Cactus Flower

This study was presented for a virtual event on April 24, 2020 in the middle of the "Great Quarantine" here in Brazil.  It was meant to encourage women who were asking questions about biblical end times' events. If you have upon this blog, feel free to read the devotional and use it as you need. 

This study was part of a day of prayer hosted virtually on April 4, 2020 - Together in Prayer, Calm in Christ

unsplash - Igor Ovsyannykov Spring, 2014, forgetful, numb, messed up, full of crazy thoughts, unable to sleep.  All the signs of post-traumatic stress, that was me... cracked up. I was trying to fix my family and nothing was working.  Everything was out of my control.  My prayer life consisted of one recurring phrase - Oh, God, please help me.  My daily conversation with my husband was mostly - What are we going to do now?   We had a rebellious, unmanageable son and seemed to have no hope for resolution.  We'd tried everything we could think of.  Our marriage was a mess.  I was a mess . Our ministry seemed like it might be over. Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not   2 Corinthians 4:1  Some how I was determined to not faint, to not give up, but how to do that seemed beyond my capabilities.  I felt that God could not use me at this time.   It seemed better to la...

August 1994, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil In 1994 I arrived in the tropical beach city of Fortaleza to teach short term at a school for missionary children.  I'll never forget the first Sunday I went to church with my husband.  We didn't have a car, so we chose to walk to the nearest church we knew of.  It was a walk of about 5 or 6 city blocks.  I had on white, high-heel, summer sandals, a pair of Summer L'eggs pantyhose, and my best Lanz summer dress with a pink floral design.  I was in-style, if I'd have been in American, that is!  By the time we got to the church, my feet had blisters, my legs had heat rash, and my pink floral dress was the only one like it in the church that morning.   I quickly adapted on future walks to church to flat sandals, no hose, and simpler outfits.  I learned that women didn't wear their bathing suits on buses even if they were on their way to the beach and dressing up was a fancy blouse with jeans and high h...

I recently heard conversation about a pastor who said basically that he doesn't sit down to pray any more and wanted to change up the traditional mid-week prayer meeting at his church to not include any sort of small prayer groups or an open public request time.  Why?  His reasons included some of the following - God's almighty and will do what He wants regardless of my constant nagging, group prayer times are mostly gossip sessions, public request opportunities often get long and detailed with one or two hogging the time.  Wow!  Whoa!  Okay?  No Way! So is group church prayer out of date?  Does prayer make a difference for God?  Or, can we change an infinite God's mind? 1.  Is the traditional group prayer meeting out of date? Maybe!  In our little Brazilian congregation on Wednesday nights we have a short devotional Bible study and a time for spoken praises and prayer requests, then we divide into small groups for a period of joi...

Yesterday, June 2 was Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day.  It's a day set aside to pray for sons and daughters who have drifted away from traditional Christian homes.  Some cases are rough with drugs and crime in the mix.  Others are teens who ran away never to be heard from again.  I keep a list of such young people for whom I pray on a regular basis.  Some I personally know, others are from mothers who have asked me about some of our experiences. This year's theme was HOPE .  Hope is a fragile thing for parents of prodigals who are living in the moment of wondering what will happen next, will they ever see their boy or girl again. Parents like this question their own salvation hope, their own convictions about God.  I know because I've been there. Thankfully we made it through a rough time and today we have great HOPE.  Yesterday I was reminded of the poem I wrote four years ago after a chance meeting with a young lady who had left her home....

Job 28:10 He cuts out channels in the rocks , And his eye sees every precious thing. Psalm 78:35 Then they remembered that God was their rock , And the Most High God their Redeemer. Revelation 2:17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone , and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it. On our family vacation I walked with three friends up the tallest mountain peak in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco.  It was a rocky path with a one lane road of large cobblestone.  The little road went up and down as it meandered to the top of the peak at 4134 feet.  The hike took us three hours and about ten minutes.  We could not have walked much faster if we had wanted for watching where we had to step with all the cracks and crevices between the large rocks in the road and for the occasional super stee...

Proverbs 25:13 As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters. Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. 2 Timothy 1:16 The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: to refresh :  to take refreshment, to become fresh again, to revive. Today five ladies and I went to the "big city" for a little time of refreshment.  First we went to the brand new Lojas Americanas in Juazeiro da Bahia and walked around in pairs for about an hour. What can possibly be more refreshing for women than shopping!   Then we all made a few purchases and left for our next destination - a mini mall - where we were to have a snack time. During our snack I talked just a little about the word "refresh" in the Bible.  It'...