Devotionals

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford Recently I enjoyed talking with a group of junior-high girls. In a note of thanks from the group, Jennifer signed herself, “I’m the Unique One.” (Remember your English teacher’s warning? There’s no such thing as...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Handford We buried my son-in-law today. It was a crisp, suddenly cool October day. The Marines folded the flag from his casket with meticulous care, and taps echoed across the low hills. We said “good night, not “good bye,” to...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford The doctor asked me, “Have you had an asthma attack since your last check-up?” “No,” I said glibly. “Haven’t had one probably for the last four years.” “Then you need to check if your emergency inhaler is expired,...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford Do you want a medical doctor with a good bedside and pleasant personality or one who has the knowledge, the integrity, and the wisdom to tell you honestly what you need to do in a health crisis? Do you vote for a...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford The other day a service man left my backyard gate open. My little dachshund Schatzi could have easily escaped to the vast, threatening world outside if I had not seen it and closed it. It reminded me of a day long...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Handford Odd how reading a passage of Scripture can bring back old memories. This week, I came to Ecclesiastes 10:10 in my daily Bible reading: “Cutting logs with a dull ax makes you work harder. A wise man will sharpen his ax....

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford A supervisor burst into my husband’s office one morning, almost hysterical. “You’ve got to make those girls respect me!” she cried. “They don’t have any respect for me!” Walt was the CEO of my father’s publishing...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford You remember those tedious lists of names scattered through the Bible, don’t you? Somebody “begat” somebody, or somebody belonged to some tribe or other. One day recently, the two chapters I was to read in my Bible...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford One morning my child said to me, “Mother, please be tender with me today.” Unusual request. What was behind it, I wondered. “I will be tender, I promise,” I answered. “Do you want to talk about it?” “No.” That day I...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford Friends invited several of families over for dinner one evening. We were congenial. The conversation was lively, important, and uninhibited. But suddenly one of the guests, a fourteen-year-old, interrupted. He...