Thank you!

Please join me in thanking this year’s contributors for their heartfelt devotions, and to each of our readers, who are the reason behind this ministry.  We know that all of our gifts are from God, so it is a privilege to use them in this way.

Lori Earls, Editor

• Anne Travers
• Austen Earls
• Clare Crawford
• Carolyn Hornick
• David Moorman
• Dinah Morris
• Dirk  Labuschagne
• Emily Earls
• Eric Lawson
• Hannah Ruth Wellons
• Hugh Wellons
• Jeanne Pritchard
• Jenny McKenzie
• Joan Bowers
• Joe McCrobie
• John Blanton
• Judy Hensley
• Kay Koehler
• Laurie Powell-Ward
• Leigh Sackett
• Linda Tartisio
• Lisa Goad
• Lois Jones
• Lori Earls
• Louis Newton
• Mary Jo Shannon
• Pat Wade
• Rebekah Wellons
• Stuart Revercomb
• Wade Whitehead
• Wendy Robinson

The two-year Daily Lectionary used for this booklet comes from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship (Westminster John Knox Press, 1993) where it was adapted from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer; it may also be found in the Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study, published each year by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  The editor has chosen to include Sundays this year, although they are not traditionally included in the days of Lent.

Life and Peace

Rom. 8:1–11

Life and Peace

“To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace.”  Romans 8:6 (Good News)

Isn’t that what it is all about?  Human nature, with all of its mistakes, ugliness and free will leads to death.  It results in the death of relationships, death of progress and promise, and death of hope.

But when we give up control, when we stop struggling against the still, small voices of the Holy Spirit, palpable tranquility and peace results.

Do we ever really have control?

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Heavenly father, as we acknowledge the gift of Christ’s death and resurrection, help us to bend to Your will and Your plan for abundance for us.  Amen

Lori Earls

No, you won’t

John 13:36–38

No, you won’t

“Jesus answered, ‘Are you really ready to die for me? I am telling you the truth: before the rooster crows you will say three times that you do not know me.’” John 13:38 (Good News)

The truth hurts, doesn’t it?  Even in well-meaning ways.  I’ve always meant to write to my grandmother.  But I don’t, and she knows I probably won’t.  I always mean to send Christmas cards, but they never seem to get out of the box.  And then the boxes get donated to other people who knew I’d buy them and not use at least some of them.

Peter really wanted to stand up for Jesus.  But he faced roman soldiers!  He saw how they’d arrested Jesus.  He knew how they would treat Jesus, because it was Rome.  The military was very efficient, and their protocols very well known.

And Jesus knew that too.  He knew that Peter wanted to stand by him.  He knew he would try to be brave, but Peter was human as well.  His instinct to protect himself was strong.  And he lived long enough to see Jesus resurrected, and to share what he’d witnessed of both his life and death.

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Heavenly Father, forgive my thoughtless ways.

Lori Earls

Right NOW

John 17:1–11

Right NOW

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”  John 17:3 (NIV)

I remember very clearly a conversation I had with my mother one Sunday afternoon when I was maybe 10 or 11 years old.  It was late in the day, and I don't know what was really on her mind, but she asked me, "What do you think happens to us when we die?"  ...heavy stuff for a kid!  But we discussed our best understanding of what we believed as Christians, and were left mostly with a muddle of vagueness.  I don't know that I've ever come any closer to being able to answer her question than I could that afternoon.  I've always been puzzled and full of doubts about the great hereafter... living forever? ...I just don't know.

But here, Jesus puts it so simply.  Eternal life isn't about living forever; it's about living NOW, knowing God, and knowing Jesus Christ...right NOW.  Being part of the life eternal starts today if I choose for it to!  Well...wow!  This brings me a certain peace that I no longer feel stressed to "figure out" what happens when my time on this Earth is through.  It doesn't matter in the same way.  I'm still full of ideas and hope and doubts, but my life eternal doesn't depend on that...I get to live it now.

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Gracious Father,  Thank you for the gift of eternal life.  Help me to appreciate and rejoice in it every day. Amen.

Laurie Powell-Ward

Father Save Me From This Hour?

John 12:27–36

Father Save Me From This Hour?

“Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father save me from this hour'? No, It was for this very reason I came to this hour.  Father, glorify your name!”

The passage for today tells us of Jesus' prediction of his impending death.  After his miraculous raising of Lazarus from the dead, many Jews became believers and throngs of others became intensely interested in Jesus and his teachings.  The high priests and Pharisees, understanding Jesus' growing influence and power, began plotting his death.  Jesus is aware of this, and states for the first time in this Gospel of his inevitable demise.  Though afraid and "troubled" Jesus does not ask his father to save him from this, instead he understands that for this "very reason" God has sent him to this "hour". 

