Devotions for Difficult Days

“Recipe” for Peace?

Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him; fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.

And God’s peace [shall be yours]…[His peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 37:7 Philippians 4:6-7 AMPC

I’m not very good at following a recipe. It probably stems from years of creating my famous “what’s in the frig?” casserole, working to stretch a dollar and the contents of the frig. Tossing in whatever we had, to create the hoped-for taste. Eyeballing and improvising my way through the cooking until a “casserole surprise,” of culinary delight appeared on the table.

*Note given to me over 20 years ago by my mentor and spiritual mom, Jeanne Liston, it was her recipe for encouragement.*

While this approach worked great for hamburger surprise, it doesn’t work well when dealing with the real-world challenges of depression, sadness, stress, heaviness and anxiety. These heavy weights that seem to be spiraling in our world today, require a step-by-step, grab-my-glasses, follow the recipe approach. We dare not ignore the ingredient list the Lord has offered us or the steps He has provided. If we follow His instructions, the end result will be His peace that is beyond our understanding. Not a shallow circumstance-based peace … But peace no matter the circumstance….

Though I’m not a *doctor nor do I play one on TV, I have walked through seasons of great difficulty and depression inducing trials, and have found by experience, the great faithfulness of our Father God to provide authentic peace that was beyond my understanding.

So here’s my tried and true “recipe” for handling the inevitable emotional roller coaster of our world.

At the first sign of painful emotions bubbling up, I talk to the Lord about it. I know that sounds too simple, but it’s surprising how often we don’t follow this most important step.

Secondly, I open His Word (the Bible) to **Psalms anywhere. I jokingly say “anywhere” but truly, the book of Psalms is medicine to the hurting heart and mind. Read it out loud and offer the Psalmist’s words back to the Lord as your own prayer. Allow these words to speak your heart when you have no words to articulate your pain or sense of heaviness. Believer and Quadriplegic, Joni Eareckson Tada, puts it this way, “The Psalms wrap nouns and verbs around our pain better than any other book.” Yes it does.

Next, I turn in the New Testament to Philippians 4, reading aloud His words as they wash over my spirit…reminding me not to fret or have anxiety about anything but to pray about everything. Knowing He promises to literally protect my mind from the enemy, as I turn my anxieties over to Him with a heart of thankfulness. Reading further in chapter 4 , I am reminded to be careful what I allow my mind to dwell on.

Be careful what you allow your mind to dwell on.

I wish I could promise that following this “recipe” would remove the thing causing emotional pain or depression, it won’t. But it will enable us to walk through the unavoidable valleys of life…with an unexplainable soul-deep peace unmoved by the waves of difficulty.

My Lord, so many times You have used Your Word to wash over my troubled spirit – providing Your peace in the midst of difficulties. Please enable those walking through emotional pain today to lean onto You and entrust their soul to Your care. In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

*Of course, there are some situations where a doctor’s counsel is needed – but never to the neglect of God’s Word.

Click here to purchase a hard copy or download a FREE pdf of the devotional, Stony Paths learning to trust Him as we walk the Stony Paths of real life.

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus

Audio only – A few thoughts on Psalm 55 (and the trials of life).

An audio only, short montage of thoughts on Psalm 55.

Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you.

Hello friends! You usually find a written devo after the title, but today, I decided to do something a bit different. Though it’s totally unscripted and not at all polished, I pray you hear real life thoughts on God’s Word and how to authentically apply it to our lives.

*I may record more of these in the future, we’ll see how the Lord leads and what the response is (or isn’t).

In His service, Becky White

No Sugar-Coatings

Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 2 Corinthians 1:7-10

“…but this happened so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.” 2 Corinthians 1:9b AMP

I wince every time I hear the phrase or read a meme that says, “God won’t give us more than we can handle.” Because if you’ve been alive longer than ten minutes, you probably know experientially that there are indeed circumstances that are beyond us. Circumstances that send us reeling or that bring us to our literal knees with their gut-punch of ache and pain. If you’ve never experienced it, I bet you know someone who has.

I appreciate how authentic God’s Word is when dealing with real-life issues. No sugar-coating reality. In today’s scripture, the apostle Paul admits that the trial he’s just come out of was “utterly burdened beyond his own strength to endure” in fact, he “despaired of life,” it was so difficult. He wanted his fellow Believers to know that he understood their trials because he had walked through many himself. And In fact, they were so bad he felt like dying. He knew that such intense pain can cause God’s people to question all they know about Him and His promises.

