Published Devotionals
Building Unity With The Lord’s Prayer – January 14, 2024
The New Testament book of Matthew is chuck full of instruction from Jesus on what it means to live within the Kingdom of God. In this Gospel, not only do we have the story of how Christ lived, as an example for us to follow, but we are served His teachings as well. And within those lessons, He shares with us how to approach our conversations with the Almighty God, through a passage commonly known as “The Lord’s Prayer.”….
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Lighthouse Academy: Building Unity
Where To Find Contentment – January 10, 2024
Contentedness is illusive in our culture. Everywhere we turn we are confronted with advertising that tells us that we need something more to make us happy in our lives. Even when we think we’re good, commercialism tells us we are not….
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God is Love: Devotionals for the Heart: Finding Contentment
God’s Blessing To All – December 24, 2023
Reading the birth story of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Luke is a tradition and treasure every year at Christmas. Something new stands out and squeezes my heart like a big hug each time. This morning the warm embrace comes from Elizabeth, the elder cousin of Mary the mother of Jesus, as she speaks a blessing to us all….
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Lighthouse Academy: God’s Blessing
Waiting on God – November 10, 2023
How do we respond when God does not show up when we expect Him to?
Do we question Him along the lines of: Is He real? Does He care? Maybe we question ourselves thinking, Did I misunderstand? Am I a fool for waiting on Him? Questions like these can be detrimental to our faith, tearing us down from the inside….
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God is Love: Devotionals for the Heart: Life Lessons on Waiting
How To Live In Harmony – October 13, 2023
The Apostle Paul was instrumental in the formation of the Corinthian congregation, spending over a year bringing together people who were used to living self-serving, indulgent, and sinful lives. In his absence, they reverted into disunity. Like them, today’s church needs Paul’s preaching on living in harmony, as we too unravel in disagreement….
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God is Love: Devotionals for the Heart: Harmony
The Transfiguration Process – September 10, 2023
As Christians, it can be difficult to discern change happening within us. Daily and weekly routines can become mindless activities, and time passes without giving thought to what God is desiring to do within us. We often don’t think about our own internal transfiguration as much as wanting the external world to be changed….
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Lighthouse Academy, hosted by Laura V. Hilton
Loving Others As You Love Yourself – September 8, 2023
It doesn’t take watching more than watching a couple episodes of the TV show “Judge Judy” to understand people can be very self-serving and believe that loving others is contradictory to loving themselves. But this is deceived thinking. Have they never experienced the joy of seeing a family member smile when they gave a gift? Have they forgotten the healing that comes from the mutual squeeze of a hug? ….
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God is Love: Devotionals for the Heart
People of Pure Delight – August 27, 2023
Heaven is commonly described by the portrait painted in Revelation 21; a city built with gleaming gemstones and streets of gold. Less often do we depict the New Jerusalem by the characteristics of the people there. While we may be anxious about who gets to pass through those pearly gates, let us not overlook that God is not just renewing places, but is polishing His people into “pure delights” for that reunion….
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Lighthouse Academy, hosted by Laura V. Hilton
You’re Included In God’s Credits – August 6, 2023
The credits rolled and the lights came up at the end of a newly released blockbuster movie. Viewers streamed out of the theater, as I sat watching the list of contributors scroll upward. I stayed because I was interested on who had worked on this story and in what obscure role. I was looking for the “little people” who, in doing their part, created an amazing production….
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Lighthouse Academy, hosted by Laura V. Hilton
Engraved – July 23, 2023
There’s a scar on my right wrist. I remember the day I got it. I had just graduated from college and my parents gifted me a used, 1982, bright yellow Toyota Starlet. I was washing the new-to-me-car for the first time when I discovered the radio antennae was broken. Without knowing the receptor had been severed along the driver’s side of the windshield, I ran the soapy sponge down the front window from the rooftop. That jagged metal punctured my arm, making its presence known….
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Lighthouse Academy, hosted by Laura V. Hilton
A Refreshing New River – July 9, 2023
Driving south, down the I-5 corridor through Northern California, my husband and I were going to witness my grandfather’s entombment. The landscape was dry, rocky riverbeds laid open, and trees reached long arms in search of water….
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Lighthouse Academy, hosted by Laura V. Hilton
Learning To Garden Like The Master – June 25, 2023
Our Heavenly Father is a Master Gardener. Since the beginning, He’s been perfectly producing sweet and magnificent things out of dark nothingness. So, to become more like Him, I put my hands in the soil, desiring to produce something delightful like His….
