Devotionals
2021
Couldn’t You Ease Up a Bit?
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...
Getting Old Is Tough— But So Is Being Young
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford Recently I invited my seven children and their spouses for supper. “Bring big empty boxes and newspapers. I want you to take home everything you want of my stuff from the house. I’m not going to be needing any...
Preacher, Lay Off My Beer and Cigarettes
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Handford Years ago Walt and I had a sweet Beagle named Ranger. She was AKC registered and had just delivered her first litter of puppies. It was so much fun to watch her turn from a care-free puppy herself to a careful and...
Does Jesus Care?
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford This has been a difficult week. Three funerals in eight days. Three godly men. Dear friends. Two of them in the prime of life. All three companions in ministry with my dear husband Walt at one time or...
A Surprising Way God Worked Things Out for Good
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford The summer I was 16 I worked in my father’s Christian book store. The work was pleasant and always challenging. One hot day a distraught woman hurried into the store. “May I help you?” I asked. “Yes. I need...
Our Hearts Hunger for Someone to Care
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford “Dr. Handford! Wait up!” a woman called, as Walt and I were walking out of a doctor’s office. “I’m so glad to see you,” she said. “For thirty years I’ve wanted to tell you how much it meant to me when you...
Be Kinder; Let Them Find Their Own Truth?
By Elizabeth Rice Handford “Let’s be kinder,” a blogger recently burbled. “Let’s love each other more.” Oh, how right she is! This poor old world desperately needs to see us Christians loving others, caring for the poor, compassionately watching for ways to help...
Is There Going to Be War?
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford On a Sunday afternoon, when I was 14 years old, I was at my Sunday school teacher’s home, practicing for a Christmas program. She suddenly burst into the room, her voice shaking. “Girls,” she cried, “run home just...
Self-Validation—But at Someone Else’s Expense?
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford “I need self-validation*,” a woman said to her friend. “I’m going to confront my mother today.” “What in the world is self-validation?” the friend asked naively. Incredulous, the woman said, “You haven’t heard about...
Look Down That Lonesome Road Before You Travel On
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford “Look down, look down that lonesome road before you travel on, Look up, look up and seek your Maker before Gabriel blows his horn.” ---Gene Austin © 1928 Gene Austin’s plaintive song was...
