A Rag Doll's Story

One day a family was traveling down a country road and, as is the case with most families, the siblings were bickering among themselves in the back seat. Just to be mean, the older brother tossed his little sister's rag doll out the window and smugly turned, stuck out his tongue, and folded his arms victoriously across his chest...and the back seat became deathly quiet.  His little sister stared in shock. How could he do that to her? She loved her doll. He glared at her daring her to say anything to their parents because if she did, he would take something else that she loved. 

She sat with tears running down her cheeks silently mourning the loss of something very special to her...and her parents were unaware of the loss that she suffered that day. 

In the meantime, the rag doll landed on the berm feeling hopeless and alone. She was someone who was once loved dearly by a little girl, now she was tossed away by her mean older brother. The rag doll lay there hoping that the family would come back to rescue her, but they didn't. She really was all alone!

Before long, a gentle rain began to fall and she was getting wet and dirty. A  big truck went by splattering her with mud. Now, she was wet and muddy! How bad would it get before she was rescued?  For days she laid there losing hope of ever getting rescued. Her dress was now in shambles; her stitching was beginning to rot; and her stuffing was sticking out in places. She was feeling so horrible, but could do nothing on her own. 

In the meantime, the little girl cried almost continuously for her doll, but she would not say anything to anyone about why she was crying. She refused to eat and became sick. Finally, one day she told her mother what happened. She hugged her little girl tightly and comforted her. 

When her Daddy got home, they all piled in the car and Daddy began searching with spotlights for the lost rag doll. Finally, they found her alongside of the roadway, muddy and ragged. That did not matter to the little girl. When her Daddy brought the rag doll to the car, the little girl opened her arms, wrapped the little doll in a nice warm towel and hugged her tightly to herself. The little rag doll felt the love that poured forth from the little girl. She knew that she had been loved all along. She should never have doubted the love of her friend or her Daddy.

As for the mean older brother, he got his punishment for what he had done...dishwasher duty for an entire week!

Some of us may feel like that rag doll, hopeless and alone alongside of the roadside, but unlike the little doll, we are never alone. Jesus is always with us. He knows exactly what brought us to the side of the road. He understands everything that we have been through and never has stopped loving us. He is searching for us wherever we may be. We are loved no matter what. It doesn't matter if we have mud splattered on us. He is waiting with open arms just like the little girl. Allow Him to pick you up and hold you close in His Everlasting arms.

Thanks for reading.
Donna
   

Are You All Iced Up?

Today when I look out my window, I see a thick layer of ice on the trees, power lines and everything else. If the sun would come out, the ice would glisten like millions of diamonds covering the earth. But today, the sun has not come out yet and it is a gloomy and gray day.

It is also dangerous outside.....

The sidewalk is covered in ice making walking outside dangerous. Oh, if the sun would come out, it would be so pretty, but dangerous none the less.

The beauty on the trees and bushes is not beauty for drivers on the roads. It is treachery! But how can something so beautiful be so treacherous? The answer because it is cold. It is false beauty. It is alluring and beautiful, but dangerous...just like what Satan offers to the world.

When I was much younger, I attended college in the south where wintertime was much nicer than the northern climate that I live in now.  I used to fly home for Christmas break. Almost every time before the plane would leave the runway  on my return flight to school, the pilot would come on the intercom and say that they had to "de-ice" the plane. It was an inconvenience to the schedules, but necessary because the plane would not fly properly if there was ice. Parts would freeze up and cause a disaster. The fuel would not flow properly and cause even more problems, so the de-icing process was necessary. 

Sometimes in our lives things can happen to cause our flame to go out and we become icy and cold with others around us. We tend to be disagreeable and hard to get along with because the warmth is missing from inside. 

When we allow God to send His Sonshine, He melts the heart of stone (ice).  His Son shines steadily on you as the warmth begins to spread throughout your body a little at a time. Gradually you are being changed from within. Attitudes begin to change. You begin to see people in a different light than before. It is not long until Springtime comes to your soul once again. 

Even though the sun has not come out today, the temperatures are rising and the water is dripping from the eaves. The warmth of the wind is melting the ice away.  Wintertime is about to flee and Springtime will be so welcomed once again.

Thanks for reading,

Donna

Who Lights Your Fire?

Recently I wrote an article for Jennifer Self for her blog "Cherish the Call". It was
on the subject of marriage and I likened it to a wood stove and how important it was to maintain the flame in your marriage. However, I would like to take a different look at the flame. This time I am writing about the flame of serving Jesus.

As I wrote in the article entitled, "Keep The Home Fires Burning" I said that there are some basic things that we need in order for us to maintain a healthy fire.

The most important ingredient for a fire to burn properly is oxygen. It is the Holy Spirit in our lives breathing His warnings, His comfort, and His guidance into our hearts. He is the One who stirs our hearts and places the desire to seek after God. 

Think back in your own life. Perhaps some of you were going on your merry way not even thinking about God, then something happened and it grabbed your attention. Sometimes people say things that God uses to talk to us about our need for Him. Those little sparks are fueled by the breath of the Holy Spirit in our conscience and He patiently draws us to God. 

