Tuesday, March 31, 2015

A to Z Challenge = Tomorrow!

Woo Hoo...the A to Z Challenge starts tomorrow! I'll be posting Devotions from A to Z, daily in April (except Sundays)! Hope you stop by and leave a comment. I'll respond to each one!  

Blessings,
Dawn

Friday, March 20, 2015

A to Z Challenge - 2015

I haven't posted lately...sorry. I had a really busy two weeks and now I have Shingles. It's a mild case, but still...Ugh.  Anyway, I hope to be back in the game soon and plan on doing the A to Z Challenge with my devotions.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Small Seed Devotion: Journal



Journal Your Words.
 
"Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!” Job 19:23

Do you journal?

I remember, as a girl, the diary I had. It had a tiny lock and key (as if that kept would keep the contents completely confidential). I didn't want anyone to see my doodles, or how I wrote in cursive what my married name would be (according to which boy I was “in love” with that month), or the names I picked out for my future children (like Elizabeth or Rebecca), or the fantasy stories I wrote. My diary was filled with the things of dreams and days to come.

Today, though, I live and write in the present and I “journal” (that’s more sophisticated, right?). My journal is filled with God Sightings, Scripture that jumped out at me, quotes from Christian books, prayers, thoughts, etc....all things I want to think about or be able to go back too; things that keep me focused on God.

So, like Job, my words are written in a book. I can look back in my journal to specific times and see struggles and how God got me through. It strengthens me and hopefully you too. I use my journal entries to write these devos. My life is an open book, I guess. If something helped me, I want to pass it on. Maybe it will help someone else too.

Do you journal? What do you put in it?

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Book Review: Miracle on Voodoo Mountain

"Miracle on Voodoo Mountain" by Megan Boudreaux is a testimony of how God moves mountains!

Overview: "It took months of God waking me up in the middle of the night before I realized I was the one He was calling to leave my comfortable American life and move to Haiti."

Miracle on Voodoo Mountain is the inspirational memoir of an accomplished and driven 24-year old who quit her job, sold everything, and moved to Haiti, by herself—all without a clear plan of action. Megan Boudreaux had visited Haiti on a few humanitarian trips but each trip multiplied the sense that someone needed to address the devastation—especially with the children, many of whom were kept as household slaves on the poverty-stricken and earthquake-devastated Caribbean island.

God guided her every step as she moved blindly to a foreign land without knowing the language, the people, or the future. From becoming the adoptive mother of former child slaves, to receiving the divine gift of the Haitian Creole language, to starting, building, and running a school for more than 500 children, "the amazingness of what God did after I made the choice to be obedient is incredible," said Megan.

Three years later, six acres on Bellevue Mountain in Gressier is the home of the nonprofit Respire Haiti at the former site of voodoo worship, and in the area that many still come to make animal sacrifices, Megan and her staff of nearly 200 are transforming this community as they educate, feed, and address the needs.

Dawn's Recommendation: 5 of 5 Stars (more if I could give them!!!!!)

What I Liked Loved: EVERYTHING! This book is a testimony of what God has done through Megan Boudreaux. I love her heart for God, her willingness to take constant leaps of faith, and her roll-up-her-sleeves-for-the-kingdom attitude. This book is passionate, exciting, amazing, and loving! I didn't want to stop reading it. I hope Megan writes a new book every 3 years to share what God is doing in Gressier, Haiti! 

This book will inspire people to step out in faith to follow the path God has for them! And, if they do, nothing will be impossible for them. God just needs a willing heart.  

Also, I loved the beautiful cover. It perfectly conveys, in one image, the miracles and joy that is found within the book's pages. I loved the cover even more when I found out that it is an actual picture of Megan, Micha, and the tamarind tree in Gressier.

What I Didn't Like: NOTHING!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of the book from the Publisher through BookLook Bloggers in exchange for my honest review.

What miracle (small or large) have you experienced?
 

Friday, March 6, 2015

Small Seed Devotion: Knocking


Jesus is Knocking.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20 (NKJV)

A few weeks ago, here in my town, a man heard knocking at his front door one night. He opened the door and three men attacked him. One of them shot him in the arm before the three fled.

The world is full of evil, but there is one who knocks on the door of our heart and soul who brings healing, goodness, and life. Evil things will still happen in this fallen world, but when you let Jesus in, you let THE light in.

Jesus is knocking. Have you let him in to dine with you or is the door only cracked a bit?   

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Small Seed Devotion: Steady



Slow and Steady is Best.

Steady plodding brings prosperity; hasty speculation brings poverty.
Proverbs 21:5 (TLB)

Driving home early from work today (due to snow), I took it slow and steady. Most of the back roads had not been treated and I didn’t want to slide off the road. Last Sunday, as I drove home in the snow from a youth retreat, we passed all sorts of emergency vehicles and then saw an overturned car in the ditch. Was that car's driver driving too fast for conditions? Maybe.

Driving in the snow makes me think of how fast-paced we all are. Rush to work. Rush home. Rush, rush, rush. But, if we slow down…and take it easy, think things through, adjust to our circumstances – how much better we’d be off. Proverbs reminds us that God wants us slow and steady, pressing on, not rushing ahead or hastily making decisions, but that advice is contrary to the world’s “Be the first, get rich quick, one day sale” philosophy.

This afternoon's snow (my backyard).

Do you have an example from your life of “steady plodding” or “hasty speculation”?