Then we read this crucial point; “But this happened so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.” Wait. Full stop. This whole trial was allowed, and then used by Almighty God, to reveal and uproot any trust/reliance that was not in God Himself. Used to literally teach/train the apostle to stop trusting in himself, but instead, “In God, who raises the dead.” If He can give life to dead bodies … He can give life to dead circumstances, dreams, marriages, hopes, heart-aches.… He wanted the reader to know this too.

When I overlay that truth onto my own life, I clearly see that such “shadow of death” trials have drawn me to my knees in dependance on the Lord. But first, the trial did its (very painful) work of causing all my other life-lines to fail. Teaching and training in the discipline of trusting Him, no matter the circumstance. Now, I wish I could tell you that this is a one-time, deep-trial event. It isn’t. This learning to trust when we have no strength to endure or when all hope is lost, or when we can’t see our way clear, is something we learn layer by layer, event by event. Until, one day we realize that our natural reaction has become, trust in God and not ourselves. Trust in God and not our ability, or our bank account, or our spouse, or good health, or _____________. (And even then, refresher courses are needed!)

“The Psalms wrap nouns and verbs around our pain better than any other book.”
– Joni Eareckson Tada

I don’t know what trial is overwhelming you today, but He does. And He has promised to be with you, as He walks you through it. As He does, look for opportunities to purposefully trust Him along the way. Not for a picture-perfect, magazine-cover outcome, but to simply trust Him, whatever the outcome. He is good and He is entirely faithful. As always, let me encourage you to get out your Bible and read the Psalms or listen on a Bible app. Be proactive in your relationship with Him.

Don’t forget, there is more than one team on this field of life. The enemy would like nothing better than to discourage you and bring you to despair. Your Father God would like nothing better than to give you hope. Authentic hope. Found only in Him.

“True wisdom is found in trusting God when you can’t figure things out.”
– Joni Eareckson Tada

Father God, we sometimes walk through trials that feel more than we can bear. At those times, please remind us to trust in You and Your ability. To find our footing in You and not our own ability to endure. We love You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus

* Though well-meaning and usually used in an effort to encourage a person walking through a trial, it can have the opposite effect. Users often inadvertently misquote or misunderstand Scripture to make the point. It’s true that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to endure, that’s because in the midst of the temptation He has promised to provide a way of escape. Even then, He is the One providing a way for us. However, we must take the offered escape hatch or it will become more than we can endure. 1 Corinthians 10:13

Click here to purchase a hard copy or get a FREE pdf of the devotional, Stony Paths

Flawed Clay

I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the wheel. But the vessel that he was shaping from the clay became flawed in his hand; so he formed it into another vessel, as it seemed best for him to do. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “O house of Israel, declares the LORD, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

Jeremiah 18:3-5 Berean Study Bible

As part of my night-time routine, I usually turn on the One Year Audio Bible and listen as I drift off to sleep. One particular night, as I listened and attempted to let go of the day’s headlines, I heard these words spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, “The vessel became flawed in his hands, so he formed it into another vessel.”

The words jolted me awake, and lingered in my heart as I drifted back to sleep. “Became flawed… formed into another vessel.”

Flawed Clay. That’s me all right.

It spoke so loudly to me that I awoke the next morning still absorbing its meaning. To me. I realize the Lord was specifically providing an illustration to the nation of Israel, yet we are always to ask the Lord how His Word applies to us as well.

How often I am that flawed lump of clay. Feeling like I’ve blown it or am of little use because of past failures or past wounds or lack of ability, etc. Yet, like that flawed lump of clay, He willingly puts me, puts us, back on the wheel, to reshape, rework and remold. Such patience and tender love as He reshapes these lumps of flawed clay. His ability to take a mess and turn it to something beautiful is beyond me.

Have you ever felt like you’ve blown it? Gone too far? That maybe you’ve somehow missed God’s will for your life? Perhaps, like me, you have lost count at the number of times you’ve felt like that flawed vessel on the potter’s wheel. A lump of clay, marred by imperfections, feeling beyond use to the Lord or those around you. But. Oh how I love this…He reshapes, He snips and molds and personally reworks these lumps of clay into vessels of honor. Lives transformed by the Master’s hand, ready for use.

