Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:14.15 (NIV)

I'm no gardener; not a green bone or drop of blood in my body, thumb or otherwise, but even I know that weeds are no good for a garden. So when the flower bed in front of our house got about knee high I decided it was time I had to do something

My task seemed to be going well until I turned and looked back at my progress. While I had removed most of the weeds, there were dozens of little, tiny sprouts left just poking through the soil. There were also some that I had grasped at the ground level but still left the roots deep in the soil when I pulled on them. Still, I kept going until I encountered a snake, and decided to let my husband finish the weeding!

Later I came out to check on him and found he had taken the hose and soaked the soil before he began. Two weeks later the evidence was clear; my area was once again full of weeds, while his was blooming flowers.

I've found forgiveness to be a lot like that flower bed. When we try to pull out the weeds of pain inflicted on us by others we often leave the root of the problem deep within the soil. Left un-dealt with those wounds will begin to fester and grow as surely as those roots left in the soil grew back to crowd out the flowers. But if we soak our lives with the word of God it softens the soil for God to remove those things which have wounded us and are choking out the blossoms of His grace and mercy that He so wants to see bloom in our lives.

Father God, You are the Author of forgiveness. It is Your forgiveness of us that enables us to forgive others. It is Your grace, Your mercy, Your love. Take control of our hearts as we yield our emotions to You and allow us to pour out these blessings to others that Your name might be honored and glorified. Amen.

Missy Horsfall

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One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!" He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. "Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples.In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him." Luke 8:22-25 (NIV)

Have you ever been in a storm out on the open water? I haven't been in the heart of a storm, but I've been out on the water and raced to get back to the shore before the full wrath of the wind and waves turned our boat upside down. Have you seen the movie 'The Perfect Storm'? Can you picture the disciples' boat being dwarfed by the monstrous waves? When I think of this passage in Luke (also recorded in two of the other Gospels) I remind myself that many of Jesus' disciples were fisherman - experienced men of the sea - whose livelihood before they followed Christ meant they were out in their boats every day. They had faced many storms and challenges before this one, and the fact that they were scared tells me this was one fierce gale. So fierce, the Bible tells us, they were in danger of sinking. The boat was being swamped - filling with water from the height and ferocity of the waves and the wind whipping the water into their boat.

Can you picture it? The men trying to scramble across the boat to bail out the water - a man on the helm, trying to keep her steady in the heaving swells, the men - yelling over the roar of the wind, being tossed back and forth, slipping, falling, trying to get a secure grip or handhold while trying to keep their feet under them on the drenched deck. It was chaos. They were in desperate peril, fighting for their lives. It must have been terrifying even for experienced sailors. I imagine them desperately using all their skills and knowledge of the sea and finally exhausting all their own resources, they turn to Jesus - who is curled up in the back of the boat asleep! They probably had to shake his shoulder in order to rouse him from his deep slumber - I mean, it would seem there had to have been plenty of noise from the wind and cries of the men to awaken Him. He had to be tossed back and forth from the broiling seas - yet they had to wake Him!

While His disciples are frantic, Jesus gets up - speaks the word, and immediately the storm's gone. From absolute chaos to calm waters. It's hard to even imagine the shock of that experience. One minute the men were clutching anything they could find to grab onto, frantic for their lives, the next it's over. Boom. Absolute peace on the water.

What's all the commotion about - "Where's your faith?" - Jesus asks them. What did you wake me up for? I can hear them now "B-but Lord - the wind was - the waves they were over-powering us. The water was swamping the boat!" And then it hit them - Jesus had the power to stop what no man could ever dream of stopping - the force of nature. They had forgotten that Jesus was the Creator. He spoke the world into existence; it was nothing for Him to calm the storm.

This was a testing of their faith - Jesus knew there would be a storm, He knew they would come out of it. He wanted the disciples to respond in faith. I wonder if Peter was thinking of this lesson when he wrote to the saints in his first epistle that their faith would be tested - tried by various trials - to prove its genuineness - to prove its worth and to become strong enough to praise, honor, and glorify the Lord.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God. Our faith needs testing so that it will stand up to anything. We are told in Scripture that trials are inevitable - the storms of life will come. The only question is how we will handle them. Like the disciples - who, despite their experience of living day to day with Jesus - forgot in the heat of the moment who He was? Will our faith fail? Or will we remember to look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2)

Have you thought to embrace these trials that will inevitably come - our own 'Perfect Storm'? To 'greatly rejoice', as Peter tells us in 1 Peter, as we are 'grieved' or distressed by these challenges that come our way. Peter learned that day on the sea - as well as the many other miracles of Christ he witnessed - that these difficulties in life - these tests of our faith - are a good thing if we allow God to work through them and in us and to bring Him praise, honor, and glory.

