The Abundant Life Center

by Dona Hake

I am thinking today about the kindness of the Lord flowing through us. Over the past day or two I have been on the receiving end of people showing me exceptional, sweet deeds of kindness. These kindnesses have come in the midst of some obstacles. Life is full of things that can serve to distract us or they can make us stronger. So let us face them with determination, knowing it is all going to work out. Jesus said that in this life there would be different things for us to walk through yet He said He would be there.

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by Dona Hake

God desires that we ask of Him that which we need.  Today I have been meditating on how valuable it is to have God’s wisdom.  It is rich and full as it unfolds to us the direction of what to do in troubling situations.  All we have to do is ask.

James 1:5  (AMP)
“If any of you is deficient in wisdom,

let him ask of the giving God [Who gives]

to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without

reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him.”

I praise God that He so willingly opens His gracious hand and touches my heart and mind with the direction that I need.  I love this translation and how it says “If any of you is deficient in wisdom…”  I recently had been out of a particular vitamin that I know is important for me.   Time did not permit me to get to the health food store to purchase them.  After about two weeks of being without them, I could feel that there was a deficiency going on in my body.

There are times we may get along for so long doing things out of our own ability, but the time will come that you will recognize that there is a deficiency of  God’s wisdom at work in us.  It is in those times that He simply says, “Ask!!”  He will not fault find but instead he will liberally give us all the wisdom we need. 

His wisdom is more precious and valuable than we will ever know.  I leave you with this scripture from Job that beautifully speaks of the value of God’s wisdom.

Job 28:13-18
 “Job: No human perceives wisdom’s true value,
nor has she been found in the land of the living.
The deep says, “She is not to be seen within me.”
“Nor within me,” says the voice of the raging sea.
 No gold can be given in trade for wisdom,
nor a sum of silver weighed out as her price.
 She cannot be bought with all the gold of Ophir,
neither with onyx nor sapphire.
The shimmer of gold and brightness of glass cannot compare,
and no refined gold jewelry is worth her in trade.
Perish the mention of coral and crystal;
even more than pearls is the value of wisdom.”

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by Dona Hake

As I am composing this devotional it is very late in the evening, and I am looking forward to a new fresh day in the Lord.  Even though my body is tired right now, I look forward to awaking and meeting up with His new mercies.    Mornings causes me to think of new beginnings.  I encourage you today to face your day knowing there are fresh new mercies from Him just for you! I am sharing with you today a revised  archived devotional from December of 2013 and I hope it blesses your heart.

At the end of many days I may look back on my day and wished that I would have said or done things differently but praise God He faithfully forgives and He promises to help me do better as I lean upon Him for all wisdom and strength. One of the first things I try to do each morning as I greet Him is remind myself and thank Him that His mercies are new every morning. My day is a fresh canvas and I am hoping I will do His will with His help.

I have a decorative slate in my kitchen. Every so often I will write a thought or scripture on it and it reminds me of something I am meditating on. The other evening I was trying to do some different cursive handwriting with the chalk and I kept messing up. I was glad I could just erase it and start over and work at it till I had it exactly the way I wanted it. So it is with the Lord’s mercies, they are new and fresh each morning. Thank God we have fresh starts each day and we can learn from our yesterdays. He is there to help us to keep working out those things that we are trying to get right in our lives. Thank God that our mess ups are forgiven and wiped away with the blood of Jesus!

Psalm 34:8
“Oh, put God to the test and see how kind he is! See for yourself the way his mercies shower down on all who trust in him.”

Psalm 143:8
“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.”

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by Dona Hake

“Be Patient With Yourself”  (a shared archive of December 13, 2013)

It is vital that we continue to walk patiently with those we live with and work with. There is also the whole realm of patiently waiting for circumstances to change in our life, but how many times do you think about being patient with ourselves?

As we pursue to grow in God’s love and in His Word sometimes we focus too much on what we are NOT rather that how far He has brought us. With any work that needs done in us there needs to be a time of waiting for His loving hand to work. I guess there are all times we wished He would work a bit faster, but His wisdom encompasses more than we will ever understand. As He works, He promises that the transformation will indeed happen, but remember sometimes we can tend to be impatient in that which we have to wait for.

