by Dona Hake

Just as our bodies hunger and thirst so do our souls.  I can remember when I was about seventeen years of age how every night before I would close my eyes I would pray “Lord, there has to be more to this life than this…”   My life was empty and I was so miserable inside.  My heart was yearning for more.  Yes, even before I had a personal relationship with Jesus I could feel my heart being tugged at, and there was an emptiness.  There was a need and hunger within me that only He could fill.

I was a stubborn person, full of opinions and arguments against the truth of His Word.  I could wear down my loving friends with all kinds of arguments against God, yet I knew deep down I was the one that was wrong.  Thankfully there were those that continued to pray for me and they believed that the Lord could touch my heart.  I can remember the evening that I surrendered all to Him.  I can remember the freedom that I experienced and I continue to experience.  My heart was changed and my hunger and thirst for more was fulfilled.

John 4:13-14 (PHILLIPS)
“But whoever drinks the water I will

give him will never be thirsty again.

For my gift will become a spring in the

man himself, welling up into eternal life.”

Today I thank God for that living water that is as a spring of life within me.   It is only His life and His Word that can satisfy the hunger and thirst of one’s soul.  God is good.

~~~~~♥~~~~~

by Dona Hake

Each day we awaken let us remember that our day is a gift to us from the Lord.  Let us thank Him for that and let us be mindful to be wise with our time.

Psalm 90:12 (CEV)

“Teach us to use wisely all the time we have.”

I love my “To do” lists and I love my post it notes!  God knows I need them because it just keeps me on schedule and I feel like I am getting the most our of each twenty four hours in a day.    We all have those days where the “To do” lists go up in smoke but at least you tried!  The Lord can help us flow with those days as we keep our hearts at peace and rest in Him.

Many times our schedules may be interrupted with wonderful opportunities to help someone.  It depends how you view it.  For me it always seems that if I keep my heart right that those type interruptions are such a blessing.  It almost seems like my time becomes multiplied.

Ephesians 5:16-17
Amplified Bible (AMP)
“Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity]…”

I encourage you to seek Him on how to squeeze all you can out of your God given time.  Love every minute of your life.  I love this scripture because it makes me feel like our time given to us is so very valuable.  We should treasure it as we do our money.  Use it wisely, plan your time wisely, and think about how you can buy some opportunities to bless someone and be used by Him!

~~~~~♥~~~~~

by Dona Hake

“Lord, you have tested me,
so you know all about me.
You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You know my thoughts from far away.
 You know where I go and where I lie down.
You know everything I do.
 Lord, you know what I want to say,
even before the words leave my mouth.
 You are all around me—in front of me and behind me.
I feel your hand on my shoulder.
I am amazed at what you know;
it is too much for me to understand.”

Psalm 139:1-6    Easy-to-Read Version

His precious love is surrounds us and He knows every detail about us.  What a thought!  What blessed assurance we can hold fast to in knowing that we can serve a God that totally understands us inside and out.  Even before words leave our mouth He knows what we are going to say.    There is no escaping His loving knowledge about us.

The Amplified version says in verse three “You sift and search out my path.”  I love this because it gave me the visual of using a sifter to catch that which you do not want in the mix.  As we remain humble before Him there is freedom in knowing that He knows all about us.  There is protection in knowing that He sees everything before us and behind us.

As we start our day let us remind ourselves to allow Him to search our hearts and speak to us.  We should be amazed at how awesome He is.    This is a thought that should keep us humble before Him in every area of our life.  As we do this, we will live in peace and freedom in Christ!

~~~~~♥~~~~~

By Dona Hake

The strength of a man or woman is revealed  when the pressure is on.  It is easy to appear strong when all seems to be on your side but we find out who we really are when we are weak , in trouble or we experience failure.  When we are down and out and failure is trying to haunt us, we have a choice…  quit or determine to get back up again.

God promises to lift us back up when we fall.   Even when you are at your lowest, if your heart is open to Him, He can teach you and strengthen you like never before.  Many times the worst of hardships can cause you to come back stronger…if you do not quit.

“I don’t measure a man’s success by

how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.”

General George S. Patton

I believe if our hearts are focused with God infused determination we will not permit mistakes or failure to dictate us, but rather we will come back stronger and rise higher!

Psalm 145:14 (ERV)

“The Lord lifts up people who have fallen.
He helps those who are in trouble.”