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Lighthouse Academy, hosted by Laura V. Hilton
Sacred Selah – June 11, 2023
If you are not a musician, you may not think about the places within a piece of music where the composer inserts a pause. It’s easy to overlook moments of silence, focusing only on the noise. But intentional moments of rest carry as much significance as the notes themselves. Silence compounds desire….
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Lighthouse Academy, hosted by Laura V. Hilton
You Are Loved, Not Lost – May 28, 2023
Sometimes it’s easy to feel as though we’ve slipped through the cracks of “unseen” and “unimportant.” The one hundredth job application goes unanswered, a social media posts goes unliked, or phone calls are not returned. Perhaps the doctor forgets to put in that referral, the children don’t come to visit, or the promotion goes (yet again) to someone else. When, in this world, it seems as though we’re overlooked, a psalmist’s words remind us that no matter how grand the universe, God still sees and cares for every detail….
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Lighthouse Academy, hosted by Laura V. Hilton
Caring Like Christ – May 13, 2023
No matter how many times I read the Bible, I am stunned by the compassionate love of Jesus. Time and time again scripture describes his kindness to all people, offering forgiveness and healing to all who had need. However, one act of love stands out to me this Mother’s Day, and that is when Christ cared for his mother while hanging on the cross….
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Lighthouse Academy, hosted by Laura V. Hilton
Leaving the Weeds – April 30, 2023
From a distance the garden is idyllic, but when I go out in it, I see the uninvited and noxious growths in amongst my delightful flowers. Pulling up the weeds, the soft soil gives way, but the roots are entangled with the flowers and the wanted comes out with the unwanted….
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Lighthouse Academy, hosted by Laura V. Hilton
Be Tender With Sinners – April 19, 2023
Each of God’s children mature at a different pace…running a race that is their own. I easily see my own growth in faith as “normally progressing,” without giving much concern to sinful hesitations or detours. But do I give the same margin of mercy and grace to my Christian next of kin?….
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Lighthouse Academy, hosted by Laura V. Hilton
Do You Do Well To Be Angry? – March 19, 2023
This was the question God posed to His prophet, as Jonah sat sulking. Jonah was angry with the Lord’s mercy shown to people he believed undeserving. (Jonah 4:4 ESV)
This same question was posed to me as I sat sulking over the difficulties of my life. I’d like to justify that my bad attitude wasn’t over God giving grace to others. But the truth is, I pout because I don’t feel God’s blessings are fair….
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Lighthouse Academy, hosted by Laura V. Hilton
God Acts Through Us – February 22, 2023
Reading the book of Acts through the lens of wondering who God is and how He interacts from within us, specifically via His Holy Spirit in these passages, has helped me understand that God has always intended on doing life with His creation. He’s chosen way is that Love works through man. We need God’s spirit dwelling in us to be capable of living in love and unity, as the “Acts 2 church” so impressively did.
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Power Up With God, hosted by Lillian Duncan
God Breaks Even The Biggest Waves – February 12, 2023
The beach is a place where God meets me. On many occasions, facing the expansive deep waters, I’ve gained insight into His love, or have sensed His answers to the challenges I face.
On a recent morning, I felt lead down a specific path toward the surf. Walking nearer, I found myself uncomfortably close to the waves pounding the rocky shoreline. At the trail’s end was a flat stone in a small clearing. This seemed the perfect spot for sitting and being with the Lord, except for the threatening breakers, booming within a short distance.
My fears arose with every large wave. My heart cried out, Father, they’re so big! So powerful! I’m afraid of being pummeled into the rocks and dragged out into the vast unknown!
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Lighthouse-Academy, hosted by Laura Hilton
Love Is The Excellent Way – February 5, 2023
When the Apostle Paul was instructing the citizens of Corinth on a more excellent way of life, he was speaking to their hearts rather than a direct path of action. And he was speaking to me today as well. While I was hunting down the best job fit, Jesus (through Paul) was saying, “Hey, why are you striving so hard? Love is the excellent way!”
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Lighthouse-Academy, hosted by Laura Hilton
What Do We Think When God Does Not Rescue? – February 3, 2023
Recently, as I was reading my devotional Bible, a question was posed in the margin: Why does God rescue some people from persecution and not others? Asking about God’s seemingly inequitable treatment of His children led to feelings of both anger and sadness in me. Why did I feel that way? What was I thinking about God when He does not rescue?
