Why do people have to wait until a disaster hits before we turn our hearts and minds to God?

During the second week of September for four consecutive years, we were in New York City attending a conference on making videos. With my birthday being on September 11th, we always went into the city to celebrate and to go shopping at my husband's favourite camera shop. New York City was busy, hustle and bustle, people always in a hurry, no one making eye contact or smiling … just busy. Strangely enough, in 2001, the year the 9/11 terrorist attack happened, our video conference had been moved to July, so we were not in the city on that date.

The next year, 2002, our conference was back on schedule, meeting on 9/11. We again went into the city to shop at the camera shop and to celebrate my birthday. The celebration trip quickly turned very sombre as we made our way to the World Trade Center site. We could still smell the ash in the air a year later. People made eye contact with one another, sometimes smiling and making conversation. Being a friendly soul, I smiled at people as we went along, and they smiled back. Once we arrived at Ground Zero, we met a New York City fireman who was there viewing the site. We started a conversation and learned that on the morning of 9/11, he was at work with all his co-workers. He received a call from his daughter's school saying that she was ill, so he left work to care for his daughter. In the next few minutes, 9/11 happened and everyone but him from his fire unit was lost in the horrible attack. He shared that he felt very guilty for having left and all his fellow workers being killed. We tried to console him and let him know that he had nothing to feel guilty about; he had to care for his daughter.

The feeling and atmosphere in New York City was very different that year. People took time for others, genuinely cared for one another, and turned their hearts to God.

Back to my original thought: It seems that through generation after generation after generation, Israel and all the world forget about God until some disastrous happening occurs. If only we could learn from other people's mistakes!

Prayer: Precious heavenly Father, we pray for ourselves and others to take the examples that You've given us in the precious Bible and apply them to our lives so that we don't have to wait until a disaster happens before turning our hearts to You. In Your name, we pray. Amen.

I am very happy for my mother because she fought a good fight and finished victoriously. But at the same time, my heart is breaking because I miss her so very much. When my father died fourteen years ago, I felt the same emotions, rejoicing for him but sad for myself because he wasn't here on earth with me. Somehow, since Mom is gone, it seems that my heart aches so much more. I loved both my parents the same, so maybe my heartache is more now because I know that I don't have either parent to turn to when I face difficulty.

When reading my daily devotions today, this Scripture spoke to my heart:

Psalm 10:14 – But You have seen, for You observe trouble and grief, to repay it by Your hand. The helpless commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless. (NKJV)

Knowing that He does consider our trouble and grief and takes it in His hand is such a comfort to me now. If we commit ourselves to Him, He is the helper of the fatherless, which is what I was feeling like until I read this Scripture. Thank You, heavenly Father!

I know that we Christians will be reunited with our loved ones in Christ someday when it's our turn to go to that glorious heavenly home, but until then, we need to keep hiding and guarding His Word in our hearts and sharing it with others.

Prayer: Precious heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word. May it always guide us in everything we do and go through in this life. We love You and thank You for loving us. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

I grew up in the house that my 91-year-old mother lived in. While staying with my mother during the last stage of her cancer, I realized just how much I missed my home. As I was reading my devotional one morning, I had to stop and think on today's Scripture. My husband and I have discussed the fact that although we feel most comfortable in the house that we built, we still do not feel like it is our home, but only a temporary home. We are content and thankful for our earthly home, but we long to see our permanent eternal home.

Many people take great pride in their earthly homes, which is a good thing, but if we Christians took as much pride and pains of upkeep with our bodies preparing for our eternal home, our world would certainly be a much better place to live!

Paul tells us in today's Scripture that as long as we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight, and we should prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. We need to make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. I get excited when I shut my eyes and imagine kneeling at His feet to worship Him and being at home eternally with Him!

Prayer: Precious heavenly Father, remind us that this world is not our eternal home, and help us to serve You in all our ways so that we may be at home with You forever. Amen.

Psalm 46:10 – Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! (NKJV)

Have you ever been in a place or situation that you felt was truly hopeless? I'm sure that if we are honest with ourselves, we have all been in that place at one time or another. What is our first response when we find ourselves in a place or situation that we feel is truly hopeless?

I have recently been going through a very rough, dry time. My first response was to feel sorry for myself, and to think only of my deep hurt. After a time of self-pity, I turned to our heavenly Father, Who immediately came to my rescue. I just have to learn every day to trust Him completely … in all situations.

Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (NKJV)

Over the last 52 years of being His child, I have found that all that we have to do when we are hurting is to go to Him with a humble and contrite heart, and He well direct our paths and give us the strength to go through our trials. In our humanness, each of us often wants to just think that we are the only ones hurting or going through a particular trial. All we have to do is look at our precious Saviour and see the hurts and trials that He endured for us. That's how much He loves us. So don't ever think that you are alone when going through a trial or a very difficult situation. Be still, and know that He is God of everything. We need to allow Him to do His work in our lives.