~~~~~♥~~~~~

by Dona Hake

Our words can build people up or our words can tear people down.  One word has the power to encourage, yet a different word has power to bring a heart down.  When I think of people that always seem to speak words with grace I think of those individuals that seem to know how to speak exactly the right thing .  They seem to know not only the perfect words but their timing is just as proper.  As I looked at  Colossians 4:6 ,  I found two translations very thought provoking.

 “Be gracious in your speech.

The goal is to bring out the best in others

in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.”

The Message

“Everything you say should be kind and

well thought out so that you know

how to answer everyone.”

GOD’S WORD Translation

I particularly want to look at the goal of our words being that of bringing out the best in people.   There will be times that you will encounter people that  do not feel good about themselves.  Sometimes this is because of things they might be enduring, they may be feeling low, and not feeling self worth.  As we exercise observation of people while you are in conversation you may be surprised how the Lord may provide an opportunity for you to build them up.

Sometimes I see this in little children as I teach them in our preschool class at church.   Today when I was teaching I noticed a situation where a child was feeling that they were not doing something as well as the rest.  I noticed that she was allowing it to bother her.  What I did notice though that she was really doing her best doing our coloring project. When class dismissed I made a point of getting down to her level and making her look me square in the eye.  I began to praise her for her job well done and her little eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.  She was so focused on what she felt she could not do that her accomplishment went unnoticed.  What was interesting was that encouraging words changed her whole countenance.

I believe as we purpose think through and observe people carefully before we speak, we may be surprised how the Lord desires to use our words to build them up.    As we couple that with seeing others through God’s eyes we too will see them in a different light as well.  Let our words be encouraging, full of His grace that we may our words are instruments of good.

Proverbs 18:4 (TLB)

4 A wise man’s words express deep streams of thought.

~~~~~♥~~~~~

by Dona Hake

I can remember as a little girl thinking how everything took too long. Small children almost seem to think that waiting for anything can be an eternity. Many times it is just hard for them to accept the concept of the time it takes to do something.

One day when our oldest granddaughter was about three years old, I was teaching her to make banana bread. She thought it was the neatest thing ever to walk through every part of the process. She saw me crack an egg and she wanted to crack an egg. Apprehensively I handed her the egg hoping it would be a good experience. She managed to crack it properly and did rather well. With each step she grew more and more in love with the whole process of preparing the bread batter. She kept stirring and stirring and eventually it was time to pour in the pans an pop in the oven.

I could see that the baking process was hard for my Granddaughter because she did not understand why we could not just keep it in the bowl, and just keep stirring it.     She was a bit unhappy with me when I finally took the bowl from her and poured it into the pans.    Eventually she began to understand  as she would peek into the oven and see and smell the bread rising as it was baking.  It all seemed to click for her then.

We too need to be patient with our God as He is in the process of working on our hearts and helping us grow and mature in Him. Many times there are parts of our growth process that we may tend to just be comfortable with.  It is those times that the Lord is moving us out of our comfort zones that may upset us.  It is important that we obediently move forward in the direction He desires to take us.  If we desire to see Him work His will in us we need to cooperate with the process He chooses for us.  It is equally important that we patiently wait for Him in those times that we simply do not understand.  Yes there will be times that we may be tempted to throw up our hands because it seems like we are not growing, yet all the while God is at work on our hearts in ways  we could ever imagine.  God is good and His plans are those of precision and He well knows what He is doing.

Philippians 2:13 (ERV)

“Yes, it is God who is working in you.

He helps you want to do what pleases him,

and he gives you the power to do it.”

~~~~~♥~~~~~

by Dona Hake

Many of you reading this are experiencing lots and lots of snow. If you know me at all, you well know that I love it. I still love it. I well understand it has been tons of work but I will always love snow! I love how it shimmers in the evening when the street lights shine down on it. Last evening as I was shoveling I was blessed as the snowflakes look like shimmering, tiny white diamonds. I love to see it falling from the sky. As I look out and see each flake fall, I am reminded that each snowflake is unique and there are no two alike. Simply amazing!

We too have that same uniqueness for when we were created God’s gentle hand was weaving and creating us for special and great opportunities in this life. It is your special time to live and express who He made you to be. I find it so sad that we are so bombarded through the fashion industry of what is the “look.” We are constantly being told what is cool and what you should never say or do. Whether you realize it or not the pressure of this sort will try to squash you into a mold made by someone else. This mold will create a pressure within you to constantly change and dictate what to do.

