empathy

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

- Hebrews 4:15-16

 

Aren’t we fortunate, to have someone that can not only empathize with us, but also show us compassion and grace? 

Oh, you know there is a song reference here:

Everyone needs compassion, love that’s never failing, let mercy fall on me,

Everyone needs forgiveness, the kindness of a Savior, the Hope of nations.

Savior, He can move the mountains,

My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save

Forever author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave

God can have compassion upon us because He experienced what we have felt—in every way.

God became a participant in suffering.

To think that God doesn’t understand what we are facing is so wrong!

He knows!

He is with us every single step of the way!

God came to earth to experience our weakness so we can live in the confidence that He knows us fully.

He is mighty to save.

 

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confidence

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

- Hebrews 10:35-36

 

For some of us it is really hard to get up and sing or make a speech.

For others it is difficult to take a test or go in public.

Fear can be overwhelming.

But with God, we can have confidence, like this song reference!

I'm not a warrior

I'm too afraid to lose

I feel unqualified for what you're callin' me to

But Lord with your strength

I've got no excuse

'Cause broken people are exactly who you use

So, give me faith like Daniel in the lion's den

Give me hope like Moses in the wilderness

Give me a heart like David, Lord be my defense

So, I can face my giants with confidence

You took a shepherd boy

And made him a King

So, I'm gonna trust you and give you everything

I'll be a conquerer

'Cause you fight for me

I'll be a champion claiming your victory

So, give me faith like Daniel in the lion's den

Give me hope like Moses in the wilderness

Give me a heart like David, Lord be my defense

So, I can face my giants with confidence

I'm gonna sing and shout and shake the walls

I won't stop until I see them fall

Gonna stand up, step out when you call

Jesus, Jesus

Give me faith like Daniel in the lion's den

Give me hope like Moses in the wilderness

Give me a heart like David, Lord be my defense

So, I can face my giants with confidence

I'll face my giants with confidence

Faith like Daniel, Moses and David

Seems to me like those are three people that persevered and were richly rewarded. 
I think I want to be like Daniel. 

 

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fear

What the wicked dread will overtake them; what the righteous desire will be granted.

- Proverbs 10:24

 

I have several huge fears, like anxiety inducing whole body frozen cannot move fears.

Spiders, snakes and a few other things are on that list, so watching movies like “Arachnophobia” and “Snakes On A Plane” does not happen.

The wicked have bigger fears than spiders and snakes, they fear the triumph of good, they fear death, they fear holiness and righteousness.

Righteousness – that is what we have when we have Jesus.

When we give our life to Him, we recognize our fears, our enemy and even death but we recognize that these fears are conquered by Him.

Our Savior is bigger that the wicked, bigger than the fears.

In the words of Veggie Tales, God is bigger than the boogey-man!! (and that spider living on my patio).

 

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it’s not over

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

- Psalm 23:4 (NKJV)

 

I have been devastated this past week by the number of unexpected deaths I have seen among my friends and loved ones. 
There has really been too much death in my life.

Death in the form of unexpected tragedy, and in the form of natural causes, some of the people were close to my heart and others simply break my heart when I hear of the loss.  

I don't like to think about it and I don’t want to talk about it.

But death is that one reality that will not leave us alone.

We lose friends and family members to death.

And some day we too will die, unless Jesus comes before our passing.

Now that we have that out in the open, what assurance do we have as we face the inescapable?

Obviously, the answer is our God!

He will walk us through, guiding, protecting and comforting us in our journey.

As followers of Christ, this promise is intensified because we know Jesus as our Savior, and He has taken the walk ahead of us to assure us that our walk through death's valley doesn't end in death, but in glory. 

 

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don’t judge me

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’” So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

- Romans 14:10-12

 

In the check out line at a grocery store is a woman with three rowdy children each under the age of 10.  The oldest is standing in front of the cart on a cell phone, the middle one in the basket on a cell phone, the youngest in the seat portion of the basket, watching a moving on a small ipad, no one helping unload the cart.  The woman, whom we shall assume is mom, is talking on her cell phone while trying to unload the cart.  When she finally gets to the cashier, she opens her Coach purse and pulls out her EBT (SNAP, Food Stamps) card to pay for the groceries.

