by Chris Thomas

 

My husband passed away three months ago after a year-long battle with cancer.

 

Mourning: I feel…despair, anger, fear, lonely, hurt, overwhelmed, anxious, alone, shattered, distorted, betrayed, detached, darkness, forgotten, lost, left, conflicted, scared, brokenhearted, tired, numb, physical pain, nothing.

 

Morning: God is…Faithful. He is my Comforter, Abba Father, Healer, Savior, Companion, Confidante, Rescuer, Friend, Helper, Refuge, Protector, Warrior, Strength, Future, Joy, Love, Freedom, stronger than my pain, keeping my heart beating, working all things for my good.

 

It’s amazing how God reminds me all of the time that He is with me through this devastating time in my life. Sometimes it seems that I’ll never make it and, just as I’m ready to give up, He sends miracles, both large and small. The small miracles happen all the time and are so precious to me. They are just little bits of love that make me smile when I realize what He’s up to and that He’s watching over me. The big miracles are His Angels on Earth. They reach out to me, pick me up, and remind me that I don’t have to do this all by myself. Thank you to those sweet brothers and sisters in Christ! You have no idea what a blessing you are.

 

Don’t you love it when you hear a song and you think that song was played just for you at exactly the right time in your life? A couple of songs I cling to are “Just Be Held” by Casting Crowns and “Tell Your Heart to Beat Again” by Danny Gokey. They, and many more, remind me of the promises that give me hope.

 

All of His blessings show up at the precise moment I need to be reminded of His perfect love, His great faithfulness, and His strong arms. I guess it’s true and I need to keep telling myself that “It’s OK if I’m not OK.” Just for now.

 

Great is Thy Faithfulness, Mourning by Morning His mercies I see.

 

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.’
(Lamentations 3:22-24)

by Laura Enslen

 

Do you ever feel in a fog? Have brain fog? Overwhelmed by everything you need to accomplish? Foggy about details regarding a certain interaction or task you are to complete?

 

Well, recently I was in a literal fog. So incredibly thick, I could see only a few feet in front of me. I was driving in to work at church after dropping my dear offspring at school and I was in a complete fog! The sun was trying to press through, and I knew it was forecasted to be a beautiful day, but the fog where I was driving was overwhelming. As I was driving, I began to slow down to be able to calculate my driving better and anticipate what was ahead that I could not see. With the sun trying to press through, I kept anticipating the moment when I would have a clear view of the road again. I could not see more than a minute ahead and did not know when it would be clear again.

 

Driving through this fog, my mind went to one of my favorite verses of late:

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)

 

Even though I was driving through fog, I thought about how that was just my current circumstance. In five more minutes, I was climbing a hill, watching the fog dissipate and looking out over one of my favorite countryside views! Sun was shining and the fog was far behind me! How often do I get absorbed in my current circumstance that I forget, as I press through, there can be beauty on the other side? Far too often, if I am honest. God has the BIG picture!

 

I am a recovering controller. The Lord has worked in mighty ways to release the desire to control and even manipulate my circumstances. And much of that is due to my awareness that I truly do not have the control I once thought I did.

 

For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2:6)

 

God has led me to a wisdom and understanding that I am not in control of my tomorrow, let alone the next moment. Will we give Him the control or will we try our own way of handling the struggles in our lives? A life fully surrendered to Christ may sometimes look like you are driving in fog, but you can trust He sees the fog and all that surrounds it. And remember, the view from outside the fog is breathtaking, so don’t miss it! Press on and see what He has on the outside of the fog.

 

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)

by Carl, the Coconut Custodian

 

Hi, I’m Carl. Perhaps some of you don’t know me yet. I’ve been attending CABC since June of 2019. For those of you who don’t know my story, allow me to share it briefly.

 

I was going down the road one day when I fell into a ditch and found myself hurt, unable to move, and desperate for help. Day after day people passed by on the road, but none stopped to help. Finally, one day, a teenager saw me, stopped and picked me up, and brought me into CABC. He cleaned me up and gave me a smile (not to mention helped get me a job and Facebook followers too!).