Prayer: Precious heavenly Father, we thank You for Your gift of salvation and for welcoming us into Your family forever. Thank You for caring for all our hurts and needs. Thank You for Your Word that gives us strength, encouragement, and guidance when we so desperately need it. Help us to share You and Your love with others. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

What comforting words those are, especially in these troubled times. About four years ago, my dear husband suffered a major stroke while he was driving. He was not able to move the entire right side of his body, and he had to be airlifted from our hospital to a neurotrauma centre two hours' driving time away. From the phone call from the hospital to the time I walked out the door of the emergency room, everything went very fast. The doctor kept telling me how important every second was for my husband, so as the emergency medical technicians carted him out the door on the stretcher, I realized, "There goes my life!" — my husband and I had been married 41 years at that time. I didn't think that I could walk out the doors of the hospital, but I knew that I had to go. I couldn't ride in the helicopter with my husband, and I knew that I had at least two hours of driving time ahead.

With the urgency that the doctor had explained, I had no idea what would happen to my dear husband. God gave me the strength to walk through the doors, as our son helped me to the helipad to watch as they took my husband. As I looked up to the sky, I saw the helicopter lifting up into the beautiful blue sky with a gorgeous white cloud just above the helicopter. It was at that time when I felt the "peace that passes all understanding" come over me.

Philippians 4:7 – And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (RSV)

I did not know if my husband would live or die, but I knew that either way, we would be okay. That precious peace got me through the next several weeks of watching God work through and in my husband. All I could do was sit back and watch God work. I felt totally helpless in myself, but I knew that God was in control, and we experienced His wonderful peace and got to watch Him at work. Again, I repeat that all I could do was sit back and watch God work.

While at the hospital, God worked through my husband to touch the doctors, nurses, and even patients. Even I had the opportunity to minister to a dear woman, and as I prayed with her, God showed His peace and wondrous works again! All praise and honour and glory belong to Him Who sits on the throne.

When we trust that God is in control, it relieves us of the need to worry and the feeling that we are responsible. It is then that God can give us His gift of the peace that passes all understanding.

Prayer: Precious heavenly Father, we thank You for the blessed peace at troubled times that comes only from You. Thank You for always being there and always hearing our prayers! We love You! In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

One of my dearest friends left for Russia for a return mission trip. We first went to Russia on a mission trip in February of 2012; a time when God especially showed awesome faithfulness to us! One of my duties on that trip was to teach teens in the orphanage (specifically for teenagers) to make jewelry. On the day we were to go to the orphanage, I was really ill and could not go; so very hurriedly, I taught my friend how to make the jewelry so she could take my place. She wasn't at all sure about this, but she accepted the task, having faith that God would totally help her. She did a fantastic job, and the teens responded well to her. God called her to go back to this same orphanage this month to minister to the teens again. We had no idea when I suddenly got ill that God had this in His plan all along. He knew that He was calling her to go back and minister again, so she faithfully accepted the call and worked very diligently to make it back to Russia to these precious souls. She had to make a lot of sacrifices to go again, but when we have God's love in our hearts, we have to follow His leading, no matter how difficult or strange the request may seem.

As I was reading Hebrews 11 this morning, I had to laugh when I came to the part that said, "And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth." My friend and I have always teased each other that we were unusual creatures, that we don't always understand why we do what we do, and that we don't feel at home in this world. These trips to Russia are proof that God works in strange ways and with strange people. We both truly love God and want to serve Him always with all of our being, and no matter where He calls us, we want to be willing to respond, "Yes Lord!" — whether it be to go to Russia or across the street to visit a neighbour in need. What about you?

Prayer: Precious heavenly Father, we pray today that You will always lead and direct our paths, and that we will be willing to go wherever You call us. Even though we may never see the results of the things we do here on this earth, we know and have faith that there is a purpose for all the things that You call us to do. Thank You for loving us so much. May all the honour and glory go to You always. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 – Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work. (NET)

Immediately, I knew that that was my confirming Scripture. My heart became warm, and I felt a precious love for the Russian people to whom I would be ministering. There was no question in my mind that this was my confirming Scripture. These verses let me know, without any doubt, that God would equip me mentally and physically with everything I needed to complete His good work, and prepare me in every way to go "to Russia with love". What a precious Scripture that was to me! I leaned heavily on this Scripture every step of the way in preparing for the trip physically, spiritually, and financially. What a glorious time this mission trip was!

When I met the team of 35 women (most of whom I had never met before), I immediately bonded with each of them. I felt as if I had known them all my life! As we prepared to minister to the Russian women and orphans, I truly felt the servant's heart of each lady. Not only did we serve God, but we all served each other and the people with whom we came in contact. What a precious time of fellowshipping with each other and our newly-met Russian family of God! Only eternity will tell us all that was accomplished on that trip.

As Christians committed to serve God, we can trust that He will guide us as to what He wants us to do and equip us physically, financially, and spiritually, so that when He calls us, we can say, "Yes, Lord!"

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Your Word to guide and direct us in every task that You place before us. We pray that You will help us to accept Your call. Thank You for giving us the strength to do all that You ask of us. Please use us how You see best. In Your holy name, we pray. Amen.