As Tupper has been teaching in his "Bible Basics" Sunday school class; so much of the Bible and God's message to us all, is that so many things that occur in the Bible and in our lives- the world intends as bad.  But that the "Kingdom of God" intends to use as good.  Jesus understands this greater than anyone.  He understands that in his death, his Father will use him in a much more profound and higher purpose than in his living. 

How about us?  Can we understand this in our "hours” of darkness?  Can we conceive, even a little, that God will use our suffering for his good?  Can we ever trust enough to stop pleading to be delivered from our turmoil and pain, and instead pray for the faith to follow him through it all - trusting that the Kingdom of God will use it all to his purpose?  I haven't… but I am trying.  Really, really trying.  Trying not to understand my immeasurable pain… my turmoil, but to trust in His undying grace that my God will use it all (and somehow me) to his glory.

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Father, help me to trust in your Grace.

Clare Crawford

Eternal Life

John 12:20–26

Eternal Life

“Those who love their own life will lose it; those who hate their own life in this world will keep it for life eternal.”  John 12:25  (Good News)

I’m not sure I love my own life.  There are moments of love and contentment, but I sure would like to walk in someone else’s shoes some days. 

But Jesus isn’t speaking of contentment and happiness here.  I think he’s speaking of agape love.  The kind of unconditional giving that comes with knowing you have made choices in your life that are good for everyone.  The choices that have made someone else’s life easier.

But he is speaking of eternal life here.  When we choose to live our lives with kindness and with caring for strangers and our fellow man, on a regular basis, we are choosing to enter heaven.  And if this is true, then the opposite must be true as well.  If we grumble and are hateful in our lives, by being selfish and sinful, then we will remain so forever. 

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Father, thank you for the opportunity to make choices that I can live with.

Lori Earls

Winners and Losers

John 12:9–19

Winners and Losers

“Then the Pharisees said to each other: ‘We’ve lost. Look- the world has gone after Him!’”  John 12: 19  (Living Bible)

Unlike the Pharisees, I can’t think of a time when I’ve felt that I was in competition for friends or people who believed in and supported me. I’ve never been extremely competitive at all which likely accounts for the end of any sports career I might’ve had after tee ball ended. The idea that with every winner comes the loser necessary for their feeling of satisfaction puzzles me.

This passage throws me for a loop because I don’t associate Jesus’ adoration during his entrance as a situation when there could possibly be a loser, but sometimes our perception of a circumstance is distorted by our desires in that moment.

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Dear Lord, help me to take a step back from my own agenda to see your plan for my life. Amen

Emily Earls

All God’s Children

Matthew 21:12–17

All God’s Children

“…my house shall be called a house of prayer…” Matthew 21:13 (NIV)

When Jesus spoke these words as he was tossing the money changers out of the Temple on Palm Sunday, he was quoting the prophet Isaiah:  For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.

Those words have always had a special meaning for me, because, when I was a young teenager and World War II was at its worst, I belonged to a church that had outgrown its walls. Because of the war, we could not build anything, so our pastor, himself a native of Belgium, arranged with the Russian-born rabbi, whose synagogue was just a block away, for some of our Sunday School classes to meet there …after all, their congregation had observed their Sabbath earlier in the week.

Isaiah’s words, carved above the door of the synagogue, took on a new and powerful meaning as the Christian teenagers trooped through that door on Sunday mornings.

It led to closer understanding with the Jewish kids who were also our classmates during the week. And as we found so much common ground, it underscored that we are indeed all children of the same God.

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Lord, give us grace to know that You are indeed the God of all peoples, even those who call you by a different name, and all of us are Your children and equally precious in Your eyes.  Amen.

Kay Koehler

Jesus Wept

John 11:28–44

Jesus Wept

“When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.  He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep.”   John 11:33-35 (NRSV)

This passage has always seemed to me as if a light shines on the humanity of Jesus.  Jesus sees his good friends in pain, and he can’t help but be moved by that. 

To understand that Jesus really was human is a difficult concept to grasp.  We all know people who seem a little closer to heaven than we are—those to whom manners, grace and intelligence seem to come so easily, and to whom sadness, tragedy and mistakes seem to be repelled.  In my mind, that’s how Jesus is portrayed in many places in the Bible.  But this passage makes it clear that Jesus was one of us.  His empathy is so strong that he is moved to tears.