If you’ll let Me, I’ll use your trials to make you into someone I can use in the lives of others to show them that no matter where they’ve been, no matter how deep the hole, no matter how painful the trial, there’s hope. There is victory.
– Kay Arthur

Father, I am so thankful…so grateful… that You are willing to rework and remold and cause this flawed vessel to be of use to You and Your Kingdom…for the glory of Your great name, and in His matchless name – Jesus. Amen

Written by Becky White for my Lord Jesus

According to God’s Word, He is more than able to toss us back on the wheel and reshape us until we are all He created us to be. Let’s be willing to stay on the wheel and let Him do His work!

So that…

As He passed along, He noticed a man blind from his birth. His disciples asked Him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind? Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. John 9:1-3 AMPC / NASB

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 1 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV

While Jesus took time to actually notice the man born blind, and now begging for a living, His disciples landed on another approach. Observing the overwhelming trial the man endured, they wanted to know why he was born blind in the first place. “What did he or his family do to deserve this?”, they asked, with an implied assumption. Not exactly empathy in action. Jesus explained, “This happened so that the works of God might be displayed in Him.” I’ll be the first to admit, being born blind in that culture isn’t something I would have volunteered for. And yet, this man was given the honor of being used so that … his life and eventual healing might be used to display God’s glory.

Later, the Apostle Paul tells us that God comforted him, so that he might be able to comfort others with the same comfort he had received. God allowed painful trials into Paul’s life, so that his need would drive him to the God of all comfort. So that … he could authentically comfort others.

Now, let’s get real world. I have a few “so that” scenarios in my own life (I bet you do too). My first-born daughter, Tiffany Anne, died at three days old… Gut-punch excruciating. As I look back at that tragedy, it was through her death that I gave my life to Christ.

So that I might surrender to the Saviour… and glorify God.

Fourteen years later, I gave birth to a still-born son. Yet another horrific ache that words cannot adequately express. I can’t as easily see the “why” of his death, but through such profound loss, God has graced me with authentic empathy and compassion for others who suffer and long to know “why.”

So that I might share the comfort I received… and glorify God.

Just over a year ago I suffered a health emergency that nearly took my life, and that included months of rehabilitation. Out of that trial came more empathy and a devotional book (Stony Paths, learning to trust Him on the stony paths of real life) with a message of encouragement for those who walk through their own stony paths

So that I might offer authentic hope… and glorify God.

And of course, the ultimate, so that, is Jesus Christ giving His life as a ransom for us. Living a sinless life, suffering, dying and rising from the dead … so that you and I might have a way to the Father.

Let’s bring it back home. What “so that” situations have been allowed into your life? Think it through. Hold them up to the light. Is there a tragedy or a difficulty that God has graced you with so that….? Allow Him to use your life, and all you’ve endured, as a display of His glory.

We must understand that for God to give “songs in the night,” He must first make it night.
C. H. Spurgeon

Father, Oh how I long to bring glory to Your great name! I hand You all that has touched my life, use it as an illustration of Your goodness, faithfulness and a display of Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus

Ministry of Thorns

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. - 2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV

God did not take away Paul’s thorn; He did better—He mastered that thorn, and made it Paul’s servant. The ministry of thorns has often been a greater ministry to man than the ministry of thrones. – Streams in the Desert 12/18

“It shall turn out for you a testimony.” Luke 21:13

God has given me a ministry of thorns. Graciously taking all the pain of my life (self-inflicted, other-inflicted or just the ache of real life) and given me the great honor of using it all for His glory.

This truth was brought home to me recently, as I stood in front of a podium before several hundred ladies at a correctional facility. I have no great skill as an orator, no degree on the wall or social station that would open such doors. My thorns provided the invitation and thorns were what I spoke of. Oh, I called them by their real names of regret, abuse, addiction, grief, betrayal, depression, divorce and hopelessness. Wrapping it up with God’s promise found in Romans 8:28, that He is able to cause all things to work together for our good and His glory, for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

I have found that when I share the thorns of my life, in an authentic way, it frees others to share theirs as well. Releasing them from the formality and pretense and self-protective stance that often shrouds our lives. It’s then, when the pain is on the table, that the Great Physician can begin His work.

He may or may not remove the thorns of real life, but He is entirely faithful to use them. That’s what I desperately wanted those precious ladies to know that night. If placed in His hands, He will use our thorns for His glory. He may even grant us, a ministry with those thorns.

We have a choice. The same heat that melts wax, hardens clay. And the same thorn that pushes one to lean hard into God, may cause another to run from Him.

What will you do with your thorn?

