Lawn Lines?

There is a way that seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death. Proverbs 16:25 AMPC

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your path.  Proverbs 3:5-6 AMPC

My husband is very particular about our lawn. He spends most summer weekends manicuring the green carpet to perfection. No weeds, golf-course style trimmed and perfect lines. So, I felt pretty good about myself when he gave up the task a few times several summers ago and let me do the mowing. Let’s just say, our neighbors could tell the difference! No matter what I did, I couldn’t get perfectly straight lines like my husband always seemed able to create. Then I remembered something I’d once read about how pioneers used to plow their fields in straight lines and I began applying it to my mowing. Before you knew it, straight lines began appearing!

The pioneer plowman would focus on a distant, though straight-ahead tree or a fence post. Not diverting his gaze from the fixed point ahead, he resisted the temptation to watch the plow. Trusting the fixed point to guide him rather than what appeared straight. Such focus enabled him to successfully plow straight lines.

In our own lives, it’s so easy to take our eyes off the distant fence-post of God’s Word, relying instead on our own understanding rather than His Truth as revealed in His Word. Oh so subtly, our focus begins drifting (not unlike my lawn lines!), as we start trusting our own insight – trusting what we see, or hear or feel or what’s popular rather than His Word. And before you know it, we have crooked lines of confusion, anxiety and fear.  Crooked lines of bad decisions and broken relationships. And if not corrected, crooked lines that lead us to eternal consequences.

God’s Word reminds us that there is a way that seems straight and right, but at the end of it is the way of death. He tells us to trust Him with all our heart and not to rely on our own insight or understanding. Simply put – He wants to be the fixed point we gaze at, the “fence-post” we trust in. And cautions us of the danger in trusting in ourselves.

God’s Word reminds us that there is a way that seems straight and right, but at the end of it is the way of death.

My husband never once complained about my lack of mowing skills, always showing me grace as he smiled and said “thank you.” How much more our heavenly Father will respond with grace to us as we ask Him to help us shift our trust back to Him and the authentic Truth found His Word.

My Lord, It’s so easy to drift away from the Truths found in Your Word, and Oh so slowly begin trusting my perception of things instead. How easy it is to walk by sight! Please forgive me and enable me to fix my gaze straight ahead – to You. Thank You! In Jesus name, Amen.

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus

http://www.DevotionsForDifficultDays.com

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Golden Thread

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Be still, and know that I am God.

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will do it.

Psalm 46:1 and 10a     Psalm 37:5 Berean Standard Bible

I hope it’s not hard to notice the golden thread, woven throughout my writing, speaking and teaching. A thread that the Lord continues to daily weave throughout my own heart. Offering me ongoing life lessons, and providing real-life opportunities to put the thread into practice. And to answer the question, “What happens when that thread gets pulled?”

This golden thread is summed up in one word. Trust. Specifically, trust in the Lord no matter our circumstance.

Recently, on my drive home from work, I thought deeply about a particular challenge in front of me. I talked it through with God, and though the challenge and pain remained, I recognized that I was at peace and confidently trusted Him with the outcome.  

I told the Lord I couldn’t remember “the moment” the eyes of my heart were opened and began trusting Him, no matter the outcome. Not for my salvation, but for living this life. A life that often encounters circumstances that scream the opposite of what I “expect” from the good God He is. He reminded me that genuine trust in Him is something learned one hour at a time, one day at a time, one trial at a time. A life-long process of living and walking with Him, and learning by experience that He is good and He is faithful, regardless of what comes into our lives or our world. A lesson that cannot be learned through a theology course, Ted Talk or TikTok video. This is a lesson that requires constant refresher courses.

Part of this golden thread is our life lens. Do we view God through the lens of our fluctuating circumstances, or do we view fluctuating circumstances through the lens of our good and faithful God?

In the beginning of my walk with the Lord (over forty years ago), if I lost a job or the car broke down or my then-spouse was unfaithful or tragedy took the life of my child (all have grazed my life) … I thought that I must have done something wrong or that God was too busy to notice my hurt or that maybe He didn’t care about someone like me or was angry at me … My view of God was determined by the trials or blessings of my life. This thinking also meant that when I earned a raise or the kids were healthy or my ladies Bible study was humming along, God must be Oh so pleased with me. Again, my view of God was wrongly determined by my circumstances.

