by Lydia E. Harris
**Missing the mark of being a perfect mom? Are you feeling depressed? http://womentodaymagazine.com/chat/ask_depression.html
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:17 ).
Shortly after Christmas, my father called. “Mom needs new shoes. Would you take her shopping?”
I agreed, and we set a date. Mom, now in her mid-eighties, wasn’t spry, so shopping with her would be slow. Since Mom didn’t relish shopping or spending money, I knew this trip was more of a necessity than a fun mother-daughter outing. Yet throughout my childhood, Mom had always been patient while taking me shopping. Now the shoe was on the other foot, literally.
A few days later, I picked up Mom at her senior citizen apartment and drove to a nearby shopping center. I parked close to the mall entrance so she wouldn’t have far to walk. We shopped at several stores, and Mom tried on one pair of shoes after another. With corns on her different-sized flat feet, finding comfortable shoes was a challenge. (We certainly couldn’t consider shoes like she bought me as a teen: flashy red flats or three-inch spiked high heels.) Finally, Mom found a pair of basic black, low-heeled slip-ons that suited her. Package in hand, I took Mom’s arm, and we started back to the car.
Life Lesson: Biblical perspective on the end times
Experience It: Living in the power of the Holy Spirit
Along the way, we passed a yarn and stitchery shop holding an after- Christmas sale. Outside the store, on a discount table, I spied a crewel-embroidered Nativity scene framed in handsome walnut. It was just like the one I had admired in my sister’s home. I had wanted to stitch one for myself but never found the time. Now the completed stitchery cost less than the original kit. I felt like God was smiling down and whispering, “I knew you wanted it and saved it just for you.”
As we trudged to the car, weary from shopping, both of us carried parcels and wore contented smiles. It had turned out to be a nice mother-daughter time after all.
Later, as I admired the detailed stitches on my new treasure, I realized if I hadn’t taken Mom shopping, I wouldn’t have found this bargain. While helping my godly mother, God surprised me with a heavenly gift from above.
Mom doesn’t wear her new shoes anymore. She doesn’t need them in heaven. But each year as I hang my cherished Nativity in our home, I recall our shopping trip and the sweet surprise of God’s after- Christmas gift to me.
Respond: Heavenly Father, you are a generous and loving God. Thank you for blessing me in unexpected ways. Today, show me how to bless others with my time and love.
“When we obey him, every path he guides us on is fragrant with his loving kindness and his truth” (Psalm 25:10 TLB).
Questions: How has God showered you with His loving kindness lately? Is there someone that comes to mind that would appreciate your kindness this Christmas season?
About the Author: http://talk.thelife.com/authors/lydia-e-harris/
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LYDIA,
LIKE YOU, MY MOTHER IS NO LONGER HERE FOR ME OR MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS . BUT I MYSELF THINK OF HER OFTEN AND HAVE VERY FOND MEMORIES OF HER AND OUR LOUD NOISY FAMILY AT CHRISTMAS. SHE PASSED AWAY MAY 3,1994.
MY DAD HAS SINCE REMARRIED, WHICH I AM SO HAPPY ABOUT. TO HAVE THAT SECOND LOVE OF A PERSONS LIFE IS SO RARE. JEANNETTE IS A VERY SPECIAL PERSON AND THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS SHE MAKES MY DAD HAPPY.
The Lord has showered me with so many memories of my mother, whose has been gone for five years now. I can’t begin to tell you how much we laughed in the last two years of her life. She was precious…and always saying or using words and sentences that were almost what she meant to say, but kept us bursting into laughter….and she could laugh at herself with us. When people tell me I am becoming my mother….I’m pleased and proud.
Ladies….as you know we have been lifting Toni up in prayer. She went to her mother’s in Ohio, where her brother, Frank was gravely ill. He was able to be home on Christmas Day and Toni and husband had planned to leave the following day.
There has been no word from her since….and there is no answer on her cell phone or home phone. Please lift her up in prayer…as we do not know what, at this time, she may be facing.
Lord, be with Toni, her mother and brother…wherever they may be. You know their circumstances and we pray you are ministering to them in their need. We lift them up…not knowing, but trusting them in Your care.
Thank you Jesus and we give you all the praise and glory in this situation, as you know best and are caring for them.
Lord, as we finish another year, we thank you for physical life and the hope of eternal life. We pray for any on this list with health concerns, asking YOU to strengthen them and to bring hope and healing in the New Year. Especially watch over Toni and her family.
Thank you for your loving kindness revealed to us in many ways. Help us to focus on the positive, hopeful side of life and to also look for ways to minister to others around us: family, friends, and others You bring across our paths.
Thank you for your help throughout this past year. May you crown our New Year with your goodness as we seek to love others and build Your Kingdom. In Jesus’ strong and powerful name, amen.
