Devotionals

  A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford When my mother was a child, she told me, there was one whole year when the sunsets were spectacular.  Why? A major volcano had erupted somewhere in the world, and the debris made the sunset skies glorious for a...

    A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford My earliest childhood memory is still very clear in my mind.  I was less than two-years-old, held in my mother’s arms in a service at First Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas.  I don’t remember the preacher, Dr....

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford At the beginning of a new year, my husband always encouraged our church families to look back on the past year to assess failures and triumphs and to choose new goals, identify faults to overcome, and to dream sweet...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth R. Handford Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown, When Thou camest to earth for me; But in Bethlehem's home was there found no room For Thy holy nativity. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, There is room in my heart for...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford When you stop to think about it, the whole Christmas story is incredible, almost too good to be true. But it’s so familiar, we may forget how very wonderful it is. Just think!  The eternal, almighty God, who has...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford One famous man made his money in oil.  He was “the richest man in the world” when he moved his home from America to Britain.  He was so stingy with his money that he put pay phones throughout his English castle to...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford “Joy to the world!” we sing so gladly on Christmas Day, “the Lord is come!  Let earth receive her King!” But there are 123 million refugees in the world to whom that song is a mockery.  Joy?  Peace?  Driven out of...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Handford We celebrated Columbus Day last week, on the date he first spied new land from his flagship, the Santa Maria.  You may have heard derogatory statements made about him and the statues of him that were destroyed.  I’d like...

 A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford “Grammy!” an agonized voice said over the phone.  “This is your oldest grandson.  I need your help.  My car wouldn’t start this morning, and I got a ride with a friend, and the police stopped him, and I didn’t know...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford Nobody likes to be called into the school principal’s office.  So I was accustomed to talking to uneasy children. But one morning, years ago, the parents of twin girls in our school came into my office seeming to be...