There comes a point where we have to make a choice. We will either allow this flame to grow in our hearts and respond to the call of God or will we ignore it and allow the flame to go out leaving our heart's fire only a memory surrounded by ashes.

It doesn't have to be that way! We can allow the flame of Jesus' love to warm our hearts so that others all around us may be warmed by our lives. Our flame may be the means that the Holy Spirit uses to show others what a true Christian should live like. 

The good news is that if your flame has gone out and you are dealing with the ashes of life, cry out to God and He will send His Comforter to help you and bring you back to Himself. That is what the grace of God is for. He will restore our flame if we ask Him to.

Our challenge is to keep our hearts aflame with the Holy Spirit and not allow things that would quench the flame, like the sand of laziness, smothering of busyness, the water of anger, bitterness or bad attitudes. Instead, allow the oil of the Spirit to heal and comfort you.

Keep your flame bright so that others may see your good works and glorify the Father in Heaven. 

Thanks for reading,
Donna

Would You Allow Jesus to Wash Your Feet?

After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. John 13:5 
                                                           

Jesus and His disciples had been traveling all day. His heart was heavy. He knew that His time was short and that there were so many things to teach them yet. The Last Supper with them had come and they were still disputing among themselves, still wanting to be more important to Jesus than the next guy. Oh! How patient our Savior was with them.
                                                                                 

He wanted them to discover the truth that in order for a person to be great in the Kingdom of God, they must learn to be willing to humble themselves to do the lowest of tasks.

He showed them that the King of the Jews was the servant of all...not just to one or two, but to all twelve...even the betrayer, Judas. 

Washing of the feet was customarily done by a servant when the guests entered the home. However, it seemed that none around Him really wanted to stoop so low to do the dirty task that should have been done before they ate. 

Remember earlier, Mary had been criticized by them for washing Jesus feet with her tears and wiping them with her hair. She understood more than they did. Even though her sister Martha did not recognize it at one point,  she had a servant's heart. She spent time at Jesus' feet, not necessarily at the table. It did not matter to  her. She did what others did not do.

The point here is that we, like Jesus, must be willing to humble ourselves and do the menial tasks as servants to all. If that means that we clean the church bathrooms, then so be it. If it means cleaning up or doing the myriad of tasks behind the scenes without recognition, then that is what we as Christians should do.

On the other side of the coin, we see that Jesus also served the betrayer, Judas; the denier, Peter; and a whole lot of cowards who fled when push came to shove. He knew what was going to happen that night. He was God. He knew men's thoughts and motives, yet He showed them through His example how to be a true servant of His.

We all have people in our lives who betray us, who hurt us, who turn their backs on us when we need them the most because it is more comfortable to do so. However, like Jesus, we need to humbly serve them in every way that we can and not miss opportunities to show them the light of Jesus that shines in our lives. 

Kindness has won over more enemies than defensive actions. 

Humility and Kindness.... from the true servant's heart.


Thanks for reading.
Donna

Was God Too Late?

I was reading in my devotions this morning about the faithfulness of God and
how He is never late to answer prayer. Sometimes it seems like He has
forgotten all about us, but HE never forgets. He is always on time.

To illustrate my point, let's take a look at a few people in the Bible. Jonah was swallowed by the big fish and spent  three days in its belly with seaweed wrapped around his neck and debris in his face, yet God didn't forsake him. He knew exactly where Jonah was. When he came to the place of surrender to God's will, Jonah found himself flying through the air and splatting on the beach of Ninevah. He was now ready to do what God wanted him to do.








Then, there is Joseph, the naive young dreamer, who did not know how to keep his own counsel. He took a long journey from household slave to trusted steward to a condemned prisoner, then to the prime minister's chair of Egypt! Each of these positions was in God's will and in God's time for Joseph's life. God wasn't late when Joseph was thrown in prison. The Scriptures say that he found favor in the eyes of the prison warden. In whatever position that Joseph found himself, he was exemplary in behavior and never lost his faith in the God he served.

And aren't we all familiar with the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den?  Daniel  faithfully prayed to the God of Heaven even though he knew of the risk of openly praying to God instead of to King Darius for those thirty days. God allowed Daniel to spend the night in the pits with the lions because He had a higher purpose in allowing what seemed like an awful ending to 
happen. In the end, God got the glory and lives were changed because Daniel endured that long night.




In each of these men's lives, God intervened and protected them from imminent
demise. He had a greater purpose in mind for them and He never failed to bring
His children through the difficulties that they faced.  Sometimes it seems that He
does not hear us. Never lose hope in whatever your situation may be.
God is never late. 

Thanks for reading,
Donna

I wish I was a butterfly

Have you ever thought about how a butterfly could 

ever have been a caterpillar?

There is nothing that would ever indicate that inside that little ugly creature dwelt

the heart of a butterfly. But caterpillars were not meant to be that way forever.

God had something else in mind for the creation.

