Category Archives: TOPICAL POSTS by SERIES

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A Hope and a Promise

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A HOPE AND A PROMISE – HELP FOR THE HURTING

STEPPING STONES DEVOTIONAL

He will be with you, he will not leave you or forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:8
♥

Rejection has the power to spew injurious messages in the wounded person. As in divorce when a marriage is ripped apart, negative emotions can ravage the mind’s sensitivities. It can leave a person gasping, struggling to make sense of what happened. Divorce smashes the dream that once shone so brightly and leaves destruction in its wake.

There are many ways to absorb these internal hurts. Some bury their feelings. Others unleash volleys of red-hot attacks. Some become overwhelmed by loss and grief. Others walk away in denial, never looking back. Some unwelcome mental intruders jump on the emotional bandwagon. Resentment and bitterness visit in the quiet hours.

Anger and spite seek payback with a vindictiveness. This sabotages efforts at joy and happiness. Sorrowing sadness becomes a cloak of gloom difficult to lift. Depression and discouragement rob children of the home they used to have that is now just a wistful dream. It is hard. The devastation of divorce has repercussions and outfall.
What to do?

You are stronger than you think. All is not hopeless even when it may seem so. For you see, it is not the end of your story. Life goes on. We must go on with it. Once the shock wears off and pain is managed, then it becomes possible to learn, change, and grow. It takes time, patience and hard work to recover from wounded self-perceptions and personal loss before one is able to live again. This is possible because we are not alone.

God strengthens us when we feel weak. He holds us when we are weary. He guides us when we are confused, struggling with our present and fearful of our future. Our heavenly Father promises to never leave us though the loneliness seems almost unbearable. He is true and steady. Gentle is his healing balm and loving grace.

God is here.

Dear Father God, you are my comfort and peace, an ever present help in times of trouble.

I’m so glad.
♥

. . . .
QUESTION: How has God strengthened you during a crisis?

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Devotionals for Today

INTRODUCTION

STEPPING STONES DEVOTIONALS for THE DISCOURAGED and BROKEN-HEARTED

Things happen. We hurt. Then we cry out to God,
“Won’t you please help me?”
And He does.

~~From me to you.~~

We are on a journey and we know not the way. We only know “The Who,” the One Who is offering his hand as our Guide into the great unknown. If it seems too hard, and we stop, we will never know “What we don’t know that we don’t know” which is to say, what God has for us throughout our spiritual metamorphosis. On the other hand, if we say, “Yes I will seek you Lord until my life’s end,”we are in for a magnificent journey that gives us no advance indication, preparation, definition,preconceptions or warnings of its capacity for inner delight, health and wholeness.

A Few Words of Introduction

THESE DEVOTIONALS were originally written for the Christian divorced as way to encourage those who are struggling to find their spiritual footing in the aftermath of an unwanted or unfortunate divorce. A friend of a friend asked me to write them. I was given some guidelines to follow with a verse, content limit, and closing prayer. There were many sentences I had to cull out of necessity to stay within the word quota. However, this forced me to say what most needed to be said without adding more explanation. Sometimes, brevity speaks louder than prolific words.

TO START OFF, I sat down with a sheet of paper and wrote headings for the main areas that God had used to heal me of the emotional pain that once lived deep inside me. Even though my divorce is a decade past, it is easy to remember the distinct ways God brought me through it to the other side, the place where healing and grace restored a wounded person’s heart and comforted its sorrow—while also ending and then removing its suffering.

I WROTE EACH DEVOTIONAL  with a specific intent to help others who are in the crush of circumstances and buried in emotional pain. If you have not been hurt in such a way, you will not fully appreciate and understand how devastating it can be to be wounded or hurt by someone you dearly love. Loss, in general, is a host for all kinds of inner torment and pain. It is for such wounds these devotionals are offered.

MY LIFE has not always been easy, but I’m not complaining. The good far outweighs the hard and unexplainable times. I have learned more than I ever would have thought possible through the school of hard knocks, as people like to say. Yet, and it is a big yet, I would not have gotten far without the help of my Father God.

GOD HAS KEPT ME through all the times when life didn’t make any sense or seemed too big a hill to climb, those moments when I felt all alone in my silent suffering. I can now say, the difficulties and emotional injuries were stepping stones to a better life, but only because I let them be and by the grace of God. In recent years, life has particularly become sweet. I know it is because of God. He has changed who I am and the way I think. It is an amazing reality.

THE CORE content applies to anyone who has known suffering, and anyone who wants to know God in an intimate way. For you, I hope the words found in these devotionals will be an encouragement to keep you seeking God for hope, help, and healing; for recovery, restoration, and renewal. Nothing is impossible with God. You are one of his miracles ready to happen.
God bless you and keep you; May His face shine upon you.

. . . .