Author: debo

I guess I never have thought of myself as a “party girl” because it has a negative connotation in a worldly sense. But in the Christian sense, I guess I really am a party girl. I love to party. I love to celebrate, and I love lots of people around celebrating with me! Its been a little difficult recently since we sold our home, and our new home isn’t done yet. When is that last time you had a celebration? Was it last month, or last year? Has it been way too long? A party doesn’t have to be focused around the “mega moments” of life, you can have a party for any reason! I want to encourage you to be the first to find a way to party. The Bible says that it is the joy of the Lord that gives us strength. Let’s find joy and share it. It not only strengthens us, but it will strengthen others around us. When you make a choice to be happy and spread the joy, you get a blessing in return. Just like a smile producing more smiles, we should be planting seeds of joy all the time. We should be the happiest, most joy filled people on the planet. Come on, let’s party! Let’s celebrate this wonderful life God has given us, with the joy of the Lord.

Have you ever been on a long trip and out of boredom you begin to count mile markers on the side of the road? I’m sure we have all done it….. especially if you are crossing some desert stretch on summer break! It can be a really boring drive, but we can come to love long trips with the family, because it is a great time of togetherness. We definitely are in a confined space, and it makes us either tune each other in, or tune each other out. We can all be tuned in to your own thing, or you can be “plugged in” to each other. It can be a time of learning about goals and dreams of your kids, or finding out about their favorite things. As you pass the mile markers on the road, it is good to remember that life is just like that. We have little road signs in our life. They can remind us of the “daily humdrum of life”, or they can remind us of the majesty and splendor of life! Let’s make it the latter! Life really is beautiful. From birth to the grave, we have tremendous glimpses of God working in our life, let’s celebrate those mile markers and make life meaningful, mile after mile.

What happens in between the mega moments are those quiet moments that make up daily life? Life happens. Is it worthy of a celebration? You BET! Can we celebrate our son finishing a math assignment in geometry, or our daughters doing a good job on a lyric for a new song, or getting the floors or bathroom in the house you are building? That is actually HUGE! Can we celebrate the first robin in spring, the first jonquil, the first time you mow the grass in spring, the first batch of spinach or peas from the garden? In the big picture, those aren’t mega moments, but they are still worthy of celebration, because we are alive, breathing, and experiencing even a quiet moment of life. Those moments hold for us a finite experience of breathing in the presence of God and thanking Him for what He has begun, what He is doing, and what He will accomplish in our lives. Let’s live a life of celebration. Deeply breathe in each moment of life. Don’t let life pass you buy doing things that don’t matter. Don’t waste your time on unimportant things in the long run. Fill your life in between the mega moments with precious quiet moments of celebration. It not only makes life a whole lot more fun, but keeps you in an attitude of gratitude and you get to celebrate the goodness of God daily!

Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword. The last several weeks many have had big milestones. With as many graduations, anniversaries, birthdays and other milestone moments that take place during this time of year, it can be a busy time throughout the month. Life is one great big adventure. It can be daunting, and at the same time it can be exhilarating! Even if there are no big changes happening in your life, let’s keep great expectation for what God has for us. Here is your encouraging word for today.

Most of us don’t plan a party everyday, but in reality, each day is a gift and party worthy! And today is the present, so why not celebrate! I got a new camera a few years back for Christmas, and I decided that each day, I would try to take at least one picture….and call it the picture of the day for my life. Well, I haven’t always remembered to take a daily snapshot, even though my iphone makes it way eaiser, but it has made me more aware of special moments in each day. I am not a great photographer by any stretch, and that isn’t the issue. It’s all about making a memory. We can decide to gather daily memories long before we start to realize our life is almost over. Let’s make the most of every day and celebrate each day as a gift from God. Today happens to be my 4th daughter’s birthday, and she is a gift to me! She was born on Pentecost Sunday, right during church, so she was anointed right from her first breath. It was also Memorial Day weekend. So she is memorable too! If you know Leah, she is a joy, and I’m so thankful she is my daughter. I know today is Memorial Day as well, but today I want to celebrate her. You are loved, Leah!

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Once you have someone in heaven, it can seem like there is a very thin ceiling between heaven and earth. For our loved one, their last breath on earth, was their first breath in the presence of God. The Bible has many beautiful things to say about heaven, and for the believer, we look forward to heaven someday. Most of us don’t want to get there soon, and when a loved one goes on before way too early, we are terribly sad.

We know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord according to II Cor 5:8, and ultimately we are just ambassadors on the earth, and our real citizenship is in heaven according to Phil 3:20. We know that in the beginning God created heaven, and it is a place that we can look forward to. In fact, He is creating a place just for us and He doesn’t want our heart to be troubled.

So let us not be troubled, our loved one is home. And home is a good place to be. Home is a win, not a loss. We feel like we have lost, but our loved one is in an amazing place where they are worshipping Jesus in His presence around the throne room without end. Heaven is a win! They have made it home, to their eternal home. We have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that will not fade away. God has a place in heaven for each of us, and He has an assignment we have to finish before He welcomes us there.