At a fast food restaurant is a man who quite obviously has not seen a shower in a few days.  He orders a small food item and a small drink, then struggles to find enough change to pay for the order while others are standing behind him shifting impatiently. 

While at the gas station putting fuel in the car, a motorcycle roars up to an empty pump.  The biker is 6’2” wild hair and beard wearing a leather jacket, chaps and chains. People hurry to finish their purchase and rush to the safety of their car. 

As humans, we probably judged every one of these people, not knowing their situation.

Some people make ugly comments or move away, the disdain visible on their faces for people and situations they know absolutely nothing about.  

The woman in the grocery store may be a foster mother, her handbag a knockoff or a hand-me-down, the phones/ipad that the kids are using may only have the ability to use the free wifi options or movies and games that are pre-downloaded. 

Don’t judge her.

The man at the fast food restaurant may be a factory worker that just finished a double shift because they are short staffed, and payday is tomorrow but he is hungry today.

Don’t judge him.

The biker may have just finished a funeral escort for a fallen soldier or police officer.  He may have been supporting an abused child in court as a BACA (Bikers Against Child Abuse) advocate. He may have taken part of a toy run for a children’s hospital. 

Don’t judge him.

Not one of us are given a free pass, each of us will be required to give an account of ourselves to God. 

We don’t know their story and they don’t know ours.

We don’t want to be judged for our actions, so what gives us the right to judge others?

 

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stay

Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

- Matthew 26:38

 

Life is hard.

Life on earth for Jesus was crazy hard.

Jesus wanted them to stay with Him while He prayed (but they fell asleep).

Fortunately for us, Jesus will stay with us and keep watch.

When we are overwhelmed by the craziness that is this world, we just need to ask Jesus to stay.

I do this a lot, because there is a lot of crazy in my world.

It’s nothing to be ashamed of, because after all, Jesus asked His friends to stay, you can ask Him to stay.

 

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water

But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

- John 4:14

 

Let’s think about water for a moment.

It’s life giving, life sustaining, thirst quenching, refreshing amazing water.

We can’t survive without it, our bodies are 60% water, there is water nearly everywhere.

Then there is Living Water.

We can drink water out of a faucet, out of a bottle, our straight out of a lake (I do not recommend this, ewww) and it my quench our physical thirst, but it does nothing for our spiritual thirst. 

Our soul needs Jesus, just like our bodies need water.

Just like rain falls nourishing the land and helping plants grow, Living Water flows through us, blessing us and bringing life and light to our world.

I’m really thirsty, how about you?

 

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whole heart

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”

-  2 Chronicles 16:9 (ESV)

 

We need to stay focused on God.

It’s that simple, folks!

We are children of God, yet so often we are determined that we need to lean on things of this world.

If we just had more money.

If we just had more time.

If we just had more. . . 

What we need is more Jesus!

We need to love Him with our whole heart, to turn to Him when we are sick, lost, broken.

The Lord seeks those whose heart belongs completely to Him, because it is then that we start to see the power He has.

He can move mountains and He will, when we open our whole heart to Him.

 

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sing!

Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.

- Isaiah 12:5

 

I love music, it just puts me in the right frame of mind.

Just like Apple trademarked the phrase “there’s an app for that”, I believe that God should trademark “there’s a song for that”!

Happy? Sing! Sad? Sing! Angry? Sing! Bored? Sing!

Most important though, is singing to the Lord – He loves the sound of our voices!

Oop! Old song reference:

