Devotionals
2021
What Are a Few Zeros More or Less?
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford My sister Grace once ordered business envelopes for our father’s publishing company. The salesman for the printing company phoned me. “Want to check on this order for me? It seems a little...
Don’t Become a Writer Unless—
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford There’s a serious drawback to speaking your mind, whether using a podium or a word processor or social media. One fine day, someone is going to quote back to you what you said and hold you accountable for saying it....
Five Darling, Cuddly—and Deadly!—Baby Mice
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford My mother was in the attic sorting out boxes, when her expression suddenly became grave. I looked into the box and saw five darling baby mice nestled together. I was charmed. (I was only four years old, and...
What Should You Do with Your Own High Expectations?
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford This week I read a quotation from Helen Keller, the remarkable woman born blind and deaf, who used her life so gloriously for good. She wrote something remarkable for a blind woman to say: “The loss of sight is...
Why Would God Give an 83-Year-Old Woman Cancer?
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford All of her friends were upset when our dear friend told us she’d been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and faced immediate surgery. She’s old (by our reckoning), lives alone, has rather meager resources...
The Heavens Declare the Glory of God
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Handford My husband Walt was an ardent mountaineer, growing up in Seattle. He and his aged father even did a 3-day backpack into the Three Sisters, peaks each over 10,000 feet in the Cascade Mountains. Walt could walk into a...
When I’m Afraid
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Handford Friends of mine both work for the federal government. During covid, they worked from home, and as soon as they could, they returned to their offices. But the husband is deeply worried now that they might be furloughed....
So Little Time Left to Serve God
A Word of Encouragement with Elizabeth Rice Handford A dear woman who attended my Bible class was diagnosed with brain cancer. She had only a few weeks to live. She was a retired school teacher. She’d come to Christ only two years before. She was too sick to have...
Unforgiven?
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford I was already skeptical about the phone call when I heard the man’s British/Indian accent. He said, “You have won a million dollars, and we are ready to send it to you today.” “Sure, and you’ll throw in the Brooklyn...
Forgiven!
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford Forgiven! At peace with God! Isn’t that the longing of every human heart? But not many of us feel forgiven or at peace. We are more anxious and fearful, it seems, than any people who lived. Then, at least, threats...
