Nourish Your Heart

(My grandmother, Anna Daisy Siemens, wrote poetry and prose. This devotion was written and published for Devotions for the Deaf in 1994)

James 1:2 – Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.

When the Pharisees ordered the Apostles not to speak in public about Jesus, Peter replied, “We must obey God rather than men,” (Acts 4:19 – But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges!). He then pointed a finger of guilt at the Jewish leaders for crucifying the Son of God.

The Sanhedrin wanted to kill the Apostles but Gamaliel persuaded the Jews to flog them with a warning never to preach His name again. Did the Apostles complain? No, they rejoiced because they were considered “worthy to suffer disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5:41) – The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.

Paul wrote, “We rejoice in our sufferings” (Romans 5:3 – Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance.) When Paul and Silas sang praises while chained in jail with bleeding backs, God rescued them through an earthquake. The jailer and his family were baptized because of their testimony.

As metal is tempered through heat, we grow through our trials. If we share in suffering, we can also hare in His glory (Romans 8:17 – Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.).

Prayer: Lord, give me the strength and the joy to rejoice in bad times and when suffering.

(Recently my mother had an opportunity to show joy. See her blog, Blessings of a Broken Shoulder)

I am thankful. It seems that I have to work at being thankful. I sometimes get caught up in the “can’t, won’t, don’t, isn’t” of life and forget all that I have. But I am thankful.

I am thankful I have a God who loves me and will provide for my every need. He brings me joy in the little things. He helps me see the pretty flowers and beautiful clouds. He helps me see the beauty in people and the twinkle in the eyes of a child.

I am thankful that he is a personal God who calls to me. He pursues me. I can hear his voice calling to me. I hear him in the hauntingly beautiful sounds of the cello that sends my senses soaring. I can feel his presence around me and know that his hope is enduring. I know that he is God, he is all-powerful and he loves me.

I am thankful for the heritage I have from my family. Loving God has been handed down through the generations. I have prayed with my grandparents and my parents. I have studied God’s word with my husband’s parents and prayed with them. I have seen my family reach out to others and bring them into the folds of our home.

I am thankful that our couches are used often. Family drops by. Sometimes friends drop by. Occasionally people stay over. We enjoy seeing others and sharing what we have.

I am thankful that my children are blessed with talents and strength of mind. I am thankful that I have a husband who loves me. Even more I am thankful that he loves God and seeks his presence.

I am thankful that God desires us to grow closer to him every day. He grows our faith strong in his truth. And we overflow with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:6-7 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Thank you Michael for the beautiful sounds of the cello.

Our small group is reading through the book “Crazy Love”. It is a surprisingly difficult book to go through. Our ladies are dealing with it in predictably different ways. I have been dealing with almost denial. How do I deal with these feelings of inadequacy?

Recently the ladies decided to do a day when we would all act biblically. I hadn’t read the chapter yet, so I figured, okay, I can do that. When I finished reading the chapter I still had no idea what was meant by “acting biblically”.

I asked my daughter about it and she came back with this: What I have been doing recently is trying to be grateful and trying to be faithful in the small things.

Uh, oh. Right away I remembered that verse that comes before one of my favorite scriptures. Philippians 4 has those verses about rejoicing and being thankful. Aw. Do I have to?

I looked up the meaning of the word grateful:

1. warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; thankful: I am grateful to you for your help.

Really. Ok, so to be grateful, I need to be warmly or deeply appreciative of the kindness or benefits received. Let’s see. I do appreciate that God has saved me from my sins. I appreciate that I still have my house and my husband has his job. I very much appreciates how hard my husband works to do well at his job. I appreciate that I have unemployment money coming in. I appreciate that my children are mostly healthy. I am thankful that two of my children will graduate from college this year.

I do appreciate the help from the schools for two of my children on how much financial aid they have gotten. I appreciate the love I feel and the support I have from my family and my small group.

2. expressing or actuated by gratitude: a grateful letter.

Ok. I guess I should be expressing my gratitude more often. I should give away more smiles and hugs. I should say thank you in actual words. I should let others recognize my gratitude for my husband and my children. That is a lot of “should”. God help me to express my gratitude to others, to my loved ones and to strangers. Help me show others your love for me and that it extends to them.

3. pleasing to the mind or senses; agreeable or welcome; refreshing: a grateful breeze.

God please forgive me for not being a refreshing grateful breeze to those around me. Help me to be more pleasing to others so that they want to draw near to you.

The hardest thing to accept about what my daughter said was the part about being faithful in the little things. Here I think I found my biggest failure. And my only hope is to trust God to help me begin again.

God help me to see the importance of little things. God, help me to do the dishes and laundry, to clean and take out the trash with a smile. Give me joy in the little things I do for others. Show me how reading your word brings me closer to you. Help me reach out to you more each day and praise you each day for who you are. Help me to be more like you.

Philippians 4:4-7 Always be glad because of the Lord! I will say it again: Be glad. Always be gentle with others. The Lord will soon be here.

Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God.

Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel.

I Timothy 1:12-14 I’m so grateful to Christ Jesus for making me adequate to do this work. He went out on a limb, you know, in trusting me with this ministry. The only credentials I brought to it were invective and witch hunts and arrogance.

But I was treated mercifully because I didn’t know what I was doing—didn’t know Who I was doing it against! Grace mixed with faith and love poured over me and into me. And all because of Jesus.