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The Over 50 Writer, hosted by Patti Shene
Make Yourself At Home – January 23, 2023
I’ve been a homemaker for many years. Yet, all the energy I’ve spent in setting tables and fluffing throw pillows does not accurately reflect the “home” Jesus Christ speaks of in John 15. Here Christ says, “Make yourselves at home in my love.” This is not a material location with floors and walls, but a spiritual place of relationship….
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Devotionals for the Heart: Life Lessons on the True Meaning of “Home”
Finding Your Sacred Trust – November 18, 2022
In 1Corinthians 9:16, the Apostle Paul uses a powerful words that describe his spiritual gift. He says, “I am compelled by God to do it.” He goes on in the next verse to say, “God has given me this sacred trust.” I’ve spent many hours trying to determine what God wants me to do with my time, but Paul directed me to ask myself, “What is the thing I have always been compelled to do?”
Here’s the link:
Devotionals for the Heart: God’s Gifts & Sacred Trust
Trusting God’s Promises – February 4,2022
Sometimes we just need a reminder that God’s timeline is better than our own. We can remain steadfast in faith despite the disappointments of the world because our story is still being written. The fulfillment is coming!
The Love Scale – November 11, 2020
Belief in Jesus Christ offers forgiveness, and the clean slate He gives is the opportunity to turn from bad behavior and start new. Like a baby learning to walk, new habits are hard to create! We fall down time and again. How do we know if progress is being made toward living this new life when we keep messing up? Perhaps we could use a tool of measurement – A Love Scale…
Are You Willing To Be Common? – October 14, 2020
Dearly Beloved, please accept my invitation to work for the Kingdom of Heaven. In this position you will be serving the needs of others. The hours will be long, the duties taxing, but the compensation is generous. Will you come and be common? ~Love, Your Heavenly Father….
Devotionals for the Heart: Significance
Becoming Vessels of Mercy – September 9, 2020
The vessel of wrath might be considered a crockpot of indignation, slowly breaking down its internal contents with constant heat. But, according to Romans 9:23-24, certain vessels have heeded God’s call and are filled with mercy. Like a bowl of fruit sitting on the counter, always available for the snacking….
Devotionals for the Heart: Mercy
Finding Our Superhero – August 12, 2020
When I was a little girl, my Dad was my superhero….At the dinner table, I would sit in awe, feeling a sense of pride that this man was my dad. If I was the daughter of a superhero, then somehow, I was a superhero too….
Devotionals for the Heart: Superhero
Beans and Blueberries – July 8, 2020
To partner together is a blessing that is greater than the success of the individual. The fruit is sweeter!
Devotionals for the Heart: Gardening
Moved By Tears – June 10, 2020
God hears our cries. He will always be right on time. God moves when we are threatened. And His will is that we, with Christ, are resurrected.
Devotionals for the Heart: When Jesus Christ is moved by our tears
Don’t Go Running Blind – May 13, 2020
Let us be encouraged as we run the race before us. Let us not run blind, as if a spiritual world does not exist or if our steps do not matter. Let Jesus continue to be your trainer, saying, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” as you power on toward the prize.
Devotionals for the Heart: Life Advice
Washing Feet – April 8, 2020
In a time of great personal distress, Jesus took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves and served. He asked his followers to do the same. Don’t let this timing be lost on you! Jesus was moving toward suffering and death, and yet, he bent low, washing foot after grimy foot, leaving out no one.
Devotionals for the Heart: Service
Pruning Season – March 11, 2020
All pruning is for the purpose of more fruit. What goes? The new shoot or faithful stock? The Gardener chooses. How will I respond?
Devotionals for the Heart: Pruning
Joyful Greetings – February 12, 2020
It turns out, the early church also had a single word of greeting that included in its meaning, not only love, but the good news of Jesus Christ! This word, “Greetings,” in the Greek, is “chairein,” actually meaning “rejoice!”
Devotionals for the Heart: Greetings
Following the Lead Car – January 8, 2020
Journeying through life is like a road trip. When the territory is familiar, the road straight and the weather is clear, I am at ease, enjoying the scenery. I sing along to the radio. I chat casually with those who are with me. It’s when the road twists or the rain pours that my full attention is commanded.
Devotionals for the Heart: Following God’s Lead throughout your life
