Tag Archives: devotion

Elegant Easter Egg Favor Boxes and Pillow Box Purse Set

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO EASTER EGG FAVOR BOXES IN STORE  $4.98

While I’m working on kits I got on a roll this morning!  These Elegant Easter Egg Favor Boxes are just adorable!  They’re the perfect size to fill with a few Hershey’s Kisses or other Easter candies.  The three eggs work beautifully together and can add an elegant touch to place settings at a family dinner, a women’s Easter brunch or other Easter gathering.  Add your own tags to them for place settings or to add all of the children’s names in a classroom.

There are photographic instructions included so it’s very easy to figure out how to put these together and even an older child could do these.  Cutting and scoring are at a medium difficulty skill level.

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY:  Matt 11:28-30   “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  NIV

DEVOTIONAL:  Continuing on yesterday’s theme — when we are spiritually dry there are a few common reasons.  Sometimes we are in sin, sometimes we are disappointed with God or our perception of God’s “fairness,” sometimes we are caught up in the world around us and sometimes we’re caught up in worrying.  I’ll go over each of these in successive devotionals, but today I’m going to talk about the most common reason we get spiritually dry and that is we grow weary.

Weary, tired, exhausted, overwhelmed — these are the most common words I hear in my daily life when I ask people how they’re doing.  I bet you hear it/say it too.  We’re all doing too much, in too little time with little or no rest to restore ourselves.

Did you notice the “rest” in “restore.”  There is no restoration of energy without rest and there’s no shortcut to being refreshed.  Unfortunately you can’t plug yourself in like an electric car when you go to sleep at night to recharge in a few hours — it takes many consistent nights of adequate sleep to restore our bodies and with it our souls.

Jesus understands our weariness.  He wants us to come to Him, give him our weariness and burdens and find His rest.  I’ve discovered over time that His rest isn’t a magical formula, it’s a dramatic change about the way we approach all of life.  Are the tasks/assignments that you are stressing over, actually coming from the Lord or have you taken them upon yourself?  If the latter, His rest might come as you let go of the commitment.

Jesus pulled away from the crowds and sought communion with His Heavenly Father — even when it meant leaving the hurting masses.  Do you “leave” your family from time to time to go away and spend time with the Lord?  Most of us can’t physically get away, but we can go into our rooms each day and spend time seeking the Lord AND LEARN FROM HIM HOW TO FIND REST.

Start your time with Him with a simple prayer and ask Him to help you find out the root reason that you are weary and discouraged.  Then ask Him to lead you to the scriptures that will speak to your need.  It can be as simple as looking up “weary” in a good concordance and following the trail of scriptures.  Then I find that “pray-reading” the scripture is a great way to take it into my own heart and give the Lord permission to do the work necessary to change my heart.  The prayer at the end today is an example of how I like to “pray-read” the word.

If you are dry, or maybe you’re even in a long season of drought, you won’t feel restored over night.  You probably won’t feel different at all for quite a while, but I promise you, if you continue seeking His rest you will find it.  And with it you’ll find the refreshing rains of his living waters.  You’ll find the rains that bring forth the spring flowers.

PRAYER: Lord, you have commanded me to come to you when I grow weary and burdened.  I am so weary and dry right now.  I am so exhausted with carrying my burdens that I have come to you to find your rest.  Please show me what I need to do in my life.

You have told me that if I take your yoke upon my shoulders it will be a comforable and restful yoke.  My work will be less painfu, be more easily accomplished and lead to rest.  Help me to learn from you.  Teach me about where my life is out of balance and headed in a wrong direction and teach me what needs to be changed and perhaps more importantly, how to change it.

Thank you that you aren’t angry with my weakness, you understand.  You’re gentle and understanding and have a desire to lead me into your rest.  AMEN.

“Be of Good Cheer — Overcoming Fear in Fearful Times”

Wow!  This has been quite a week hasn’t it.  Since I can’t post any pictures yet (still wrestling with my provider to figure out the issue) I thought I would write a nice long post of encouragement to those that are reeling from the events of the week.  With stocks plunging, the world seemingly spinning out of control, fear filling hearts and minds and motivating many to make rash decisions, what are we to do?

