DaySpring

[Judy Harder]

 

Lessons Learned From a Swept Floor
The broom swished over the tile and I wondered how many times I'd swept this exact tile, this exact corner of the room. It would depend, I thought, on how often this particular tile was exposed from underneath a sofa or chair. Maybe I've been sweeping it for the last 4 months, but before that? Maybe it had been a few years because it resided darkly beneath a love seat.

Sweep, swish, dustpan.

It's the same tile, with the same semi-grungy grout: cleaner at the edges of the room than in higher trafficked areas. It's the same room that we've cried in, laughed in, sang in and slept in front of the television in. And for the most part, it houses the same furniture it did seven years ago.

Sweep, swish, think, dustpan.

How many times has the property in my heart been rearranged? It's been moved, shoved, cleaned by life. Betrayals, indiscretions, hurts, iron-sharpening-iron.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of Sarah's story: Lessons Learned From a Swept Floor, how God prepared her heart as she was preparing her home for Easter. Sarah Markley writes at www.saramarkley.com, and she's a regular contributor to DaySpring's blog (in)courage.

 
 

Family Activity: A Repentance Box
Our Box of Repentances, preparing our hearts for Easter, is tucked into a corner of our Peace Retreat - because what peace is there without peace with God?

As the day rolls out, and snags here and there, we find ourselves, Mama and Dad, big kids and little, taking a moment to confess our sins on small cards, slipping them into our box of repentances.

In this practice we are experiencing it afresh: Confessing sins is a cleansing, emancipating grace.

Come Easter morning... we'll burn up our cards of sins confessed.
Because they are, astoundingly, no more, because of Christ who did it all.

"I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake,
And I will not remember your sins." Isaiah 43:25

CLICK HERE to read more from Ann about her family's Repentance Box activity in preparation for Easter. Ann Voskamp writes at A Holy Experience. She is the author of the bestselling book One Thousand Gifts, and a contributor to DaySpring's blog (in)courage.

 
 

Devotions for Easter
Rejoice!
"...As Christ was raised from the dead
through the glory of the Father,
we too may live a new life."
Romans 6:4

Devotions on Jesus & Preparation for Easter
We have been sharing a second Devotional Email every Wednesday with messages focused on Jesus, the Cross, His Resurrection, and the New Life we celebrate this season. We invite you to join us in preparation of a Christ-filled Easter, and to help us share the hope of Jesus with others.

CLICK HERE for Week 1: Jesus is Hope
CLICK HERE for Week 2: The Resurrection and The Life
CLICK HERE for Week 3: Jesus - Light of the World {Free Printable}

[Judy Harder]

Good Things Ahead for You!
WALK - RUN - FLY

When you WALK the Lord with guide you.
When you RUN He will sustain you.
And when you FLY, yes when you FLY-
He will take you places you've never dreamed.
The Lord has good things ahead for you!

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles. Isaiah 40:31


Devotions for Easter
Rejoice!
"...As Christ was raised from the dead
through the glory of the Father,
we too may live a new life."
Romans 6:4

 

[Judy Harder]

 

God's Grace Covers Me
I am...
G - God's
R - Redeemed
A - Accepted
C - Chosen
E - Expression
of love.

God chose you from the beginning.
II Thessalonians 2:13



Falling From...
I caught my fingers on the keys yesterday.
I almost typed the words:
"FALL FROM GRACE"

I was trying to describe my own history and I had no other language to use to describe it. Like when a toddler uses "big" to describe everything from elephants to trucks to bowls of spaghetti. "Big" is the only good word he knows to use in that situation.

Fall from grace. I didn't know how else to put it, but something irritated me about that term.
We actually don't fall from grace, do we?
As if grace is a place we live in and then when we do something terrible we fall out of it. We hang, feet dangling, above the nothingness of life.

In reality we are all broken people... So every day, when we fail again, and again, and another time, we FALL BACK INTO the pillow of grace. We fall down into the wild, unexpected arms of His forgiveness, not OUT of it.
That is where we belong... in the arms of grace.

What do you think? Have you had it backward all along?




By Grace Alone
By the grace of God,
I am what I am.
I Corinthians 15:10

Devotions on Jesus & Preparation for Easter
We have been sharing a second Devotional Email every Wednesday with messages focused on Jesus, the Cross, His Resurrection, and the New Life we celebrate this season. We invite you to join us in preparation of a Christ-filled Easter, and to help us share the hope of Jesus with others.

CLICK HERE for Week 1: Jesus is Hope
CLICK HERE for Week 2: The Resurrection and The Life
CLICK HERE for Week 3: Jesus - Light of the World {Free Printable}
CLICK HERE for Week 4: Prepare Heart & Home for Easter

[Judy Harder]

 

The Blessings of Spring
Lovely flowers show us God's faithfulness...
If God cares so wonderfully for flowers...won't He more surely care for you? Matthew 6:30

Singing birds tell us of His tender care...
Look at the birds...Your heavenly father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to Him than they are.
Matthew 6:26

Soft rains remind us of His refreshing grace...
I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessings. Ezekiel 34:26

Sunny days reflect the light He brings...
I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will...have the light of life. John 8:12

All of Spring proclaims the hope God gives our hearts!
See! The winter is past; the rains are come and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come. Song of Solomon 2:11-12




Always Loved
When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then Thou knewest my path... I cried unto thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. Psalm 142:3,5

Your worst day as a child of God is better than your best day when you were without Him.