Sing your praise to the Lord

Come on everybody

Stand up and sing one more hallelujah

Give your praise to the Lord

I can never tell you just how much

Good that it's gonna do you

Just to sing

Anew

The song your heart learned to sing

When He first gave His life to you

But life goes on and so must the song

You gotta sing again

The song born in your soul when

You first gave your heart to Him

Sing His praises once more

Sing your praise to the Lord

Come on everybody

Stand up and sing one more Hallelujah

Give your praise to the Lord

I can never tell you just how much

Good that it's gonna do you

Just to sing

Aloud the song that someone is dying

To hear down in the maddening crowd

As you once were before you heard the song

You gotta let them know the truth

Is a life to shine upon the way, so maybe they, can go

Sing your praises once more

Sing your praise to the Lord

Come on everybody

Stand up and sing one more Hallelujah

Give your praise to the Lord

I can never tell you just how much

Good that it's gonna do you

Just to let the name of the Lord

Be praised both for now and ever more

Praise Him oh you servants

Give your praise to the Lord

Come on everybody

Stand up and sing one more Hallelujah

Give your praise to the Lord

I can never tell you just how much

Good that it's gonna do you

Just to sing, sing, sing

Come on, sing, sing, sing

I can hear you now, sing, sing, sing

My foot is tapping and I can hear the piano, and I am very likely humming the tune!

Hey, even if you sing off key, maybe someone will ask you what you are singing and it will open a conversation so you can tell them the glorious things the Lord has done for you!!! 

 

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losing strength

While I was losing all my strength, I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came to You, into Your holy house.

- Jonah 2:7 (NLT)

 

I am pretty open on my thoughts in my “daily bread”. 

I had the honor of leading a women’s ministry group for a few years, I was researching devotions to be shared at our meetings and found this little gem “the best devotions are not words on a page, but real life experience that comes from the heart”. 

Wow.

After that, I started choosing verses that touched me, that spoke to me, that I felt like God wanted me to share.

Opening up is hard, but sometimes if we know that someone else has had a similar experience it makes us feel a little less alone.

When we lose our strength, when we just can’t go on, we need to remember that we are not alone, that we just need to turn to God.

Sometimes that is hard too, so I would encourage you to reach out to someone that can cast out a life preserver when you feel like you are going under water.

Losing strength, losing faith, giving up, all of these things can destroy our soul.

We need each other and we need God.

I’m giving you homework for the weekend – determine who your lifelines are. 

Never face trouble alone when you have God, if you’re lost, seek Him.

He is always home.

 

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only one

Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

- 1 Corinthians 8:6

 

This I believe.

Yes, it is time for another (condensed) song reference: 
Our Father everlasting

The all-creating One

God Almighty

Through your Holy Spirit

Conceiving Christ the Son

Jesus our Saviour

I believe in God our Father

I believe in Christ the Son

I believe in the Holy Spirit

Our God is three in One

I believe in the resurrection

That we will rise again

For I believe in the Name of Jesus

Our Judge and our Defender

Suffered and crucified

Forgiveness is in You

Descended into darkness

You rose in glorious light

Forever seated high

I believe in God our Father

I believe in Christ the Son

I believe in the Holy Spirit

Our God is three in One

I believe in the resurrection

That we will rise again

For I believe in the Name of Jesus

I believe in You

I believe You rose again

I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord

I believe in life eternal

I believe in the virgin birth

I believe in the saints' communion

And in Your Holy Church

I believe in the resurrection

When Jesus comes again

For I believe in the Name of Jesus

For me, there is only one true God, through the power of His Son Jesus and of the Holy Spirit, I am saved, I am redeemed, I am loved, and I am the child of a King.

I live for Him.

How about you?

 

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alive!

The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!

- Psalm 18:46

 

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

Alive, Alive, Alive Hallelujah, Alive, praise and glory to the Lamb!
Christ is Risen. 

Lots of songs proclaim that the King is alive (and I’m not talking about Elvis).

I would not want to live in a world without Jesus. 
I do not want to think of what life would be like if He was not by my side every step of the way.

There are many though, who live in darkness, who don’t know Jesus, who have never seen His light in their life.

The Lord lives, ya’all, and we should be shouting it from the top of our lungs, our Redeemer LIVES!

Let His light shine through you, be Jesus to someone who doesn’t know Him.

Change a life!

 

#dailybreadbykitty

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power struggle

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

- Ephesians 6:12

 

I struggle with anxiety.

Sometimes it is just a little nagging thing that I can work through, but other times it is a full on freeze in my tracks and cry kind of anxiety.

Over the years I have tried medications, meditation, therapy and counseling, and I have found things that work for me so I am not paralyzed by the struggle.

The struggle is real.

Read that again, the struggle is real.

Through the processes and resolutions I have found one thing that is consistent – God.

