Encouraging Words Devotional

When Is It Okay To Do Nothing?

It’s not my nature to sit and do nothing.  I like to be busy--to feel that I’m accomplishing something that counts.  So, when a few months ago I found myself spending more and more time just sitting on the sofa watching “whatever” on TV, I knew that was not normal for me. OK, I’ll admit this happened during a period when I was very, very tired, so I probably should not have felt guilty.  There were reasons why I didn’t feel like attacking any projects or being particularly productive. Nevertheless, I felt guilty.

You Can Fight Discouragement

See if this scenario fits you. Everything seems to have gone wrong lately. Your job is shaky, your health isn’t great, your family has problems, and your finances—well, let’s just say your bank account has acute anemia.

When You Need God’s Help

Comfort—it’s a word I like to hear. It has such a—well, reassuring sound to it, right? It’s also a Bible word. Bible teacher G. Campbell Morgan says that the word “comfort” occurs in some form ten times in just five verses. That’s in 2 Corinthians chapter 2.

How To Use What You Have

George Washington Carver was an American botanist back in the 1900s who became famous for discovering 300 uses for the lowly peanut.  Most people wouldn’t have been willing to devote their lives to a mere peanut. But the story goes that Carver once asked the Lord,

“Lord, what is the universe?” The Lord said, “George, that’s too big for your little head. Suppose you let me take care of the universe.” Greatly humbled, the scientist asked, “Then, Lord, if the universe is too big for me to understand, please tell me, what is a peanut?” And then the Lord answered, “Now George, you’ve got something your own size. A peanut can understand a peanut; go to work on the peanut while I run the universe.” [i]

 

[i] M. R. De Haan, “Small Beginnings,” Our Daily Bread (Grand Rapids, MI: RBC Ministries), October 27, 1962.

What To Do In A Storm

Jesus was tired. He had taught large crowds of people who were gathered at the Sea of Galilee—crowds so large, in fact, that he taught from a boat to keep from being crushed.

Advice For A Procrastinator

The slogan on the t-shirt said, “Procrastinators, Unite—Tomorrow.”

Can you relate to that? Most of us are very good at putting off until tomorrow what we don’t want to do today. Some of us even go so far as to make lists of what we know we should do. We carefully arrange the tasks in order of importance—and then totally ignore the list and do what we wanted to do in the first place. I know, because I’m a procrastinator.

How To Keep Your Kids From Killing Each Other!

One of the issues of parenting that I hated the most was dealing with sibling rivalry. We have three children, and when they were kids at home, I certainly had my share of listening to them squabble and pick at each other. I hated it—maybe because I’m an only child and did not grow up fighting with brothers and sisters. Sometimes I wanted to walk out the door and not come back—at least for a while.

God Is Big Enough!

Do you want to give someone a unique gift? Starting at $25 you can name a star in your friend’s honor. If you enter “name a star” in your Internet browser, you’ll find a number of sites that offer to do just that. For $54 you can have a beautiful full color parchment certificate personalized with the star name, date and coordinates along with a chart that contains the location circled in red where the star is in the sky.

What God Thinks of You

When I was growing up, a friend of ours had a dog she named “Precious.”  My dad would almost get ill when he heard her call the dog by that name. She was a rather homely little animal—and besides, he reasoned, “Precious” is much too sentimental, gushy and syrupy a name for any dog.

How to Be in Perfect Shape

Most of us are not completely happy with how our bodies look. We’d like to shed a few pounds—without any effort, of course.  We wish we had more muscles or curves. Or maybe it’s more hair you would like. But what you have is what you’ve got, right?