One God, One Plan, One Life
My daughter received this 365 day devotional book by Max Lucado from me in the summer of 2014 entitled One God, One Plan, One Life. She was not too terribly thrilled to be the recipient of this book at the time. She had little desire to read any book over the summer but certainly not one of a religious nature. I explained to her that this wasn’t a book where you read chapter upon chapter in one sitting. It was a daily devotional to help her get her day started off in the right direction. Still, there was little interest.
Until …
She began cleaning her room over this past weekend, and out from under a pile of things came this book! Much to our surprise, she came out of her room with this book in hand and actually began reading the devotional for that day. Of course my eyes lit up and my heart swelled with pride with the sight and sound of my darling daughter taking the time to read what this book had to offer. Finally.
When she was little, we had a children’s daily devotional that I would read with her at night. It had a short story along with bible verses and a prayer at the end. While she has certainly grown up a lot since that time, she is still in her teen years and therefore needs a teen version of a devotional. This book fits just perfectly as it is intended specifically for teens. As we all know, teens deal with a lot of things that adults don’t have to think about now that they’re older. It is still very much an issue for teens, though, from bullying to alcohol and drug usage among their peers to even issues like purity and self control. This book covers it all in a way that sheds God’s light on these hard to talk about subjects.
My daughter left the book laying around last night, and I picked it up to see what it had to offer. It spoke to my heart right there where I was, yes, even as an adult. We all struggle from time to time with our self worth and being able to love and forgive ourselves. Well, right there at the bottom of the page were these words:
You’ve made mistakes. You keep falling short. No one seems to value you. I get all that. But God forgives you, loves you, believes in you, has a wonderful plan for you. Who are you to reject the one opinion that counts? Love him. Love others. Because he commands it.
Wow.
What a perfect message right when we needed it the most. God’s plan … not mine. He knew what I needed to speak to me, and His message was clear.
Whether you read this daily devotional or another, we encourage you to start or end your day with a daily devotional of your choice. You will find inspiration and things that make you think. You will start your day or end your day (depending on when you read your devotional) on a positive note, and you will feel peace within your heart as you meditate on the words allowing them to soak into your being.
Five minutes is pretty much all it takes. Surely you have five minutes to spare to improve your outlook on life and spend a little time with Jesus. If not, then you’re just too busy! Slow down and take time to enjoy this journey that you’re on and the life that God has given to you! We are so blessed … so truly blessed!
Where Two or Three Are Gathered In His Name
This is my dear friend, Debbie. This precious lady is really more like a second mother to me. No matter what was going on in my life, she has always been there. We’ve known each other for the past 17 years and have shared much laughter as well as tears.
If you’ve been following along for a while, you’ll remember a post from September when our little crew rallied around Debbie after learning that she had breast cancer. Our friend, Betty, and her daughter, Haylie, came all the way from Oklahoma to put their arms around Debbie. Our other friend, Sylvia, traveled from Alabama with her son, Andrew, for the very same reason. We just wanted to love on Debbie for a little while. We wanted her to truly know the love we have in our hearts for her.
Back in September, we were able to forget for a little while what brought us together for that weekend. We threw our heads back laughing and enjoying each other’s company and the unique personalities that gathered around Debbie. We had a good time that weekend, my daughters and I. We took our friendship of 17 years with these precious individuals beyond the computer screen and the Lifetime Lounge and took it into real life. Why not? We had shared our lives with each other through the years any way, the good as well as the bad and the ugly! It was time – past time, honestly, to meet in person and give real hugs versus cyber hugs.
Now, the reality of the situation is forced in our faces once more. Debbie is really sick and is struggling due to the affects the cancer has had on her body. It has taken its toll, going from her right breast and in to her lymph nodes. The last report that I received was that the cancer had spread to her liver as well as fluid around her lung and into her spine. It wasn’t in her brain at that time, though. As you can imagine, this was devastating news for all of us. We can’t begin to imagine what her family must be going through and what she, herself, is having to endure.
This is where it gets really tough!
This is where we ask … Why?
Why did it have to be this way? Debbie is a good person! Why must she go through this and suffer so? Why couldn’t it have been caught sooner or prevented altogether? Why is this happening? No one has these answers here on this side of Heaven.
