Friday, August 7, 2015


Recently, I was camping with my Dad and my kids.
One night I was heading over to the camp restroom under the full moon and enjoying the brightness of the night.  I didn’t need my flashlight at all; the moon gave more than enough light for me to see where I was going.  I am used to using night vision from our star gazing adventures when we are only using red light after dark so we can view stars more easily.  I have learned that I can see well enough to walk in the dark even under a new moon.
As I walked to the restroom and back I noticed several people around their campsites with fires blazing and flashlights on.  They felt like they needed more light.
How often do we fill our spiritual need for God’s light with false light?  How often do we assume we cannot see when we simply have not taken the time to seek His light?  Rather than wander around blinded by the darkness or filling the darkness with false light, let’s take a few moments and allow the true light of God to fill us and clear our vision.  Allow His Word to be the lamp to our feet and the one true light to our path.
As our soul’s eye becomes accustomed to the true brightness of God’s light we will no longer need to fill our sight with false light.  We can dance and rejoice in the true light!

Lord,

Thank you for the sun, the moon, and the stars in the sky.  They all give us reminders of your true light.  You fill us with light and love and this verse reminds us that your word brightens up the path you have for us to take, making it clearer.  Help us set aside any false lights we have taken up and seek your true light; your Word.   It is only with this true light that we will find the path to you.  Amen.

Thursday, July 30, 2015


God uses music to speak to me because He knows me and He knows I hear messages conveyed through music.
As I sat enjoying the beauty of God’s creation this morning I could not help but feel praises and joy glorifying his name.  There are so many things that bring me to my knees when I look at his beautiful creations.
The peace and sweet innocence on the faces of my children when they are asleep is just one tiny gift of beauty in my world.  The softness of flower petals and the fragrance they bring to my nose send me calm, gentle caresses of love from God directly.
We have been given this day, a new day to be in the presence of God regardless of what our day holds.  He is wherever we are.  Take time today to find the beauty in your world and in yourself as well.
God created all things in wisdom, let us enjoy and rejoice in his wisdom and in his creation. 

Lord,
The beauty of your creation is awe inspiring.  People try to
create music, poems, and art to convey the beauty they experience but I have found myself lacking any means of communicating the feelings you bring to my heart in your creation.  Thank you for creating me.  My heart sings praises to you this day because, in your wisdom, all things are created.  Thanksgiving and unending praise belong to you.  Amen. 

Monday, July 27, 2015

Colossians 3:14-15 "Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful."


A visualization for today's scripture:
As a child of God, I raise my arms over my head to receive the clothing of love from my Father.  He wraps it around me, binding it onto and within me so love cannot be separated from me.

I realize as I stand this way that I am now shaped like a chalice, a cup waiting to be filling with the peace of Christ so that it may rule in the very heart of my being.  I am a vessel built to contain what God puts in me.  His love and peace are to rule each moment, each day, through eternity, and I am a part of that!
Now as I am clothed and filled by God, I continue to lift my hands in thanksgiving and praise to the one true King, the Almighty, my heavenly Father.  Hallelujah!

Thursday, July 9, 2015


As I was visualizing the grace of God overflowing on me I thought of fountains that people have on their desks or end
tables.
A pump recycles water from the pool at the bottom, back up, and the water runs down over the little rocks and sculptures to the pool and then back up again.  Next I picture a river.
The water is crystal clear and the river rocks that sit in the bed are washed gently over and over with a never ending massage from the running water.
This seems like the grace of our Lord to me. We are rough and ragged when we come to Jesus.  His grace “flows” over us, never ending.  It smooths out the rough edges and the ragged broken parts until we are smooth and soft.  When we have been infused with God’s grace, his love fills; faith is strengthened.
Let the grace of our Lord pour out over you in abundance today. Take a moment and allow the gentle massage of his love and grace to renew and soothe you.  Let it soften the rough edges and then, in faith, go out and allow his grace and love to flow from you to those around you.

Lord,

Without water we would die and without your grace we would die. The sacrifice of Jesus was the greatest act of love.  Let the sounds of water remind me that your grace is here.  Let this world receive your grace in abundance today and then let us praise you eternally!  Amen.

Sunday, June 7, 2015


The word testimony has come up a few times in the past couple of weeks and here it is again.  I feel another nudge.
I read so many stories in the bible and know many personally of how God uses unlikely, broken, unseemly people to serve him in big and little ways.  When this woman went to the well I am certain she was not expecting to walk away from it changed and I am sure she did not expect to the be vessel to change the lives of many others from that city.
What do I hold back that could bring change and grace to others if I were just willing to testify?   I am no different that many of the people in the bible that God used.  Is it pride or shame that keeps my testimony a secret?  I am quiet by nature but I am not incapable of talking and sharing stories with others.
I know God is leading me but I do not see where quite yet.  I come to the well, like the Samaritan woman, and receive his love and grace; I receive his living water.  Now I seek to be open to his will so that water can flow from me to others, spreading his message of love to all.

