TODAY'S DAILY...Remember the good

Saul was not the most wonderful person. In fact, there isn't a lot of good to say about him. Poor David had been the brunt of Saul's attacks over and over, even when David had been nothing but kind to him.


David had much heartache and hardship at the hands of Saul. So naturally, when Saul died, David had every right to rejoice.

But David chose to do something different. Instead of rejoicing that his adversary was gone, David remembered the good. He recalled Saul to be loving and gracious; he remembered how Saul had strength stronger than a lion and that Saul was mighty...


"Saul and Jonathan-in life they were loved and admired, and in death they were not parted. They were swifter than Eagles, they were stronger than lions." -2 Samuel 1:23


It's so easy to focus on wrong doing and getting even. We see it from Presidential campaigns to name calling in a divorce to wishing evil upon the boss who just fired you.


David was able to see the good in Saul because he placed everything in God's hands. I'm urging you today, in the midst of your conflict, in the midst of your heartache and loss, follow David's lead and remember the good!


God will take care of the rest.

TODAY'S DAILY...did the devil make you do it or not?

"The devil made me do it!"

Did he or didn't he? Recently, I had someone tell me that we give too much credit to the enemy. While I agree to that statement that often times the troubles we find ourselves in are simply our choosing, I also cannot discount that the enemy is lurking around, looking for ways to trip us up and destroy us.

Honestly, he doesn't need any help from us. The battle isn't even with us, the enemy is fighting God. You see, by hurting us, satan hurts God. His main goal is to keep us from living victorious Christian lives.

If you don't think satan is working against us, just read the book of Job. Satan stripped everything away from Job, God allowed it, but said, "you can't take his life". 

God had a purpose with Job's life, and He has a purpose for yours. As a believer, we are subject to persecution and attack simply because of Whose we are...

"They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings-and with Him will be His  called, chosen and faithful followers." -Revelation 17:14

The enemy is real, my friend, he wants to take everything from you but stand firm in your faith because your life belongs to God!

DAILY DEVO...how much joy do you have today?

Let's examine our lives for a minute...how much joy do you see?


I'm not talking about being happy from time to time, I'm talking about a real, deep within, joy! The kind of joy that even in the midst of a storm, you still smile and you still praise God.

Having joy in our life is a choice that we each have to make.


The absence of joy is not pretty. It can make living day to day difficult; everything will seem burdensome and no one will be able to do anything right in our eyes. Stress will mount and everything will spin out of control; leaving anger, bitterness, anxiety and even depression to set in.
Jesus does not want us to live like this, but, the enemy does. Don't overestimate the power of the enemy, he comes to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10a) If he can steal your joy, he kills your livelihood.

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Jesus is our source of joy. Today, I am choosing to take my eyes off of my circumstances and let go of the things I can't change and walk in joy.


I pray you will be more than happy today. Be joyful, in ALL things, for the joy of the Lord IS our strength!

LACED WITH GRACE....Who has your back?

Today, I have shared the following devotional with the readers of Laced With Grace! For daily devotionals, check out this site! www.lacedwithgrace.com

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You are my refuge and my shield, Your Word is my source of hope.” -Psalm 119:114


Have you ever gone thru something difficult and just needed someone to have your back? I remember when I was in high school, I had a circle of friends that did everything together. We walked to classes together, we ate lunch together, we walked home after school together, we went to Friday night football games together, we hung out at each others houses on the weekends together; you could say that we were “inseparable.”


The cool thing that came out of that kind of bond was that thru thick or thin, we had each others backs. We knew each other so well that if someone tried to mess with us or try spreading gossip, we knew exactly if it was right or wrong. We knew each others personalities, flaws and character and we had no problem defending one another.


Since then, I have learned a few life lessons. First of all, strong bonds between friends like that are rare these days and secondly, it is difficult to find people who will have our backs thru thick and thin. Nowadays, at the first sign of trouble, people scatter. No one wants to get involved or mixed up in other peoples lives.


When the going gets tough, we need someone to have our backs. And THIS is why I love the scripture in Psalm 119. It speaks to me that no matter what comes my way, no matter how difficult it is, God has my back!!


God IS our refuge and shield. When we need protection – He is our protector! When we need encouragement – He is our encourager! When we need to escape – He provides the way! He is the Friend that will never leave us or forsake us. He won’t lie on us, cheat us, or abandon us. His love for us doesn’t change just because we change. He is the real deal and because He knows us by name; He also knows our inner thoughts, our flaws, our strengths and our motives and when push comes to shove, He will defend us like no one else could.


