As I was standing outside on my back porch on a beautiful October afternoon, I was meditating on the Scriptures, thinking how God is so awesome when we rely on Him and not on ourselves. Our dog Joey (who looks just like Lassie) came to me because he wanted to play. I had just bent over to pet him and to tell him that he is a good watchdog for our house and that I love him, when I sensed a bad odour from the doggy. I said to him, "You need a bathy bathy, because you stink. When you are clean, you are absolutely beautiful!"

Then this thought came to me: it is the same way with ourselves, the people of God. We stink because we have fallen into sin, so we need a bathy bathy like our dog — so that we will be a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

What do we do to take away our sin? Nothing. Joey can't give himself a bath. He needs someone to do it for him. If we humble ourselves, remove our pride, and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to cleanse us, He will bathe us in His precious blood that He shed on the cross of Calvary and cleanse us from our sins.

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, thank You so much for sending the Lamb Who takes away the sin of the world to wash us and cleanse us from our sins. In Your precious name, we pray. Amen.

A female cat started coming to our house, back in March 2003. She was pregnant and gave birth to three kittens in May that year. My family and I started feeding her and her kittens. Even though they were not domesticated and didn't have any care for us, we felt compassion for them. We even gave them names. Mi Linda was the mother, and the kittens were Mary Linda, SJ, and Tiger.

A few months later, we lost Mi Linda to a fatal accident. Our hearts were so broken that we cried for days. For a short time after, all three kittens continued to come for food. Eventually, though, only one stayed. That was Mary Linda.

Mary Linda just gave birth to three kittens. We brought them into the house to protect them from the rain and the bad weather outside. We don't want any harm to come to them. But Mary Linda, being an outside cat, is not happy being indoors. She always cries to be let out. Even though we are taking care of her and her kittens, offering them protection, she would prefer to leave the security and run away.

Isn't that the same with us and our Father in heaven? He wants to protect us. He wants to take care of us. He wants us to come to Him in all circumstances. We, however, so often, turn away and run from Him.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we come to You with humble hearts to ask You to forgive us when we want to run away from You. We ask that You will never leave us or forsake us. Keep Your guarding and protecting arm around us. Please help us to be better sons and daughters for You. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

As I was getting the clean clothes out of the dryer, I was thinking, "I like to get the clothes out of the dryer right away. This way they are ready to be folded and put away, until I wear them again."

Then I asked myself, "Would you put on dirty clothes on Sunday morning? No!" Each of us wants to look our best, and we want our children to look their best, too. We like to put on beautiful, clean clothes for church. Similarly, that's the way our Lord wants our hearts to look like, beautiful inside and beautiful outside, clean.

While it is easy for us to wash our own clothes to get them ready to wear, the same is not true of our hearts, because we are sinful by nature. We depend on the Lord to clean our hearts from all sin, and to get them ready for Him. Today, let's remember to ask our Lord and Saviour to wash our hearts with the precious blood that He shed on the cross for us for the forgiveness of our sins.

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, we ask You to get our hearts ready for You today. We ask You to forgive us, and to save us from our iniquities and our sin. We pray with all of our hearts. Amen.

I am originally from Mexico; I have lived in the USA nearly 11 years. Most people in the USA and Canada have a picture of Mexicans as being poor and impoverished. I come from a wealthy family. We grew up not wanting, and very materialistic.

Since I have been here in the USA, my relationship with the Lord has grown greatly. I guess I owe that to my grandfather, "Mi Abuelito". He was a missionary, and helped a lot of missionaries to spread the good news about Jesus and distribute medicine to the poor people who lived in the mountains. He helped found a Presbyterian Church in the little town of Villa Mainero, where he was born. I enjoyed the Bible stories he would tell me, and he really led me to know our Lord. Because of that, I have become unique among the rest of my family. I really wish they would see the joy I have in Christ.

I go back home at least once a year to visit my family, especially my mother, but also my sister, brother-in-law and my nieces. When I return, I come back very empty in my heart and soul, and my spirit hurts. They live in a world full of materialism, and have a lot of money. Yet with all that, my sister tells me that she wishes that she were like me and had the joys that I have, but as soon as I start telling her about the reason for my joy, she rebukes me and tells me I'm ignorant. I cannot understand; she rejects what she wants.

On Labour Day, I woke up very early and went to my back porch to pray. Later that day, my husband and I were working in our back yard, to get it ready for winter. He started cutting back all the plants and shrubs that grow every spring. The bushes were looking really good, nice and green and healthy, but as my husband started to cut them back, I was surprised at the inside of the plant. It was brown and "dead" looking — really ugly. The Lord spoke to me, explaining that a person can be very beautiful on the outside, but can be empty and dead on the inside.

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, thank you so much for your love and for always being there for us. Thank you for opening the eyes of our hearts and letting us see the truth about the things of this world. It is only with You that we can be beautiful through and through. In Jesus' name. Amen.