Lord,

You know my heart better than I know it myself.  Forgive my unwillingness to risk.  Help me listen and obey when your Spirit moves me to share, to testify, to give your name all glory and honor through whatever story I am guided to share.  Create in me a willing spirit.  Strengthen my voice until I can shout “Come and see a man who told me everything I have done!  He is the Messiah!”  In your holy name I pray, Amen.

Monday, May 25, 2015

2 Thessalonians 3:16"Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with all of you."

On this Memorial Day, this day of remembering the people who sacrificed their lives so that I might live in peace, I share this verse of peace with you.
Take time today to thank the Lord for the blessing of freedoms we have in this country. Take time today to pray for our country and its leaders as well as the leaders of countries around the world.  We do not live in a world of peace but we can live with hearts of peace.  I echo the beautiful words of Paul.  May the Lord of peace give you peace; the Lord be with you all.

Lord,
Thank you for the blessings I so often take for granted.  There are so many people suffering in so many ways but even in those I ask for your peace to be given and instilled in their hearts and souls.  Let all who suffer find peace and rest in you.  Let those of us who do not suffer so be agents of your peace to others.  I pray this in your holy name and to the glory of your kingdom, now and forever.  Amen.

Friday, May 15, 2015


I ask myself this morning, who is my neighbor?
I have visited this message before; it is written in many books of the bible and in the depths of my soul.  Occasionally I am nudged to reconsider who my neighbor is.
I just finished attending a spring bible study, yesterday was the last day.  A few times during the year I would pass a young mom with spiky red hair and a few piercings.  She was a reminder to me to consider who my neighbor is.  I am humbled when I think of the judgment that enters my mind.  Who am I to say what is in the heart of another person?  Who am I to think I know what message they seek to portray in their dress, body language, speech?  I am not called to put them in a box or label them in any way.  I am called to love them.
What about the people who seem like me?  I cannot know their heart of hearts either; I am only called to love them.  What about my family and dear friends; are they easier to love or easier to overlook completely?
As I move into this day, I lift a prayer that I would not only be able to love the purple-haired, tattooed, body pierced person as God loves me but that I would also love my own children with the heart of Christ.  I pray I would love my spouse with Christ’s love.  I pray the love of God will permeate all of our souls this day.

Lord,

You call us to love; why is that so hard for us?  This morning I ask you to open my eyes and open my heart to see clearly and love more deeply.  You know the hearts of all; give me a spirit of love for all.  I want to be a light in the darkness, a warmth in the cold, love in the midst of hate.  Use me to bring your love to those hurting souls in this world.  Amen.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Matthew 28:6-"He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.”

 What a roller coaster of emotions the disciples had been through in the last couple of days.

As they came into Jerusalem for the Passover celebration a parade of sorts came together honoring and praising Jesus as King.  There must have been a sense of elation and joy, a sense of work finally beginning to pay off.  A few short days later, Jesus hung on a cross.  He was being crucified as a criminal of the worst kind.

The disciple’s hearts and minds must have been reeling.  I imagine they were asking themselves what to do now?  Where do they go from here?  The last few years of their lives had been completely devoted to this man of God and now he was gone.

Now they receive a message from the women; they receive a message from an angel of God – “He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said”.

As I ponder the resurrection story this morning, I cannot begin to understand what the disciples must have thought or felt when they heard this new message.  I do not what I think and feel when I read this message today.  Christ the Lord has risen today; Hallelujah!

The chains of sin lay broken at the foot of the cross and there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God anymore.  I join in the songs of nature; I join in the praises of people around the world as we celebrate the risen Christ and the joy of our salvation through our risen Lord.

Christ is risen; He is raised indeed!

 

Lord,


I praise your holy name and I lift my heart in celebration for the precious gift of your salvation to me and to all.  I pray that many souls will come to know you through this celebration of your resurrection and that like the disciples in the gospel, we will be encouraged to go and tell others this incredible, amazing story.  To your glory and honor I pray.  Amen.

Saturday, March 28, 2015


He knew.  He went in knowing what was coming.
I have a friend who is a non-believer.  I remember a few years ago when we were talking about my faith he expressed how brutal Christianity is.  We hung our Lord on a cross and crucified him.  He claims he wants no part of that brutality.  I can understand that feeling, really and truly I can.
This morning as I meditated on the coming week I thought about my kids.  Would I sacrifice my life for my kids?  Of course I would!  Would I want to die, would I be wishing for another way, you bet I would.  If it came right down to it, would I be willing to die so my children could live?  Yes.
This is only a glimpse of what God’s love is for us.  Jesus was God incarnate.  He came to teach us, just as human parents teach their children.  He loved us and taught us and knew there needed to be more given so that we, his children, might live.  He willingly went forth into the clutches of the enemy, knowing he would be killed.  He did it for us, his kids.
As we move into this holy week of remembrance, I hope the Lord reminds us of our love for each other and uses that as a tool to open our eyes in newer and deeper ways to his love for us.