Be encouraged today that as you are applying yourself to do that which is right and good in His sight that His loving hand is at work in your life. Guard yourself from focusing on your weaknesses but rather the gifts, the strengths and abilities He has blessed you with. As we keep our hearts humble and open to Him, He will be faithful to show us the areas in which we need to give attention. He leads and guides us into ALL truth in every area of our lives! God bless you.

by Dona Hake

No matter how old you are you will always have those “Remember when?…” moments. The other day my husband and I were talking about how prices are so different from when we were little. I was sharing special memories of a little corner store down the street from me. It was owned by this sweet old Jewish man, and I just loved him and he would always make me giggle! I would buy three TastyKake Cupcakes that were wrapped in a wax wrap and they were less than fifteen cents. May I add that TastyKakes today are no where near as delicious as they used to be? Two mint juleps for one penny and all kinds of other yummy candy for a penny a piece. Up the street from me, I can still recall the the gas station that we would walk to on hot summer days to buy a popsicle and the price per gallon at this gas station was 25 cents a gallon. Amazing how things have changed.

We could play out in the dark at night and we enjoyed ourselves with simple, fun and creative things. I could go on and on and I am sure you could share some memories as well. Today I want to share a scripture that I never knew was in the book of Ecclesiastes. I found it quite interesting and it caused my heart to ponder.

Ecclesiastes 7:10  (NIV)

Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?”

For it is not wise to ask such questions.

We can all reach into our past of sweet memories and enjoy them but we need to be careful to remember that things are continually changing around us. No matter how hard we try it would be impossible for us to freeze our past. If people do this, they will become very unhappy and possibly bitter people. They will find themselves lacking strength and vision because they dwell too much on how things used to be. As the popular saying goes, “It is what it is!” God desires that we look forward, have goals and give it our all to achieve them. With His courage, grace and strength we can run the race set before us and know in our hearts that we can enjoy the day in which we live and in the end, we win!!!!

“…but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—

to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. ”

Philippians 3:13 The Message

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by Dona Hake

I can still remember the day I stood at my deck door watching my two little next door neighbor girls playing in their backyard. A few tears streamed down my face as I began to reminisce when my sons were that little. The “empty nest” thing was trying to get me down. One of my sons was now married and the other was serving our country. It seemed like yesterday that they were only little boys and people would walk up to me in a store and say “Enjoy them, because they grow up all too fast!” Wow! was that ever true.

I can also remember the day that God helped me see that we all have chapters in our life, and as one chapter ends another exciting one begins if we dare walk into it with joy in our hearts. The joy that filled my heart once I realized this made me determined that the “empty nest” syndrome was having no place in my heart or mind! As for myself I can say life is about first of all loving and serving God. He desires that we enjoy each moment, love those around us, and also release them to be all that God wants them to be. I am so thankful for the young men that I proudly call my sons!

When we realize that God has a plan for us and all those that we love, we can rest and enjoy our lives as He intended. It is so awesome to know that God has a special and unique plan for each of us. He is not finished until we take our last breath either. Yes, life has it’s pain that we all have to walk through, yet He has promised to be there and keep us strong if we trust in Him. Let us think about how we can love, grow and continue to release in this life. God is ever preparing us for growth and new chapters.

Philippians 1:6 (TLB)
“And I am sure that God who began the good work within you will

keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within

you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns.”

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by Dona Hake

“A Guarded Heart, Mind and Tongue” Posted in devotions Thursday, June 19, 2014

In this day and age we seem to be more and more aware of the importance of guarding all kinds of things. We put virus protection on our computers, and to feel even more secure we do external back up so we do not lose important documents and images. We have all kinds of new companies rising up to keep our homes safe. We do our best to keep our identity safe. Like never before people are trying to exercise and eat very healthy because they desire to guard their health and well being. In the midst of guarding all these things I constantly am reminding myself to never lose sight of the importance of keeping my heart guarded. I try to stay conscious that my thoughts are acceptable to Him and the words I speak are helping and edifying to myself and those around me.I just want to encourage you today to make sure you are making a diligent effort to guard your heart for from it flow the issues of life.