And at a time like this, all we can do is gather together and offer prayers to our Heavenly Father on Debbie’s behalf. We did just that the evening before we all had to part ways in September. We gathered around Debbie in a hotel room after hours spent together that day with our dear friends that traveled from states away, and we placed our hands on Debbie as we all bowed our heads and prayed for her and over her. Debbie cried. Real tears rolled down her cheeks, and after the prayer, she said that she has never felt more loved in all of her life. Mission accomplished. We came that weekend for her to feel our love, and she did, as strong as ever!
None of us could haven known what the future would hold. No one knew but our Father in Heaven. He knows the plans He has for Debbie. He knows why she had to walk this path.
We don’t understand, and yet there are things we aren’t supposed to understand. All we know is that our friend is hurting and needs us …
And so … we are returning to Georgia this weekend.
We have heard from Debbie’s daughter that she is having a really hard time and unable to get out of bed without assistance. They made the decision to call Hospice in. And … we, her friends, made the decision to call the prayer warriors together … now more than ever before … to surround our dear friend, Debbie, to uplift her when she’s feeling so down, for God to give her strength when she is so weak, for Him to provide comfort when she’s hurting:
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.
Matthew 18:20
God was there that evening in September when we gathered around Debbie to pray for her. I know that without a shadow of a doubt. I believe Debbie not only felt the love we all have for her, but she received a touch from God Almighty that evening as well. I believe He enabled her to hold on a little longer as she has two grown children, lots of grandchildren, and one great-grand on the way. She’s been so strong for so long, and the last message we received from her personally spoke of how she wanted to give up. Of course, we told her that was NOT an option. Keep fighting the good fight … and she has.
We are rushing to her side tomorrow even if all we can do is sit with Debbie, hold her hand, and pray with her, for her, and over her. God will be there. He has never left her side. In fact, He’s carrying her in His loving arms when she’s unable to get around on her own. God has her in the palm of His great and mighty hand. He’s not letting her go. Debbie will be healed, whether it is on this side of Heaven or when she gets to Heaven. As painful as that was to write, I know that Debbie will not suffer much longer. Whether Jesus reaches down and heals her completely on Earth, or whether that just is not in the plans … she will suffer no more when Jesus calls her home to be with Him. There won’t be any more pain, no more suffering, and there won’t be any need for Debbie to shed any more tears. No, there won’t be any tears in Heaven. Debbie will be made whole once again.
We don’t want to lose her, please know that. Selfishly, we want Debbie here with us. We would take this all away from her in a minute if we possessed the power to do so. Yet, we do not. We do have the power to pray, and that is the weapon that we will arm ourselves with tomorrow as we go to battle with this thing that has taken over her body. We will pray, we will fight when she is unable to do so on her own. We will lift up our voices to God in Heaven on her behalf, and we ask you to do the same. Oh, I know you don’t know Debbie personally, but please … say a prayer for her. Pray with all your might, or just whisper a silent prayer … GOD HEARS THEM ALL!
And …
He’s in our mist.
With heavy hearts, we will travel to Georgia on this Friday morning to see our sweet friend’s face. We will gather around her bed, if need be, and pray.
This trip won’t be like the last one. It won’t be fun and laughter like before. I have prepared my daughters who have insisted that they have to go as well. And so, they shall. I believe that God hears the prayers of little children, and they will be offering up their prayers on Debbie’s behalf as well.
Prayer Warriors UNITE!
Crushing The Idol, Once and For All
Our family has had a situation play out within the past few months that have been extremely painful for us all to process. There seemed to be an elephant in the room, although no one wanted to ever acknowledge it. We knew something wasn’t quite right, and yet every time we tried to address it, it was brushed aside once more. Nothing ever gets resolved when this happens.
The days of tiptoeing around this elephant in the room turned into weeks, then months, and ultimately years of denying there was an elephant at all. Yet, in the back of our minds, we knew. We saw, we felt, and we lived side by side with this elephant.
By now you may be wondering exactly where I am going with this and what, exactly, am I talking about here. You may even be scratching your head right now while asking, “What is the elephant in the room that she’s referring to?” It is my husband’s addiction to pornography. Before you gasp and shy away from this post, please hear me out and see how this has affected us all. It has been extremely painful, and yet, I feel the story needs to be told.
Click here to continue reading over on Jennifer Dukes Lee’s site, author of Love Idol: Letting Go of Your Need For Approval And Seeing Yourself Through God’s Eyes, where Shirley is the PreApproved Writer of The Week. There you will find the rest of my story and how we are crushing the idol, once and for all, as well as a book at the end that Jennifer recommends to help those who have suffered through a spouse’s pornography addiction.