Lord,
Help me be compassionate to those who do not see or know your love.  Remove my impatience with them and guide me to show them your love in ways that serve you. Help me see them as your children, and my sisters and brothers.  Change their hearts Lord; change my heart too.  I ask these things for your glory and in your honor.  I thank you for your sacrifice of life so that we can live.  I praise you that we can claim victory and live in celebration each day because of you.  All praise, glory, and honor are yours now and forever.  Amen

Sunday, March 8, 2015


God is a God of miracles.
Throughout history he has provided and rescued.  He has brought wrath, instructed and guided, and so many times by the use of miracles.
We cannot explain or understand how water could come from a rock or how water can create a wall in a river bed.  We cannot explain how a baby can be born of a virgin or how death on a cross can bring forgiveness for all.
There are also daily miracles: the growth of a child, our body healing from sickness, a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.  These are harder to notice for sure, yet, no less a miracle.  We are tarnished, battered, and sometimes broken but we can hold hope in our hearts in spite of that with messages like this one.
They did not thirst... water gushed out.
What miracle will you witness today?

Lord,

Thank you for your abundant love and thank you for all of the miracles you create to speak to us and to give your love and life to us.  Open our eyes this day to see the miracles we would have missed.  Help us to drink your gushing water so we may no longer be thirsty.  All glory and honor are yours, forever.  Amen.

Sunday, February 22, 2015


What keeps me from becoming a disciple of the Lord?  What are my possessions?  When Jesus was speaking was he talking about money and personal belongings or was it something more?
During this season of reflection and repentance, this verse spoke deeply to my heart.  I knew as soon as I read it that I needed to spend time searching my heart with this verse in mind.  What do I possess so strongly that it keeps me from being who the Lord calls me to become?  When I woke up early this morning I had house fires on my mind.  If my house were on fire what would I grab on the way out?  What is so important to me that I would risk my life for it?  When it comes down to it, my family is the only thing I would risk life and limb for.  We have a lot of stuff but none of it is more important than my life or the lives of my family.
So, in my spiritual life, why do I continue to bring my stuff?  Why do I risk spiritual life and limb as I try to flee the dangers and death and follow Jesus to abundant life?  We all have things we cling to, things that are difficult, seemingly impossible to let go of, don’t we?  I know I do.  I pray, this morning, that the Lord will reveal to me what possessions keep me from deeper discipleship.  I pray He will bring me to a place where I am freed of them forever.  I pray for you as well.

Lord,

Thank you for your word.  Thank you that even as we spend a season in reflection and repentance we know we are already redeemed through your death and resurrection.  I ask that you dig deep into my heart and truly reveal the things that keep me from abundant life in you.  Help me name them and call them out.  Strengthen me to release them and be fully free in you and your love.  Until then, use these possessions to keep me stumbling so I remember that only you can save me.  Amen.

Thursday, February 12, 2015


I had a picture in my mind as I meditated on this verse.  I was a record, an LP.
If you don’t remember those, ask someone a generation older than you to explain them.  The needle started playing and as it moved in, there was a scratch on the vinyl.  The needle would jump back and start again only to find the scratch again and again.  The needle was not able to go past the scratch until it was manually picked up and guided to a new spot on the record.  When I was young, we had a record player and records.  If there was a scratch too deep, we simply had to throw out the record.
When I look at me as a record, I am filled with scratches.  If I were left to my own resources I know I would be no good and would need to be thrown away.
This verse gives me hope.  Humans cannot repair a scratch too deep on the vinyl but with God, all things are possible.  He can pick up the needle and move it but he can also repair and mend the scratches on the vinyl until they are made new.
Let our days be filled with music and trust in the Lord that if there is a skip, he will be faithful to us in repairing it so the
music goes on uninterrupted.

Lord,

You know our hearts beyond what we know of our hearts.  Thank you for stepping in and not leaving us to our own devices.  Give us the courage to call on you for help and to trust in you to keep the music going as you designed.  Amen.

