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I often think of Mary with awe!  Although we often talk of Jesus’ Great Sacrifice, we don’t talk about Mary’s sacrifice nearly enough.  For she was as human as we are.  Her pain while watching Her Son on that Cross had to have been more than we could ever bear if it was our child hanging on that Cross.  But still She did it, because she loved our Lord and She loved us!

As a mom, I can’t even begin to imagine the horror and pain that Mary endured watching Jesus, her Son, die on that Cross.  The little boy that brought her pitchers of water, the baby she held in her arms… Jesus’ human side came from Mary 🙂

I couldn’t do it.  But Mary did, because She knew that the best way She could help her Son was to love Him and be there for Him.

And so Mary stood at the foot of that Cross.  The pain must have been unbearable.  But She did it.  She loved her Son and us that much!

A million thoughts must have raced through Her.  That She didn’t simply collapse Grace.

I know that I would have ended up begging God to spare my Son.  But Mary prayed that God’s Will be done.  Would we?  Could we?

As a Mom, the sheer horror of watching my son crucified would have broken me.  But Mary did not break, because Her love for Jesus was that strong and overcame all.  And Jesus loves her as only a Son can love His Mother.  And for that, I will always be grateful to Mary and hope and pray to be like Her.

Too often, Churches seem to argue about Mary’s “role in the church”, but the truth is there really is no need.  Mary was Jesus’ Mother and one of the best role models we could ever have.  As for the confusion about “praying” to Mary.  It’s  not that we “pray to her as if she was God”  We ask her to pray for us!  And why would we not!

Mary is in Heaven with Jesus, Queen of Heaven, and I talk with her often.  Sometimes simply to thank her for her sacrifice or for praying for me, sometimes to ask Her to pray for me or others!  And I know she will, because she loves each of us!  She IS our Blessed Mother!

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” – John 14:6

Prayer is a real place, so is Heaven!

As human beings, we want everyone to go to Heaven.  But whether we like it or not, not all people go to Heaven.

So the real question is not, “Who goes to Heaven?”.

The real question is “Did Jesus Tell The Truth”?  And millions, including me, say He did ?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. ” – John 3:16

Just thinking of that verse, I can’t help but think of how much it must have cost our Father to give His only Son. How much pain it must have caused Him to watch His only Son suffer so!

Loving our children is as wonderful as it is all consuming. I can remember well when they were little and sick, my heart would hurt so for them. And as they got older and faced some of life’s challenges, my heart would hurt even more for them! And as they grew into young adults and faced hurts that we could not always solve, we hurt even more for them! I can’t even begin to think of the pain it must have cost our Father and Jesus’ Mother Mary, to watch their Son suffer so to save us.

Thank you Jesus, for saving me. And thank you Father and Mary for your willingness to hurt so much as you watched your Son suffer for our sins so that we might be saved!

How Blessed are we to be so loved. And although there will never be enough words to thank you, Thank You All The Same 🙂

When we are praying to our Lord, our prayer can be a “place”, if we let it. A “time out” if you will from the current state of our fallen world and a “time in” of joy, peace and rest in the presence of our Father. In Jesus’ Name. Amen 🙂

Father Benedict, who is on Spotify, did a wonderful recording of the Rosary. I pray it often. His voice is so soothing, it’s comforting to do so! He says that “the Rosary is a place”. And that is true. It is a “place” we can go to take a break from the world and be with Mary, our Blessed Mother. A respite from the world we live in, a visit to the world we are going to 🙂

Father Benedict once said, “Whenever good comes into contact with evil there will be suffering”. This is true.

But God will give us rest! And a place to rest 🙂

We need not worry about battles lost, for the minute Jesus gave His life for us, the war was already won! In these difficult times, we need only love God with our whole heart and soul, and love each other as ourselves. For the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior is the moment we “win” 🙂

And although we should, of course, always do our best to stand for our faith in Jesus Christ and all that He taught, we must also remember that although our efforts are our gift to God, the outcome itself – belongs to God 🙂

The below devotion was written in 2019 by George Whitten for Worth Devotionals. Worthy Devotionals are wonderful and have taught me so much! You can sign up for them here 🙂

“A story is told of Peter Miller, a plain Baptist preacher of Pennsylvania, in the days of the Revolutionary War. Near his church, lived a man who maligned the pastor to the last degree. The man became involved in treason and was arrested and sentenced to be hanged. The preacher started out on foot and walked the entire way to Philadelphia roughly seventy miles away to plead for the man’s life. George Washington heard his plea, but he said, “No, your plea for your friend cannot be granted.” “My friend!” said the preacher. “He is the worst enemy I have.” What!” said Washington, “you have walked nearly seventy miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in a different light. I will grant the pardon.”

