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Faithful Love
I have to share something that really touched my heart this morning while I was reading Genesis 39. I came across the verse where it says that God showed Joseph His faithful love, and it stopped me in my tracks. It made me want to dig deeper into what faithful love really means—what it meant for Joseph, and what it means for me right now. Genesis 39:21 says, “But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him His faithful love.” That phrase, faithful love, comes from the Hebrew word חֶסֶד (chesed)—a love that is unwavering, loyal, merciful, and kind. A love that doesn’t waver based on circumstances. But what really got me was this—God’s love for Joseph wasn’t proven by taking him out of the prison. It was proven by being with him in it. Joseph wasn’t alone. Even in the middle of his suffering, God was showing him kindness, favor, and purpose. And that made me pause and ask myself: How often do I look at my own circumstances and wonder where God is? It’s so easy to doubt His love when things feel hard, when life doesn’t go the way I hoped. But this verse reminds me that I can’t measure God’s faithfulness by what I’m going through in the moment. Just because I don’t see the full picture yet doesn’t mean He isn’t working. I know that when I face difficulties, my first instinct is often to focus on the struggle rather than trusting that God is working behind the scenes. But Joseph’s story reminds me of something powerful—what the enemy meant for harm, God turned for good (Genesis 50:20). The prison wasn’t the end of Joseph’s story. It was actually the very thing that positioned him for the palace. And I believe the same is true for you and me. No matter what we’re walking through, God’s chesed—His faithful love—never leaves us. He is with us, He is for us, and even in the hardest, most confusing moments, He is working things together for something greater than we can see right now. So today, I’m holding onto this truth: His love is present. His plan is unfolding. And no matter what the enemy tries to use for harm, God will turn it for good. I have a video i made to share as well. https://faithfulforager.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Faithful-Love.mp4
What If?
For several weeks, I have been in a season of “busy”. Distracted. In my heart, I know that I “should” be writing, encouraging, sharing but I have “put it off”. There are what seem to be endless tasks: mowing the yard, weeding the garden, sowing seeds and reaping the harvests, running errands, fixing meals, doing laundry. The list goes on and on. But, I am without excuse. I let the “urgent get in the way of the important”. I let the enemy get me off course with endless distractions. Today, I have stopped. I hit the pause button and just took time to “be” with God. I took a minute to “be still”, to listen. What is the most important thing in my life? It is my relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Truly, He is my Rock and my Salvation. He is the hope for this world. Today, I share the words that were dropped into my heart; the poem entitled “What If?” What if Jesus came back today What would He find? Are my eyes open or are they blind? Is my lamp burning bright? Or is it dim; hidden, out of sight? Am I seeking Him; reading his WORD? Or do I think the Bible is ancient, irrelevant, absurd? Am I discerning the “signs of the times”? Or do I go about my day without reason or rhyme? Am i living for Jesus with boldness and courage; doing His will? Or am I drowning in fear; grabbing a pill? Is this earth my home? Or is my citizenship in heaven where I long to roam? Is my faith growing; do I really believe? Or do I just want to ignore the TRUTH, turn a blind eye; be relieved? Tough questions we must evaluate. For the path to heaven is narrow; the way to Hell wide is the gate. NOW is the time to accept salvation; the gift from our LORD. His WORD, the Bible, is sharper than a two edge sword. It is time to invite Jesus in. He will cleanse and forgive ALL you sin. He is the ONLY way! He is the ticked to heaven this day! But His love, he will never force. He extends an invitation, but does not coerce. The choice to follow, obey, is yours alone. He has a “still small voice”, not a megaphone. He is calling. Be still. Listen. Hear. He longs to give you new life; remove all doubt and fear. It is as easy as A, B, C: Admit that you are a sinner. Believe that Jesus is LORD. Call upon His name. Pray. One. Two. Three. Jesus, I come to you today, broken. I am a sinner. I cannot live this life on my own. I need You. I need You to save me. I believe that You came into this world to die for my sins. You rose from the dead so that I could have life. I ask that You come into my heart, cleanse me of all sin. Be LORD of my life. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen
Symphony