** This is an older writing of mine but it really spoke to me again today as I pray for hardened hearts and the condition of our world as we know it so I wanted to share again - Blessings! Sally

Saturday, February 7, 2015


A vessel; a clay pot formed by the hands of the master potter; living stone being built into a holy temple; these are the images and scriptures I have received in the last few days.
Then this morning after I read this passage in 1 Peter, I opened up my devotional and the scripture was from 1 Corinthians 13 – “Love is patient, Love it kind...”  What else should a vessel of the Lord or a temple for the Lord be filled with if not Love?
I have been in a waiting time. I am waiting on the Lord and waiting in the Lord to be shown what my next steps of action are.  The thing is I have been shown but, as usual, I question it and wait some more.  I ask how I can bring my gifts of teaching and healing to the world around me and the answer comes back “start with your family” every time.
I step into this day ready to work on my physical well-being and my spiritual well-being.  I seek to see my family and friends through the eyes of Love.  I lift my heart and hands in thanks to the Lord for his faithfulness in guiding me and his unending patience when I drag my feet.  I dedicate this day to Him and trust that He will make himself known to me and through me as he sees fit.

Lord,

Please forgive my hesitant heart and please forgive my pride and selfishness.  These things get in the way of your work every time.  Heal the wounds the world inflicts on me and please heal the wounds I have inflicted on others.  Continue to build me, shape me, and guide me into the vessel you want me to be.  Use me as you will, not as I will and always to the glory of your Kingdom.  I pray all these things in Christ Jesus, my Lord and Savior.  Amen.

Friday, February 6, 2015

Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand."

I am nothing without God.
I am a speck of dust; a withering leaf blowing in the wind and then gone.
As I sat in mediation I acknowledged to God that all I
accomplish, anything I say or do that is right, belongs to him.  It is his protection and guidance that allow me to honor him instead of disgracing him.  Without his Spirit, I would be lost beyond recognition.
I am a vessel to be filled and used for his kingdom.  He lovingly created me knowing each and every part of me.  I am his
creation, his child, and because of this I seek to please him.  I can step forward in hope because I know that he is faithful; he is my strength and my shield.
I take hold of the hand of God and he pulls me to my feet.  I lift my hands and heart in praise and adoration of the Almighty, my Rock and my Redeemer.
He created each of us in love and he gives us what we need to serve him.  Call on his name and step into your day with the comfort of his Spirit leading the way.

Lord,

Pour your grace into every crevice of my soul.  As it seeps in and brings healing and restoration, strengthen my spirit with yours.  Thank you for your continued guidance and love through every moment.  Thank you for protecting me from so many unknown attacks.  I lift your name on high and praise you on this glorious new day.  Amen.

Saturday, January 17, 2015


Actions speak louder than words.
I was just talking about this with my daughter the other day.  We can say we are sorry but unless our actions mirror our words, what we say holds no value.  When I tell my children I love them but do not follow through with actions to build up those words, what do they really mean?
I seem to be in a time of waiting, treading spiritual water, to some degree.  I do not feel a call to move in any specific direction but to work through each day where I am.  I look around and see people I know and love obviously showing God’s love in truth and in action; what am I doing?
As I meditated on this verse and my days I came to the basic truth that I can love in truth and action within my own home.  How often do I wish my children were more loving to each other?  How often do I wish I hadn’t spoken in harsh tones but in Godly, loving, correction?
My daughter came down the stairs very early this morning – in the middle of my quiet time.  I am learning to breathe and gently accept interruptions that happen during these times.  Life is full of interruptions and it is during those moments that I know I need to work to live in love and truth, acting accordingly.

Lord,

Thank you for your grace and love.  Thank you for your Spirit that guides me.  Write these words on my heart and soul that I recall them in the moments I need them.  I rejoice in you this morning.  I soak in your love and pray I share that love as you call me to this day.  Amen.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015


I have come to realize I have weights that I was unaware of.  I have things that hold me back or hold me down; things that draw me away from my focus on the Lord.
A few weeks ago I washed my cell phone and it could not be revived.  I don’t have a fancy expensive phone so that is not the hard part.  The hard part is that now I don’t have instant contact with the world.  I have done battle with myself over the last several days.  I want one thing but do I need it?  I awoke two nights ago realizing my focus and wants had been pulling me away from the Lord and into the world.  My wants are a weight; they are the sin that clings so closely.
I will get a new cell phone soon but until I do, I will seek to find balance between the instant connection it provides to the world around me and the true connection I need to the Lord.  I seek to release the weights and sins that pull me down and away from the Lord.  It is with this renewed focus that I am able to run with perseverance.  I listen for the voices of the witnesses cheering me on and with that encouragement, I continue on.

Lord,

I am sorry that something so trivial drew me away from my heart’s deepest desire, pleasing you.  Help me keep things in perspective.  Let the things I hold in my hand be tools for your kingdom, not tools of distraction and darkness.  Guide me in the steps I take today and every day so that I stay true to the path and the race you have set before me.  Open my ears to hear encouraging words strengthening me along the way.  I run this race for you and your glory.  Amen.