Suffering in life can uncover untold depths of character and unknown strength for service. People who go through life unscathed by sorrow and untouched by pain tend to be shallow in their perspectives on life. Suffering, on the other hand, tends to plow up the surface of our lives to uncover the depths that provide greater strength of purpose and accomplishment. Only deeply plowed earth can yield bountiful harvests.
– Billy Graham

Father, I am in awe of Your faithfulness and ability to use my mess for Your glory. My thorns for Your kingdom. As we prepare to launch into a new year, I hand You, once again, all of me. Thorns and all. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Written by Becky White for my Lord Jesus

My God, I have never thanked Thee for my ‘thorn!’ I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my ‘thorn;’ I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross as itself a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my ‘thorn.’
George Matheson

Ministry of Thorns

“It shall turn out for you a testimony.” Luke 21:13

We have a choice. The same heat that melts wax, hardens clay. And the same thorn that pushes one to lean hard into God, may cause another to run from Him.

What will you do with your thorn?

Suffering in life can uncover untold depths of character and unknown strength for service. People who go through life unscathed by sorrow and untouched by pain tend to be shallow in their perspectives on life. Suffering, on the other hand, tends to plow up the surface of our lives to uncover the depths that provide greater strength of purpose and accomplishment. Only deeply plowed earth can yield bountiful harvests.
– Billy Graham

Written by Becky White for my Lord Jesus

My God, I have never thanked Thee for my ‘thorn!’ I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my ‘thorn;’ I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross as itself a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my ‘thorn.’
George Matheson

Christmas Socks

Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given…

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,

that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life.

Isaiah 9:6 John 3:16

Christmas. I love the lights, the tinsel, the songs, and the food. I love the cheesy nothing-to-do-with-the-real-meaning-of-Christmas movies. I love baking cookies with the grandkids and watching the excitement in their eyes as they gasp excitedly at Grandpa and Grandma’s covered-in-icicles Christmas tree. And yet – none of those things is really “Christmas” is it? In fact, one of those decades-old movies reminds us that Christmas can, and does, happen even when all those extras are missing.

Old socks turned Christmas socks. Old socks nailed to the wall as Christmas stockings, plump with fruit and candy, old socks used as mittens for the kid’s snowball fights and old socks turned into bean bag toys and hand puppets. During those trying years, God gave me a heart of thankfulness for such blessings as old socks – while in recent years, I have spent Christmas’ basking in the outward blessings of tinsel, lights, cheesy movies and grandkids – all shared with my gift-from-God husband. But no matter the circumstance, I always had Christmas. Because Christmas isn’t about those outer trappings I so enjoy…

While we could debate the origins of celebrating this set apart Holy Day we call Christmas, or the accuracy of the exact date – let’s land on the meaning of what we are celebrating. God made flesh. Born of a woman. The Creator entering into His creation to save them. No lights or tinsel or cookies or even eggnog needed. Jesus the Christ, born into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. That is Christmas.

This Christmas may find you comfortably sitting in your favorite chair, sipping hot chocolate and basking in the glow of a tree or alone in a prison cell (physical or emotional), tear-stained face and discouraged beyond words. It may find you missing a now-in-heaven child/parent/spouse/friend… or it may find you feverishly trying to “create” Christmas for family. My prayer is that this Christmas we purposefully remember what we are celebrating – the greatest *gift of all time. The gift of His one and only Son… for you. Amazing.

The very purpose of Christ’s coming into the world was that he might offer up his life as a sacrifice for the sins of men. He came to die. This is the heart of Christmas. –Rev. Billy Graham

Father, I am speechless when I think of what You have given us…Your Son, Your only Son. I bow at Your feet, acknowledging Your goodness, faithfulness and absolute mercy and grace given to one such as I. Thank You Father, thank You. In Jesus’ name, Amen

*(Make sure you have opened this gift or it will do you as much good as those expired gift cards!).

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus

Songs in the Night

The Lord will send His goodness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life. Psalm 42:8 NASB

…My God, Who gives songs in the night. Job 35:10b

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God (while in prison), and the other prisoners were listening to them. Acts 16:25 NIV

Lean hard into him bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name. Why are you in despair on my soul put your hope in him I will yet praise him the help of my countenance and my God. Psalm 103

The thick night darkness hid the emotional ache that permeated me as I mentally surveyed my life’s circumstance. My throat sore from stifled tears, in a near whisper, I sang as my declaration … “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name… (Psalm 103:1) The whispered Scripture turned prayer, fell from my lips as I sang to the Lord, and to my own spirit.