“Fear not” is a phrase that is used 63 times in the King James version of the bible.  Perhaps it is mentioned so often because our hearts are so inclined to fear that the Lord knows we need to be reminded frequently! When times are overwhelming and stir fear in our hearts, what are we to do?  Close our eyes tight and repeat to ourselves, “I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid?”  Who thinks that would be an effective strategy?

There’s a very simple principle the Lord has taught me that I’ve shared before.  This principle has had a profound impact on my life and my battle at times with being fearful.  I call it the “Red door” principle.  Imagine this:

There’s an adorable little Irish cottage with wonderful whitewashed walls and cute little windows with shutters and flower boxes out front.  There’s a wonderfully intricate thatch roof and a cobblestone path leading up to the door.  You can picture it all in your head can’t you?

Now, what ever you do DO NOT PICTURE A RED DOOR!

You can see the ivy vining up the side of the cottage and over the roof on one side and the sweet climbing red roses or the other but DO NOT PICTURE A RED DOOR.

You can see the giant oak tree in the front yard and the smoke coming out of the rock chimney but DO NOT PICTURE A RED DOOR.

When we try to avoid a thought, our human minds do exactly the opposite.  Our mind naturally obsesses on that which we are trying to avoid.  If I determine not to fear, my mind begins to bring to mind everything that I’m afraid will happen.  So what’s a person to do to avoid fearful thoughts?

Try substitution.  Put in it’s place the opposite of what you are trying to avoid.  Now if you go back and read my word picture and forcefully make yourself “see” A GREEN DOOR instead of trying NOT to see a RED DOOR, you’ll have much better success.  So it is with our thought life!

So the theme for my verse for today is BE OF GOOD CHEER!  Lift up your head, choose to place your trust in the only one who has “overcome the world.”  The only one that can give your heart a true and lasting peace.  A peace that isn’t based on what your 401K account balance is, what the value of your home and your equity in it is or whether or not you can retire when you planned or you’ll have a job next week.  His peace is a perfect peace that is based on His love for you and His foreknowledge and detailed planning of every day of your life… before the foundations of the world were laid.

This week didn’t taken the Lord by surprise and He’s not shaken.  Run to Him with your worries and fears and grab hold of his promises to keep you afloat when the seas roar and fear threatens to overwhelm you and drag you under.  Know that He has a plan for your life, a purpose for every day He gives you and those plans are for good and not for evil.   Sometimes, part of God’s plan is to upset our world.  To upset those things that we place our trust in that are not eternal and that lead us away from His best.

In Israel’s past, at times He allowed them to be taken captive for a season, but never for their permanent destruction, only for their chastening and to cause them to return to Him.  We aren’t much different than Israel are we?  We’re so easily lulled to sleep when things go well and we rarely seek Him when our lives are in wonderful prosperity, but most of us are very quick to seek Him in times of trouble.  God’s word to Israel as they were being led into a “God ordained captivity” were these:

Jer 29:10-14
This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
NIV

We don’t know if our nation is headed into a time of extended financial crisis and captivity or not.  I can’t stand here today and tell you that your life will return to “normal” soon — It is not in my power to see.  But I can tell you that God has a plan and that plan is for good and not for evil.  Trust in His plan.  Trust in His love.  Trust in His goodness because nothing else in this world is trustworthy.

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY: John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  NKJV

PRAYER:  Lord, this has been a fearful time.  I’m fearful of what I see and I’m even more fearful of what I can’t see and can’t control about my future.  Please help me to overcome my fear even as you overcame the world.  Help me to trust that you have a plan forward for me and that you know the future and hold it (and me) in your very capable hands.

Lord, give me that “green door” that I can hang onto when fear stirs in my heart.  Give me a promise that is personal and powerful to calm my fears and give me a stable and enduring trust in you.  AMEN