Psalms 33:2 Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Psalms 57:7 My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music. Psalms 92:1 It is good to praise the Lord and Make music to your name, O Most High, Psalms 33:2 Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Psalms 57:7 My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music. Psalms 92:1 It is good to praise the Lord and Make music to your name, O Most High, The summer my son was entering sixth grade in the fall, he was allowed to choose an instrument and attend summer camp. After careful thought and deliberation, he chose the cello. I asked him how he came to that decision. His comment “Mom, it is the most beautiful music that I have ever heard.” At that point, I knew nothing about the cello or its sound. I love music and love to sing but I never learned to read music or officially play an instrument. I played drums, cymbals and tambourine and sang by “ear”; hearing the sounds and following the beat. My son was excited to begin his orchestra summer camp with several other sixth graders. At the end of one week, students gave their first concert. It was impressive! Not one squeak! They played beautifully! Over the course of the next few years, every concert amazed me! These kids were growing in their musical talent! When my son would practice, I would intently listen and be swept away. The cello has a way of sweeping you into the presence of God; captivating your heart! I came to understand why my son had picked this instrument. It truly produces the most beautiful music. However, it has to have someone talented enough to masterfully play it. The music my son would play would move me to tears. His teacher taught him how to put his heart into it and play his soul. He told me “I can see notes in my mind, in color.” He would listen to a music piece and then write it out and play it. He also would take the ending of a piece of music and change it to what he thought would be better. Although he doesn’t like his mother to say it, his music ability is truly a gift from God. God creates us each with unique gifts and talents. We need to use them. A symphony is only a symphony when we use our gifts and play our instruments together. God is our conductor. When we focus on Him, He raises His baton; leads us through the musical journey of life. He shows us when to slow, when to increase our tempo. He guides us along like a music piece telling us which instruments need to raise in intensity and which need to be silent and rest. Nature exhibits His symphony. Each morning last Spring at 4:00 am, a phoebe bird would be the conductor. She would start singing “phoebe, phoebe.” This awoke the purple martins. They began to chirp and garble; then sing happily. The robin, North Carolina wren and cardinal joined in. The doves began softly cooing. The tree frogs croaked and in the distance you could hear a coyote howl. It was beautiful to hear nature praise Him. It was music to my ears and food for my soul! Psalms 113:1 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul.
Bus Driver
Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” For the past couple of years, my husband has had the opportunity to be a bus driver for the local school corporation. I have to say a special Thank you and God Bless you to all of the bus drivers out there! You are truly an amazing group of people; dedicated, loving, persevering, caring individuals. Much of the time you get a lot of disrespect and very little gratitude. But there are some kids that you absolutely fall in love with! They make your job a blessing, instead of what seems many days, a curse. Today is the last day of school for this calendar year. My husband sent me a picture of a note from one of his special kids: “Dear Mr. Dan thank you for being my bus driver. you are the best bus driver evre. thank you for leting me sit in a set. Love, Lindy” For all of the disciplinary reports that have ever been written or the constant warnings that have been issued, this note melts my heart. It reminds me of the importance of children. Their young innocence needs to be protected. Children are a blessing! They are precious in Jesus sight and are precious to us, to our world. We need to love them, enjoy them. We need to teach them respect and reward them for good deeds. We need to cherish the young years and be grateful for them. The years pass too quickly and the world can be a harsh place to live. We need to guide them ever so gently and show them how to live lives of faith and integrity by being good role models. We need to teach them to love and make a difference in this world! To all parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors, to all, but especially to Bus Drivers….Thank you for being a friend. Sometimes you are the only friend a child may have that day. Use kind words. Give them instructions. Love these kids like they are your own! For Christians, you may be the only Bible some will ever read. Let them read about Jesus through your life and actions. You are making a difference in the life of a child near you! Be the difference! Show them love when the world shows them hate. Let them know that you care, no matter what happens in life!
