Devotionals

Would you ever tell Jesus “no”? In our reading last week, we read the story of Jesus healing the demon possessed man.   There are references through out the gospels of Jesus healing others who were demon possessed, but this man was so crazy that he earned 13 verses to tell his story (Luke 8: 26-39). He had a

We all have dreams. Dreams for ourselves and, if you are a parent, dreams for our children. From the moment my children were born, my wheels started turning. Who will they hang out with? What colleges will they attend? What about their careers? What kind of girl will they marry? Every now and then, God

The feeding of the 5000 is a story we are all familiar with.  But the story before that story is what caught my attention this time. Jesus had just sent the disciples out and they were busy doing things in His name. Mark 6:30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they

I have been taking a stroll down memory lane again … as you can see from the photo :) This time I stopped at the very first tragedy my husband and I ever experienced in our marriage. I remember how our hearts were broken and we grieved immensely. The pain seemed to be more than

As a child, my family would spend about six weeks every other summer at my grandparents’ house. They lived in a very small village in Kerala, India. I remember playing with rocks, trying to kill larger than life spiders, bumpy car rides and drinking Tang made with water from our own well. I would watch

This past week, the lights went out in my daughter’s room, and it has not been an easy fix.  She has no problem with that, though, because it means she doesn’t have to sleep in her own room, which she is absolutely thrilled about. While her brothers are carted off to their rooms at bedtime,

Something really cool happened this past week – something I had been hoping for, dreaming of and praying about…for years. And then it happened again.* I was blown away. What was God up to? I traced back my steps. Surely I had done something to finally cause this to happen? Or did I say something

Natural disasters.  Shootings.  Division. It seems as if these are the frequent headliners lately. I don’t know about you, but hearing of such tragedies is pretty disheartening and causes us to respond in different ways. Some folks remain in a state of fear and pity: “Oh how terrible!” Some quickly move on with their own

How should you respond when put into a situation that is totally out of your control, and completely unfair?   After reading the book of Daniel, I would say…Keep Calm and Trust God. You see Daniel was taken from his homeland of Israel as a young man as part of the exile to Babylon.  King

This week, our readings finally brought us into the New Testament.  It was such a dramatic contrast to go from reading the gloom and doom of the last few books of the old testament to these first few chapters bursting with hope and joy in our Savior’s birth. As we read Mary’s story, the angel