Category Archives: Devotional

My Triple-underlined Verse

Posted on by Lynda Stringer

Jeremiah-2911When you’re not sure about where God is taking you, remember to trust His plan for your life! Jeremiah 29:11 is highlighted, triple underlined and the page is dog-eared and well-worn in my Bible! How about you?

My work world was turned upside down in July 2013 when I was laid off from my job as coordinator of a hospital foundation along with my boss and 60 of my co-workers. I asked God, “What now?” I’d been a freelance writer for years on the side, so that was one thing. But, as anyone working freelance knows, you have to juggle several part-time jobs to make ends meet. Not long after the layoff, God opened a door at KVNE in Tyler, TX that allowed me to go back to a career I was passionate about that also allowed me the freedom to build my freelance writing business, which now inclues a new online resource for Christian radio stations, Christian Insider News & Show Prep. It’s still a financial struggle right now and a daily grasping of trust in Him that keeps me walking in the direction He is leading.

He said He knows the plans he has for me…

Plans to PROSPER me and NOT TO HARM me. To give me HOPE and a FUTURE. I hang onto that every time a bill comes in. Every time I have to fill up my gas guzzler. Every time I look in the pantry to make dinner. In those moments of trusting, I feel blessed and thankful for what He has given me and the opportunities that lie ahead, even when I don’t know what they are.

Many of you are facing much tougher challenges than this. Tragic circumstances. Heartbreaking loss. Take your Bible out and pray earnestly for His direction, for His highway signs. Then, remember and hang onto His promise in this verse daily…hourly or by the minute if you need His reassurance!

Are You In There?

Posted on by Lynda Stringer

Image: mudpreacher.org

I will always treasure the memory of my daughter Kristin when she was a 2-year-old hearing us talk about being Christians. She shouted, excitedly, “I’m a Christian!” We thought it was because of her name. But, I believe God had a hand on her from that early time in her life.

Well, Max Lucado shares a similar memory: He writes in “When God Whispers Your Name,” “When my daughter Jenna was six years old, I discovered her standing in front of a full-length mirror looking down her throat. I asked her what she was doing and she answered, “I’m looking to see if God is in my heart.” I chuckled and turned. Then I overheard her ask Him, “Are you in there?” She was asking the right question. “Are you in there?” It wasn’t enough for you to appear in a bush or dwell in the temple? It wasn’t enough for you to become human flesh and walk on the earth? You had to go further? You had to take up residence in us? Paul wrote, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” (I Corinthians 6:19). Perhaps you didn’t. If not, thanks for letting me remind you. The world says look inside yourself and find self. God says look inside yourself and find God.

From Kristin’s certainty that she was a child of God – she accepted Christ at age 4 – to Jenna’s curiosity about whether God lived in her heart, we can learn from the innocence of a child. The boldness, the excitement, the curiosity to ask the right question. To seek God and fall into his arms and make your heart his home.

 

 

Micro-managing Myself

Posted on by Lynda Stringer

TimeWorking from home as a freelance writer is great. I love the flexibility, but sometimes the cat in my file basket, TV news on in the other room and, frankly, the freedom to update my social media sites whenever I want can be a bit distracting. So, I pack up my portable office and set up shop at a few local places that offer a wifi connection and some semblance of peace and quiet. But, here I am at Hastings writing my articles and I am lured by a Linkedin notification and lulled by the smell of the Caramel Macchiato. Maybe it’s the summer day and my flip-flop clad feet that are keeping me from being my own taskmaster. I try to keep regular hours and start working at 9 a.m. so I can wrap up my writing assignments by 5 p.m. But, some days, like today, I will be working through dinner time or through the evening to deliver my promised projects thanks to the distractions and daydreaming. I can’t help chastise myself on the ills of procrastination and vow once again to heed the experts’ time management tips that I bookmark on a regular basis. Clicking through one of those bookmarks today, I found some pretty sound advice from a fellow writer in California, who put a spiritual spin on the dilemma.

Author Ginny Hamlin writes that as Christians, we should be managing our time because it is not ours.

“Just as we should think of our possessions and money as on loan to us from God, so is our time. Time management is important because God calls us to be good stewards of all that he has entrusted to us,” she says.

Ouch. OK, that really hits home. Not only with my work schedule, but with how I manage my household responsibilities and the time I’m giving to my relationship with Christ. Did I choose sleeping in on Sunday over church…again? Did I choose TV over talking to my family…again? When was the last time I put reading my Bible on my Outlook Calendar and didn’t ignore the reminder?

The answer to how we should prioritize our commitments is in there, by the way. Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek you first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

So, instead of imparting a long list of practical ways to manage your time, I will encourage you to put that verse at the top of your To-Do List.