Prayer Walk
1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray continually, Psalms 33:2 Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Psalms 57:7 My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music. Psalms 92:1 It is good to praise the Lord and Make music to your name, O Most High, ” The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues “without ceasing”; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops the offering up of prayer. “Pray without ceasing”- maintain the childlike habit of offering up prayer in your heart to God all the time.” Oswald Chambers MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST (Updated Edition) This morning’s devotion from Oswald Chambers, like so many of his devotions, always seems to “touch and impact me right where I am,” in that moment of life. Earlier this week I had to opportunity to go on a Prayer Walk with one of my prayer warrior friends. It was a beautiful day with sunshine and blue skies. We drove to a local nature park to walk along the trails and pray. God speaks all of the time, every day. But sometimes, we just need to get away. We need to take a walk into nature and be surrounded by His beauty to refocus and renew our soul. As we walked along the trails, we talked with God. We brought all of our trials, failures, needs of ourselves and of our friends to Him. We observed His beauty in the trees, flowers, creek waters that flowed. From the beams of sunshine piercing through the forest, we saw the Light of His love shining down. He illumined our path as we walked. We felt deep love and peace. Then, suddenly, without warning as we prayed came the attacks. Mosquitos! It was like a fierce army attack! Relentless! We continued to press on and pray; focusing on God. We prayed. We walked. We swatted mosquitos. As our walk ended, I was reminded of how our natural walk is like our spiritual walk. We have a fierce enemy, Satan, who is relentless in his attacks. He comes to interfere in our lives as we talk and grow closer to God. He throws fiery darts and bites at us like the mosquitos. But, we must stay focused. God has given us His armor. Ephesians 6:13-17 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Be Faithful The enemy is real; throws daggers and darts all day. He wants to cause fear and doubt; from Jesus draw our attention away. He whispers lies and deceives. He is constantly badgering; trying to get us not to believe. But God, in His wisdom, gave us strong armor. For He knew the battle would be fierce and we might be distracted by enemy clamor. God gave instructions “Stand firm. Be bold and courageous. Pray continually. Press on.” He gives us strength, joy; a new heart song. The belt of truth guards our waist. While we put the breastplate of righteousness in place. We pick up the shield of faith. Our feet have the gospel of peace to run with haste. We put on the helmet of salvation; protecting our mind. So the enemy cannot deceive and blind. At last, we take up the sword. This is our powerful weapon; God’s Holy Word. We are equipped for battle; God supplied everything that we need. We must move forward; praying, every word from Him heed. God has won the victory; Satan is a defeated foe. We must move forward; praying as we go. Some days the attacks seem endless and are fierce; drain our strength. We must focus on Jesus, remember God loves us; He will keep us; go to any length. Dear brothers and sisters: Press on; be assured God hears and is answering your prayers. His desire is for our best; He loves us immensely, deeply cares. We go out victorious; the battle has been won! JESUS-our victor is King; the Chosen One! We celebrate and rejoice. As we move forward listening, trusting, obeying, surrendering to His voice,
Gifts
James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. Last evening some of my friends met for a service project. We were helping a friend’s mother sort through 50 plus years of her household goods in preparation to move. Her mom, widowed, is building a new home and preparing for the next chapter in her life. This is NO easy task! Her current home holds precious decades of memories: babies born, diapers changed, numerous thousands of meals prepared and eaten, grandchildren born, Christmas celebrations, birthdays, etc… Uprooting after so many good years is difficult. Making decisions of what to keep, donate, sale or throw away is emotionally draining and physically exhausting. But it is necessary for preparation for the next chapter and new home. As we were winding down the whirlwind of activity, I was so captivated with my friend’s mom’s artwork. I spent a few moments admiring the details of several of her oil paintings. The beauty spoke to my heart. I told her mom how beautiful her artwork is! One of the paintings “Amazing Grace” reminded me of my dad. His voice was a God given gift. One of his favorite songs was Amazing Grace. As I gazed at the painting, I could hear him singing in my memory. When I looked out of the kitchen window across the backyard, the barn had a stunning mural including a covered bridge. My heart was filled with wonder and joy. I felt so blessed to behold the beauty. We started a conversation around gifts. Drawing, painting is definitely not one of my gifts. But one of my friends can draw beautifully, another has a gift of sewing, another gardening, floral arranging, fixing things. God gives each of us gifts and talents to use to help and bless others. We need to use and share our gifts with others to bless them and serve God. I believe this is our “ministry.” I think we need to embrace the gifts that God has generously given to each one of us. Maybe you cannot paint or draw, but maybe you can cook or bake. Perhaps you can write and send a note of encouragement. Maybe you have flowers in your garden and you can pick a bunch and take to someone that needs some cheer. Share your gift with someone today. Be a blessing! Romans 12:6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.