Soul Sister Time

            I’ve been thinking a lot about Bartimaeus (Mark 10) and the man born blind (John 9), and all those other people in the Bible whose physical limitations were miraculously changed in an instant.   I’ve never thought about their lives after the story.   What did they think every day that they woke up and could see, walk, or be rid of a chronic disease?   What does it feel like to be rid of the power of evil after being tormented by a demon?               For almost thirty years (since my freshman year of college), I have been wearing contacts or glasses to see distance.   After forty I needed glasses to read as well.   I remember one day in those early years of contacts as I was sitting in my bed reading, I looked around my room and thought, I’ve been healed .   It took a few minutes to realize that I had gotten up earlier and put in my contacts.   I told a friend the story and she said, Well you never know Debi, maybe someday you will be healed .               That day has co

Laity Lodge and a Writers’ Conference…two of my favorite things happening in one place.  Laity Lodge is a writer’s dream.  Though it has been years since my last visit, I remember how my soul came alive while journeying into the hidden haven of peace and sanctuary I discovered at Laity Lodge.  No writer at heart could be disappointed by whatever God has in store for any weekend at Laity Lodge.  This particular weekend is designed just for writers.  I hope to find a refuge in a place of clear, clean, untouched majesty of God's creation, in the midst of the unique community of Christian writers who will inhabit this sacred space for a weekend.  What could be better than that? http://www.laitylodge.org/writers-retreat-ii/

            I love mission trips.   I am amazed by the lessons I learn and the ways my life is changed.   The first day of our mission trip we looked at Matthew 25:45, He will reply , Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these , you did not do for me .   I was leading the devotions and I asked everyone to ask God what He wanted to teach us about the least of these .               In thinking about the least of these, I knew God didn’t want me to think that I was more than they were.   I knew that God didn’t want me to look at the people He was sending me to as less than me.   Yet, I was amazed at what He showed me.   He did a total about-face reversal in my mind and showed me that though I thought I was going in His name, it was really the other way around.   He had in mind to send someone to me and see that I was the least of these .   I was really amazed at God’s greatness.             We arrived at the orphanage where we would spend the next few days

            What is the definition of faith?   I guess the best comes from Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.   Let’s face it; you are not going to grow spiritually without faith.   Our spiritual journey mandates faith.   You need faith to trust in the goodness of God even when you can’t understand His ways.   You need faith to believe that you have a future and a hope even when your circumstances seem to go from bad to worse.               God asks a lot and yet so little when it comes to faith.   I’ve witnessed a lot of people expressing a lot of faith that has led to harmful circumstances.   A recent example of that was the faith that so many had that the world was going to end on May 21, 2011.   Huge amounts of faith in lies only have disastrous results.   The object of your faith needs to be in line with what God says.               Still faith consists of committing to the unseen.   This is what leaves many lacking in

You can't be on the spiritual journey for long until you realize that there must be an easier way. If God is who He says He is then He can heal any disease, feed any starving nation, and stop any war. But He doesn't. Just take your life for example. Most of the readers of this devotion have not been born into extreme poverty without hope of a better life. Most of us face battles of an irritating kind. We come up short of answers to why a tragedy had to happen. Even so, there is a lot of evidence in this world that God does not match His unlimited resources with our human tragedies. This is how Jesus explains it in Luke 11:11-13: Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him ! Jesus first points us to the goodness of hum

                I am amazed at my lack of conviction to confess my sins daily.   This is a practice that Jesus taught us to do when He taught us to pray.   He put this practice into perspective for us in teaching us to pray that we would be forgiven as we forgive those who sin against us.                 Now when it comes to the way I am sinned against, I have no problem obsessing and repeating my complaints effortlessly.   When it comes to confessing my own sins, I need God’s help to force a confession out of me.                 So did David.   He had committed the worst sin of his entire life, and yet he was living in complete oblivion.   The year he did not go out with the army into battle was the year he slowly spiraled into a stronghold of sin.   It started out small. He didn’t turn his eyes away when he saw a beautiful woman innocently bathing on her rooftop.   He was not seduced.   He was in no way trapped.   He was totally free to avert his eyes someplace else, but he didn’t.