That painful, yet powerful, decades-old memory surfaces as my eyes land on the scripture that speaks of “songs in the night.”

The apostles sang songs in the night as they lay shackled in a Roman prison cell … singing God’s praises in the midst of their painful circumstance. Right there in the ongoing unfairness and cruelty, simply for doing the right thing. And Scripture tells us that “the other prisoners heard” the praise songs, and most importantly, they listened.

There’s something about a person walking through pain and trial, who still turns to God … in trusting praise. Maybe through tears and a cracking voice, perhaps, but turning to Him anyway. Others take notice and stop to “listen” as we sing our song in the night. Not a life that never encounters a night, but those who choose to “sing” in the midst of it all.

From a bad hair day to the death of a loved one to an all-encompassing loneliness and everything in between, whatever our night season looks like, if we turn to Him, He will provide a song in our night. An authentic song that others will stop to listen to, and perhaps turn to The song Giver.

If God would make manifest the fact that “He giveth songs in the night,” He must first make it night.
—William Taylor

My Father, as “night” swirls around us, enable us to turn to You rather than away, to Your Word and Your soul-deep Comfort and Peace. We love You. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus

Christmas Cookies

Christmas Cookies is one of my favorite Christmas devotionals. It’s such a vivid word picture of the ingredients that make up our lives and what the Lord is able to do with those ingredients. Wrapping the joy of Christmas cookie baking (and eating!) around the real-life pain that each of us walks through at some point in our lives. It describes His ability to take raw staples, added in the right order, mixed together, provide just the right amount of heat, and …. Let’s just read the devo 😉 – Becky White

The LORD of Armies has taken an oath: “It will happen exactly as I’ve intended. It will turn out exactly as I’ve planned.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Isaiah 14:24 GWT Romans 8:28 KJV

Every December, it’s the same pre-Christmas cookie-baking ritual. I grab large mixing bowls and measuring spoons, along with flour, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs. I spend an entire day mixing, and refrigerating batches of cookie dough. I’ll spend another whole day baking and decorating (and taste-testing of course!) until our kitchen counters are covered in sugary goodness.

In the midst of my baking marathon, I stepped back to survey the landscape of my countertop. I noticed that most of what my eyes landed on wouldn’t taste very good as a stand-alone ingredient. Baking soda or a pinch of salt isn’t very tasty all by itself, however, mix each ingredient together in the correct order, add some heat and voila’! You have a mouth-watering, hip-enlarging Christmas cookie! As I mixed and stirred this year’s cookie-dough, I thought a lot about the “ingredients” of my life … of most people’s lives, and how similar it is to my Christmas cookie routine.

On a stand-alone basis, many of the ingredients we encounter are bitter, or even down right painful. Some appear as pointless as baking soda or a pinch of salt. At times were convinced the oven temperature is set on broil…oh the pain of the heat of trials or testing or even natural consequences of our own bad choices.

In my own life, the Lord God has taken “ingredients” like childhood challenges, the death of two of my children, domestic violence, divorce and even my own addictions …. and in the end, brought them all together for my good and His glory. Ingredients that I thought were unnecessary or an “oven” temperature I thought was too hot or “baking time” I thought was too long… He brought good from them all. Not one ingredient wasted.

Your ingredient list or baking time, may be similar to mine or completely different. Maybe it includes the bitter flavor of COVID or the nastiness of depression-inducing isolation or the uncertainty of our political landscape or financial anxiety. Perhaps your list even includes the bitter ingredient of death or discouragement or cancer …

Wherever you’re at in the cooking process and whatever your ingredient list, let me encourage you today. He sees you. He is aware. I am so sorry for the pain or heartache some of your ingredients have caused. We may not understand “the why” of each ingredient or the cooking process, but we can absolutely trust the Master.

Grab yourself a cup of coffee and a few cookies… and reflect a minute on how He so masterfully used/uses all your life’s ingredients for your good and His glory. Or sip hot cocoa and ask Him to help with your ingredient list that feels so “unnecessary” or an oven temp that seems too high for way too long! Pour out your heart to Him. He is faithful. Of that we can be sure.

“Faith isn’t the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It’s simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step.”
Joni Erickson Tada

Father, help me view each life ingredient as from Your Sovereign hand. Enable me to trust You with the bitter and the sweet, and in the end stand amazed at Your faithfulness! In Jesus’ name, Amen

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus

Click here for free pdf devotional – Stony Paths. You may also purchase a hard copy at this link.

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