Devotionals

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford “Nobody wants me,” a distraught woman said to me as she opened the door to me. “God doesn’t even want me.” How deeper could a human being’s despair go? This dear woman had found life intolerable, and thought she’d...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Handford A bestseller by Kate Bowler bears the title, “Everything Happens for a Reason: and Other Lies I’ve Loved.” The title and the book imply that Romans 8:28 is a lie, a comforting lie, but still a blatant lie. Romans 8:28...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Handford If you ask me for my favorite Scripture, I’d answer that it depends on what I need from God that day. In a time of stress recently, I turned to Isaiah 44 and 45. In that grand passage, the name of an unknown king...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford The little boy didn’t believe his father when he said, “This hurts me more than it hurts you,” though his daddy’s eyes were filled with tears. Tommy had stolen some money at school. The principal discovered it, and...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford Category 3 hurricane Helene was predicted. Urgent warnings of 80 mile-an-hour winds and dangerous flash floods were issued. I did my best to do everything they suggested to prepare. Bread. Milk. Bottled water. Dog...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford “It isn’t fair,” the young wife wailed. “He oughtn’t to get by with it.” If you knew the circumstances, you’d agree with her that the thief deserves punishment. An employee of her husband admitted he’d stolen...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford Everybody said the old man was stubborn and set in his ways, and there was no way he would ever become a Christian. People had certainly tried to convince him of his need. A deacon went; he said no. The pastor went;...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford When you are talking to me, don’t wistfully long for the “good old days.” I was born in 1927, the week Charles Lindberg flew the Atlantic alone in his fragile “Spirit of St. Louis.” I know all about the good old...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford Our fifteen-year-old grandson is loving his new job at a fast-food restaurant. His Christian employers have given him his first priority: “Make your customer feel valued.” It’s easy, perhaps, to do that, if you’re...

The Gospel of Luke chapter eleven tells us of a lawyer who was trying to discredit the Lord Jesus, so he asked, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 11:25). Jesus responded, “What is written in the law?” “You shall love the LORD your God with all...