Everything else will fall into place.

 

Now, back to work…

 

Three Little Words

Posted on by Lynda Stringer

There are times when, although we know God is with us, but we don’t feel Him in our lives. We’re confused about His plans for us and we doubt His presence and His great love for us. But, He is there when you’re at your lowest or at your highest. He’s there in the valleys and on the mountain tops. Sometimes, we have to strip away all the chaos, the distractions of life, call out to him and then be still and listen for his voice. It’s in the stillness that we feel His comforting hand.

If you feel alone or like you’re being swept up in the waves of life, reaching out for a life preserver, hold onto this eternal truth:

“God loves you.”

godlovesyouheartAnd, never underestimate the power of those three words! I first heard them from my childhood friend, Lisa, when I was just 7 years old. I believe the Holy Spirit used her to breathe them into my young heart and mind long before I ever found Him.

I have never forgotten my friend, who loved Jesus with her whole heart. I have carried her words with me all these years. They had such a profound impact on me; the first step in my journey toward a personal relationship with Christ. I didn’t understand what was missing in my life and spent 20 more years taking wrong turns and following dead end – at times destructive – paths in my search for things to fill the void in my heart. But, I always knew with certainty that there was a God and that he loved me.

Say those words to someone who needs to hear them. And, carry them with you along your journey through the valley and to the mountain top.

 

 

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” ~ Isaiah 41:10 

Driving the Speed Limit

Posted on by Lynda Stringer

Drive 60 pic I was driving to work the other day – I drive  70 miles one way – and I noted a milestone  on my speedometer. It rolled to 130,000  miles. Seven thousand miles since  November. I’ve gotten good at the drive.  God has taught me patience. Over and over.  After four months of driving through small  East Texas towns on my way to Tyler, I call  them “worship miles.” That’s how I get  through the frustrations of the commute. I  make it my time with God. My time to  worship him and let him speak to me  through the music.

Well, I took a picture of that 130,000 mile  rollover – safely from a parking lot – and  posted it to Facebook, of course. But on my  way again, Satan sure tested all the things I’d learned about patience and showing Christ to others. I started to get annoyed at the slow drivers ahead of me on a two-lane no passing zone and the fast drivers behind me riding my bumper. I yelled aloud to myself, “I just want to drive 60!!!” That’s the speed limit most of the way until you get into the towns and have to remember to slow down to 55, then 50, then 45, then 35 and remember when it’s 60 and when its 70 so you don’t get pulled over….again! Apparently “I was worshipping God” does not get you out of a ticket for going 70 in the 55. Then there’s the bipolar gas station at the edge of one town whose gas price changes will give you whiplash. It’s $3.15 one morning, $3.09 that afternoon, and $3.29 the very next morning. What is up with that?????

Well, my plea to just be able to go the speed limit got me thinking about what speed God wants me to go. He certainly doesn’t want me to speed and get another ticket. He also doesn’t want me to ride someone’s bumper, impatiently nudging them to get out of the way.  But, does he want me to “just go the speed limit” in my spiritual life?

I don’t think so.

I think there are times of urgency when he wants me speed down the road and make a difference for the kingdom. Shift into high gear and race down the open road. He tells us in Hebrews 12:1-2 to run with endurance.

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.…”

He also wants me to slow down sometimes to notice the people around me. To really see the ones he loves who are hurting. He wants me to see them how he sees them, whether they are driving 40 in a 60 or tapping my tailgate to get around me in order to drive 80 in the same 60 mph stretch of highway.

What has their day been like? What are they going through? What are they racing toward or slowly dreading?

If I just see them as I see them, as one of my commuter frustrations, how can I be a blessing or show Christ to them? Am I worshipping God at the same time I’m shaking my fist at their driving habits? If I am, I fear I am just going through the motions of the Christian life, letting the world crowd in instead applying His word to my everyday circumstances. I want them to be able to unmistakenly see Christ in me…to live in such a way that they will come to know Christ in a personal way. I want to shine his light brighter than my high beams on that narrow stretch of tree-lined country road that leads me home.

Lord, I pray that you will be my GPS, my cruise control, my speedometer and that you would post angels on my gas pedal. I pray that my actions match the Jesus fish on my car and speak your Word to my fellow commuters along life’s highway.

Live Like That

Posted on by Lynda Stringer

Rodney Hogue at Trinity Baptist Church Adult Freedom Weekend

Ever get a song stuck in your head? Of course, we all do. Well, for me, God super glues them in my brain. He speaks to me through them and writes their messages on my heart. Sidewalk Prophets has a song called Live Like That that I keep hearing over and over lately. The message is humbling.

