Month: November 2019

I made a mistake. It wasn’t just a little oversight. No, this was a big one. And by big, I mean costly. Very costly.

The mistake was completely unintentional on my part. In fact, I thought I had done everything right. Discovering I had, in fact, not done everything right was the first blow to my ego. My shoulders started to slump as disbelief ran through my brain. The second blow was realizing the dollar figure attached to my mistake. Tears rolled down my cheeks as the harsh reality set in.

My husband is the one who discovered the mistake and after looking things over, realized how I had made it. He tried to take the blame on himself, but I knew it was mine to take.

I dried my tears and distracted myself with taking the kids to the park to play.

When we returned home, I was shocked at what I saw on the dining room table. A dozen long stemmed white roses and a card addressed to me.

I opened the card and out poured a pitcher full of…grace.

My eyes filled with tears again, but this time for a different reason. Saying that I felt completely and utterly unworthy of my husband’s gesture of grace is an understatement. But then again, that is kind of the meaning of grace, isn’t it? Unmerited favor.

He could have responded in so many other ways. He could have gotten angry with me. He could have given me the silent treatment. He could have…but he didn’t. He chose to respond in grace.

My husband’s response was the epitome of the kind of radiance I write about and try to live out.

As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this coming week, I am unmistakably thankful for grace – the grace shown to me by my husband, my friends, my family, and most of all, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

In view of the great grace shown to us, let us go be radiant this week as we show that same grace to others.

Wishing you a very blessed and happy Thanksgiving!

Photo by Juhasz Imre on Pexels.com

When is the last time you were outside and looked up to the velvety black night sky at the glowing moon? Even if it’s been a while, you can picture it, can’t you?

It seems as if the Moon is lighting up the night sky, however, that’s not entirely accurate. While reading “Indescribable, 100 Devotions About God & Science,” by Louie Giglio, I was reminded that there is “no such thing as moonlight.”

Giglio eloquently notes, “The Sun gives off light, which means it’s luminous. But the Moon is illuminated, which means it’s lit up by reflecting the Sun’s light.”

The key for this phenomenon to occur is being in the right place. The Moon has to be in just the right place in order to reflect the Sun’s light.

Do you see the analogy I see, my radiant friends? As soon as I read this devotional, I couldn’t help but think of our quest to reflect God’s light in our everyday lives.

We are like the Moon, unable to shine by ourselves, but when in the right place – following Jesus – God’s light bounces off of us and onto others.

In a practical way, what does that look like? Giglio writes, “When you follow Jesus, you reflect His light–His love, goodness, grace, kindness, and power–into the lives of those around you. You shine simply by staying close to Him, the Light of the World!”

John 8:12 “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'”

As we think about entering the season of Thanksgiving and Christmas, let us remember to stay close to Him. Let’s not let the all the events on our calendars push away our time with Jesus. Perhaps we could even take a moment to go outside, look up at the night sky and take a good long gander at the Moon.

Every time we see the Moon, may it remind us to stay close to Jesus and reflect His light in our everyday lives. Let us go be radiant this week.

Please share this post with someone who you think might be encouraged by it.

Have you read Hebrews, chapter 11 lately? It is such a worthwhile read. In that chapter, God gives us a whole list of people in the Old Testament who obeyed God even though they didn’t have all the answers.

We see an example of someone who built an ark even though he had never seen rain. (Noah).

We see someone who went on a long journey even though he didn’t know where he was going. (Abraham).

We see that same someone who was willing to sacrifice his own son, “…even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.'” (Heb. 11:17)

Obedience, even though _______ is the evidence of faith. The reason people like Noah, Abraham, and others were able to respond to God in obedience is because they had great faith.

Hebrews 11:1 defines faith like this:  “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

I don’t know about you, but I find these examples of faith so inspiring, admirable and in some ways, very hard to emulate.

I always want to know what’s ahead. I want to see what God has in store for me. I want clarity.

Alas, what God wants is my obedience.

He wants my obedience even though I don’t know what’s ahead, even though I can’t yet see what He has in store for me and even though I have zero clarity.

Obedience is not necessarily about knowledge, it’s about faith.

When our faith is placed in God, we can never go wrong. We can act on His commands because we have confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

We can obey,  even though.

So, my friends, let us go be radiant this week as we exercise our faith in an attitude of obedience.