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Devotions Archive
Choosing the Swine Over the Savior?

Choosing the Swine Over the Savior?

In Mark chapter five, we find one of the most dramatic scenes in all of Scripture. Jesus and His disciples have just stepped off a boat onto the shore of the Gadarenes, and before the disciples can even shake the sea spray off their sandals, a wild man comes screaming out of the tombs. We're talking wild! No clothes. No chains strong enough to hold him. Living among the dead, and cutting himself day and night. The people of the region had given up on this man. He was a lost cause. A hopeless case. But Jesus? Jesus didn't even flinch.

In the blink of an eye, the Lord cast out a legion of demons. The man who had terrorized the countryside was suddenly sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. It was the miracle of the ages. The townspeople should have been throwing a party!

But here's where the story gets strange...well, stranger.

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You Can’t Charm a Viper

You Can’t Charm a Viper

I have a confession to make. I used to think I was pretty good at managing certain little... tendencies. You know the kind. That low-grade resentment I kept on a shelf. The habit I knew wasn't exactly glorifying God but wasn't that bad. The thought pattern I let simmer because, hey, at least I wasn't acting on it. I had it under control.

Or so I thought.

The Bible has a word for it: cockatrice.

Now, before you look at me like I've lost my mind, stay with me. The King James Bible uses this creature to paint one of the most chilling and personally convicting pictures of sin I have ever encountered.

Isaiah 59:5 says, "They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper."

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Are You Walking Past Your Miracle?

Are You Walking Past Your Miracle?

Picture this: a room full of lovely ladies, a painting lesson in full swing, and a punch table front and center. My dear ministry partner had worked hard to create not one, but two delightful punch options for our Community Ladies' Luncheon last Saturday. She blended, stirred, and taste-tested with the dedication of a seasoned chef. And the result? One punch turned the most gorgeous shade of coral you've ever seen. It was bright, cheerful, and practically hollering, "Come drink me!" Every woman in the room floated toward it like a bee to a flower.

The other punch? Oh, bless its heart. Somewhere in the blending process, the colors had a disagreement, and what emerged was a murky, grayish concoction that looked—and I say this with all the tenderness I can muster—exactly like dirty mop water. Nobody wanted anything to do with it.

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Hidden Cobwebs

Hidden Cobwebs

Cleaning the chapels here in Wales is no easy feat. Honestly, it's downright frustrating at times! These old buildings seem to be home to a multitude of spiders that spin their webs day after day, resulting in a scene that resembles something from a scary movie, with elaborate cobwebs stretched across every surface. Every. Single. Surface.

The trickiest part about cleaning is that you can only see the webs when the light hits them just right. And since we have so little sunlight in Wales (let me tell you, the sun is a rare and precious commodity here), you can think you've gotten them all, only to have a ray of sunshine stream through the window and illuminate an elaborate web in the very area you just cleaned. I was literally standing there with my duster, feeling quite proud of myself, when suddenly the sun decided to make an appearance and reveal my failure. There, right where I'd just cleaned, was a massive cobweb I'd completely missed.

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The Great Tissue Disaster

The Great Tissue Disaster

The moment I opened the dryer door, I knew I was in for a big mess. Someone (and I won't say who to protect the guilty party) left tissues in the pocket of his jeans...again. I stood there, mouth agape, staring at what looked like a winter wonderland inside my dryer. Only this wasn't the magical kind of snow that brings joy and merriment. This was the "I-now-have-to-spend-an-hour-picking-tiny-bits-of-tissue-from-every-single-item-of-clothing" kind.

I don't know when you last ran a load of laundry that contained tissues, but the result is quite a mess. It's truly amazing how a few small tissues can affect every single garment in that load of laundry. Not a single item came away without at least some bits of tissue clinging to them. T-shirts, jeans, socks? Yup, it was all decorated with white specks that resembled dandruff gone wild. Obviously, I was not pleased.

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