One-a-Day...for the Heart: Free Fall

Where will your free fall of faith take you? Jesus is already there.

One-a-Day...for the Heart: Free Fall 

     Have you ever dreamed you’re­­­­ on a steep mountain peak or the highest pinnacle of a building when suddenly you’re in a chilling free fall, spiraling down, down, down into a bottomless pit of…something? With a startled JOLT, you wake up from the dream and cannot remember what you fell into.      One time I did remember. In a free fall, I landed at the bottom of t...

One-a-Day...for the Heart: The Help of His Countenance

May the Lord  make His face shine on us today.

One-a-Day...for the Heart: The Help of His Countenance

"Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance" (Psalm 42:5 NKJV). The psalmist knew that whether in a valley of despair or on a mountaintop of ecstatic victory, his only real source of peace was in the presence of the Lord.     Countenance here means face, but other translation...

One-a-Day...for the Heart: Last Song

This little creature had a continual song in his heart. What a great example for us!

One-a-Day...for the Heart: Last Song     "I will sing to the Lord because He has dealt bountifully with me" (Psalm 13:6 ESV). Jacques (Jock) had a perfect life despite living in a cage. All his needs and wants were met—food, water, shelter, protection, warmth, entertainment, etc. Everything a bird could want came easily to our beloved canary.      We found him in the exotic pet area of a lo...

Stone Cold (from "One-a-Day for the Heart")

     "Joseph of Arimathea took a risk and went to Pilate, and asked for Jesus' body. (Joseph was an honored member of the high council, and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come.) Pilate couldn't believe that Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman officer and asked if he had died yet. The officer confirmed that Jesus was dead, so Pilate told Joseph he could have the body. Joseph bought a long sheet of linen cloth. Then he took Jesus' body down from the ...

One-a-Day...for the Heart: O Death, Where is Your Sting?

 I reached down beside my easy chair to pick up a stack of books, and suddenly, there was a sharp, stabbing needle-pricking sensation in my finger. “Ouch!” I exclaimed while examining the finger. Sure enough, there was a pinpoint-sized hole in my finger that was already reddened and painful.      A lazy wasp with “guilty” written all over it crawled from under the book pile. Wasps usually don't leave stingers, so they can keep stinging. I didn't need a second sting to remi...

One-a-Day...for the Heart: Be Still

   It's a ten-minute exercise program that will change your life! Sound impossible? It is not. Our Bible study group has accepted the challenge that Bible teacher and Pastor Bob Mumford suggests, and we're setting our timers for ten minutes to begin exercising. What do we do for ten minutes? Nothing. Absolutely nothing—at least, physically, we do nothing. We allow our spirits and souls to exercise by learning, as Mumford calls it, "The Skill of Still". That is, learning to...

One-A-Day...For The Heart: Who Cooks For You?

Back by popular demand--a One-A-Day classic...

One-a-Day...for the Heart: Who Cooks for You?

     My brother John isn't just the well-loved pastor he has been for more than forty years. He was a brother to my sisters and me long before he even opened a Bible or preached a sermon. From his boyhood days, he was fascinated with birds, and he and his best friend, Dick, spent many hours watching and studying them in the woods of Western Pennsylvania surrounding our home.      He

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One-A-Day...For The Heart: Freaked Out!

Some of our foolish childhood fiascos haunt us forever, I remember this one like it happened yesterday. 😩

One-a-Day...for the Heart: Freaked Out!

     It started as a carefree, fun shopping excursion. My mom and I went to a favorite department store when I was twelve or thirteen. She headed to the ladies' department, and I went to the teens’ section. When my shopping was completed, I searched the store for Mom and spotted her looking at a rack of ladies’ pantsuits. She had s...

One-A-Day...For The Heart: Never Alone

God's wrap=around Presence...there's nothing like it.  May it be yours today.❤️

One-a-Day...for the Heart: Never Alone

     Most of us have felt alone at some time. Jesus experienced loneliness, especially as He was dying on the cross, and sensed utter separation from Father God. Emptiness creeps over the soul when we are separated from family, friends, and familiar settings. Parting goodbyes are not easy; separation through death is even more difficult. Sadly, some people n...

One-A-Day...For The Heart: I Will

I need this reminder today.  I'm guessing maybe some of you do, too. ❤️

One-a-Day...for the Heart: I Will

     When we love the Lord and are determined to live a God-honoring life, there is no predicament we can get ourselves into that the Lord cannot get us through. If we mock God and turn to our own ways, the dynamic changes, and we suffer the consequences of sin.      The Lord is not a fair-weather friend who stays by our side until problems arise. He has promised never t...

One-A-Day...For The Heart: Spirit Led

This was fun to write, as I thought of my very limited art skills and how ridiculous they must have appeared to my teachers.  The Lord used my meager attempt at drawing to teach me a valuable skill in praying.  All was not lost!

One-a-Day...for the Heart: Spirit Led

     I drew the same blank screen in my mind every year in music class when the teacher challenged us to paint or draw what we “saw” as we listened to a piece of music. I never “saw” anything! Whether we listened...

One-A-Day...For The Heart: Whiter Than Snow

It's hard to imagine anything whiter than this beautiful blanket of fresh, white snow this morning. And yet there is...

One-a-Day...for the Heart: Whiter Than Snow

     "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." In Psalm 51:7, David expressed the anguish of knowing that his sins of committing adultery with Bathsheba then plotting the murder of her husband, had surely separated him from God. He looked to God to “fix it,” for he knew that within himself he could not hide the ...

One-A-Day...For The Heart: Entirely Faithful

Our Great God has proven this again and again. Count the times when the Lord has turned things around for you, or shown up when things were at their darkest...He is Faithful and True.  Hold on tight to Him!

One-a-Day...for the Heart: Entirely Faithful

     "All heaven will praise Your great wonders, Lord; myriads of angels will praise You for Your faithfulness. For who in all of heaven can compare with the Lord? What mightiest angel is anything like the Lord? The highest ang...

One-A-Day...For The Heart: Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum

What "finest gift" might we bring to Christ at this blessed season of hope?

One-a-Day...for the Heart: Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum

     The Little Drummer Boy gave his finest gift to the infant Jesus—a steady, sure drumbeat that, as the song goes, made the baby Jesus smile. "I played my best for Him," the lyrics proclaim, and in that fictional setting, the songwriters expressed a simple truth: God smiles when we give Him our best.      Drumbeats are powerful, and when they are rhythm...

One-a-Day...for the Heart: Point of No Return

It starts ever so gradually. We hardly notice the slowing down and dullness that begins to creep over our hearts as we lose the joy and intensity of loving and serving the One who died for us.      Life happens, and with all its ups and downs, the leash of loyalty and commitment to our Master grows longer and longer as we wander further and further from His presence. Before too long, we cannot feel His nearness or hear His encouragement and guidance.      God’s lovingkindn...