Every ‘thing” that freaks me out, that holds power over me, those are not things of God, those are little forces of evil trying to break my faith.

Sometimes, they merely scratch the surface but there have been times when they have left huge gaping wounds and the darkness comes close to winning.

Then I run to God, my Father, my protector.

The rest of this chapter in Ephesians talks about putting on the whole armor of God to protect yourself from the forces of evil, to help you in choosing His way.

Our struggle against evil is not even close to being over, but we can protect ourselves by leaning on God.

 

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old age

Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

- Isaiah 46:4

 

As most women who frequently visit a hairdresser, I stopped when Covid hit.

For me, this has resulted in longer hair than I have had in years and a LOT of gray!

As of today, I am 19,052 days old – which sounds way older than my 52 years 😊 .

There are days that I feel 19,000 years old, and others when I am closer to the real 52, fewer days when I feel 25. 😊

No matter how much gray is on my head (I like it by the way) one thing remains constant, that is God.

He truly knows the number of hairs on my head (but that is a different verse) and He is my sustenance, my water when I thirst, my food when I am hungry, sleep when I am tired.

There is no situation in this world that from which He would not rescue me.

I don’t mind getting old and gray when I know I have God right here with me.

 

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we remember

I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

- Lamentations 3:20-23

 

Tomorrow is a day we remember as the day that the world stopped turning twenty years ago as America was attacked.

Even though it has been twenty years, America still remembers as we think about the lives that were lost on that day and in the following days, even as recent as August 26^th when 13 American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. 

Tomorrow is a day I remember as the day my younger brother was killed by a guy speeding in a school zone while talking on his cell phone 29 years ago.

Tomorrow is a day people remember Hurricane Iniki devastated the Hawaiian Islands of Kauai and Oahu 29 years ago.

Tomorrow is a sad day for a lot of people, but it is also a day of hope.

The city where my brother died has installed signal lights and set other safety precautions in place, in hope that no other child should lose their life in that intersection.

The islands of Kauai and Oahu have rebuilt homes and business and are relieved to have survived the category 4 hurricane.

Our nation gathered together in solidarity to grieve and rebuild after the attacks.

These are stories of pain, but also stories of hope. 

We need hope again, not only as a nation, but as each individual community and the entire world.

God loves us, His compassions never fail, He will be faithful.

Turn to Him, people.

Please.   

 

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do me no harm

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

- Genesis 50:20

 

People hurt us a lot, intentionally and even unintentionally, regardless of the intent, hurt is still hurt.

It could be something as little as hearing that someone you considered a friend was saying bad things behind your back.

It could be something major like someone placing the blame on you for wrongdoings that could result in you losing financially or even a job.

People tend to hurt others to move themselves forward in the world.

In the book of Genesis, we see this play out several times in the life of Joseph – his brother’s jealousy pushed them to sell him into slavery and lie to their father about his disappearance. 

His owner’s wife was so smitten by his good looks that she threw herself at him and when he refused her advances, she lied about him to her husband and he was thrown in prison.

But God had a plan – and that plan took the horrible things that people did to Joseph and turned them into a path for Joseph to save all of Israel from famine, including his brothers who set the wheel in motion in the first place. 

People will continue to hurt us. 

We need to know that no matter what Is done to us, we should keep our eyes on God, He knows what we are going through and even though we may not see it today, there is something good that will come of every harm that is done to us, if we just put our hope in Him.

 

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trust

O Lord my God, in You I put my trust; save me from all those who persecute me; and deliver me, lest they tear me like a lion, rending me in pieces, while there is none to deliver.

- Psalm 7:1-2 (NKJV)

 

Trust is earned, not freely given.

How many times have we heard that statement growing up and even still today?

It seems that we trust in people today more that we trust in God. 

Our forefathers saw the value of trusting in God – they even had it printed on our money, a practice that still exists today and I pray will continue for a very long time.

Trusting in people can hurt us, but trusting in God will keep us safe.

Trusting in people we often find ourselves in the midst of trouble or danger, but God will keep us safe.

Trusting in people will often result in hurt feelings and destroyed friendships, but don’t you know that God will always keep us safe.

Put your trust in God, He will save us.

 

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