Like this precious pastor, although we don’t go out looking for enemies, we somehow seem to acquire them just by doing the work of the Lord! Many of you know how many times we’ve been attacked by hackers since we moved to Israel. These people probably spend weeks — not hours, not days — but weeks or even more trying to figure out pass codes and configurations in order to destroy our sites and all the work of the Lord going on there! It can be extremely upsetting to see someone steal away years of your hard work like that. You just want to know who?! and why?! and what did I do to deserve this?!

Last Thursday and Friday, quite a few people sent emails asking where their Worthy Brief was. Last Wednesday night, hackers hijacked my email credentials and sent out 300,000 spam messages in my name! This happened just before a speaking engagement in California. Even though our servers were never hacked into, hackers were able use my good name to send spam — in essence using my good reputation in order to flood the web with spam.

I’m sure many of you are experiencing your share of enemy assaults too and can relate to what I’m saying! But how should we react to these assailants? Should we curse them and hunt them down to get our revenge? This pastor had every earthly right to be satisfied with this man’s sentence. After all, this man probably destroyed his reputation — perhaps even his entire ministry! But this wise pastor saw right through the man. He realized that the offense committed did not originate with the man who slandered him. This man was merely a pawn in the hands of a cruel and crafty adversary, Satan himself. Clearly, it’s our ultimate enemy, Satan, who is out to slander us, to steal from us, hurt us, lie, kill and destroy us and he’ll use any means possible to do it.

In the same way, we must realize who is truly our enemy and come against him the best way we can — determine to press forward for God’s Kingdom even more than before!

When we strive to do the work of the Lord, we will undoubtedly gain some enemies! But we must ambush our archenemy who is manipulating these people and situations! How? By praying more! Learning the word more! Sharing the Gospel more! Forgiving more! Becoming wiser and stronger in the Lord! Becoming more like Yeshua (Jesus)! Press forward toward the Kingdom of God today — your great reward will be with Him!”

Remember Moses and the Burning Bush?  I wonder sometimes if we would believe in the Ten Commandments if Moses shared them with us now?  Or would the media desperately try to come up with a reason, any reason, so that we wouldn’t believe that the Ten Commandments came from God?

Or what about Paul? In the Bible it tells us of Paul:

“And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.  And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.  And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.  And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.  And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.”

“And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,  Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.  And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.  For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.  And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” -Acts 22:6-16

Would we believe Paul/Saul or would be find a reason to disbelieve him?   Or would the media find it for us?

Faith is a choice.  A choice we need to make every morning.  We either believe that the Bible is True, or we don’t.  We either believe that Jesus is a liar, or our Savior ?

The days of being in-between or on the fence are over.  We need to choose a side and “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” ?

^“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ^23 [a]gentleness, self-control” – Galatians 5:22-33

We all suffer at times.  Sometimes it’s an illness or someone we love – leaves…War, hunger and poverty all cause great suffering…Worry, anxiety and fear, can also cause great suffering.  Sometimes it’s a crisis of faith that causes great pain and fear.

Jesus knew that in this world there would be “troubles”.  Because God loves us so, He sent us the Holy Spirit to comfort and help us during these times.  To lift us up and out ?.  To lead the way ?

When it feels like the “chips are down” and pain or fatigue overwhelms us, this is a great prayer:

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me” – Psalm 51:12

God sent us the Holy Spirit for a reason, call upon Him today.  Be lifted up ?

“The Lord God has given Me The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary.
He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear
To hear as the learned.” -Isaiah 50:4

It’s hard to encourage someone who is weary if we don’t know how. God’s Promises are many and filled with Hope, but in order to share that Hope, we have to know those Promises!

“In the book All the Promises of the Bible, the author Herbert Locklear found 7,147 promises from God to man in the Bible. That is a lot of promises”-ChasingVibrance. And it is! Sometimes it can be hard for some to know where to start when reading the Bible. So if you are looking for a place to begin, look up God’s Promises 🙂

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”-Psalm 119:105

Remember all those Sunday School classes where we learned to memorize Bible verses? They were more important than we realized! Or the 25 Bible Verses to memorize from Focus on the Family? Or Veggie Tales? They all helped our children to memorize God’s Word in their Hearts. And because they did, they can share them with others 🙂

Whether it is illness or death, or simply the fatigue that can come from life, God’s Word can lift us up and help us keep walking. Just as God’s Promises can give us the Hope to hang in there. It is one of life’s greatest privileges to be able to offer both 🙂

The Rainbow belongs to God. It is a reminder for us that God Keeps His Promises 🙂. The Rainbow belongs to God. It always will because God made it 🙂

“Hide God’s Word in your Heart”, so that you can share it 🙂