What can I do to help? How can I make your life easier? Can I bring you a meal? Can I mow your yard? Can I play with your kids so you can have a break? When someone goes through difficulty, those questions can be lifesavers. Very often the tendency is to say, it is all ok and they will say they don’t need anything, but in reality, they do. They might even just need a shoulder to cry on. So keep on asking, keep on offering, keep on giving, keep on blessing, long after the tragedy happened. God wants to use you to help bring a healing balm to ones you might know who are going through hard times.

Can you infuse some hope to the hurting? When it feels like there is no light at the end of their tunnel, you can bring the light of the Word to their life.

A list of scriptures on hope that I love are these:

Ps 31:24 Be of good courage and He will strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

Ps 33:22 Let your mercy Oh Lord be upon us, just as we hope in you

Romans 12:12 We can rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and continue steadfast in prayer.

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for.

How can we receive the comfort of the Holy Spirit? As New Testament believers, we have the cross as the dividing line for us between the Old and New Testament. At the cross, Jesus fought the battle against all the powers of darkness and came out victorious, so we can how have Him live within us. He promised to never leave us, and gave us the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost to teach, comfort and keep us until His return. We have strength and power to overcome, because Jesus lives within. His strength is in us to overcome anything we might face, including comforting us through any unexpected tragedies.

The character of God is revealed in Jesus, and when He was on the earth, He was always doing good. He came to reverse the curse, and because He did, we can see things clearly, and blame the evil one for evil, and give glory to God for his goodness toward us. We don’t need to identify with Job of the Old Testament, we can identify with Jesus after his victory on the cross! Through the comfort of the Holy Spirit, we are now His hands and feet to a hurting world. Jesus gave us authority on the earth, and as believers, we are called to walk in His footsteps, and be who He has called us to be. Because of that, we can find comfort and strength in God’s Word, and through the Holy Spirit, and then give it to others.

We don’t always know all the answers, but when we have the opportunity to speak into someone’s life who is hurting, let’s do it biblically, and with the compassion of Jesus. He wept. He felt. But mostly He encouraged.

One of my favorite scriptures is in II Cor 1:3 where it says in the same way you have been comforted by the Holy Spirit, you will be able to comfort others. What we have received, we get to share. We have a tool in our hand that can bless someone else.

Bad things do happen to good people. When they do, we can be there to encourage them. We live in a fallen world, and in this world’s system, satan is the god of this world. (II Cor 4:4) Our focus is not on the enemy, but on God’s power to deliver. We can live above the world’s system when we walk in faith, walk in love, speak the name of Jesus, wear our armor, use our authority to rule, subdue, and walk in the spirit and not in the flesh.

We can always remember that God’s character is good! He blesses, He heals, He forgives, He restores! Whenever circumstances lead us to ask questions, let’s line our answers up with the Word of God. Our opinions, or what we’ve heard from others, definitely doesn’t carry as much weight as the Word of God. And how comforting is it to know God’s Word never fails.

Whenever tragedies happen, there are always lots of questions. Very often, many answers people try to give are very unbiblical, and totally unlike God’s character. God doesn’t need more flowers in his garden, or is trying to make more angels. Those thoughts sound sweet, but are not Biblical at all. It is good when we look at any tragic situation, to keep in mind that God’s character never changes. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Heb 13:8)

We live in a fallen world, and it is the devil who comes to steal kill and destroy. (John 10:10) When we see destruction we know the devil is its author. Jesus is the one who comes to give life abundantly. God’s character is revealed in Jesus who went about doing good! In the midst of any tragedy, God can still turn situations around for His glory. What the devil planned for evil, God can turn around for good. (Romans 8:28) Joseph was a great example of this when he told his brothers in Gen 50:20 that what they did to harm him, God turned around so that Joseph could bless them. Keep looking for the ways that God is moving and turning each situation around.

What do you do when everything in your whole world changes? When something out of the blue, totally unexpected takes you off guard, or shatters your world, how do most people react? Very often, life goes on auto-pilot for a while. The hurting ones just keep breathing, and keep putting one foot in front of the other, trying to just survive. They need love and support from their friends and loved ones. They need their hope renewed. This can happen as people continue calling to see how they are, and keep showing up with long after the funeral or memorial service is over. The firsts they will experience through the next year will be terribly hard. They need friends who loves to talk about the one they lost.

As a community of believers and as friends and family in this tragic situation, I pray that we will continue to love on this precious family, as they navigate a whole new way of living. They will need our love and generosity through the hard days they will face in the future.

When days that we face seem harder than hard
What else can we do but keep trusting the Lord?
He holds tightly to us and He comforts our heart
When our world has crumbled and broken apart
To stand in His presence and love Him through our pain
He brings hope to the hurting and brings new life again.
May 19, 2016