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Food for the Soul

Food for the Soul, devotionals to help you in your busy life, written by NEWIM board members and staff.

Filtering by Category: Devotional

God is Immutable—He Never Changes or Varies

Becky Boone Austin

What image comes to mind when you hear the words fixed or unchangeable? What emotion do these words bring up in you?

The image that comes to mind for me is the insurance commercial with crash dummies. In the commercial, the car careens toward a fixed cement wall, and you feel your body bracing for impact. Then, the inevitable happens: the front of the vehicle crumbles against the wall, the airbag explodes, and the crash dummy is tossed around inside the car—resulting in the immovable object destroying the car and “injuring” the dummies inside.

Or maybe when you think about unchangeable, you remember a time, like me, when I had to scrap the plans already in motion for our women's groups to accommodate the plans being made for the whole church—resulting in discouragement and frustration over what seemed like inflexible and unrelenting disregard for our team.

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categories Devotional
tags character of God, unchangeable, solid

God of Loss and Love

Guest User

Yesterday I unexpectedly found myself by a lone bench on an empty oceanfront. A boat was just off the shore, solitary but securely anchored in the sea. I ached with the unexpected beauty, the symbolic solitude of the boat. I felt like this boat. Alone, aching, but securely anchored. As I stood there, I thought about the last two months and how a crisis can set off a whole new cycle of grief and loss.

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categories Personal Retreat, Devotional
tags grief, loss, day away, personal retreat

CHANGING SEASONS OF LIFE

Jenny Lynn Estes

My strong-willed daughter turned two and I braced myself, expecting increasing challenges in her behavior. However, Zoe sailed through that year with a lively curiosity and mostly content demeanor. That wasn’t so bad, I reflected to my husband as her birthday approached. What’s the big deal with the ‘terrible twos’? Then she turned three.

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categories Devotional
tags Anglican, Protestant rosary, Prayer, Change, Trust, Job

Love

Betsy Cockrell

"Love is a word that can hold so much hope and so much pain" writes Betsy Cockrell. "Our perception of love impacts our thoughts, feelings, and actions. When we are confident we are loved, our lives reflect courage, security, kindness, and generosity. Feeling unloved, however, makes us respond differently—quick to anger, bitter, withdrawn, insecure, and stingy.  Are you feeling loved or unloved? God has been helping me take a closer look at my heart. I want my life to reflect someone who not only is confident she is loved, but can confidently love others...To live like this, my understanding of the incomprehensible love of God needs to grow."

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categories Devotional
tags Love, God's love

Living in the Real World

Kim Johnson

And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times,
to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred;
and all their brethren were at their commandment.”  
                                                                                   —1 Chronicles 12:32 (KJV)

Driving to work one day, I got behind a car with a double dose of stickers. Among them were a cross, a star and the ever-popular icon for the saying, “not of this world.” I thought about that for a few minutes as I waited for a light to turn green. With all the extreme events in the world, from hurricanes to earthquakes, floods and shootings, to all the other tragedies, it was good to remember this is not my eternal home. Yet even as the thought came into my head, the Holy Spirit quickly reminded me that being “not of this world” is not an insulation from reality. I can’t wrap myself in a cocoon and I can’t hide my head in the sand, especially as a leader.

The children of Issachar had the same issue. They were one of the twelve tribes of Israel, from the fifth son of Leah and Jacob. Each of the tribes were struggling to know what God wanted of them. Should they follow King Saul, who was proving to be unfit, or fall in with the new guy, David, who was emerging as God’s chosen one? From this scripture we see they knew what to do. They were a people who uniquely understood the times and seasons, as well as their position under God and what He wanted them to do. So they followed David.

It would be great if we didn’t need to worry about the myriad issues plaguing our society today. Sadly, the enemy of our souls has not stopped his quest for success. Satan wants nothing more than to limit our leadership and create chaos in our ministry. Thus, we must continue to be cognizant of anything he puts in our path.

Strive to be like the children of Issachar. Seek God in developing discernment and wisdom to understand the times in which we live. Ask for insight to see clearly the way to best utilize giftedness in meeting the needs of those living in a fallen world. While it might be easier to ignore what is happening in real life, it is our responsibility to know what we ought to do for His Kingdom and glory. 

“All Christians are but God’s stewards.
Everything we have is on loan from the Lord,
entrusted to use for a while in serving him.”

                                                                        —John MacArthur

categories Devotional
tags Food for the Soul, newim