Father, we know that difficulties will come, please help us to have faith that pleases You. Faith that in the midst of our own storms of life will ultimately please You and bring You praise. Amen.

Missy Horsfall

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In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:67 (NKJV)

Have you ever noticed that in nature, the highest peaks and roughest mountain crags make the most spectacular waterfalls? The force of the water has eroded the rock and what began as destruction is turned into breathtaking beauty. That is the amazing thing about our Creator; the most devastating pain we experience can become, in God's hands, His richest blessing. How can that be? In human terms it is incomprehensible; we cannot understand it, but for God - it is a promise in His word.

A number of years ago, my life was full and busy with being a pastor's wife, a working mother, and a fledgling writer. Life was stressful, but then whose is not? Being wife and mother was hectic, my job challenging, and the ministry often difficult. Then I discovered that my best friend, my pastor, my husband of twenty-three years had been unfaithful to me.

As surely as the Twin Towers fell, my own life seemed to collapse around me. My trust was shattered, my children, my marriage crushed; the devastation was beyond anything I could ever imagine. In those first moments it seemed that all I had believed in - all we as a family had stood for, all we had sacrificed - everything we had lived was a sham. A lie. But in that billowing cloud of carnage and rubble of the disintegration of all that I thought I knew to be true, one thing had not been crushed, one thing had not crumbled, one thing had not been desolated, one thing stood firm - God and His Word.

Like those spectacular waterfalls God brought the healing, rushing waters of His grace and restoration to our lives. A holy God who reconciles sinful man to Himself can use anything for His honor and glory.

Thank you, Father, that in Your boundless grace, unending mercy, and unfailing love You grant Your power of restoration and reconciliation to anyone who comes to You. Reveal Yourself in us that we might be found unto Your praise, honor, and glory. Amen.

Missy Horsfall

This devotional submission is one of the many featured in our Daily devotional guide available at the right side of this page.

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I am not an early riser. In fact, I hate getting up in the morning. No matter how much sleep I seem to get, getting out of my nice soft bed is always a chore. I have to force myself to put my feet on the floor. Except on the days when I can sleep in. Why is it on the days when I do not have to get up, I am awake early and cannot get back to sleep and do not want to stay in bed and waste the day?

Attitude is everything. Everyday we face all sorts of mundane, reoccurring tasks that can become little irritants in our life. If we let them. Dishes, scrubbing the bathroom, driving in traffic, getting groceries, picking up things around the house (usually belongings of other people), going to work, dealing with co-workers, this is the stuff that makes up most of our daily living and usually we just do it without too much thought, and if you're like me, sometimes we do it with an attitude. The wrong attitude. We complain, we are grouchy with our families, irritated with our co-workers, we think, if not say aloud, 'it's not fair''.

God's word tells us to do, whatever we do, for Him and His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). Philippians 4:13 tells us we can do anything through Christ and by His strength. And Colossians 3:23 says "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men."

It seems simple then; our strength to do anything comes from Him and whatever we do is for Him, to make His glory known. Even in the little things.

God please help me to do everything I do with the right attitude- with all of my heart, and for Your honor and glory, and with praise and gratitude for the privilege of serving You. Amen.

Missy Horsfall

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There are two kinds of pain: emotional and physical. I hate both, but I have come to view pain as something we need to embrace.

I grew up on Lake Huron and one spring we had a great Nor'easter that sucked the tide out more than a half mile of its normal shoreline. The wind was so strong you could literally lean into it at a forty-five degree angle and it would hold you upright. It was awesome and powerful. However, when you turned your back on it, it would literally pile-drive you to the ground.

Pain is like that. Turn into it, embrace it, accept it, and you allow God to work through it and in you. But pretend it doesn't exist and it will beat you down every time. If you've ever had a 'Charlie Horse' (a muscle cramp) you know exactly what I'm talking about. I get them in the calf of my leg, particularly when I wake up in the morning. That contracted muscle burns like fire and the last thing I want to do is get out of bed. I'd rather lay there and clutch my leg and cry, but the one thing that will release it is getting up and walking on it. Ouch! I have to force myself to face the pain and put weight on it, but when I do, the muscle relaxes, the pain recedes and I discover I might live after all!

"For to you it has been granted" read that "have been given the privilege of." God's word tells us we will suffer. In fact those who want to live godly, it says, will suffer persecution. We can try to run from it, or hide it, or even ignore it but that won't make it go away. Jesus told us that in this world we would have trouble, but that He had overcome it for us. He faced it in the Garden, and on the cross at Calvary. He more than understands; He has the power to help us through it, and wonder of wonders - glorify Him in it if we allow Him to work in our lives.

Heavenly Father, help us to face the difficulties in our lives, to embrace the pain, and allow You to mold and change us through it that we might be conformed to the image of Your Son. Amen.

Missy Horsfall

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