enLIVEn Devotionals

Abiding in Jesus - Overflowing His Spirit

Lessons from Loss

After delivering my last child stillborn, I experienced the most excruciating pain in my heart. It is just not natural to labor, deliver, and not bring your child home with you. Nothing made sense about the entire situation, but I did find God’s comfort in the midst of my deep pain in knowing He was with me even when I didn’t feel His presence 100% of the time. That’s where my faith kicked in. I felt so much love and support from my church family, but there was an emptiness that I couldn’t explain or fill. I went to work as a nurse after my two other kids started school because I didn’t ... Read the Post

Son of Promise

Be encouraged by Moses' parents. Imagine how difficult it was to hide a three month old baby. I love how Moses’ parents acted in faith. They were not scared of the king. They saw that Moses was not an ordinary child, and they needed to take extra measures to protect him. Do you have a child that does not look “ordinary”? Can you see (perceive with any of your senses, notice, discern, discover and examine) as Moses’ parents saw, that your child is not “ordinary” but special because of the Lord. Use all your senses, given by our Lord, to see what your child might specifically need. Let His ... Read the Post

Shout of the Healed

I saw a friend tonight stand up in front of the crowd declaring God’s love. The joy, power and comfort of God surrounded her. His light reflected from her and mingled with the fire of Christ burning within her. I know I was staring, but I couldn’t help it. She blazed with God’s goodness. “His Goodness,” I thought! She was diagnosed with breast cancer only days ago, and she BLAZED with God’s goodness! This woman who has every right to claim fear, mistrust and hurt has never looked so loved, so protected and so comforted. “I will get to know my God as the Great Healer!” she exclaimed. When ... Read the Post

Glorious

She calls me Mary. My paternal grandmother’s name was Mary. She died young. Isn’t that always the case? Life seems to end before we’re done living it; but not with the ninety-something little angel that I’ve been taking care of. She can’t always remember me, but she calls me Mary just the same. Today she asked me what my name was. I told her my name, but she kept on repeating it incorrectly. I finally told her, “You call me Mary.” She looked up at me and smiled. She liked that. Her name is Martha, but I’ll call her Mary, because I’ve always been the Martha. How many times has the Lord told ... Read the Post

Romanticized Obedience

Lately, God has been prompting me to do many things that I do not understand. As I take each step of obedience, I can’t help but analyze and romanticize the results. I imagine this awesome outcome that shines the glory of God and affects many lives. I anticipate the gates of heaven opening up and flooding the fruits of my efforts with miraculous and jaw-dropping wonders. However, the endings that I dream up usually fizzle away, and I’m left with conclusions that wouldn’t make it into book, let alone a best-sellers’ list. After one such disappointing end to a much built up step of obedience, ... Read the Post

The Orange Flag

This morning while driving to work, I had to pause a moment at the end of our street. The road ahead was under repair, leaving me uncertain if I could make my usual left turn. A smiling construction worker waved me forward with his orange flag, encouraging me to turn left in spite of the fact that huge utility vehicles were in the midst of tearing up the road. Nonetheless, I took a leap of faith in the stranger’s direction and made the left turn. The drive was a little bumpy and required navigating around the work in progress, but I made it! As I was enjoying a little moment of success ... Read the Post