Two women at cafe table holding hands

Continuing in my study of Job I find it outrageous what Job’s “friends” say to him while he is down and out. I also find it outrageous that I have said my fair share of stupid things to those who were grieving, hurting, and suffering.  When speaking with someone who is suffering I am sure we all have put our foot in our mouth on occasion. Once I went through some intense times of suffering I realized how cliché people can sound.  I was now hearing what I said to others while sitting in the seat of suffering. Hearing from a very different perspective made me cringe that I could have thought I was being helpful.

What do you and I need to say when others are suffering? As little as possible! Listen, pray, hug, repeat as often as needed.

What do you and I need to do when we suffer? Job continued to look to God for help.  While your friends may mean well God alone will be your comfort. Only God will provide all you need as He walks through the valley with you. He hears and understands your pains and sorrows. Like no one else can.

From the “Think about” section in the study book…” We should weigh the input we receive. While we can appreciate any encouragement and comfort, we should be aware that others’ misperceptions or wrong viewpoints may make us question God’s care for us, His plans for us, or His heart towards us.”

Blessings,
Kathy

Kathy Withers is on staff at America’s Keswick and serves as Director of Partner Care. Kathy has been married to her husband Dave for 31 years. They have two adult children. Kathy is active in her local Church and teaches a Bible Study for women. Her passion is to encourage women to deepen their walk with Jesus Christ by finding and living out the truths of God’s Word.

Suddenly your world is turned upside down.
Bad news from the doctor
A family death
Financial loss
An accident
An addicted family member or friend
A theft
A friend moving away
A husband leaves
Loss of job

Listen. close.  There’s a whisper: “Will you trust me now?”

It’s easy to trust God when life is good, but what about when life takes an unexpected turn? Do you hear the whisper?  “Will you trust me now?”

When life gets difficult, maybe even seemingly impossible, will you then stop trusting God?  Oh, we may say “of course not” but in reality when worry, anxiety and fear loom larger than trust we need to ask ourselves the question – will I stop trusting Him NOW?

We may need to remind ourselves multiple times a day or even multiple times an hour– out loud, “I will trust Him now. I will trust Him now. I will trust Him even now.  Yes, Lord I will trust You now.”

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. Isaiah 26:3-4

Blessings,
Diane

After serving 16 years full-time on the staff of America’s Keswick, Diane Hunt and her husband moved to North Carolina where she continues to serve part-time as a contributing writer and Partner Care Consultant.  She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.

Girl praying with hands on 150 year old Bible

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. – 2 Chronicles 7:14

The election is finally over… some of you may be pleased with the result, others may be upset. Whatever your opinions on the outcome, it is still pretty clear that we as a country are so divided and our land needs to be healed. Our Pledge of Allegiance states “One nation, under God, indivisible…” but it’s pretty clear that that is not what we’ve been seeing this year. I think we were all hoping that come November 9th, all of the Trump vs. Hillary arguments would cease, but between the riots happening all over the country and the politically-based cyber bullying, we see that is not the case.

Matthew 21:22 and Mark 11:24, both speak on the power of prayer. These verses tell us to have faith and believe that the Lord is capable of answering the prayers of your heart, because He is. John 14:13-14 states, Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

“Praying in Jesus’ name means praying with His authority and asking God the Father to act upon our prayers because we come in the name of His Son, Jesus. Praying in Jesus’ name means the same thing as praying according to the will of God (1 John 5:14-15).” – GotQuestions.org

Prayer is one of our most powerful tools. We have the ability to ask the Lord to grant us peace in our nation, which is something we should continuously pursue (Hebrews 12:14, 1 Peter 3:11, James 3:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:15, and Proverbs 12:20 are only a few examples). When we pray that the Lord would use us in powerful ways which will contribute to peace in our land, we should know that it may not be comfortable or even easy, but our prayers are powerful and will contribute to the overall health of this land.

We are the light of the world.  That means we have a big responsibility to live our lives in godly ways and make prayer a core value in our own lives. Martin Luther once stated, “A Christian without prayer is just as impossible as a living person without a pulse.” Mark 11:25 states that when we come before God in prayer, we should forgive those who have wronged us. (That includes the person who insulted you because you didn’t share the same political views.) We should also practice thanksgiving (Colossians 3:17, 4:2, Colossians Psalm 100:4). Prayer is so vital always, and when we are in the midst of division in our nation, it is so great to know we have the most powerful tool available to us – a one-on-one conversation with God.

Erin

Erin Culleny serves as a Marketing Assistant and Staff Writer. She loves encouraging women through her Victory Calls and finds such joy in praying for her sisters in Christ. She is so excited that after 5 years on Summer Staff, she now has the opportunity to serve at Keswick year-round. Her favorite activities include reading her Bible, encouraging others with scripture, buying new dresses, and eating at the Cheesecake Factory… In that order!