 

Now, I don’t mean to sound harsh, for I know perhaps I was just honestly unseen by many who passed me by (after all it is hard to spot a coconut in a ditch while driving even at the posted speed limit), but I still cannot help but think of the parable of the Good Samaritan even as I write this. At the end of the parable, Jesus asks a question.

 

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:36-37)

 

Martin Luther King, Jr. referred to this parable in one of his last speeches and said, “The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But…the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’”

 

Compassion. We are all called and commanded by Christ to go, love our neighbors, and have mercy on others. I am grateful for the teen who had compassion on a random coconut lying in a ditch and gave me a new meaning and purpose in life. I have seen countless members of this church have compassion on the various ministries and personal needs that are put forth on any given Sunday morning. Even the children in this congregation show compassion by bringing in their own allowance money to give as offering to benefit other children around the world. I applaud the work of this church to live out this command from Christ. And I encourage you all to continue to not only live out that compassion, but to seek out opportunities to show it. There just may be another “coconut” waiting to be found, cleaned up, and made new.

by Mark Johnston

 

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he shall not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

 

I am reminded of this proverb in a new ritual we have with our grandsons Mark and Gabriel. Each morning while we are waiting in the car at the bus stop, we pray for and with each child. This began a few weeks ago while my wife Rocky was on jury duty. She took Mark to the bus stop because I had to take Rebecca (my daughter) to work. She then sat there with him and prayed with him. Later I did the same thing with Gabriel and we have been keeping up the tradition with both boys.

 

As Christians, I believe we have the responsibility to mentor our children and grandchildren so that they become firm in their faith as new believers.

Lord, show us how to train up our children and grandchildren, and let us be good examples of how to walk with God.

by Michael Freeman

 

If you haven’t read the book of Ruth in a while, I would encourage you to set this devotional aside for the 15 minutes it takes to read its four chapters and reacquaint yourself with this story. It will be time well spent.

 

The book of Ruth is set in the rebellious time of the Judges, where “everyone did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25). Sound familiar? Ruth is a story of deep loss, deep love, deep humility, and deep faith.

 

At the end of Chapter Three, Ruth has already asked Boaz to be her redeemer…an honor she has every right to claim. Now, with this request made, she goes home to wait. Boaz has promised to return. She knows his character and trusts that he will do what he promises. Her fate is entirely in his hands.

 

We all have experience waiting…waiting to get a test grade back…waiting for a tax return…waiting until we are allowed to hunt the Easter eggs…waiting on the birth of a child…waiting for a loved one to take his last breath. In fact, hospitals and doctor’s offices have special rooms just for waiting. Waiting is a common part of life…but not all of us face waiting the same way. Some people are patient as they wait…others become agitated. Some people worry…others accept there is nothing they can do to change the outcome. Some prefer people around them to distract them from the waiting…others prefer to be left alone. No matter how we choose to spend our time waiting, waiting is inevitable.

 

In the story of Ruth, she also has a time of waiting to see what her fate will be. Will she get to marry Boaz or will a nearer relative take that honor from him? However, her waiting was not in vain. Through Ruth, God hints at the larger plan of redemption He has in store. God takes this gentile woman, weds her to the son of a Canaanite prostitute, and draws them into the family line of both King David and of Christ Himself (Matthew 1:5).

 

Through God’s provision for Ruth, He shows that He always intended redemption to extend beyond the borders of the Jewish people. What good news for those of us now grafted into His family.

 

During this season, as we wait for the Good News of Easter, we can reflect on the story of Ruth. Our Redeemer has gone to secure our future. He has promised to return.

 

We are Ruth… the church is Ruth, waiting for our redeemer to return to claim us as His own. Like the citizens of Bethlehem, this world too is watching us while we wait. How we act during this time of waiting says as much about our faith in our Redeemer and our belief about His trustworthiness as it does about our own character.

 

Our Redeemer can be trusted; His word is law. God has provided a way to redeem our lives and add them to His story. We too can point to a redeemer from the most unlikely of places…our testimony is how we wait for His return.

 

“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-24)