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Our Father
A Banner of Stars
By Ruth Eshbaugh
I am taking out the trash and feeling kind of shabby. It is Friday night and I think everyone has a life but me. I have slipped into an old turquoise sweat suit like old women wear. In fact when I picked mine out at Walmart I had a conversation with two elderly ladies about the comfort of these highly affordable clothing units. I never wear mine outside of the house except for trips down the drive way to the trash and recycling bin or to the mailbox to see if my rent deposit has found its way to my new address. As I accidentally spill my paper recyclables into the bottle and can section of the bin, I wonder if anyone cares. I don’t plan to dive to the bottom of the bin to re-recycle the waste that has been pitched absentmindedly.
My mind wanders and I am taken back by the beauty of the early evening, the late February cold fading. I am outside barefoot against the cool concrete. The stars glimmer between the empty tree branches. They are works of art I hope to capture in an image for a poem of perhaps the beginning of a devotional. I am thinking about My Father. I am hoping He will speak to me as I begin my weekly fast.
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Draw Near To God
By Sarah Brady
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8a (ESV)
Have you ever had a discussion with yourself? I know I have. During many parts of my life, I used to have a conversation with myself that went something like this:
“You know, Sarah, you just sinned.”
“Yes, self, I know I just sinned.”
“You know, Sarah, that God doesn’t like sin.”
“Yes, self, I know that God doesn’t like sin.”
“Why then, Sarah, if God doesn’t like sin, are you going to talk to Him now, right after you sinned? After all, if He doesn’t like sin, He probably isn’t too thrilled to hear from a sinner right now . . .”
And do you know what I’d do? I’d put off talking to God, wait to spend time in His word, and grow more and more distressed at my distance from God—when I was the one causing the distance, I was the one refusing to talk, I was the one who refused to be close; thus, I was choosing to remain in my sinful situation.
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WHEN HE ANSWER'S, "NO."
By Melissa Burlock
When I ask my Daddy for something --anything from a Bug convertible, to the $160 for an Economics book, to a DQ banana split before we drive home-- I never really expect him to answer, “No.” I realize that I am truly blessed to have a patient father who freely gives me his time, money and attention, often without me even asking for them. I had also assumed that all of the requests I made of my earthly father were considerably reasonable. Up until a year ago, I had self-righteously filtered my heavenly Father’s voice through the latter assumption.
It was easy for me to hear the “powerful” and “majestic” voice (Psalm 29: 4) of God when He said yes to my academic success and daily desires not only since I deemed these requests as reasonable, but also because I viewed these goals as doable through my own might. And then my flesh was pierced with an emotional thorn which neither myself with all my will, nor anyone else with all their human understanding, could remove from my agonized side. I began to pray in anguish, straining to hear His accommodating voice, reasoning that my God --my heavenly Daddy, my Jehovah Jireh-- would say yes to relieving me of this acutely present pain, this tiring trial. Then my God answered, “No.”
My response to His answer was to withdraw from His Word, stop up my ears with burning resentment and bury my heart in the ashes of hopelessness. At a Christian youth conference later on that year though, I had the opportunity to listen to women of God who convicted me of my selective hearing.
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Resource for Christian Women to grow spiritually in God.