Christian Devotionals and Scripture Applied to Everyday Life

There are times in life when you will feel exhausted and overcome with your circumstances. God beckons us to come to Him for strength during these times. One thing that has been a great blessing to me and has helped me to hold firmly to my confidence in God's provision has been daily devotional guides. I have lots of them and keep them strategically placed all over the house. I don't read every one every day, but when I feel like I need a pick-me-up, I can grab the nearest one. It is amazing how God always seems to place in my hands and heart the exact words I need to keep me going.

Within the past few years I read a book that, though a true story, was absolutely unbelievable. Unbroken is the incredible biography of a 1936 Olympic qualifier in the 5,000 meter race, and a World War II survivor. This Christmas the movie came out in the theaters, and I enjoyed watching it on the big screen with our family. Louie Zampirini was born on January 26, 1917, to Italian immigrant parents. Because his family could not speak English well, his young life in Torrance, California, was not easy and he was often the target of bullies. Louie tried to find ways to compensate for the bullying and developed habits of fighting, drinking, smoking, and stealing. 

I lay shivering on the sofa as the itinerant nurse attached the sticky tabs to my body. Dad and I had decided to change our life insurance policy and the prerequisite was an extensive physical including an electrocardiogram - otherwise known as an EKG. This test checks for problems with the electrical activity of your heart.  On cue, I stayed as still as could while the machine did its job measuring my heart's activity and recording it in spikes and dips on a long piece of paper. After it was over I asked the nurse how I did. Her response was that she was not qualified to read the results. I would have to wait for a trained technician to look at the reading. Hopefully, everything is fine. The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 17:9 that our spiritual heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. We are all born with this sinful heart condition. Though we may not know the extent of our wretchedness, God, Who searches the heart, does. 

Why do we do what we do? In the past two days, I have had reminders of how important it is to consider your ways. It is unprofitable and sometimes downright dangerous to go through life without taking the time to exam the things we do and think. I remember hearing the story of a woman who would always cut off the end of a ham roast before baking it in the oven. One day her daughter asked why she did this. She thought for a minute and finally replied, "I do it because that is what my mother always did."   Her daughter's question got her to wondering about this family custom, so she asked her mother the purpose of cutting off the end of the ham. The answer was a complete surprise. The older lady said, "I cut the end from the ham because my roaster was never big enough to fit the whole thing."

Have you ever met an impostor? Though we don't always realize it, it happens all the time. Someone pretends to be someone or something he is not. Last night after dinner Dad told us a fascinating legend about Queen Elizabeth I of England. According to this conspiracy theory, the daughter of King Henry VIII was actually a boy. Supposedly the 10-year-old Lady Elizabeth was sent away to the country town of Bisley to protect her from a terrible plague outbreak in London. Though she was miles away, the young girl, unfortunately, contracted a fatal illness. While she lay dying in bed, her governess got word that the King was coming to visit, but before the King arrived the child died.  Knowing the King's history of violence and rage, the governess panicked and searched for a replacement. Unable to find a young girl of similar age with comparable features she did the next best thing. She found a boy who would suffice and dressed him in the girl's clothes.

Sunlight sparkled through every ice-coated branch against a backdrop of baby blue. I welcomed the warm light after days of gray seclusion during the storm. Finally free to venture out, I grabbed an obligatory pair of gloves and jumped into the car without hesitation. I couldn’t miss the thick patches of snow layered over ice on the pavement, so I slowed my pace and navigated accordingly. Confident that no hazards remained, I approached the main road at a regular rate, pressing the brake at the usual spot with the usual force in my routine. The tires locked as I slid helplessly towards the intersection on thin ice I hadn’t seen, didn’t expect, and wasn’t prepared for. We can’t be ready for every hazard on our journey, so we have to live in a state of readiness.