Just like an optometrist, who flips to one lens after another and asks, “is this better or worse? One or two?” At some point along the way of life, God enabled me to switch lenses from my circumstances to Him. Enabling me to see all that I walked through (blessings and challenges) through the lens of His goodness, His faithfulness and His great love for me. A love that compelled Him to send the Lord Jesus to die in my place.  (Face to the floor astounding!) As seen through the lens of our good and faithful God, the inevitable trials of real life have served to draw me closer to Him. To talk with Him, to read His Word, to wrestle out the pain, and view it all with the golden thread of trusting Him no matter the outcome. A steady trust that may at times, still bend low with heartache, but refusing to view God through the lens of that heartache.

There is nothing–no circumstance, no trouble, no testing–that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose. –

Alan Redpath

How about you? Do you view God through the trials of your life, so when the inevitable difficulties come crashing through, your picture of God crashes with it? (No condemnation here, I did that for years, and sometimes still fall into that trap). If so, would you ask Him to help you switch lenses and to view your life through lens of the goodness of God? He will not fail you. May the golden thread of trust be woven throughout your life.

Father God, I am in awe of Your goodness and utter trustworthiness. And did I mention, Your patience? Please enable me to see all that touches my life through the lens of Who You are – The Faithful One. Not my fluctuating circumstances.  In Jesus, mighty name, Amen.

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus.

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

Gentle Reminder

“You were wearied by the length of your road, Yet you did not say, ‘It is no use.’ You found renewed strength, Therefore you did not grow weak.”  Isaiah 57:10 AMP

Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.  Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, He will save you.” 

Isaiah 35: 3-4 AMPC

All of us need a reminder now and then. When life hits us square between the eyes or when a challenge grows from weeks to months to years… We need reminded that God is in control, that He is at work, that He has a plan. The challenges, set-backs and real-world reality of life have a way of draining our strength, weakening our resolve, even obscuring our view of our Father God’s love. Like the dripping of water eroding a mountainous rock, trials that are long in duration can erode even the mightiest among us.

If HOPE has become a 4-letter word to you. If a painful circumstance has gone from a simple set-back to a way of life. If anxious thoughts fill your heart, robbing you of His peace. If the unthinkable has touched your life…

May I gently remind you? Not with syrupy, I-feel-your-pain, empty words – but with His inerrant and infallible Word. The same Word that has sustained me, and countless others, through some of life’s toughest challenges. He has promised never to leave or forsake us and to be our Mighty Fortress. He promises that though we walk through fiery trials, we will not be burned, neither will the flame kindle upon us. He is behind and before us. And that when the enemy comes in like a flood, He will lift up a standard against him and put him to flight. Though He allows for our free will, He assures us that no plan of His can be thwarted and His sovereignty rules over all.

Our trials aren’t proof that He doesn’t care or is impotent to act. In whatever form they take, our trials are opportunities to walk out the reality of our trust in Him and learn by experience that He is good, He is faithful and He is enough.

“The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.”

Corrie ten Boom

My Lord Jesus, As You have strengthened me, not by the absence of trials but in the midst of them, I pray You will infuse strength into Your weary ones today. Grant the ability to arise to new life and fresh hope, and a knowing that You have it all under control…whatever the outcome…we can trust You. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus

When the Extraordinary becomes Ordinary

Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.

1 Peter 5:7 Berean Study Bible   Psalm 55:22 NASB

Because He cares for you.…

Familiarity breeds contempt. The extraordinary becoming ordinary. In the era of social media, the Truth of Scripture can be lost on us as we scroll past another artfully crafted meme with a feel-good phrase. Even when that phrase is God’s Word.

That nearly happened to me recently as I read my “verse for the day” pocket calendar and quickly recognized this often-quoted and meme enhanced Scripture. Mindlessly thinking, “Oh, I know that verse…” yawn… (I’m being totally authentic with you here.) But this time, as I read the verse, the Holy Spirit stopped me in my tracks as the words Because He cares for you leapt off the page and washed over my heart.  I read and reread those words… Holding them up to take in each facet of meaning.