Oh that we can see ourselves free to be who God has made us to be. Can we dare to just be ourselves and permit Him to mold and make us for His purposes. God desires that we be comfortable with who we are and not try to be someone else. I was particularly inspired for today’s devotional by the following quote:

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make

you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

God help us to see more clearly how we are to live and move in You that we may be free to be who You created us to be!

~~~~~~♥~~~~~

By Dona Hake

I don’t know about you but I thank God that He is a God of second chances.   The giving of forgiveness is that second chance. When someone offends us, we can let it go or hold on to it.It is only by the power of God’s love at work within us that we can give someone a second chance by releasing them of the offense they have caused us.

One day the subject of forgiveness came up between the Lord and His disciples and Peter popped a question. I guess in Peter’s mind maybe he was willing to give even more than a second chance but a seventh chance. I am sure Peter was taken back by the Jesus’ answer to his question.

Matthew 18:21-22
The Voice
Peter:” Lord, when someone has sinned against me, how many times ought I
forgive him? Once? Twice? As many as seven times?”
Jesus: “You must forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven.”

Many times we are just like Peter. We want to feel as if we are so full of love, but you see our love has limitations.  We all have our limits. God’s love has NO limitations. Today I encourage you to draw upon the love of the God in the midst of your day.  Know that if you are that God desires you to draw upon His heart that you can freely forgive as many times as you have to. Continue to draw on and grow in God’s love that you may be able to freely give that which He has given you.

“Love is a fruit in season at all times, and
within the reach of every hand.”
Mother Teresa

~~~~~♥~~~~~

By Dona Hake

As I walk with Him I have learned more and more how fine tuned things need to be within my heart.  Each day our lives can present  things that can tend to distract us and pull us out of focusing on what is really important.  The other day I was listening to a worship song on the radio as I was driving.   The song was crystal clear and it was touching my heart.  I slowed up to come to a stop at a stop sign and and out of no where  a whole other station came on and it was garbled and loud.  I had touched no knobs, all I did was slow up.   I moved closer into the stop sign by a few feet and the worship song came back and it was crystal clear.

I was prompted to think about how this is very much an analogy of our walk with Him at times.  We can be walking in His will and then all of a sudden something changes.  Things can seem garbled and confusion tries to invade the peace in our heart.  The temptation to be wonder if we  did something wrong could be our first thought.   You see, just because things change all of a sudden or things become foggy does not necessarily mean we are off the right path.  This may merely  mean we need to move ahead or step back or just stand still for awhile.    Next time things switch up on you and all seems to be going different than what you expected, stop and wait to hear His voice.

It is a beautiful thing to know that God has promised to lead us and guide us into all truth.  With saying that we have the responsibility of staying keen to His voice and His leading.  I do not believe walking and knowing His will is to be a mystery to us but rather we can have crystal clear understanding every step we take.

Psalm 143:10

by Dona Hake

My favorite thing to watch during the Olympic games is the ice skating.  No matter how mastered I can see the skaters are, I find myself a bit nervous for them.  My heart just drops when I see one of them fall.  I cannot imagine the years of preparation and practicing they go through to end up in the Olympic games.   Their performance must be done perfectly and in exact precision and their expectation of high scores from the judges is their goal.   I cannot even imagine what it would be like to know you are performing in front of the whole world. For one of these athletes to  fall during their performance would be devastating and heartbreaking.

Many times I have observed when skaters made mistakes or fell  and I could plainly see that in spite of the error the athlete was exploding with determination to get back up and continue.  Then sadly there were those that were affected for the remainder of their performance.  There was one USA skater that did an exceptional performance and I observed she had a  beautiful yet humble confidence.  I loved what she shared with a reporter as he inquired of how she dealt with the extreme pressure.  She said, “You just have to let go of all the fear!”  What a wonderful word of wisdom.

We too need to go forward in confidence as we serve the Lord that we can remain strong and enduring in our spiritual walk.  We need to let go of whatever will serve to rob us of our confidence.

Hebrews 12:1-3   (AMP)

” let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight)

and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us,

and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence

the appointed course of the race that is set before us…”

~~~~~♥~~~~~