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7)

My aunt went through two major surgeries at the age of 87. I was with her when she awoke from the second surgery. Her first comment was that she didn’t think she would be here much longer. I knew in my heart that was probably the case. She then continued her thought by quoting a familiar hymn: “This is my story; this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.”  A life spent pondering on the things of God now flowed through her mind. Now, coming to the end of her life, her desire was to see Jesus and praise Him all day long. Watching her struggle physically in the end was difficult. Seeing her finish well was a privilege.

I am challenged to consider how I want to finish. Will Jesus continue to be the desire of my heart? Will my love for Him be as strong when I am 87?  I want to finish well.  Finishing well in the end begins with the choices we make each day. What choices do you and I have today that will lead us to the finish line strong?

Let these words be our hope and goal today: Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Kathy Withers

Kathy Withers is on staff at America’s Keswick and serves as Director of Partner Care. Kathy has been married to her husband Dave for 30 years. They have two adult children. Kathy is active in her local church and teaches a Bible study for women. Her passion is to encourage women to deepen their walk with Jesus Christ by finding and living out the truths of God’s Word.

Today’s Victory Call devotion is from Real Victory for Real Life, Volumes 2, 365 Daily Meditations for Victorious Christian Living with daily Bible readings to take you through the Bible in a year!  To order your copy, call 1-800-453-7942. Volume 1 is $10 plus $6.80 shipping; Volume 2 is $12 plus shipping.

For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.  (Philippians 1:29 NIV)

            What thoughts come to your mind when you think of the word “granted?” For me it conjures up pleasant thoughts. Something good or pleasant will be “given” to me. Part of the definition of grant[ed] says “to permit as a right, privilege or favor.”  I like that…a privilege or a favor…now that sounds pretty good. It makes me think, “Wow, I can’t wait to see what will be granted to me!”

Recently I was reading and studying Philippians chapter one and I saw something, really saw something, for the first time, and it stopped me dead in my tracks…

            Philippians 1:29, For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him (emphasis mine).

And then later on in Philippians 3:10 (NIV), I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in His death.

Paul indicates that it is a “privilege” or a “favor” that we should suffer for Christ. That seems to go against what I would think would be “favor.” But yet it is. Up until this time, here in America, we have not really suffered for Christ. There are countries where people suffer greatly because they are Christians – in China, Sudan, Iraq and Iran (just to name a few). It is heart-breaking to hear testimonies of believers who have suffered greatly because they bear the name of our Lord and Savior. Yet, it is in those persecuted countries that we see more and more people coming to know Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives no matter what the cost.

The world thinks America is a privileged country. My parents thought so and in 1952 they emigrated here. Yet, what is privilege? Who is truly privileged? According to Paul, to suffer for Christ is the greatest privilege.

There may come a day when Christians in America will be “privileged” like those Christians all over the globe. May we rejoice in all things, even suffering, as Paul did 2000 years ago.

 Mary Ann Kiernan

Mary Ann Kiernan serves as the Intake Coordinator at the Colony of Mercy. She is a wife, mother and grandmother.

Today’s Victory Call devotion is from Real Victory for Real Life, Volumes 2, 365 Daily Meditations for Victorious Christian Living with daily Bible readings to take you through the Bible in a year!  To order your copy, call 1-800-453-7942. Volume 1 is $10 plus $6.80 shipping; Volume 2 is $12 plus shipping.

What’s the difference between a non-believer that can’t walk by faith and a believer that doesn’t?

This question has been popping to mind recently.

Our non-believing friends do NOT have the Spirit of the Living God residing in them, empowering them, and enabling them to walk by faith. They do not have the Resource to walk by faith. They simply can’t.

In what ways do I live just like a non-believer?

Knowing that the Spirit of God lives in me, how does that change my decisions, choices and the way I live?

How does my life look different from a non-believer’s to a watching world?

In what ways is the glory of God manifested in my life to those around me?

How do others see and experience the Spirit of the Living God through me?

What evidence is there that I am walking in faith, doing that which I cannot accomplish in my flesh, in my own strength?

What is there in my life that leads others to say, “There is no other explanation for that other than God?”

I ask again: What’s the difference between a non-believer that can’t walk by faith and a believer that doesn’t?

Blessings, Diane

After serving 16 years full-time on the staff of America’s Keswick, Diane Hunt and her husband moved to North Carolina where she continues to serve part-time as a contributing writer and Partner Care Consultant.  She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve faced two choices, two paths.  The path of walking by faith and the path of walking by sight.