When my boys were small, they were fascinated with anything that crept and

crawled around on the ground and elsewhere. They would stoop down on the

ground and watch the caterpillar with its many legs creeping awkwardly along.

If that was all there was to life for the poor caterpillar, then it would be a very

depressing way of life indeed. 

Have you ever imagined what the caterpillar thinks as he crawls along? Does

he ever long to be what he was fully meant to be? Does he ever get impatient

with God saying, "Would you hurry up and make me into a butterfly?" 

The caterpillar has to endure the dust and dirt carrying his heavy little body

around the earth feasting on leaves and grass. He could say to God, "Why am

I eating grass and leaves when I should be sipping nectar from the flowers? 

When the time is right, God takes him to a place where he begins spinning

a cocoon and by all appearances he is totally lifeless inside. Totally Dead!!!

That is what man sees, but not what God sees. He looks at things from a

different perspective. The heavy awkward body and many legs have to go!

The skin has to change. Wings need to develop. A new creature is forming

from the old. The caterpillar is becoming a butterfly. 

Then one day, the shell cracks open and a wet, slimy creature comes forth

all on their own in God'd time. No one can help the butterfly to gain the strength

that he needs. He has to do it on his own. Oh, others can encourage him, but

he has to make the ultimate decisions for himself.   

Soon he emerges and flaps his wings rapidly. The colors become sharper and

the beauty of God's creation appears and he confidently flits and flies around from

flower to flower across meadows and into the blue sky. The gentle winds

blow and he catches the wind. The sun warms him as he happily goes on his way.

Behind in the shell lies the cumbersome, awkward body and legs...all of the things that

weighed him down to the earth. The baggage is all gone. He doesn't dwell in the dust and 

dirt of the ground anymore. He was made for better things than being on the ground.

So are we. We are not created to carry the baggage of earth (jealousy, anger, hurts,

unforgiveness, etc.) We were made to be free to fly with joy, peace, and happiness without

a care in the world...to live in forgiveness and rest! 

I know whereof I speak. It was not that long ago that I was a caterpillar, but God

has done a miraculous transformation in my life and He'll do the same for you if

you ask Him to. It doesn't matter what it is that keeps you on the ground. God is

bigger than any problem, relationship or trouble that you have. He wants you to

fly up into the beautiful blue sky where He dwells. Allow Him to transform you into

the beautiful butterfly that He intended you to be. 

Thanks for reading.

Donna

Who Do You Think You Are?

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. 1 Corinthians 4:5

The past several days, my quiet time held some real challenges for me. In the devotional
book called, "Grace for the Moment", by Max Lucado, He tells the story of Leo Tolstoy,
the great Russian writer who was walking down the street and saw a beggar. He stopped because he felt compassion for him and reached into his pockets to drop some coins in the man's cup, but found no money. He said to the man, "I'm sorry brother," smiled,  gave him a word of encouragement. 
The beggar was not upset at all for not getting a few paltry coins. Instead, he said, was thrilled that Leo had called him,' brother'. 

Leo did not give the man a wide berth and stick his nose in the air, totally ignoring the man. He did not scowl and berate him for being in such a state. Instead, he looked on him with compassion and tried to help him monetarily, but instead ended up giving him something far better than money...he gave him compassion and friendship.

It is so easy to do walk around the long way to avoid someone in need, however that is not what Jesus would have done.

In 1 John 3:17 we read these words.


But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 

Here is my question for you. 
If we do not do as Jesus did and do not treat our brothers and sisters in Christ with compassion when they have a need, how can we say that we love God? 

Let's take it a little bit further. How can we claim to be a Christian and not show the world that we care about their souls or their needs?  How can we keep our love to ourselves? Love was meant to share. Like the song says, "Love isn't love until you give it away..."

Jesus talked about this very subject when He told the story of the Good Samaritan.

Luke 10:30-37

30.   And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, 
         and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and
         departed, leaving him half dead. 

31.  And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, 
        he passed by on the other side. 

32.  And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and 
        passed by on the other side. 

33.  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw 
       him, he had compassion on him, 

34.  And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him 
       on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 

35.  And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to 
        the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest 
        more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

36.  Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among
         the thieves? 

37.  And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do 
        thou likewise. 

Jesus commended the one who was not really among the "in crowd" because he had compassion while the others judged the man who was robbed and beaten. Judging is easy, but compassion is what pleases Jesus. It is that simple.

Just because someone snubs you does not mean that you have to do the same to them or to anyone else. I had this happen to me recently. I met someone in a grocery store who at one time was an acquaintance. When she saw me, she turned the other way and totally ignored me even though I had done nothing to offend her. I was being judged, but that did not give me license to do the same. I am to act as Jesus would have me to act and to forgive without being asked. Judging is instantaneous, compassion keeps on giving.

So that leads to the final questions.

•  Who do you think you are? 
•  Are you better than everyone else or do you play on a level playing field? 

Jesus died for everyone of us. He loves everyone of us. It is up to us to act like Jesus and love as He would have us to do. That's a tall order for a Valentine's Day!

Thanks for reading.

Donna