Proverbs 4:20-25

“My son, pay attention to all the words I am telling you. Lean in closer so you can hear. Keep them before you; meditate on them; set them safely in your heart. For those who discover them, they are life. They bring wholeness and healing to their bodies. Above all else, watch over your heart; diligently guard it because from a sincere and pure heart come the good and noble things of life. Do away with any talk that twists and distorts the truth; have nothing to do with any verbal trickery. Keep your head up, your eyes straight ahead, and your focus fixed on what is in front of you.”

Let us also be ever so mindful of how our words can build up or destroy.

Proverbs 18:21

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue…”

Proverbs 21:23

Those who guard their mouths and their tongues guard themselves from trouble.

by Dona Hake

Let’s just pretend today.  Let’s pretend that it is only five days till Christmas.  For all of you that do not love winter as much as I do, this may be hard, but let’s just pretend!!!!  Only a few days to go and there is something you have ask for as your Christmas gift and you begin to observe gifts that have your name on it.  They are beautifully wrapped with bright bows.  Now since we are all grown up, we would never think of picking gifts up and holding them or shaking them a bit…would we???   I am not going to ask for a show of hands, but I know I would!!!!

Many times we know what we have ask for from the Lord and we all know the importance of believing and waiting.  When we are in faith it is important that we not judge that things are not happening just because of what we see or do not see.    Many times the Lord is beginning to unfold answers to your prayers, but because of our preconceived ideas of how it is going to happen you may miss what He is trying to do in your life.  Sometimes the answers to our prayers simply come in a whole different “package” than we expected.

Hebrews 11:1 (TLB)
What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something

we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what

we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead.

Hebrews 11:1 (VOICE)
Faith is the assurance of things you have hoped for,

the absolute conviction that there

are realities you’ve never seen.

One thing that we can be assured of is that we need to know that God desires to bless our faith  yet He understands more than we will ever know that His timing and our waiting is so important.    It is also of great importance that our asking is in line with His will for our lives.   Today I encourage you that if you are believing Him for something to wait with an assurance in your heart that He will bless your faith.  

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by Dona Hake

“Life is a journey, not a destination”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have always loved this quote because it ministers to my heart about how to view my time here on this earth. Today I was listening to someone as they shared their heart about a man that died and they esteemed this individual very highly. He was held in many’s eyes as a man of integrity and one who encouraged people to reach their potential. He began to share something he heard this gentleman say and it was relating to the quote I shared. 

This man that was also known for his words of wisdom made the following comment.regarding Ralph W. Emerson’s quote, “Yes it’s said that life is a journey, not a destination”…and if you do it right, you will never reach your destination. The reason being that until the day you die, you should never cease to learn and grow to your potential.” Learning, growing and giving should be life’s experience until you take your last breath.

I was so touched by this! I love hearing people share things like this because it causes me to be careful to never get comfortable with where I am and to keep trying harder. The gentleman sharing said that we all have someone or maybe more than one person that pushed us beyond where we would stop because of our limitations. Do you remember a person in your life that pushed you beyond what you thought you were capable of? Maybe it was that parent or teacher that seemed hard on you and you hated it at the moment but years later, you were glad they did. Today, I encourage you to think about and also be thankful for that individual that pushed you and helped you reach for the God given potential within you.

It is a wonderful thing to make a decision that you will continue to grow and learn everyday of your life no matter how old we are. So as we press in to reach our potential, let us be mindful to never give up because God has much for us to do while we live our life for Him.

by Dona Hake

“Bloom where you are planted.”

I can remember hearing this quote seventeen years ago.  An amazing gentleman from North Wales came to minister at our church.  His name was Arthur Burt, and I am forever grateful in my heart that I have the opportunity of knowing this man of such wisdom.    His little and big tidbits of wisdom always caused me to stop and ponder my own heart and challenge me to grow deeper in the Lord.

This is one of those quotes that should encourage our heart to think about where we are and what we are doing while we are in that particular place.    When a flower is in bloom it is in a time of  flourishing, healthy condition.  It is the time or period of greatest beauty, and artistry.  

Today I encourage you to bloom where God has planted and positioned you.  Never underestimate the place He has put you to do His good work.  Also, we should never compare ourselves to others and the work the Lord is doing in them.  As we are faithful to remain and allow His loving hand to keep us, and take care of us, we will indeed bloom where we are planted!

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