Devotionals
Embracing Peace Amid Chaos
“When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Silence! Be still!’ Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, ‘Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?’” — Mark 4:39-40 (NLT)
A month after I moved to a new city, Hurricane Beryl came through with vicious winds and rain, waking me from my sleep. The power flickered off and on every 30 minutes or so until it stayed off for the next 36 hours.
Get to Jesus by Any Means Necessary
“And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God.” Luke 5:25 (NLT)
Growing up in a military and football family, I had the phrase “make a hole” ingrained in my mind from all the war movies Daddy watched and all the peewee and high school football games my brothers played. The Navy kid in me knows when someone is running toward you and tells you to “make a hole,” it means, “Get out of the way!”
Proclaiming Jesus by Serving With Joy
“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” — 1 Peter 4:10 (NLT)
My strong belief in serving others is a quality I learned from my mother.
When I was young, I remember a time my mother pulled up to a stoplight as I rode in the car with her, and I watched her give to a person standing beside the road. “This is my good deed for the day,” she said. Her example set an expectation to do good daily.
The Blessing of Leftovers
“After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, ‘Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.’” — John 6:12 (NLT)
The notification on my phone said I had a new message in my “bestie” group chat. The text read, “Shala, this cake is gonna be big. I may need you to come pick up some leftovers!”
This SOS message required only one reply from me: a GIF that said, “I’m in!”
Thank God for leftovers, right?
His Banner Over Me is Love
“In one of the villages, Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground, begging to be healed. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.’” Luke 5:12 (NLT)
When I was a kid in Super Church, as our children’s ministry was called, we sang a song that went, “The Lord is mine and I am His; His banner over me is love!”
Maybe you sang this song, too, if you grew up in church. Maybe you still know the hand motions accompanying it and would happily give us a full demonstration — and to that, I say, “Let’s do it!”
But to be honest … I was 40 years old when I had to ask Google what “His banner over me is love” actually means.
Walking With a Rabbi
“Later, when Jesus was alone with the twelve disciples and with the others who were gathered around, they asked him what the parables meant.” Mark 4:10 (NLT)
This past winter, I found myself walking the streets of northern Italy for 17 days with a group of women from my seminary class. It was an intensive class on women in the early Church and the arts, pondering their lives and documenting evidence of their church leadership.
Missed Exits: Turning Up the Voice of God
“And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’” — Isaiah 30:21 (NRSVA)
Last summer, a colleague picked me up from the airport to take me to a conference. We had a long stretch of highway to drive, with Google Maps ready to lead the way to the conference location.
We laughed and talked as we rolled down the road … Then something didn’t look quite right.
Wait Just a Little While Longer
“For all must carry their own loads.” Galatians 6:5 (NRSV)
Whenever someone bench presses, it’s always essential to have a spotter. No one wants to be crushed under a barbell! A spotter is primarily there to protect the lifter when the weight is too much.