A friend wrote about holding her breath when she saw a lady come sailing out of a local shopping center in a wheelchair. “She was as happy and joyful as any mother I had ever seen,” my friend said.

In this handicapped mother’s lap sat her little boy. He laughed out loud as his mother did a fancy spin in her wheelchair. Round and round they went, laughing with delight as they disappeared into the crowd.

I realize that there are many tragic situations in this life, as we live in a world that has been broken by mankind’s fall into sin, and all of life’s “curses” will not be put away until Jesus Christ returns for all those who have put their faith and trust in him, and accepted him as their Savior and Lord.

In the meantime, however, in thinking about the handicapped women in the wheelchair, in so many of life’s situations, life can become beautiful for many who have major setbacks in their life when they daily commit and trust their life to Jesus Christ, and in their mind and thinking choose to make the very best with what they have, in spite of what they don’t have.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for the promise in your Word that assures me that ‘all things’ do work together for good for those who love you and who are called according to your purpose. Please take my life and make something beautiful out of it all for the glory of your name, and please help me to love you with all my heart, mind and strength. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Romans 8:28 (NKJV).

“Believing in absolutes doesn’t make one an absolutist,” wrote the late Chuck Colson in his news report, “Jubilee,” about a TV interview where the host accused him of being an absolutist.

Colson said, “When that TV host asked me why Christians always try to cram our views down people’s throats, I was getting nowhere. Then I remembered he loved to sail.

“‘Have you ever sailed at night, navigating by the stars?’ I asked. ‘Yes,’ he replied.

“‘Could you use those stars to navigate if they appeared in different, random positions every night?’

“‘Of course not,’ he said slowly.

“I think he got it. Christians are not intolerant absolutists. We just don’t want our culture to be lost at sea, unaware of the stars above that could so quickly right our course.”²

Jesus not only stated emphatically that he was the only way to God the Father but also that, “Heaven can be entered only through the narrow gate! The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide enough for all the multitudes who choose its easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.”³ We can call God an absolutist, too, if we so desire, but to ignore his way leads to our peril—and eternal damnation. God doesn’t lead us to our peril.

Had there been any other way to Heaven Jesus would not have had to die on the cross to save us from our sins. Let us thank God that he provided the only way to God, Heaven, and eternal life. If you are not absolutely certain that you are on the only way to God, be sure to read the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: www.actsweb.org/christian.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, I thank you with all my heart that you provided the only way to make my peace with you through giving your Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to pay the price for the forgiveness of my sins and to give me the gift of eternal life. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

P.S. This same principle applies to God’s Ten Commandments, and his moral code as delineated in his Word, the Bible. We ignore God’s laws and his ways to our peril.

1. John 14:6 (NIV).

2. Chuck Colson, Prison Fellowship http://www.prisonfellowship.org/.

3. Matthew 7:13-14 (TLB)(NLT).

Vern Treat tells about a scuba diver who said that “when you’re in deep water, you’re encircled by light, so there’s no way you can tell which way is up because the water diffuses the light. You’re also totally weightless, so you have no sense of gravity.

“Surrounded in an aura of light and weightlessness, it’s very easy to lose all sense of direction and get disoriented. You may sense that this way is up and that your air bubbles are going sideways. You may be so convinced that your perception is true that you decide to ignore your bubbles and go the way you think is up. I wouldn’t be surprised if some divers have drowned because of this. One of the first things we were told when learning to scuba-dive was to always trust your bubbles—to always follow your bubbles. No matter how you feel, no matter what you think, your bubbles are always right.”

Life can be like that at times too. If we base the rules of life on our feelings and/or perception, we can be very easily led astray. The philosophy, “If it feels good it must be right,” is a dangerous guide to follow because our feelings can play all sorts of tricks on us. If something is wrong, it is wrong regardless of how we feel. True, it’s important that we don’t deny or repress our feelings because we can learn to trust them—but what we can’t always trust is our interpretation of them or understand what they are telling us.

In life the only safe guide to follow when it comes to fruitful and successful living is to trust God and his Word, the Bible. Therein lie the “bubbles of life” to follow. These “bubbles” are always right. Always!

“Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for your Word, the Bible, and for giving us principles for healthy living and loving. Give me a love for your Word and the desire to hide it in my heart so I won’t sin against you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 119:11 (NIV).

A four-hundred-year-old tree crashed to the forest floor. Over the centuries it had been struck by lightning fourteen times, braved great windstorms, and even defied an earthquake. In the end, however, it was killed by little beetles. Boring under the bark, they chewed away its mighty fibers until the giant of the forest lay broken on the ground.²

Little things can either make us or break us. A little lie, a little theft, a little laziness, a little neglect, a little drink a little too often, a little sarcasm, a little denial here and a little there … bit by bit we can add them all together and eventually hurt or destroy our relationships, our physical and/or mental health, and our walk with God.

On the other hand, a little smile, a little deed of kindness, a little encouraging word, a little thoughtful gift, a little phone call, a little bit of love given a lot of times every day can add up to a whole lot of sunshine that we can spread wherever we are and go—and in so doing encourage others, enhance our relationships, improve our physical and mental health, and please the heart of God.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to watch the many little things in my life. Help me to clean out all the ‘little’ sins and self-destructive habits that hurt myself and others, and help me to keep on practicing little acts of love and kindness until they become an everyday habit that will show your love to others and gladden your heart. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Song of Solomon 2:15 (NIV).

2. Bill Tucker with Pat Maxwell, “Living a Power-Filled Life.”

Some time ago I read how “a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding.

“All but one…. He paused, took a deep breath, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.

“He told his buddies to go on without him, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.

“He was glad he did.

