Tag: devotional

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Portraits of Grace – Terri Shuerger

“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Isaiah 41:10

     I am 53 years old, and I have been married for 35 years to the best husband God ever made! (sorry, girls!) I have 2 sons who are 31 and 33; 3 beautiful granddaughters, and another grand on the way! I am a First Generation Christian. I was raised in a nominally Catholic home, but got saved when I was 20 while we were stationed in Madrid, Spain. We were called into Full-Time Service in 1991, and for the last 20 years, have served as Church-Planters in Zacatecas, Mexico, and Tucson, Arizona.

     I would like to speak to you about the Grace of God that is present even when we are unaware. When I was 9, my    parents divorced. I was an only child. Ultimately, my dad was awarded custody of me due to abandonment/neglect issues concerning my mother. It was not long before I began to be sexually abused by my father. This continued off and on until I was 15, at which time I was considering suicide. It was during this time that I met my now-husband. A few months later, in hopelessness, I called my mom and asked her if she would come and get me. After I told her what had been going on, she accused me of lying. I was crushed, and seemingly abandoned again. She took me back to my dad’s house to get my things. She also sought counseling for me. I was eventually referred to a group called Daughters United; for girls who had been sexually abused. It is during this time that the Grace of God was actively at work in my life, yet I didn’t know it until almost 15 years later.

     Let me jump ahead and give you the retrospective; when my sons reached the ages when my abuse had begun, I     became overwhelmed with feelings of anger, resentment, and hatred towards my father, “How COULD you?! I was just a little girl!!” I became eaten up with these sinful emotions. Then, a sister in the Lord gave me a workbook for victims of abuse. I began to do the study, then one day the question came, Where was God during your abuse? I was floored. HE had let this happen to me! Why?! Where was He when a little girl who had been abandoned by everyone else in her life   needed Him?! I became angry at God! Then, slowly, but surely, the Light began to dawn; He WAS there! I had felt Him in my room when I asked to die; I believe His angels took me in their arms and carried me safely over the threshold of death (being unsaved, I would have gone straight to Hell, otherwise).

     Then, He brought me to Daughters United where I learned strategies to survive the abuse and neglect that I had suffered my whole life. But, more importantly, He had brought my 16 year-old boyfriend who drove me to the Daughters United meetings 2x/week, and waited in his car for me; he never asked me any questions. He was just there; quietly,   patiently waiting for me. When I looked back and saw that the arms God had used to sustain me in that awful time were the arms of my husband, I was brought to my knees with thankfulness at the mighty and wondrous grace of God! He had never left me! Even in my unsaved state, He had sent a pair of loving arms to hold me, to comfort me, to be there in the darkness! (Isaiah 41:10)

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Who is a Steward?

“Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” I Corinthians 4:2

Today I am trusting to lay a foundation for us to build upon this month as we talk about biblical finances … from the standpoint or eyes of a steward. So, to begin, what is a steward or who is a steward? A steward is one who has been given the responsibility, accountability, or management of another man’s property.

Psalm 24:1 tells us that, “The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” So, who owns the earth? The Lord. Who owns all that is in the earth? The Lord. Who owns us? The Lord. Who owns all that we have and more specifically our money and possessions? The Lord. So, if the Lord owns our money and our possessions, then we are just stewards of them, are we not?

The principle of stewardship (how a steward handles that which he has been entrusted with) can be found in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. Did you notice that the servants (stewards) were all given different amounts of talents? Not all of us will have the same amount of money. Not all of us will have the same amount of income (salary). But, EACH of us are responsible … and accountable … for EVERY penny that the Lord allows us, his stewards, to have. Not only are they responsible for what they currently have, but they are responsible for their past and their future.

How did stewards keep an accounting for their masters? Did they just do it in their heads? Did they write it down or record is somewhere? What did they do? Well, I can assure you that their master wanted to see it in writing. Why the importance of writing it down? Well, for starters, there is less likelihood of lying. Secondly, there is less likelihood of forgetting. Thirdly, there is less likelihood of mismanagement or lack of management.

The same goes for your family’s finances. You need to write them down. In fact, you need to start with ALL debts from the past that have not been paid … a cell phone bill or whatever bill … even if it was from 10 years ago or to a family member, you still are accountable to God for it. Remember that all of your money is God’s and if you cheat someone of money, you are cheating God Himself. Until you are honest and open toward God and man, God will not bless your finances.

You and I are accountable to God for EVERY sin that we commit … whether a sin of commission or a sin of omission. Am I not correct? Therefore, you and I are accountable to God for EVERY penny that He has allowed us to have … from our past to our present and even into our future. Stewardship Principle #1: All that you have is God’s … your life, your family, your job, your possessions, and your money. A steward is accountable for every penny … past, present, and future. Start with your past … make it right with God!

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Tell Me a Story

When our daughter was small, we did not have television. So, we read books to her … LOTS and LOTS of books! Some books we read so often that she actually memorized them … even as young as eighteen months old! Actually one of the first books that she memorized was Psalm 23.

Our lives are like books … they tell a story. No two stories are alike. God has made each one of us uniquely different; therefore, each one of our stories are uniquely different. Your story is special to you. My story is special to me. Yet, God can use each of our stories to help someone else.

As I share my story in the pages of this site, you will find that I am not perfect. You will see flaws in me. You will see mistakes. I do not share to compare. I do not share to act better than another. But, if my story and the lessons that God is teaching me speaks to just one person, it is worth the sharing.

The greatest story in history is the story of my Savior dying on the cross for my sins. He was the only begotten, sinless Son of God. He died in my place on that cruel cross that day. He took my sin and my shame and when I repented of my sin, all things became new. I am now a new creature in Christ!

Tell me the story of Jesus … write on my heart every word

As a child, I do not remember having many books to read, but I do distinctly remember listening to the Children’s Bible Hour stories on the radio. I also remember having some of the story records from the Children’s Bible Hour. One of those records had the story of the rapture on it.

One day as I was playing in my bedroom by myself, I was playing that Children’s Bible Hour story record on the rapture. I remember playing and listening and when it got to the end, I remember going over there and kneeling down on my young knees and praying to God to forgive me of my sin. God had convicted my heart so strongly that day. I knew that even though I had been in church my whole life (at the old age of 6-years-old) and even lived in a pastor/missionary’s home, I was not saved. I would not be going to heaven when Christ returned at the rapture and I knew that I did not want to be left behind.

My story did not end that day. No, my friend, that was just the beginning. Many years have passed and many pages have been written since then. My story has not always been one of love, or of faithfulness, or of servitude. Some of those pages are sodden with tears of sorrow and of grief. Some smell like a field of beautiful flowers on a sunny, summer day.

As my storybook has gotten thicker, I have finally come to the place where I so deeply desire to be a sweet-smelling savour in all that I do and say. I know that I have failed the Lord many times, but He has never failed me. It is the least that I can do each day is to strive to bring honor and glory to His name.

So within the pages of this site, you will see me pointing to God. You will see me seeking answers and wisdom from Him who sees all and knows all. We have lived and played in the world long enough, my friend. It is time now to get serious with God. It is time to love Him and serve Him as He has always intended for His children to.

What story is your life telling? Every single day He gives you a new page to write on. What story will you write on your page today?