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31

There is no place beyond His strength...
no boundaries to His love...
no limit to His mercies...
no problem outside His solutions...
no need beyond His care.

Devotional encouragement by Roy Lessin, excerpts from his gift book Always Loved.





By Grace Alone
By the grace of God,
I am what I am.
I Corinthians 15:10

Devotions on Jesus & Preparation for Easter
We have been sharing a second Devotional Email every Wednesday with messages focused on Jesus, the Cross, His Resurrection, and the New Life we celebrate this season. We invite you to join us in preparation of a Christ-filled Easter, and to help us share the hope of Jesus with others.

[Judy Harder]

 

Tree of Mystery
Just before Easter I was driving the kids over to see my parents and we were talking about all the beautiful trees that had blossomed overnight. The whole neighborhood was transformed by bursts of lavender, pink, and pure white and it looked like something out of a movie.

"Which one is your favorite, Kate?" She pointed out at a tall white tree that looked like it was covered with snowballs.

"How about you, Ellie? Got a favorite?" She watched as the houses passed us and then a few seconds later I heard her say quietly, "That one, mommy. That one is my favorite. It's the prettiest one on the whoooole street. That's what I think."

I made a confused face and looked at her in the rearview mirror. "I think it's dead mommy. It doesn't have anything on it. But it's the prettiest one." I just sat and waited, fascinated by the fact that out of everything we were looking at, that was the one she chose.

"Well...it looks dead, but I love it because everyone picks the fancy ones and that one might be keeping a secret. Maybe it's flowers haven't come out yet, or maybe it's just pretending to be dead. Nobody knows what that one is going to do. So I think it's the most beautiful."

I sat stunned with my hand on the gearshift, unable to even put it into drive because I so felt the presence of the Lord. He uses my girls so many times when He is speaking to me and I know from experience that it's best to just be still and soak it in.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of Angie Smith's story: Tree of Mystery, how God revealed truth about the Resurrection and prepared her heart for Easter through her daughter's favorite tree choice.





Why a Christian Family May Celebrate Passover: A Messianic Seder
I shouldn't have been surprised when the questions came, rushing like a river searching... God knew they would.

And He planned for parents to answer and teach, so children might learn: "And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, 'This is done because of what the LORD did for me...(Exodus 13:.

For there are children pressing in now, anxious for just this, this tradition, this meal before candles, this sipping of goblets. The questions now trickle, the same four questions that have come rippling down from one generation, to the next, for centuries; from the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob...to our children.

Levi, his young voice pitched high but gentle, asks the first of the three-thousand-year-old queries, "Why are we eating unleavened bread, or matzah, tonight?"

I pick up the matzah, a flat cracker of bread, striped with narrow lines, and pierced with small holes. And I answer in the only way I know how, "Because tonight we remember Jesus. By whose stripes we are healed. Yeast leavens, or puffs up, as pride and sin inflates our hearts. Tonight we eat unleavened bread, bread without yeast, to remember Jesus who was without sin."

I break the matzah in half and whisper, "Just like He was broken for us."

CLICK HERE to read the remaining three questions and answers that are part of Ann Voskamp's family tradition of celebrating a Messianic Passover.





Devotions for Easter
Jesus is light... Shattering all darkness.
He is Truth... Silencing all doubts.
He is life... Defeating death.
Jesus saith unto him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."
John 14:6

Devotions on Jesus & Preparation for Easter
We invite you to join us in preparation of a Christ-filled Easter, and to help us share the hope of Jesus with others.

CLICK HERE for Week 1: Jesus is Hope
CLICK HERE for Week 2: The Resurrection and The Life
CLICK HERE for Week 3: Jesus - Light of the World {Free Printable}
CLICK HERE for Week 4: Prepare Heart & Home for Easter
CLICK HERE for Week 5: By Grace Alone {Free Printable}

[Judy Harder]

 

His Day of Victory
Jesus-
His shed blood means...
We can live each day in His forgiveness.
His resurrection means...
We can walk constantly in newness of life.
His presence means...
We can know His victory in each situation.
His love means...
We will never face anything alone!
His day of victory makes all our days complete!

Praying His Very Best is Yours this Easter Season

For in Him we live and move and have our being. Acts 17:28

 

Think How Much More
Jesus came into this world before we were living in it;
He gave His life before we had ever committed a sin...

If He did that much for us before we were born, think of all He desires to bless us with now that we are here!

May your Easter be a time of fully enjoying His gift,
His blessings, and His love for you!