“The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, and helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.

“The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.

“When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, “Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?” She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, “I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.”

“As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, ‘Mister….’ He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, ‘Are you Jesus?’

“He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning in his soul: ‘Are you Jesus?’”²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, I am available, please use me to be ‘as Jesus’ in some way today to every life I touch, and grant that they, seeing Jesus in me, will want you for themselves. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name, amen.”

Note: If you have never committed your life to Jesus Christ and would like to do that, be sure to read the article, How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: http://tinyurl.com/real-christian.

1. The Apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV).

2. Author unknown.

The story is told about the old-time circuit-riding preacher who was visited by three men. They came to confess to him that twenty years before they had loaded his horse and buggy with a load of heavy rocks and hidden them so he wouldn’t see them. They wanted to apologize because they still felt guilty about it for all these years. To which the preacher replied, “You have carried these rocks for twenty years. I only carried them for a day.”

Simple story. Profound truth. There are three things we can do with guilt. We can bury (repress) it from conscious memory and deny it. We can suppress it; that is, be consciously aware of it but not do anything about it. Or we can confess and resolve it.

To repress or suppress guilt can and does affect one’s health and often one’s relationships. But to confess it and put things right brings great freedom and healing.

As David said after he confessed to God his sin with Bathsheba, “There was a time when I wouldn’t admit what a sinner I was. But my dishonesty made me miserable and filled my days with frustration. All day and all night your hand was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water on a sunny day until I finally admitted all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, ‘I will confess them to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.”²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, if there is anything in my life that is hindering my relationship with you and/or others please bring it to my remembrance so I can confess it and, wherever possible and applicable, help me to right any wrongs I have done. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. James 5:16 (NIV).

2. Psalm 32:5 (NIV).

Note: If you have never received Jesus as your Savior or received God’s forgiveness, I encourage you to do that today. To do so see “God’s Invitation” at: www.actsweb.org/invitation.php. Or for further help read, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: www.actsweb.org/christian.

When Robert Louis Stevenson was a young child, as dusk was turning to darkness, he had his face pinned to the window at the front of his house fascinated by the lamplighter coming down the street lighting the old-fashioned gas street lamps.

He called out to his nana saying, “Nana! Come quickly. There’s a man coming down the street punching holes in the darkness!”

Wherever we are and wherever we go may God’s love shine through us so that by our manner of conversation and life we, too, will “punch holes in the darkness”—the spiritual darkness that surrounds us.

No matter how small you feel your “light” may be, remember that all the darkness in the world cannot put out the light of one small candle—or that of one ordinary Christian!

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to so live that your love and your light will shine through me, and thereby show others the way to Jesus. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 5:16.

“Money,” said Sanford Lee, “is an excellent servant, but a terrible master.”

A reporter once asked the elder Rockefeller, “How much money does it take to satisfy a person?”

The billionaire snapped back, “Always a little more!”

Another has said:” Money will buy the following: A bed but not sleep / Books but not brains / Food but not an appetite / Finery but not beauty / A house but not a home / Medicine but not health / Luxuries but not culture / Amusement but not happiness / A crucifix but not a Savior.”

Obviously we can’t live without money and there’s nothing wrong with being wealthy. The issue is, do we own our money or does our money own us, and what is our motive for wanting more money?

I’ve never forgotten the title of an article I read years ago that said, “What God couldn’t do if only he had the money!”

Interesting point. The truth is that it takes money to do much of God’s work and God’s way of financing this is through the committed giving of his people. If every Christian did this and gave in proportion to what God has given him/her (or tithed as some prefer to call it), God’s work on earth would be done and the entire world would be given the gospel.

We came into the world with nothing. We’ll go out the same way. It’s only what we invest now in the Kingdom of God that we can send ahead. As Jesus put it, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me to realize the tremendous importance of investing my life, my talents, and my money in eternity and have values that are pleasing to you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Luke 12:15 (TLB)(NLT).

2. Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV).

Of the two kinds of sinners in Jesus’ day, with whom did he prefer to mix?

The honest ones. They were the only ones he could help. As The Living Bible puts today’s text, “A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance.”

Confession is also a fundamental way to healing—physical as well as emotional and spiritual. James said, “Confess your sins and faults to one another, and pray for each other so you will be healed.”²

As the medics tell us, many of our physical ills are either caused or greatly aggravated by unresolved inner problems as a result of impaired relationships, guilt, anger, resentment, bitterness, hurt, grief, worry, anxiety and other super-charged repressed negative emotions.

Very often these are the things that make us sick. Literally. Confessing them, getting them off our chest, and emptying out these feelings clears the way for the healing of many ills. So, in many ways some healing at least is a choice. To confess or not to confess? That’s the choice, as that’s an imperative way to healing of some ills.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, give me the courage to confess all of my sins, failures, weaknesses, shortcomings and any super-charged repressed negative emotions, and wherever possible, put right every wrong that I have done. And help me to be a non-judgmental, non-preachy person to whom others feel safe to confess their sins and failures. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

P.S. When you decide to confess, make sure it is not only to God, but to a safe person. A safe person is another honest sinner who will not preach at you, put you down, make you feel guilty, give you unsolicited advice, or try to fix you. And, while not condoning what you have done, he/she will not condemn you, but accept you and love you for your honesty—the way God loves all sinners. He hates our sin because it hurts the ones he loves—us, but he loves the sinner unconditionally.

1. Proverbs 28:13 (NIV).

2. James 5:16.

Note: If you have never received Jesus as your Savior or received God’s forgiveness, I encourage you to do that today. To do so see “God’s Invitation” at: www.actsweb.org/invitation.php. Or for further help read, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: www.actsweb.org/christian.