He could have ended the prayer directive with, “because I said so.”  … He is God, afterall. But He didn’t.

It struck me so strongly and so emotionally. What a tender phrase added to the instruction of casting all our anxieties on Him.

On Him to carry.

On Him to handle.

On Him to work out the myriad of beyond-our-ability-details.

Yet He wasn’t just academically providing direction on what we ought to do with a religious, legalistic pattern to follow.  He wants us to know the why… Because He cares for us. Such love and tender compassion embodied in that phrase. The Amplified Bible reads, He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].

Whatever burdens our heart, burdens His.

Becky white

Whatever burdens our heart, burdens His. He longs for us to bring our every need, our every concern, our every question, our every fear, our every what-if and even our every “why?” and cast them onto the One who cares for us.

Oh Father, It is face-to-the-floor astounding how You tenderly care for what concerns my heart. I lay my anxieties and burdens in Your strong hands and rest in Your sovereign care and control over all that grazes my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus

A Testimony of “Through”

Following You is no guarantee of a problem-free life.  Yes, I realize that’s an obvious point. But a point that I need reminded of, now and then. What you have promised is that You’ll stand beside me, that you’ll never leave me … never forsake me. And use all I walk through for Your glory.

This morning, as I was working out at the gym and listening to a Spotify playlist, some of the challenges that may soon cross my path flooded my mind. Immediately an old song I’d never heard before started to play… The words, you will stand by me… penetrated my heart as it described the inevitable challenges of life. Through all the seasons of life. Rightly concluding, we can rest in Him and His Presence with us. We are never alone.

Thank You, Father for standing with us and never leaving us to face life alone.

Now, let’s read this rerun devo “A Testimony of through.”

*(Stand by Me)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5  ESV

It is so encouraging to hear testimonies of God’s miraculous intervention into someone’s life circumstance. In fact, to encourage others, I have a few of my own that I regularly share. Maybe you do too. But there’s another kind of testimony that doesn’t get the credit it deserves, those of God’s miraculous power to walk us through our trials. Let’s face it, aren’t those the kind of testimonies that most of us can relate to, and need to hear?

But this kind of story doesn’t come easy, it can only be gained by walking through the fire. Not around or over, but through. While there are many reasons God may allow His people to suffer, one of them includes enabling us to be living examples to other hurting folks. A picture of what it looks like when God chooses not to remove our difficulties, but of His power to sustain and even strengthen us in the midst of them.

There are hurting people all around us, with no hope of a miracle around the corner of their circumstances. The cancer is terminal. The divorce papers have been signed. The nursery remains empty. The pink slip has arrived. It’s then, that folks need to see authentic hope displayed in how we suffer. As we cry the same hot tears, enduring the same heartaches and pain, but with an assurance that no matter what things look like, He is good, He can be trusted and He is faithful. Yes, we grapple with questions and cry out in our pain, but in the end, we rest our head on the pillow of His sovereignty and goodness. Reminding ourselves that if He loved us so much that He did not spare His own Son, but freely gave Him up for us all, surely, we can trust Him with “this.”

Be assured, that whatever test you’re walking through today, He can, and will, use it as a testimony to a watching world. Whether that testimony is of His miraculous intervention or of His sustaining power – be assured that He will use every second of it, and every detail of it, for your good and His glory. Author, Kay Arthur puts it best, “He lets you hurt as others hurt, knowing that the way in which you handle it will be a testimony, and your response will show others that there’s something awesomely different about you.” And that difference, is our relationship with Jesus Christ. In all we face, He is the difference maker.

The strength of the vessel can be demonstrated only by the hurricane, and the power of the Gospel can be fully shown only when the Christian is subjected to some fiery trial. If God would make manifest the fact that “He giveth songs in the night,” He must first make it night.

—William Taylor

Father, Please use all we walk through, and all that touches our lives, for Your glory and as a display of Your faithfulness to those around us. Infuse us with Your strength and grant us Your perspective. In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus and His glory

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

You may also purchase Stony Paths, learning to Trust Him as we walk the Stony Paths of real life, by visiting Lulu Publishing or Amazon.