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” – But he serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman SAW that the tree was good for food, and that it was a DELIGHT TO THE EYES, and that the TREE WAS TO BE DESIRED to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Gen 2:16-17

Adam and Eve had two choices.  Trust God will fulfill their needs without the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden – walking by faith believing that He alone is enough OR to believe their eyes that what they SAW was BETTER than what God promised.  Their choice to walk by sight led to the fall of mankind and set in motion long-term consequences that affect every human being that ever lived or will ever live.

In the book of Joshua, God clearly instructs Israel to not take any plunder for themselves when He gives Jericho into their hands.  But Achan did not obey.  When Joshua confronted him he said, “Truly I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I SAW among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them.” Joshua 7:20-21.

As a result, Achan, the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all he had were destroyed.  See Joshua 7: 23-25

There are many biblical examples of people walking by sight and there were always consequences.

These two choices are still the same two paths we have today in the 21^st century. Will you walk by faith? Or will you walk by sight?

Blessings,

Diane

After serving 16 years full-time on the staff of America’s Keswick, Diane Hunt and her husband moved to North Carolina where she continues to serve part-time as a contributing writer and Partner Care Consultant.  She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.

 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the LORD, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel… Numbers 13:1-3

You probably have heard the story of the 12 spies that Moses sent into Canaan as the people of Israel came into Kadesh-Barnea. I learned something recently that I thought I would pass along.  When I thought about this event I didn’t consider some of the practical realities of their excursion. Did you know…?

• 12 men – all leaders, all chiefs (Since all 12 men were leaders, I wonder if there were ever power struggles on their mission?)
• They traveled from the Negeb (in the south) to Rehob (in the north).
• Round trip
• In round numbers they traveled about 500 miles!!!!
• In 40 days
• That averages 12-13 miles a day for 40 days

This was no small task.  They didn’t have automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles or hover boards in those days.

It is details like this that often give us a better understanding of what life was like for people in Biblical times.  It takes the people off the 2-D page and adds clarity in 3-D. So instead of just being 12 spies, they were real men who probably got blisters and calluses on their feet and maybe sunburn and more than a few bug bites along the way.

Oh yeah, we forget things like that when we read the Bible simply as history rather than the living, breathing Word of God.  Do you ever find yourself reading the Bible as a nice story but forgetting the people really lived and the events really happened?

Guilty as charged.

Blessings, Diane

After serving 16 years full-time on the staff of America’s Keswick, Diane Hunt and her husband moved to North Carolina where she continues to serve part-time as a contributing writer and Partner Care Consultant.  She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.

A sister in Christ recently told me that in one day she witnessed two handicapped children crossing the street.  The first one was blind and had her hand on the shoulder of her Dad and was crossing the street in the crosswalk.  She did not look fearful but rather fully content that she was safe.  The second one had a physical and visual handicap.  She, too, was crossing the street in the crosswalk, with her hand on her mother’s arm.  She was smiling as she contently crossed the street.  Both of these children put their trust in their parent to cross over to a different destination through what could have been a very dangerous place.  But they went without fear.

Dear one, if today you are in a situation that is causing your heart to be troubled, I encourage you to put your hand on your Father God.  Allow Him to guide you through the traffic of life to a new destination.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)

Let’s cross the troubling situations of life trusting in our Father God and putting our hands in His hand.

Blessings,
Patricia Wenzel
Woman of Character Graduate

I was in church today and during worship we were singing a song based on
Psalm 136.  Over and over we sang, “The Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.”  As we sang it over and over the room began to be filled with voices that were more and more exuberant, “The Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.”

As I write to you it is still nine days before the election.  By the time you read this you will know the outcome.  Although I am concerned about who the next President will be and what their agenda will be, I am encouraged because whatever the outcome TRUTH will remain TRUTH.  The Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.  I want to bless with you some of the verses from Psalm 136:1-9; 23-26 (NKJ) so you read them, repeat them and then declare them and allow TRUTH to get deep into your spirit.

1  Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
    For His mercy endures forever.
2 Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
    For His mercy endures forever.
3 Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
    For His mercy endures forever:
4  To Him who alone does great wonders,
    For His mercy endures forever;
5 To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
    For His mercy endures forever;
6 To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
    For His mercy endures forever;
7 To Him who made great lights,
    For His mercy endures forever—
8 The sun to rule by day,
    For His mercy endures forever;
9 The moon and stars to rule by night,
    For His mercy endures forever.
23 Who remembered us in our lowly state,
    For His mercy endures forever;
24 And rescued us from our enemies,
    For His mercy endures forever;
25 Who gives food to all flesh,
    For His mercy endures forever.
26  Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven!
    For His mercy endures forever.

Be encouraged, dear one, no matter what is happening around you, The Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.  He will carry you through.

Blessings,
Patricia Wenzel
Woman of Character Graduate