“You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance”- Psalm 65:11
Happy New Year!
Lydia
Ladies, as we reflect on this devotion and think of ways to bless others with kindness, let us continue to lift eachother up.
Please continue to Lift up LindaR as she is in so much pain.
Lord, God……..you are the Great Physician….you know everything about us. We come to Your Throne Room and ask you to touch Linda’s body. Lord, you know every intricate part and we are asking you to touch and heal the parts that are causing such pain. Lord, encourage her as she deals with this….strenghten her and increase her faith in You. Lord, make her whole again. She is such a faithful servant, interceding for so many of us and being a faithful friend to all.
Dearest Jesus…..we ask you in your most precious Name…believing and giving you all the Glory, Honor and Praise!
What a beautiful way to start our New Year with this encouraging, loving devotional from Lydia and the precious sharing of her Mom ..Thank you for that dear, Lydia…And it is just like our Lord to give a blessing when we do for another as HE did for her on the precious outing for her Mom’s shoes..
Like you ladies, my Mom is with the Lord now and missed so much..But as with Patti, He gave us sooo many wonderful memories and laughs..especially at the end of her earthen days..Today? Instead of thinking of her homegoing and the illness that proceeded that? I celebrate a remarkable, overcoming life and example that blesses me through all my todays! Thank you, dear Mama, and thank you, Lord, for the gift of her! Her example taught me being positive no matter the circumstances..and how to overcome challenges when they do come..Am richly blessed…
Lifting Linda and ToniG…Believing..Be with them, dear Lord, and bring relief..They love you and are your daughters in every way..So kind and caring of others..both of them…
Celebrating the approaching opportunities in 2008 which is fast arriving, dear Ladies, may it be a year filled with learning more of HIM and being earthen vessels as Lydia was with her Mom during a blessed shopping trip for shoes..May our spirits be yielded and ready to serve when He calls on us..Bless you, Lydia, for Psalm 65″11…A beautiful verse to start our New Year out with!!
Happy New Year ALL!!!
AS I read the story of Mom’s new shoes, and how God used this to bless the daughter, I thought of just yesterday, when I had so many things to do and how God blessed me thru this. As we prepared for church, my husband told me he just could not make it. He is disabled, and was having a very bad day.
I sighed, but left early to make coffee that he usually does at church, then prepared the bulletins and the prayer list, spent time in prayer for our services, and getting my last minute things done for the preschool class. As I was doing this, I marveled at how well things were going. Yet deep down was a bit resentful, because I knew it was my day in child care during our worship service. I wondered if all this preparation even mattered. Did the little ones even hear the lesson.
As I finished telling the story with flannelgraph of the Wise Men, one of the boys said, “Boy that was GOOD!” Later in my child care with one little boy who is just off the wall, he asked if he could tell a story. I set up the flannel board, got the figures for him, and he walked to the table, picked up my bible, and took it over to the area of the flannelgraph, where he told the story completely. He is only 3 and has no other Christian influence in his life. God clearly showed me that I need to be aware of His workings in everything we do in our lives. Whether it be shopping with a loved one, or teaching unruly little boys.
Dear Patty!!!
Welcome..and thank you for the precious sharing of a 3-year-old the Lord is already using!! YOU were an earthen vessel..going ahead and serving..and most of all? “Seeing” His results!! May HE bless you and your husband in every way this New Year!!!
Sheldon, thank you! THe devotionals were here this morning. Bless you!!! :-)
Lydia, I loved the Psalms you quoted(”When we obey him, every path he guides us on is fragrant with his loving kindness and his truth” Psalm 25:10 TLB and “You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance”- Psalm 65:11). What great scriptures for us to read and start the new year with. Before I read, I prayed for the Holy Spirit to teach me and show me how I can use the gifts God has given me for Him and that I would be obedient. Then I read the devotional. Wow! Talk about speaking directly to me. I believe this day I need to go visit and encourage some one I have been praying about and who is now in a nursing home.
Thank you Patti for the prayers for Toni and Linda. I come along side of you. Thank you, also, Chris, Fran, Patti, and Lydia for sharing glimpses of your time with your mothers. How special.
Patty, I loved the story you shared of your unruly boys and the flannelgraph. We can all enjoy it and learn from it. Haven’t we all been in that same situation . . . .being obedient, but probably not with the best attitude. Thank you for sharing your story with us. (and welcome!)
Happy New Year everyone!
Blessings to you!
My mom and I didn’t have that close of a relationship and I think the reason for that is she had to many children eleven to be exact. I always tryed to obey my mother although some times it was difficult because she was’t very loving. I didn’t become a Christian untill my early twenties. And I am so thankful that God didn’t give up on me because I no loner have my mother but am able to forgive her and I see how difficult it was for her to show her love to so many children. It would take to long on here to explan the whole story. I am just glad that God knows and he cares for each one of us. I am so glad that he went to the cross to give us a future with him in heaven.