Salsa and Life

“Lord, do You not care…?” Luke 10:40 ESV (38-42 for entire story)

Homemade Salsa

“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”  Job 13:15 NKJV

This year, our daughter’s small backyard garden produced a bumper tomato crop, so with great anticipation, we set aside an entire day for me to show her the finer points of canning homemade salsa.  As we washed, diced and jarred the tomatoes, onions and peppers, we talked about life and family and our world. In the midst of it all, she asked one or two heavy questions that still linger in my thoughts. Before I share the questions, allow me to give you part of the short answer I gave her. “I don’t know. But I know we can trust Him.”

With obvious emotion she asked, “Mom, why did God allow a woman with several young children to die of cancer?” The heartfelt question that came amid the dicing of tomatoes and jalapenos, demanded more than a memorized theological answer. Keeping my hands busy with the task of canning, I thought/prayed how to answer her question. Even as I was secretly thankful she intuitively understood the larger issue of God’s control over all circumstances. Even tragedy.

Have such questions ever lodged in your heart? Have you ever thought deeply about why a divorce or why singleness? Why an addiction or why a betrayal? Why financial ruin or a broken relationship? Why the death of a child or the death of a hoped-for dream? Pain begs for an answer.

In today’s verses, we see two contrasting examples of facing the inevitable pain of real life. When Martha was confronted with the minor irritation of no help in the kitchen, she spoke almost harshly to the Lord Jesus, when she asked, “Lord, don’t You care?” By contrast, we read of Job, who has just been given the news that everything he owns has been stolen by an invading army, and all his servants killed. As this news hits his ears and before there’s time to digest the reality, another servant shows up to tell him the devastating news that all his children have perished in a freak accident. (Read Job 1 and 2). Job’s first response is to worship God. He knew he dare not give priority to his emotions; he spoke out what he knew to be true rather than allow his emotions to do the leading. A couple of chapters and several more trials later, we hear Job say, *“Though the Lord slay me, yet will I trust Him.”

Perhaps Martha was too self-focused as she rushed and hurried and grumbled… Whatever the reason, she snapped at the Lord Himself and accused Him of not caring.

Though Job didn’t understand the why of his horrific pain, he knew his God and he knew His character. So even in the midst of such guttural ache … he trusted.

Back to my daughter’s heartbreaking question – I could have offered to bullet-point Bible verses that academically explain God’s sovereign control over all things, or sin’s impact on our broken world, or God’s ability to bring good out of even the vilest circumstance, etc. But I did none of those. Now wasn’t the time. I admitted to her that I did not know the why of such tragedy, but I did know that we could trust God with it. Reminding her of the story that she’s heard repeated since childhood. Of her own brother and sister who died as babies, and how such tragedy taught me (still teaches me) to trust my Father God even when, (especially when), I don’t understand.

The best answer to a hurting heart is simply, “I am so sorry for your pain.”

Becky White

The truth is we may never know the why of a particular trauma this side of eternity. It’s enough to know our God is good and faithful and He can be trusted. Even with, and in, our pain. If He gave the life of His Son for us, surely we can trust Him when we don’t understand.

Father, I know You are good, and You are faithful, but there are times when life’s pain blinds us of that truth. Please enable us to rest in You as we walk through tragedy, or as we walk with others in their pain. We choose to trust You even when we don’t understand. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I lay my “whys” before Your cross in worship kneeling, my mind too numb for thought, my heart beyond all feeling: And worshipping, I realize that I in knowing You don’t need a “why”.

– Ruth Bell Graham

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus

*Some may say that God did not cause Job’s pain, but surely, we must agree that his trial came as a direct result of God’s permission.

Stop, Drop and _______

Recently, when an unexpected trial showed up in my life, the Lord reminded me of this decades-old devo. Written in 2009, much has happened since that day nearly 20 years ago, but one thing remains the same… Life will always provide us with tests, trials and challenges. Sometimes of our own making and sometimes not. The question is how will we respond when they show up in our life?   – Becky

(This OG devo from 2009 has been left in its original form).

Stop, Drop and Worship!

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” Job 1:20-21 NASB

Then the king was very pleased and gave orders for Daniel to be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury whatever was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. Daniel 6:23 NASB

Job lost all a man could lose in one fell swoop. His fortune and family, his health and his home; gone. Job’s response? He literally fell to the ground and worshipped God. In pain mind you — but he worshipped as an act of obedience.