Am I proof 
That You are who you say You are 
That grace can really change a heart 
Do I live like Your love is true 

People pass 
And even if they don’t know my name 
Is there evidence that I’ve been changed 
When they see me, do they see You 

I want to live like that 
And give it all I have 
So that everything I say and do 
Points to You 

I recently got to know some people who truly ARE living like that. And it makes me realize that I was just going through the motions. I was just “standing in the doorway” to what God has to offer me here on earth. I want to crash through that doorway and be can’t-wait-to-spend-time-with-Jesus SOLD OUT and tell everyone I meet about his amazing love!

If you can relate, if you are hungry for freedom in Christ and a deeper, richer, more powerful relationship with Him, I want to invite you to an event that could transform your life. Adult Freedom Weekend at Trinity Baptist Church in Mount Pleasant, TX starts Friday night, Aug. 17 at 7 p.m., introducing Northeast Texas to Rodney Hogue. He’s the pastor of Community in Grace Church in California and his focus is “growing up the saints to become transformation agents who expand the Kingdom of God.”

Jennifer Nickerson of Gateway Church will lead worship.

So, what is a transformation agent? Pretty cool job title, in my opinion. Like the Sidewalk Prophets song, I imagine my job description would be to make an eternal difference in the lives of people right here in my small world. I pray that I am doing that. How about you? Do people you work with, see at the ball game, or pass in the grocery store see Christ in you?

Another song has recently made a powerful impact in my life. It’s a remixed version of Shadows by David Crowder Band featuring Christian rapper Lacrae. It blew me away when I first heard it performed by Tennison UMC’s praise band.

DCB’s part is awesome, (When shadows fall on us…We will not fear…We will remember…the cost…We’re resting in the shadow of the Cross), but here’s part of the rap that really strikes a chord here:

And I will boast in the cross, I boast in His name
I will boast in the sunshine, boast in His reign 
What’s my life if it’s not praising You
Another dollar in my bank account of vain pursuit, I do
That count my life as any value or precious at all
Let me finish my race, let me answer Your call

Will you answer His call?

Come hear Ps. Hogue and find out how to LIVE LIKE THAT at Freedom Weekend.  The cool thing is, it doesn’t end with the three-day conference. Trinity is launching a new ministry to disciple these new “transformation agents.”

Freedom Ministry is led by Judy and Steve Capps.  The ministry’s focus is to “help Christians walk in all the Freedom Christ paid for them to have and to learn how to be an influence in the lives of others for the advancement of God’s Kingdom.”

Freedom Ministry classes, which are open to everyone, begin Wed., Aug. 29.

You can register for the conference online at www.trinitytx.org or in the Fellowship Hall at the church.

Boast in the Cross. Answer His Call. Live. Like. That.

Narrow Back Roads

Posted on by Lynda Stringer

Photo by Erin Bowers

If there is one thing this self-proclaimed city girl has learned since moving to my small Northeast Texas town from DFW, there are lots of back roads to get lost on. Winding, curvy Farm-to-Market roads where texting is impossible, county roads that the locals don’t know the numbers of and give you landmark directions to; and dead-end roads that I will always find when I don’t know exactly where I’m going.

As a mom trying to impart some wisdom to my 21-year-old son, Matthew, and my daughters, Mandy, 23 and Kristin, 16, those back roads are a good reminder of the path that God wants us to take in life.

Matthew 7:13-14 shows us there is only one route in the GPS on your way to Heaven: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

They have all made the choice to follow that path, so I know their destination is secure, but I worry, of course, about them getting lost along the way. Their eyes roll back in their heads as soon as I start a sentence with, “When I was your age…”

But, what they can’t see now is that I have BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!

I am at a crossroads in my life, personally, professionally and spiritually. I lost my mom not long ago and have had a lot of time to think about what she and others in my life taught me and the destructive 4-lane highways and detours I took to get back to this place of narrow tree-covered roads. A warming glimmer of sunlight has found its way through the leaves, a reminder of God’s promise to never leave me. That’s the truth I want them to hold onto!

I hope that I have imparted lessons that will stay with them as they follow their dreams. I hope that I have taught them how to keep this narrow road in their sights. Will they hear a voice – possibly with a female British accent – saying “Re-calculating” or “Make a U-turn” when they veer off track in their lives?

I just have to trust that I have been the best mom I can be and that even with the “Crazy Lady” label they have so lovingly donned me with, they have learned to follow God’s path.

My prayer is that if they veer off the roadway, take a detour, miss the exit and have to make a U-turn – my signature move – or find one of those hopeless dead ends, they will turn on God’s GPS and always find their way home to these narrow back roads.