Boojoyful

April 30 The devil plays dirty pool.  I shared how grief took a bite out of me yesterday concerning my father's birthday.  Jesus and I were having a growing time and I was getting to a good place when the phone rang.  We are facing a  home repair issue and it was the builder with the quote.  The quote was five times what we'd been told to expect!  I wanted to vomit. It's obvious this builder didn't really want to take on this tedious task, but I felt as if I'd been slapped across the face.  We had been taken advantage of by the first builder, which has caused this current issue. Here's the kicker.  What I would have done is called my father, who always had the answer to all building problems and loved solving them.  My initial reaction was…The devil is playing really dirty on this day when I'm already hurting.  The lesson for me is…You still have a father to go to, go to your heavenly Father.  (I of course called my husband an...

My father, son and grandson's hands the day he died. April 29 Today would have been my father's 94th birthday.  I think I will make his favorite coconut cake and lemon ice box pie and eat them both!  I thought I was doing pretty well with the idea of him celebrating this birthday in heaven, until my Bible Study buddies closed out our time together yesterday, holding hands and saying the Lord's prayer.  As soon as we said, "Our Father, which art in heaven,"  I lost it.  For my earthly father, art in heaven with my heavenly father. Originally, I'd asked a friend who just lost her father if she'd like to get away for the day, but she had a previous invitation.  What I decided to do next was to think about the things I miss most about Daddy and allow God to fill the void.  That sounded great and spiritually mature, until I got to what I desired most.  His touch. The way he held my hand, touched my forehead, kissed my check, and put h...

April 28 This past weekend was one of our favorite's of the year, when a youth group from Harrisonburg, VA comes to the Lake.  They are a polite, appreciate, refreshing group of young people, who have a genuine hunger to know more about Jesus.  Last night we sat under the stars by the fire pit and didn't want the evening to end. Today, as I dug into a new study called Divine Design , I found myself just as excited as these youngsters to be learning more about the Word and the Lord. Author Nancy Leigh DeMoss was sharing that the Hebrew word for woman is ishshah, which comes from the root word soft.   This was new to me.  She writes: "Softness is at the core of what it means to be a woman.  If you look up the dictionary definition of "soft," you'll find that it means not hard; yielding readily to touch, flexible, pliable, delicate, graceful; not loud; quietly pleasant; calm, gentle, kind, tender, compassionate, and sympathetic."  (I maybe qualify i...

April 26-27 God created us with free will  and allows us to choose our path in life…and into eternity. This past weekend our daughter was visiting from Minneapolis.  One evening the around the table  discussion led to the gender neutral issues she faces on a regular basis in that city. One of our daughter in laws laughed as she said I have the most perplexed look on my face as I tried to comprehend the gender neutral language, which our daughter was saying these friends of her's preferred she use when addressing them. It saddens me that people have not experience the love of God, which allows them to see that they were fearfully and wonderfully made by a Creator. Whether  we are born male or female, black or white, with limbs or not, with downs syndrome or born blind, God see immense value in our life.  I know this is a tough topic.  My point in this devotional is not to address the topic, but to share with you the path God just directed me down,...

Do you recognize us in our wild west get up in 1991?  I had a short perm! April 25 Last night we had dinner with a precious young couple.  As we were praying together, the word recognize , came clearly to mind.  I prayed that God would speak to each of us in reference to what that word might represent in our lives. We talked about how important it is to have discernment and recognize  when the enemy is slinging dirt our way.  A couple of us confessed we had recognized  we might not be totally listening to God, because we don't want to go in total obedience to where he was leading us.  I prayed we would recognize the depth of God's love for us.  My husband counseled these two, who are dating, on the importance of recognizing  marriage is a commitment.  Earlier in the day, the recognition of the power in prayer came to mind as I committed to extend my daily prayer time. 1 John 4:1-3 has powerful words related to recognizing Christ....

April 24 My man is seriously struggling with allergy issues and has had very little sleep the past few nights.  At 4:00AM he was still in bed, an answer to prayer, but at first I panicked that he might be dead sleeping that long. (Sad, I know. Yesterday, he gave up and got up at 2:30AM)  I decided to get up too and pray for him and others facing struggles. The word that immediately came to me was relief. Looking up the dictionary definition I found this: a pleasant and relaxed feeling that someone has when something unpleasant stops or does not happen.  The removal or reducing of something that is painful or unpleasant. Ease, alleviation.  That fits the needs of so many categories in which I'm praying for others.  Cancer, allergies, back pain, head aches, surgery recovery, loneliness, spiritual attacks, false accusations, homes to sell, etc. Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God.  Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear...

What's to come! April 23 I knew this morning I was to write about how we can become frozen  in our faith.  Trying to log onto my site, it became…..FROZEN!  I took that as confirmation.  Our granddaughter's currently favorite movie is a cute Disney movie about two princesses. The title Frozen.  One princess possesses powers, she wishes she didn't have, but she causes the world around her to freeze.  Hmm, we all know some people whose presence places a chill in the air, don't we? While sprucing up the yard on Monday I came across my beloved camellia bushes.  This time of year I enjoy doing a centerpiece with them floating in a beautiful crystal bowl, but last week's frost had harmed them.  Leaves and buds had turned brown as well as the blossoms which had been early birds and opened.  As I plucked the discolored buds from the branches and tossed them in the trash can I thought of what happens to our faith when we freeze up.  We are...