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Jesus, In your true understanding, comfort me in my struggles.

Lori Earls

The Death of Lazarus

John 11:1–27

The Death of Lazarus

“But when Jesus heard it, he said, ‘This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’”  John 11:4  (NRSV)

Because Jesus and God are different sides of the same person, Jesus knew that his good friend Lazarus was dying.  He also knew the terrible pain and grief that death would cause.

He knew he would be able to resurrect Lazarus.  But he uses the same language about death and glorifying God that he has in the past.  And still, he delays.  He sees the suffering the disciples, Mary and Martha go through.  How terribly Jesus must have suffered during this time.  How anguished he must have been to know he could heal Lazarus and keep them all from going through the despair that death and burial bring to a family.  It foreshadowed what his disciples and family would go through when his own, imminent death would come. 

But that was not the intent. 

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Lord, forgive me when I don’t forgive myself.

Lori Earls

Just tell us

John 10:19–42

Just tell us

“How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”  John 10:24

I studied Literature and Rhetoric in college, with a minor in journalism.  One of the lessons I heard over and over was “your voice should be clear”.  I was taught that I could create any voice, in any medium, and in any pattern, but I needed to know my audience and should write to their understanding.  If I was writing a preschool level children’s book, I would use language and characters than if I was writing a group of Nobel Laureates.

But Jesus couldn’t be clear and come right out and say “I am the Messiah!”.  If he had done that, he would have immediately been arrested.  He was keenly aware that he had to speak his truth in codes and in nuances. 

It is precisely this language that keeps me mesmerized, though.  Sowing seeds on rocky, sandy or rich soil is something that is as clear to gardening little ones as it is to Christian Educators.

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Father, I thank you for the beauty and gift of language in the Bible.

Lori Earls

The Gate

John 10:1–18

The Gate

“I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  John 10: 9-10 (NRSV)

A narrow gate in the long fence,

The path to green and tender fields,

The only way in or out again.

Once closed, the danger stays without,

The gate protection to stand against

Night, cold, or thieves about.

A small path on the wide terrain

Of choices, feelings and Free Will.

Do I have the chance to try again?

Or will the path suddenly close,

Leaving me to stand alone?

Facing the thieves and cold?

The Gate swings wide and does not close

Against the wonders and goodness of life.

It holds back the terrors and woes.

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Loving God, help me to remember that I am your sheep, and should listen to follow only your voice.

Lori Earls

Good or Bad

John 9:18–41

Good or Bad

“I don’t know whether he was good or bad,” the man replied, “but I know that I was blind and now I see!”  John 9: 25 (Living Bible)

Since my entry into middle school, English teachers have been lecturing against the use of the words “good” and “bad” in any work that students must do. Their main complaint tends to be that those words are too simple to accurately describe and present arguments that we as scholarly young pupils are capable of producing.

The simplification of such complicated matters as human nature seems naïve when such a miracle as restoring the man’s sight had been performed. The man didn’t know whether Jesus was good or bad , but based his judgment of Jesus’ nature on his encounter with Jesus. What I find remarkable about this verse is that out of all the people in the passage who question and doubt Jesus, the one man who was at first blind was able to see the truth that was God’s grace.

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Dear God, thank you for your continuous grace and your ever-present miracles. Please help me to lessen my dependence on my own perception of your children who have answered your call. Amen

Emily Earls

Dangerous Assumptions

John 9:1–17

Dangerous Assumptions

“And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’  Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents…’” - John 9:2,3 (ESV)

We all know the old saying, "You can't judge a book by its cover," referring to the outward appearances of people.  The Bible teaches that God searches and is interested in our hearts, not how good, religious or pious we act.

The disciples made an assumption about the blind man.  The prevailing understanding (and teaching) of their time was that suffering and misfortune were punishment for sin, and prosperity was reward for righteousness.  Despite how confident they likely were of this "truth", Jesus shattered their understanding of the spiritual order of things and told them they couldn't have been more wrong.  The man's blindness was a blessing in disguise purposed to glorify God!

We may inwardly laugh at the disciples' ignorance.  Even feel superior.  But was the disciples’ understanding of the ways of God really that inferior to our own?  What would Jesus tell us we are flat-out wrong about?  What spiritual assumptions do we make and how may our assumptions hurt others or our relationships with others?  How may assumptions blind us to truths about God, others...and ourselves?

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Gracious and merciful Father, forgive me when I make assumptions.  Open my eyes that I may better know, glorify and reflect You in this world of blindness.  Amen.

