lessons | Thoughts About God

How many Re-Washes

Thoughts_About_God — Sat, 30 May 2026 07:06:53 +0000

Pammy, our four-year-old, had volunteered to wash the dinner dishes. She performed the task swimmingly, all right, in a sink billowing with suds. But in the process she disproved the validity of claims made by manufacturers of a certain dish detergent. It takes more than suds to get dishes clean!

Washing dishes in one thing, and something I don’t mind. But re-washing is something else, and I found myself waiting for her to go off to bed before I undertook the task. I did not want to let her know at her tender age that her “help” is not really as much as she thinks it is. (How much easier just to go ahead and do the dishes myself in the first place!)

When I was a child I remember being told that dishwater is great for healing minor cuts and scratches on the hands. I’ve discovered since then that dish water is great for other things too. In fact, there’s nothing like it for giving a mother time to think, to analyze situations and feelings.

It wasn’t only re-washing dishes that bothered me. Remaking the children’s beds, re-picking up after they had put away their playthings, to re-hanging their clothes straight and evenly on the hangers. It was all much the same and all somewhat annoying, though I realized how necessary this learning process is for young children. Perfection is a long road and takes a heap of practice and experience.

My hands still busy in the dishpan, I was asking the Lord to help me overcome this bit of annoyance, or impatience, when an enlightening but sobering thought came to mind.

Isn’t this process much like what the Lord has been doing for me ever since I first accepted Him as my Savior?

Hasn’t He umpteen times had to intervene and redo my efforts at living the Christian life according to His pattern?

I thought of a mountain of failures behind me. Every single one. He has forgiven me Every time I have fallen…, He has lifted me up again and has whispered encouragement for another try.

Dishes done, I went to my Bible. Verse after verse spoke of God’s patience, forgiveness, long suffering. I found nothing to indicate that my failings ever tempt Him to give up on me and take things out of my hands so He can do them right without me!

These days re-washing dishes, or re-making beds, or whatever I find myself redoing after my children no longer serves to aggravate me. Rather, these tasks have come to be my moments of re dedication.

For they always remind me now of what my Lord is daily doing for me in so many ways!

“You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you; hear my prayer, O Lord, listen to me cry for mercy. In the day of all my trouble I will call to you for you will answer me” (Psalm 86:5-7 NIV).

by Muriel Hanson
Used by Permission

Pluck It and Bag It

Devotionals — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 08:01:02 +0000

I learned a godly truth from a bunch of cilantro.

Sitting in my fridge for a week or so, I noticed some of the leaves had rotted before I got to use them in my food. My first instinct was to chuck the whole thing. But I love cilantro, and it isn’t cheap. So I decided in order to keep the lush green ones from being contaminated, I’d pluck them away and sealed them in a storage baggie. Much less icky that snapping away the slimy, brown ones and getting the gunk on my fingers. Blech.

As I pulled the fragrant, dark leaves, I realized there were a lot more “good ones” than I originally thought. That made me sigh with relief because I hadn’t wasted all my money after all. Yet immediately my eyes had detected the bad ones and thought the worse.

It took a while to pluck all the tasty leaves away, and I had to be more methodical and careful about doing it, but I felt better about ditching the rotten remnant once I had finished the task. A bulging baggie proved to me how much good remained. And my kitchen smelled amazing!

Of course this became a God-lesson for me.

Thank goodness our Heavenly Father doesn’t see only the bad in us and decide we need to be trashed. Instead, He sees the good in us as His Son points out, “These abide in me and I have made them worthy to save for Your use, Father. Do not cast them out.”

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful (John 15:2).

Our precious, loving Lord carefully and methodically plucks away the sin tendencies in our lives to keep them from contaminating us, and uses the good He has found in us to do His will. Then He bags and seals us in His Spirit to protect us and keep us fresh until He can use us.

Instead of concentrating on the bad, rotten and yucky in me which needs to be thrown away, perhaps I need to see how much good God sees in me through His Son, Jesus. He is viewing each leaf in my life to determine if it is worth keeping and using. There may be more good for Him to use than I originally thought. It makes me more thankful of the process, no matter how long it takes.

Thank you Lord, for taking the time to save what is good in me and not chucking me in the garbage because of the sin which has tainted my life. Seal me through Your Holy Spirit. It is through and by Your Son, who has made me worthy to save, that I pray: use me to draw others to You. Amen.

By Julie Cosgrove
Used by Permission

Do you know this love that is found in God alone, through Jesus? Would you like to give your burdens to him and have a relationship with Him? It doesn’t mean that life will be easy but it does mean you have Jesus walking by your side. It starts with a simple heart felt prayer:

Lord, thank You for dying so we can be set free from all of guilt and sin — no matter how big or small. Your blood has erased all of our sin. Thank You so much! Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my Savior and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be. Amen

It is the first step. Keep learning more….

When I Don’t Get What I Want…

Devotionals — Sat, 09 Jul 2022 08:01:21 +0000

God blessed my husband and me with four boys. I confess there were days, when I questioned whether it was a blessing or not. Boys are loud, physical, and boisterous. They love to climb on furniture, use sticks for weapons and beat up their brothers.

But, I have to say, I love them! Because what you see is what you get. They tell it like it is. They get mad and then they’re over it. They will pick on their baby brother and then if anyone else tries to pick on them they will defend them “to the death”.

Boys know how to play. They design huge elaborate games and they’re never bored if they have another one around. And they have given me a storehouse full of great stories and memories!

My boys taught me so many things – how to not take myself so seriously, how to live every moment to the fullest and to love life.

God also used them in my life to teach me things about Him.

I remember one day hearing screaming coming from our back hallway (never a good sound). I knew it was my youngest, Logan, he was about 18 months old. I ran to where the sound was coming from and saw him with a beat red face crying and yelling for all his might. My oldest, Wes, who was around 10 at the time, was blocking Logan from going down our back stairway. He looked up at me, with this pleading look on his face and said, “Mom, he wants to go down the steps and I can’t let him because he’ll fall and get hurt!”
And in that moment, God gave me a snapshot of how I am with Him . . .

I make my plans.

I make my plans, sometimes offering the token prayer but really never considering Him or seeking where He wants me to go and then I pursue those plans with all my heart. And when I’m thwarted I throw a temper tantrum because I don’t get my way, never realizing that it is the Hand of God protecting me from harm.

Jeremiah 29:11 says,

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Do I believe that?

Why do I question that God doesn’t have my best interest at heart when he laid down His life for me?

What about you? Do you ever get angry or frustrated because God isn’t giving you what you want?

Are you mad because He isn’t giving you what you think you need?

But what we WANT isn’t always what we NEED!

In some distorted way, many of us feel that God owes us. That if we’re living our lives to please Him, He should give us what we want and when we don’t get it, we get mad and throw a fit. And sometimes, we even walk away! But what we want isn’t always what we need. And God is not in the business of making us comfortable. He is about molding and shaping us to be more like Him.

God is not in the business of making us comfortable!

Teach us to . . . Trust you, LORD with all our heart;
to not depend on our own understanding.
But seek your will in all we do,
and you will show us which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6

By Kristi Huseby
Used by Permission

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