Category: Devotions

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Daily Devotion

Don't Close the Door Yet!
 
Good evening everybody!  I am sorry for missing yesterday but I got swamped at work.  Today was a long and exhausting day.  Well all I'm going to say is that the devil has been busy since the beginning of this week.  But I'm still doing great with my fasting.  In fact, for all the things that have gone on, I am positive that I would not have gotten through it but for keeping my focus on God.  I can tell I am growing and moving away from the old Marquita…and developing patience.  That is what today's devotion is about…that dreadful word!!
 
Rom 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Rom 5:3-4  And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;  And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
 
In life there are many things that come to teach us the most invaluable lesson of life, PATIENCE.  For many years, even up until like a week ago I HATED the word Patience. But so much growth and progress has come from my understanding the point of why we need it.  Myself, I have long tried to close the door on this current chapter of my life, searching and seeking out a job away from South Carolina.  Don't get me wrong, I am extremely grateful for my job and the blessings that God has given me since returning to South Carolina.  I cannot tell you how much I have grown in the last year and 4 months.  I am now realizing that in following God's will we have to be willing to trust Him wholeheartedly (thanks Ms. Rebecca) and just let go.  Its this letting go of control and waiting that I do not necessarily like.  I'm sure that no one likes not getting their way, not being able to ask for something and get it immediately.  But the Christian walk, nothing is truly predictable except that God loves us and will take care of us somehow, and that the lessons we learn along the way are meant to cultivate some gift or talent God put inside of us.  One of my particular gifts is a sometimes blind love and need to help other people, till the point of sacrificing my own happiness.  But isn't that part of what we are here for?  So I ask you not to close the door and embrace the journey of learning patience.  Embrace all the lessons that God is trying to teach you in that tight place, that place that is so uncomfortable that it hurts.  You may cry, but remember God's promises!  
 
Joel 2:25 Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. (NIV)
3 John 1:2 Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.(NASB)
Romans 5:3 Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.(AMP)
1 Timothy 1:16 But I obtained mercy for the reason that in me, as the foremost [of sinners], Jesus Christ might show forth and display all His perfect long-suffering and patience for an example to [encourage] those who would thereafter believe on Him for [the gaining of] eternal life. (AMP)
 
So don't close the door yet!  Look at the bigger picture:  It is not about you.  It is about sharing blessings and bring others to Christ.  It's about sharing the love of God with people and being His disciples!  It's about allowing yourself to grow through helping others and sometimes healing through helping others heal.  Its realizing those sometimes evident truths that we don't want to see.  It's about living the Word of God and sticking to it!!!
 
I love you and Good night!
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Daily Devotion

Living for Today

Day 1 of my fast is going well.  I woke up terribly late and missed the chance at a whole breakfast.  Nonetheless, I made a protein shake and here I am surviving lol.  But you know the devil is busy!  I walked into work to see every kind of treat–Twix, Milky Way, Snickers, rice crispie treats, everything!  But I successfully resisted.  I have been diligently drinking my water and drank some Hot Chocolate to stay warm (they keep it 60 degrees below zero in here).  I hope you are blessed and having a great day!

As you may know by now, I am a planner and somewhat an organizer, lol, by nature.  I usually come up with what I want to do and follow through with the plan.  For starters, I knew I wanted to go to college and graduate.  My original plan was go through undergrad and on to medical school.  STOP!  Clearly I didn’t follow that plan, because I am a Computer Scientist and among other things, desiring to go back to school for Counseling and possibly ministry.  I know I previously talked about this, but it was on my heart again today because as each day passes, I realize more and more how planning does not always help if you are a Christian.  We are to submit ourselves to God’s plan and His will for our lives and follow through with what He tells us.  In James 4:7-8 it says the following: “7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”(ESV)  Realize that things are not always going to go as you plan.  Rain, hail, tornadoes, and all the different storms of life come to confuse things and take your focus off God and His plan.  Instead of getting mad or angry, we should just be thankful that we have today to make a difference in.  If and when tomorrow comes, just take the chance that you are given tomorrow to take one more step on that path that God has laid before you, not the one of your choosing.

Matthew 6:34–“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (NASB)