Devotions from James Smith book, Embracing the Love of God The two most difficult people to forgive are those whom we can’t forgive because they are no longer with us and those who don’t care whether we forgive them or not.  We can still obtain complete forgiveness even if the person is no longer alive. …

Devotions from James Smith’s book, Embracing the Love of God The only way we can be healed of the things that have hurt us is to forgive. When we forgive a person, we set a prisoner free, but we discover that the real prisoner was ourselves. The healing journey involves discovering how much we have…

Devotions from James Smith’s book, Embracing the Love of God. Spurgeon said,” Let us go to Calvary to learn how we may be forgiven. And let us linger there to learn how to forgive.” God invented forgiveness because he knew that we are capable of harming one another and that forgiveness is the only way…

Devotions from James Smith book, Embracing the Love of God It is often easier to accept God’s forgiveness for things we have done than to forgive ourselves. It takes courage to forgive ourselves and to silence the voice that condemns us. In fact we may become comfortable with our pain and failure and actually fear…

Devotions based on Jill Briscoe’s article, Trusting God Through Trouble There is a difference between resignation and acceptance of difficult situations. Elisabeth Elliot, whose husband died at the hands of the Auca Indians, could have gone home with her daughter . Instead she asked the Lord in what redemptive way could He use this terrible…

Devotions from James Smith’s book, Embracing the Love of God Don’t we all long for a friend who will welcome us, listen to us and receive all that we have in our hearts and not be shocked or bothered by our failures and struggles?  Such people give acceptance with their eyes, with their voice and…

Devotions from James Smith book, Embracing the Love of God We need to discover our true identity from God’s perspective. So often we put on a mask or play a role we think others will like out of fear of rejection or out of shame. We might feel shame if we don’t have enough money,…

Devotions based on James Smith book, Embracing the Love of God Julian of Norwich wrote, “The greatest honor we can give to the Almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love.”  So much of our lives we live in alienation because of the years of being exposed to messages of…

Devotions from James Smith book, Embracing the Love of God Each of us is uniquely and individually loved. We are known! We are chosen! As we experience this love in the depths of our soul it is healing and radically transforming. As we receive God’s love and acceptance of us, we can then accept ourselves…

Devotions from Gary Thomas book, Pure Pleasure Today’s devotional is on laughter and seems to be timed well as we have laughed so much lately with our resent visitors! “If we can’t open the pressure valve with laughter, we just might explode. So laugh or die. It’s up to you!” Kevin Harney And Elton Tureblood…