I was asked to start my daily devotion on Facebook again. So I will start them for August. I will try to find a way to just place them out on line for a group. Daily Devotion for August 1, 2013 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Exodus 33:19 Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. Isaiah 46:4 For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love. For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men. Lamentations 3:31-33 This morning begins a new month, August. A series of days this month that provide memories for me. Some good memories, some hurtful memories and some I’d rather avoid or forget. But just as Jesus reminded me this morning, His compassion is for all my emotions and for each and every day. He allows us to feel affliction, grief, sadness, but He also provides peace, joy and happiness if we allow Him to live in us. My birthday is this month and I will have a memorial one – 65 years of age – officially Medicare privileged, considered a senior everywhere– one more year to be ready to receive Social Security, retirement age is often discussed among friends my age….yet age has never bothered me – I count each day all joy. I also am reminded in Isaiah 46 and many other Scriptures that wisdom can come with the gift of age. So why does this birthday seem harder for me? It’s because it is my first birthday without my best friend, my Mom, to celebrate. Oh how funny emotions can be. One day your walking through grief, many ups and downs of course. One moment fine, the next a “basket case”, but friends our Lord, our Father in heaven, our Comforter, our Redeemer, our Counselor, our Prince of Peace, our Beautiful Savior – gently reminded me – the loss of my Mom and so many others this year is hard but it’s an earthly loss. Eternity is forever and a great promise for us that believe. I changed my focus on hard birthday to celebration mode. I count it all joy that I am going to be 65 and that God has allowed me so many things to celebrate. So this morning as I began with struggling to get up, asking God to prepare my heart for bible study and for His strength to change my “poor me” attitude, I opened to these marvelous Words in the Scriptures above. If you do a word search on goodness (good) or compassion you will be blessed with all the verses revealing God’s promise of His compassion for you. How can we stay in “woe is me” for very long when we realize all we have, all we are, and all He has promised? Friends, again His Word is more powerful than our emotions. It’s ok to feel, to have emotions, after all Jesus wept and felt grief, must have struggled with rejection, and so much more. But love conquered all those fears. Won’t you allow the compassionate love of Jesus to shine in your emotions today. One day you might be able to say Happy 65th to yourself with the love and joy I feel now. I might even throw a “surprise” birthday party for myself. You never know what the Lord has in store for you today, grasp hold of His compassion and allow Him to lead you into His gift of compassion and goodness. God bless.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 00:30:29 +0000