Daniel was thrown to the lions for his obedience to God and spared because of his unshakable trust in God. Not a I’ll-trust-You-as-long-as kind of thing. No. Daniel trusted in God’s faithfulness regardless of his outward condition. His confidence in God didn’t keep him from being thrown to the lions but did keep him from being eaten by the lions!

Worship and simple trust. That’s what the Lord Jesus wants from us as a response (natural reflex) to our trials. Not the most polished or eloquent prayers. Not our promises to do this if He’ll do that — that’s bargaining. No. He wants us to simply worship Him and trust Him, right in the midst of whatever trouble we’re facing. The Lord provided me with a living example of this as I have been eyewitness to a friend enduring a great injustice. He’s handling it with all the pain you would expect while trusting and worshipping all along the way. What a powerful example of God’s ability to carry His people through whatever trial they might face (not necessarily around or out of).

Do you have your own version of a lion’s den or a Job type experience? Has the Lord allowed you to be “thrown to the lions” or have you jumped right in due to your own bad choices? Have you “lost it all” as Job did? How are you handling it? If it’s not through worship and trust, please — stop right now and drop to your knees. Pour out your pain, your confusion or even anger, then — lift your hands in surrendered worship. Your Father God will make a away where there seems to be no way, count on it. He is worthy of your absolute trust.

Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties. – C.S. Lewis

My Father, I lay my burdens at Your feet, I surrender this “lion’s den” experience to You and CHOOSE to trust You through it. I choose to worship You in the midst of it. Where there was once turmoil and confusion, cause Your peace to fill me. I love You, Lord.  In Jesus’ name. Amen

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus

“Where is this God of Yours?”

Day and night I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, “Where is this God of yours?”

Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! … Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you—

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God.

Psalm 42:3, 5a,c NLT   Psalm 42:11 ESV

Recently, while at a funeral – My eyes scanned the small, crowded room, filled with photos and flowers and chatter. And crying. The tears were mingled whispers of “Why?” and “Before his time.” We took our seats and prepared to listen with the soberness required in such settings, my heart breaking for the hurting family around me.  

Real pain. Real tragedy.

Depression and pain and sadness are all around us. Added to this layer of heart ache, the enemy often whispers in our ear, “Where is this God of yours?” Just as in Psalm 42, listed above. The trial in front of you may not be literal death, maybe it’s the death of a relationship or the death of a longed-for outcome or death of your health or the devastating death of hope itself. Sinking you to the depths of despair. The enemy hopes to push us to despair, and in the end, hopelessness. 

Though you’d hate for others to know, do you relate to the Psalmist when he says, “My tears have been my food day and night”? Is the emotional ache buried deep, rearing its head only when life gets still, so you try to stay busy or distracted? Have the enemy’s taunts of, “Where is this God of yours?” invaded your thoughts?

I’ve been there. If we’re honest, most of us have a time or two. And just like the Psalmist, I talk to myself (Hey, no laughing!); I speak the truth to myself. I ask myself questions. I encourage myself with His Word. And in the end, I remind myself to hope in God. Not in hoped-for outcomes or good health or pleasant circumstances (as if those can be relied upon!). Hope. In. God. Read aloud His word, and talk to yourself. Why not start with all of Psalm 42? It’s not that long. Take in each word. In the end, you will find He is faithful, not to always remove our difficulties, but to walk us through them.   

Where’s God? Beside me. In front of me. Behind me. Inside me. He has laid His hand upon me. I am never alone. And neither are you. (See Psalm 139 and John 14).

In the end, you will find He is faithful, not to always remove our difficulties, but to walk us through them.   

One last take-away. Look around. Ask questions. Listen to the pain stories of those around you. And take the risk of being real about your own struggles. Let’s direct each other to the only real hope there is – Jesus Christ Himself.

Father God, I ask that You would push away hopelessness and despair, replacing it with the Truth that You promised never to leave or forsake us. We are never alone. Never without hope. You are at work, no matter what our eyes see. We love You, in Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus

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A “Recipe” for Bitterness?

An Audio only devo.

Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many. Hebrews 12:15 NLT

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.

In His service,  Becky White

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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 oh 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