David Moorman

Great Trust

Mark 8:31—9:1

Great Trust

“But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. 

‘Get behind me, Satan!’ he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’”   Mark 8:33

Peter did not want his friend to suffer. We too are guilty of choosing the path of least resistance. And who has not argued over the frightening reality before them?  So why the Satan comment?

But what Jesus is saying to Peter is … this is the Way. We all know the way forward is not always the easy way, Jesus expressed this truth often.

Jesus very directly points out – God’s plan is not the problem – where we find ourselves aligned is the problem. Is it human justice or God’s justice we seek? Get behind me Satan, seems to say … you are getting it all wrong.

To live in a world of unfathomable sorrow and strife where you are called to follow in something you can’t see and can’t always feel takes a great trust.

It takes a trust that believes in what the Savior says – that there is something more than what we see before us and to hold on to that no matter what. Peter got there eventually and we will (however faltering, like Peter) get there too - Trust.

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Help us Lord to trust in your Son who is just and good. We will never figure it all out so may we rest in the fact that our Savior has done so for us. Amen.

Leigh Sackett

The Gift of the Holy Spirit

John 6:60–71

The Gift of the Holy Spirit

“He went on to say, ‘This is why I told you earlier that no one is capable of coming to me on his own. You get to me only as a gift from the Father.’” John 6:65

     Not long before his crucifixion, Jesus was teaching in the meeting place at Capernaum and was explaining that he was the bread of life and anyone who ate this bread would live forever!

     The Jews started fighting among themselves: “How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?” Jesus’ disciples were among them and they too were having a hard time with this concept.

    Later, Jesus said to his doubting disciples, “what would happen if you saw the Son of Man ascending to where he came from?”

    Would they believe him then? Would they have faith in him then?

    Jesus’ disciples did not know then what we know now. By faith we believe in Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into heaven. During Holy Communion we partake of his broken body and the blood he shed for our sins. And, by faith in Jesus Christ, we have been given the wondrous gift of the Holy Spirit. This gift connects us with each and we follow the light of Jesus’ teachings together.

   

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Thank you God, for sending your son to save us and for the gift of your spirit that keeps us connected to your will for our lives! Amen

Carolyn Hornick

WHAT?!

John 6:52–59

WHAT?!

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life...”

What in the world does this verse mean?  Are we to be cannibals? Eat flesh??  Of course not.   Then why is it in the Bible and what can we learn from it?

Food and drink are essential to life; without them the body will die.  And whatever we take into our bodies becomes part of those bodies.   As we eat and drink each day we take in the nutrients that nourish us so that we may live.   Jesus is telling us that our spiritual life is even more important than the body, for while the body will eventually pass away, the spirit will live on.  But it must be fed and nourished as the body is, and to do that we must take Jesus and His teachings into our lives so that our souls may grow and flourish.  He is essential to our spiritual life. 

As we take communion each month, as we take the bread and juice into our bodies, let us also take Jesus’ love, His teachings, His life into ours.

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Dear Lord: As I take food into my body to grow strong, help me to take Jesus into my soul to grow more like Him.  Amen

Jeanne Pritchard

Familiarity Breeds…

John 6:41–51

Familiarity Breeds…

“They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?’” John 6:42 (NIV)

Maybe we all know Jesus too well…we’ve grown up singing “Jesus loves me, this I know” and we sort of take it for granted.

This Lenten season is a good time to step back and take a new look.  Do we really know Jesus or have we absorbed somebody else’s version…a picture from a Sunday school book, a stained glass window, maybe even an on screen performance (I am partial to Willem Dafoe in “The Last Temptation”). 

Perhaps we need to remember that we can only meet Jesus when we seek him in other people. After all, He did say that whatever we did to “the least of these” we did to him.

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Grant us the vision to see Jesus not as a distant mysterious figure but as the “least” of those who need our love.  Amen.

Kay Koehler

What do you really need?

John 6:27–40

What do you really need?

“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”  John 6:27

When I read this verse, I was reminded of an article I read concerning dieting. The author proposed that often when we crave food, but can’t find the exact taste to satisfy our craving, our body is really telling us we need water. Sometimes I would eat something sweet, but when it didn’t satisfy, I would try something salty. That too was not the answer. So I determined to check out the idea. Surprisingly, a tall glass of water fulfilled the need the next time I felt the urge to nibble.