One of the questions at the end of the devotion today was “How has God showered you with His loving kindness lately?”
There was a big “Blessing” yesterday as I sat in church with my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. I have prayed many years they would be in church, and what a Blessing to go and worship with them!!!!
Do you have a loved one unchurched? Don’t give up on them. God desires that we all fellowship in church with him!! Don’t give up praying for them!!!!
There was another special “blessing” on Christmas day. The Holy Spirit convicted me to drop all the last minute preparations for Christmas Day to attend a cnadlelite service with a friend and her daughter on Christmas Eve.. The friend’s husband is in prison and the daughter is adopted. Neither have any other family. The daughter had a part in the service and I felt I neded to attend in support of her. I was concerned about so many things to do the next morning before our company arrived for lunch at 100pm. It was amazing how smoothly everything went!! I saved blowing off the sidewalk for last, almost certain it wouldn’t get done, …and it wasn’t a big priority. But it got done!!! Praise Him!!!!
Patti, thank you for keeping us posted on Linda and ToniG.
Praying for them!! Believing God is working miracles for them both.
Carla, praying for you and Rebecca too. He loves you both very much, and hears your prayers, and will answer them!!
Happy New Year, and may all you precious ladies experience His loving kindness in wonderful ways every day of the New Year!!!!!
I was a teenager when my mother fell ill and needed help going to the store (and bathing and setting her hair and many things). She was a gentle woman who loved Jesus and trusted Him with every aspect of her life. I was a loud, often ill-mannered teen, and together mom and I joked and laughed and hung in there during the most difficult time of our lives.
God makes the difference. “Every good and perfect gift is from above” — the gifts of laughter and holding hands. The gift of compassion extended towards a loved one. As the author of today’s devotion suggested, find someone today who would appreciate your kindness. It’s a good idea.
Thank you to all who have taken the time to comment and pray for each other. How encouraging that is. I just started receiving the devotionals today and it was a perfect confirmation that God desires obedience. I have an AMAZING testimony to that.
My husband and I discussed on Saturday that we wanted to make sure we were praying and asking God’s direction on every detail of our life. We prayed before going to church on Sunday that we would be open to hearing God’s voice and that HE would lead us to sit by and interact with the people that HE wanted us to encourage or be encouraged by. We just want all of our steps to be according to HIS will. Our kids wanted to invite someone over for lunch but nothing worked out so we went home alone. I had a big pot of soup cooking and as we pulled into our driveway I noticed the camper at the end of our block that I have been wondering if perhaps someone was camping out there..it didn’t seem to belong to any of our neighbors. As I stirred the soup for lunch I heard God clearly say “Go to the camper and invite whoever is in there to eat lunch with you” I was so excited because I just knew it was the Lord. My husband and kids walked down with me and as we approached the camper I began to feel awkward and uncomfortable at the realization that I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. To make a long story short…it was TOTALLY GOD!! There was a young couple (the woman is 6 months pregnant) and they had a 2 year old son. They not only came for lunch but we had much in common with them and we played games and had dinner and they ended up staying the night (to keep warmer) and taking showers etc… I’m not sure if God has something more long term planned but I’m on a spiritual high right now and I can’t wait to seek God, hear His voice, and obey again. The Lord is good!!
Kim,
How exciting to hear how God used you when you listened for His guidance. God loves obedient hearts. Thanks for sharing.
Lord, I pray you will continue to guide Kim and her family as they reach out to this needy family. I pray they will be able to lead this family to Jesus. May the New Year be exciting and special for Kim and family and this new family they met. Thank you for Kim’s obedience and for your blessing when we obey. Give us all listening ears and hearts that obey. In Your name, amen.
Happy New Year everyone!
God bless us everyone!
Lydia
Happy New Year to everyone! As far back as I can remember we have always had Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve and New Years Day with family and friends. This year was really great. I have an 18 year old and 11 year old so we had lots of young visitors. It was nice to have them with us to share our family tradition with us. My eyes were really opened on how blessed I truly am and what wonderful parents I have always had. Many people that visited don’t do anything special or may not be close to their family which saddens me but on the other hand they were a part of mine during this time. Even though I may have stressed a little with all the kids, I love each and every one and I hope they look back and remember the holidays with my family.
I pray this year will be the greatest for us all yet! As some of you have mentioned already, I too want to bless others and let Him use me as He will more than ever before in 2008. It’s neat to know too that the number “8″ means new beginnings so ladies get ready to go places you’ve never been before this year. I’m so excited. Have a blessed day!