He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:32





Devotions for Easter
Jesus is light... Shattering all darkness.
He is Truth... Silencing all doubts.
He is life... Defeating death.
Jesus saith unto him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."
John 14:6

Devotions on Jesus & Preparation for Easter
We invite you to join us in preparation of a Christ-filled Easter, and to help us share the hope of Jesus with others.

 

[Judy Harder]

 

There's no greater love
than the love of Jesus
There's no love that's wiser, that's stronger,
that lasts longer, that's more willing or thrilling.
There's no love more beautiful, more bountiful,
more bold, more basic and unbiased.

There's no love more gracious, more giving,
more living, more sacred, more selfless,
more soul-satisfying, more pure and undying.
There's no love more verifiable, more valuable,
more validating, more victorious, more glorious.

There's no love more precious, more costly, more kingly.
There's no love that's greater-that's more wonderful,
more wild, more passionate, more powerful - than the love of Jesus.




Jesus' Best Day
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

The cross was Jesus' best day because He did the will of His Father, because He glorified and pleased the Father through His obedience, and because He finished the work the Father sent Him to do.

The cross was His best day because it meant the day of salvation, the day of redemption, and the fulfillment of the day that was foreordained before foundation of the world.

Jesus' death on the cross has made it possible for this day to be your best day.
--Roy Lessin

 

God's Amazing Love
His love is unquestionable-
Its power unconquerable,
Its meaning undeniable,
Its mystery unexplainable,
Its sacrifice incomparable,
Its price unimaginable,
Its absence unthinkable!
For God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son... John 3:16
CLICK HERE to download this Free Printable message.

Devotions on Jesus & Preparation for Easter
We invite you to join us in preparation of a Christ-filled Easter, and to help us share the hope of Jesus with others.

CLICK HERE for Week 1: Jesus is Hope
CLICK HERE for Week 2: The Resurrection and The Life
CLICK HERE for Week 3: Jesus - Light of the World {Free Printable}
CLICK HERE for Week 4: Prepare Heart & Home for Easter
CLICK HERE for Week 5: By Grace Alone {Free Printable}
CLICK HERE for Week 6: Easter Truths on Resurrection & Sacrifice
CLICK HERE for Week 7: God's Amazing Love {Free Printable}

[Judy Harder]

 

You are Loved & Known
What kind of week have you had?
Hard, great, somewhere in between?

I wish I could sit down with you today, lean across the table and let you tell me about the moments that made you laugh or the ones that brought tears, about the fears you faced and the joy you felt, about the obstacles that seemed so big and the breakthroughs you never thought could happen. All of it.

I'm glad that even though I can't be there, Someone can. And He doesn't just have to hear about it second hand. He was there. For every moment. Every smile, every frown, every victory, every let-down.

And He's still here...inviting you to tell Him all about all of it again. Until you know again that everything is going to be okay. He'll comfort you, celebrate with you, whatever you need.

Because He loves you.
And that's what love does.

--Holley Gerth

 

Never Alone
You're never alone. God is with you.
He knows your name.
He numbers the hairs on your head.
He understands the cares in your heart.
Every morning, He's by your side.
Every night, He watches over you as you sleep.
There's never a moment you're not in His thoughts...
never a day you're not in His care.
You're never on your own.
He whispers to your heart, "You're forever My own."

Just a little reminder...Love is with you today.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God. I John 4:16

[Judy Harder]

 

By Grace Alone
Do you wonder if God sees what you're walking through?
He does. Not casually, but in detail - with a love that will sustain and strengthen you with every step.

Search the book of the Lord and see all that He will do; not one detail will He miss. Isaiah 34:16 TLB

God has everything you need today.
God wants to be involved in everything you do today.
God has a purpose for everything you face today.
There is no one else as interested in everything that concerns you, as the God who loves you with all
His heart.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6 NIV




Jesus Is...
Jesus is our Comfort. If we have faith in Him alone, we can rest assured that He will care for us.

May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to Your promise. Psalm 119:76 NIV

Jesus came to comfort and to restore. God's promises
are true and powerful in Jesus, and He is faithful to care
for you.

--Devotional excerpts from April 27-29 of the 365 Day Perpetual Calendar Jesus Is....

[Judy Harder]

The sunrise ushers in God's grace toward you-yesterday is forgotten, today is in His hands & tomorrow is filled with promises.

Isn't it amazing to know the God of the universe set you apart to be His very own? Let your heart celebrate being held in His hands, loved by His heart, and cradled in His care.
The Lord has set apart the godly for Himself; the Lord will hear when I call to Him. Psalm 4:3

--Excerpt from Moments of Grace for Women by Bonnie Jensen.


Whatever challenges you encounter, God has promised to help you. When your faith is tested or circumstances are uncertain, you can rest confident in these guarantees from God's word. Read them. Meditate on them. Let them soak into your spirit. And then, with God as your perfect companion, every adventure of your life will be better than you've ever imagined.
The LORD your God will bless you just as He promised you. Deuteronomy 15:6

--Excerpt from God's Promises for Graduates - Class of 2012