Devotionals

“I live in a goldfish bowl,” a dear friend, a pastor’s wife, confessed to me one long-ago day. “I feel like I live in a gold-fish bowl with a cat staring at me hungrily.” Her husband was a pastor of a large metropolitan church, and the demands on her time and energy...

Queen Victoria was still on the throne in England when my Mother and Father were born. Her strict standards of propriety seeped into American society, even into remote homes in west Texas. A woman’s place was in the home. Children should be seen and not heard. Girls...

How could anyone who is a child of God hate someone? The Bible tells us plainly that God made all human beings in His image. How terrible it would be to denigrate someone, anyone, since all of us were made in God’s image! What does it matter if we are different? Skin...

She “done me wrong.” She really did wrong me, and if I could tell you what happened, you’d agree that it was an irreparable loss. I really wanted to tell her how badly she’d injured me. But then, I think, my Heavenly Father interrupted my thoughts. He said, so gently,...

There's a section in Handel's Hallelujah Chorus, where the soaring sopranos sing a couple of notes of "He shall reign forever and ever," then the altos and tenors chime in with their variations on the theme, then the basses add their strong voices, "He shall reign...

Remember those excruciatingly wavy, funny mirrors at carnivals? Remember how they distorted your eyes into bug eyes, your legs into matchsticks, and your tummy into a swollen watermelon? We laughed because it was absurd. It wasn't reality. But too many people,...

For fifteen years, though I didn't realize it, I put my trust in the Equitable Life Assurance Company of the United States of America to take care of me and my family. You understand, I would have told you that of course I trusted God to take care of us. But if some...

Yes, you can see that this exquisite Aynsley English tea cup has a broken handle. It's broken, so why don't I throw it away? After all, I have a cupboard full of unbroken cups. Why not trash it and use a good cup? I keep it because it is precious to me. My pastor's...

Last night- I finished reading a book by a man that argues Christians sin when they claim to be certain about what the Bible teaches. He says doubt, not certainty, is the mark of a real Christian. The writer is absolutely certain that certainty is a sin. He's certain...

Sure, a billionaire can arrange an unprecedented flight into space. But some things his money can't buy, like health, or loyal friends. True, the government can hand out stimulus checks to help the economy but it can't stop the ravages of heat and drought or COVID....