God loves you and He would have you know today that when it seems like everyone has abandoned you or turned on you, He hasn’t. Keep striving to be more like Him, keep looking forward and don’t worry about what is behind you because your back is covered by the Blood!


PRAYER: Dear Lord, THANK YOU for being my everything. Help me to remember that I am never alone, You are with me at all times, for all times. I can never repay You for my life, but I can give you my life wholeheartedly to do whatever you see well to do with it. AMEN

DAILY DEVO...Tunnel Vision

Have you ever wondered what "the right thing" was?


 So many times, we are faced with those decisions that we wish we could magically speed ahead and see the outcome. I don't know about you, but knowing how things would pan out for me somehow feels like trusting God is taken out of the equation.

Sure it would be great to know who to marry, where to live, what college to go to or how to pay off our mortgage. These things and more life issues come so much easier when we look to God.

"Your Word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path." -Psalm 119:105

Trusting God and looking to His plan for our life (not our plan) is like receiving tunnel vision. If you've ever traveled thru a lighted tunnel, you now what I'm talking about.


While everything around seems dark, there's that bright light in the tunnel that illuminates the way to get out. That's EXACTLY what God's Leading does- It illuminates the right way to go to find our destination.


When you are unsure of something, find the Light and let It lead you out.

TODAY'S DAILY...power: now you see it - now you don't!

Power ... We all want some kind of power. We want the power to either change or stay the way we are. We want power to deal with adversity or at least, the power to zap our adversaries away. Power runs one way or another, but either way, we all want power.


This morning I spent most of the start of my day on the phone because the power that I depend upon wasn't there. A storm that went thru recently didn't just knock out the power in our lights, but the power t...hat connected me to our Xerox machine was lost too. Even though the lights were fixed, the power I needed was not to be found. (Thank goodness for smart IT people) Power has a way of "now you see it", "now you don't!"

Life is filled with illusions much like my power outage I experienced today. Just because the lights came on doesn't mean everything else will work. Often times in life, what we see is not really there and what we do not see, is.


People can argue all day long about not being able to see God (physically) but even though I cannot see Him does not mean He is not there. I know God is there because I've seen His power!


It didn't take me long today to see I had no power coming from my computer and without it I could accomplish nothing! Don't you know without the power of God in our lives, the same is true, we cannot accomplish much.

"Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." -Matthew 5:4

God has given us His power, may we use it properly and for His glory and may we realize that what we see is not always what we get.

LACED WITH GRACE...What does it mean to be mindful?

Today, I have shared the following devotion over at the LACED WITH GRACE website. Click on www.lacedwithgrace.com for daily devotions.

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Now here’s a saying you don’t hear too often anymore …   “Be mindful of what you do”.


My Grandmother use to always use the word “mindful”, as a little girl I really couldn’t understand why it was so important to have our minds so “full”, especially when all I wanted to do was go outside and play with my friends.


Of course, now that I am grown, I fully understand what lesson she was trying to teach. Mindful is just another word for “to consider” and my dear Grandmother was trying to instill in us Grandkids to “consider” one another. Not only in how we acted but how we spoke to one another. Because the words that we spoke and the deeds that we did to one another would long be remembered.
In scripture, there is a similar passage that reminds me of this same teaching…


“For He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant.” -Luke 1:48a (NIV)


To say that God is mindful of us means that He notices everything about our life. No one cares more about us and our life choices than God. I know it is hard to imagine but He even cares more about our life than we do or anyone else around us. We can be “mindful” of others too, but in our flesh, often times we fall back on our selfish thinking… “What is in it for me?” God never has an agenda except to love us completely and unconditionally. You see, He loves us even when we don’t return His love. He loves even that one that we deem unlovable.


1 Peter 5:7 says,  “Give God all your worries and all your cares for He is always thinking about you, watching everything that concerns you.” What a wonderful thing to know, that there is someone who really cares about the things that we care about. Mary saw this very thing, thus why she could say yes to God’s plan for her life because she knew that God was looking out for her and was always being “mindful” of her. (*Luke 1:48a)


To say that God is mindful of us means that He notices everything in our life. That’s right ….even the bad and ugly stuff. But despite that, He still loves us and is concerned about us and wants to bring fullness to our life.


May today be the day that you become mindful that God is mindful over you!


PRAYER: Father, help me to be mindful of the things I say and do, Help me to seek Your path and direction for my life as I know that You are watching over me and caring for me in ways I cannot even imagine. Thank you for being mindful of me, even when I don’t see it. In return, help me to be mindful of the choices I make, may all of my choices lead me to You! AMEN