I see a parallel in the spiritual realm. How often we spend money on gadgets, extravagant items we really don’t need, but hope to make us feel better. We find funds for lavish vacations, but feel we can’t afford an increase in our church pledge. Yet no matter how much “stuff” we accumulate, something is missing. That “something” is a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. St. Augustine said, “Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee. “

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Dear Heavenly Father, You have provided what we really need – Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life. Help us to make the right choice for our lives. Amen

Mary Jo Shannon

Don’t be Afraid

John 6:16–27

Don’t be Afraid

“But he said to them, ‘It is I; don’t be afraid.’  Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading”.  John 6:20-21  (NIV)

As we head closer into the Easter season, we too must “not be afraid”, and as the disciples took Jesus into their boat, we must take him into our lives.  Just as the boat immediately was guided to the shore, He will guide us to our destination and our place in Heaven.

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Dear Lord, please help us to allow ourselves to accept Christ, and to let him guide us to You and your kingdom.

Austen Earls

Loving Ways

John 6:1–15

Loving Ways

“When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. “
John 6:15 (NRSV)

Jesus had just finished feeding the five thousand with loaves and fishes.  He had just performed a miracle, but a very practical one.  The crowd was hungry, and he knew he had the power to feed them.  Yet he wanted no reward, or recognition.

My grandmother cooked for us all the time.  We’d run into the woods behind her house and pick blackberries by the buckets so she’d bake us a pie in a kitchen so tiny, she’d roll out the dough on the kitchen table.  When my family and I moved to Virginia, I stayed with her while I was in college in New York.  She tried so hard to cook sausage gravy for me, but she couldn’t imagine using that much black pepper! 

She poured her heart into food.  But she would have been mortified to take any credit for it.  That wasn’t why she did it.  She knew we needed to eat and grow, and it pleased her to provide the means.  She simply loved us.

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Father, help me to always remember those who taught me to love, as you have love them.

Lori Earls

It’s Not the Miracles

Mark 8:11-12

It’s Not the Miracles

Jesus is frustrated - both the Pharisees and the Disciples continue to seek miracles upon which they might base their belief in him.

He knows that while such wonders allow the people to encounter the unfathomable power of God, they also have a way of becoming the thing itself. He understands our predisposition to get so caught up in the "brightly lit" sideshow that we never make it through the main gate where the far greater miracle of God's salvation is going on.

Jesus wants us to know that it's not about the miracles and was never meant to be. It's about the loving God to whom they point - the God that asks us to also show unconditional love in the every moment of the everyday: bringing a fitting word to someone truly in need of it - taking the time to listen well to a story you really don't find so interesting - skipping the party so you can spend time with someone who is simply down on their luck.

Giving one's life away slowly for another - that's what we're doing if we're living as Jesus taught us.

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Heavenly Father, Help us see through the wonders you so graciously give to the far greater Glory of your love given in Jesus - in who's name we pray, Amen.

Stuart Revercomb

Jesus' Being

John 8:47–59

Jesus' Being

“Very truly I tell you,”  Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”. 

                                                                         

     In these verses, I see the characteristics of Jesus that have come to mean the most to me:  teacher, advisor/counselor, and bestower of truth.  The Jews did not believe Jesus as he defended himself to them.  They did not buy his revelation that he was there before Abraham.   I agree that it is indeed difficult to believe in things that have no obvious proof.

     "Very truly I tell you," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!".  Why would the Jews believe that?  What does that mean?

     Well, we can look at the example about the meaning of art.  What is it exactly?  The best attempt I ever heard anyone make to answer this question was not an answer at all, but a simple statement:  Art is.  I thought about that, knowing the power of art.  It momentarily transforms you to some other place, good or bad, to either motivate you, scare you, actually arresting you while you stare into a deeply colored oil painting or just simply gazing at an intricately designed garden of flowers.  It is all about your own personal experience, I think.  Art is?  It's there, all right.

     When I hear from others, or read someone's testament about their belief in God, I want to shout, YES! because even though we all hear them all the time, it still renews me.  I never get tired of hearing examples, like that of one of my favorite comedians, "Tool Man" Tim Allen, discussing in a magazine article a low point in his life with alcohol abuse and winning the struggle.  The truth for him was that his stress leading to alcohol dependency was self-imposed.  He basically testified that things are going to be all right, when you believe in God.  Simple, but powerful!

     Could others' testaments and our own experiences be our proof that God is at work constantly in our lives today?  I believe so.

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     Thank you for allowing me the experiences that have shown your mercy, guidance, and love.  I pray that everyone can know the love of Jesus and that I might reflect that love during my faith journey.  Amen.

Dinah Morris