While simplifying your holiday season, take time for relationships to thrive, not just survive the holidays. Keep those relationships balanced with your holiday planning. People ARE more important than things at this time of year. Here are some relationship principles using one of the familiar words of the holiday as an easy to apply acrostic: C enter your heart on the true, deeper meaning of the holiday season (Thanksgiving through New Year’s.) This will help everyone become easier to get along with because the heart of the holiday will remain intact. H ear what your friends and family are…
Category: Devotional
This is our archive pageThe Child Who Gave His All
“…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10 NIV). I can’t imagine losing one of my children. A friend recently lost her adult child and to see her grieve ripped my heart out of my chest. Christmas should be a time of joy. After all, God sent His son that He might save us, and for the most part the season is joyful. Still, when I turn my Christmas tree on at night, and listen to the sweet sound of the nativity music box play Silent Night, I find my heart…
Good News of Great Joy!
I often give Christmas messages for women’s ministries, and one is entitled “Christmas Joy”. Joy is the beautiful result of Christ coming at Christmas. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. (Luke 2:10) In my book, LOL with God, (co-authored Dawn Wilson) we chronicle just a few of the over 350 verses that speak to joy: 1 Chronicles 16:27—“Strength and joy [are] in his dwelling place.” (Dwell with God and find joy!) Job 33:26—“He prays to God and finds favor with…
Deck the Soul with Boughs of Forgiveness
CHRISTMAS! The word evokes many feelings, depending on our experiences. For some, Christmas is a happy time, filled with beautiful memories and joyful expectations. For others, Christmas is a depressing time, a season one wants “to get over with” as quickly as possible because of bad memories associated with this time of year. Having ministered to people for many years, I have come to the conclusion that depressing memories at Christmas time are most often related to problems of unforgiveness. Hurts from the past become more pronounced during the Christmas season, but the reason those hurts still affect us is that…
Sacrifice of Thanksgiving
“I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving…” (Psalm 116:17). From this verse I get the impression we offer thanksgiving with difficulty or under hardship—because we should do it, not necessarily because we want to do it. Early in my walk with the Lord, my expression of thanks depended on my circumstances. When favorable, my heart overflowed with gratitude and praise. I found it easy to rejoice and thank the Lord. I offered thanksgiving as a reward for his being good to me and withheld it if I thought he hadn’t treated me fairly. Then I read “in…
What Is Charity?
Excerpt from Christmas Charity by Susan G. Mathis: Mabel opened the door and noticed the darkening sky. “Come in, Susan. Looks like a Nor’easters a building. Might have snow by nightfall.” Susan entered the elderly woman’s abode. Neat and tidy with lots of memorabilia, just as Susan had imagined. Mabel led her into the kitchen. “I was just making tea. Care for some?” “Yes, please. How are you, Mabel?” “I’m just fine. Been praying for you and that girl of yours a fair bit. How’s it going?” Mabel stopped pouring the tea and stared into Susan’s eyes. “Tell me truthful-like,…
Practicing Patience
Practicing Patience By Susan G Mathis My husband has Parkinsons disease, so I am learning to employ a good deal of patience—the very thing I taught in my children’s picture book, Lexie’s Adventure in Kenya: Love is Patience —while we adjust to the challenges of such a terrible disease. God is never finished teaching us patience, so to that end, for all of us who need a bit of encouragement as we learn patience now or in the future, here are a few inspiring quotes that may help: “God’s way of answering the Christian’s prayer for more patience, experience, hope,…
Drawing Close
My husband Dale and I have experienced medical challenges—cancer, Parkinson’s disease, multiple surgeries, hospitalizations, and illnesses. We’ve had challenges in our adult children’s lives—financial stresses, unemployment, school struggles, health issues, and major moves across the country and the world. We’ve had life challenges—job changes, aging parents, home and car repairs, and so much more. Yet all these circumstances have actually brought us closer together because we’ve chosen to lean on each other, to draw strength from each other. You can, too. Sometimes your marriage will be easy. But other times the potholes or detours of life, the circumstances and…
Sunday Reflection: Lost in Translation
. . . let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth (1 John 3:18 NIV) We have a goal to visit the countries that represent the 15 or so languages our book Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti has been translated into. Because of our desire to cross cultures, we have often been accompanied by translators. They take what we are saying and reword our thoughts and intentions so that a clear message is accomplished. To do this, often they do not translate word for word, but adapt to carry the main…
Find Your Proper Place
Where is home? Is it where your family lives? Where your work’s located? How do you find the comfort of home? Do you sometimes feel out of place? Living in two cultures brings a sense of not belonging anywhere. I not only live in a foreign country but also in a Quechua village in Bolivia where three cultures and three languages collide—making the mix even more interesting. Feeling out of place is an understatement. Yet, somehow I am at home. When I arrive in the States for furlough, I feel at home. I can speak English, my mother tongue. Yay!…