly be labeled “silverware.” It was stainless steel, no design, functional.

I was never in that class of society where you register at the department store in the mall and get china, silver, and crystal at the bridal shower. My bridal showers netted bath towels, sheets, a mop and broom, and plastic ware, which I really could use.

I have two sets of china in the china cabinet, another set of dishes, (not china) in the kitchen cabinet, plus the Corelle dishes we eat off of every day. I don’t even remember what I have packed away in the garage from our move almost eight years ago, but obviously I don’t need them very badly.

I am learning as I grow in the Lord that He was right when He said in Luke 12:15NKJV, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

Ask the rich man dying with cancer. His riches mean nothing to him. He would give all he had to be able to live longer.

I am more than the car I drive, the house I live in, the china I eat my meals from. I am an heir of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ. I have a home, a mansion, in heaven waiting for me, when the time comes that He calls me home.

The Lord gives me what I need here on this earth to live the life that He has laid out for me and I must learn, as Paul did, to be content in every situation.

Paul said in Phil.4:12, “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound.  Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”

My possessions do not define who I am.

 We’ve been told we can’t turn back the clock but on the island of Tonga, that isn’t true. You can go back to yesterday. However yesterday will never be the same, and some things can never be changed.

When you cross the International Date Line, today becomes tomorrow or yesterday. When traveling west to east, for instance, from the island of Tonga to the island of Samoa, which takes two hours by plane, the passenger arrives yesterday, the day before he left. And going from east to west causes a passenger to arrive tomorrow.

Passage of time has been one of the hardest issues for a science fiction writer to deal with. Writing about space travel used to require the reader to suspend his knowledge of science and enter the land of make-believe, but now many of the things sci-fi writers have written about have proven to be scientifically true.

“Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning.” Psalms 30:5 NKJV.

When I am crying my eyes out, it seems as though morning will never come. I cannot see the morning sunshine for the clouds of depression hanging over me. Sadness swallows up day after day, leaving me with no tomorrow, only yesterdays. My imagination runs wild, driving me crazy with “what might have been,” but nothing is certain.

Questions of regret. “If I could just go back in time and take back those words.” “We were so happy back then. What happened?” “She was too young to die.” “How could he do that to me?”

But Mama always said, “time changes things.” My Father God is the God of time too. He can roll back time like a scroll and in an instant of time He can undo the damage that was done. You will always have the memory of what happened, but God will remove the hurt in your heart, if you will trust Him to do it. Time is no match for a great God like ours.  

 Remember,  morning is always coming and joy comes in the morning.