Archive
An Indescribable Gift
Mary gazes down on sweetness in a manger,
Bright eyes, soft skin, pure delight,
A gift from heaven.
John sees the Lamb at the Jordan,
Without spot, without blemish, without sin,
A gift from heaven.
Nicodemus questions the Rabbi in darkness,
New answers, fresh hope, glad heart,
A gift from heaven.
Zacchaeus climbs the sycamore tree,
Delighted, repentant, forgiven,
A gift from heaven.
The Savior dies on a Roman cross,
Bloodied, rejected, scorned,
A gift from heaven.
A sinner hears a message full of grace,
Good tidings, great joy, blessed hope,
A gift from heaven.
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.” 2 Corinthians 9:15
I’m thankful anyway . . .
Well, it’s Thanksgiving Day, and I’m sitting here with four stitches in my mouth after having some unexpected dental surgery. No, the timing isn’t great—I’ll only be eating soft foods today—but I’m thankful anyway.
While Thanksgiving Day has morphed into being much about food, football, and family, and less about THE ONE who provided it, that doesn’t have to be the case. Being thankful is an individual choice. YOU make the decision about whether to express your gratitude for the bountiful blessings you’ve been given, and you can do that no matter what your circumstances are today.
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I Thessalonians 5:18
I don’t know what your circumstances are, but here’s a short list of things I have encountered personally or counseled with others who have had to face these circumstances. There are always things to be thankful for . . . anyway.
- Chronic pain or illness — even while managing daily discomfort, you can be thankful for skilled doctors, small improvements, or the strength God gives to endure.
- Financial strain — when the budget is tight, you can still be grateful for daily provision, a friend’s generosity, or unexpected reminders of God’s care.
- Loneliness — in seasons when relationships feel distant, you can be thankful for God’s presence, moments of connection, or the hope of new friendships.
- Grief after losing someone — even in sorrow, you can be thankful for the memories, the love shared, and the comfort God provides.
- Waiting for answers or direction — in uncertainty, you can thank God for His wisdom, His timing, and the doors He will eventually open or close.
- Family conflict — though painful, you can be grateful for opportunities to grow in patience, forgiveness, and grace.
- Workplace stress — even when tasks pile up or tensions rise, you can be thankful for meaningful work, supportive coworkers, and God’s sustaining help.
- A difficult diagnosis — you can have gratitude for compassionate medical staff, treatment options, or the peace God gives when the future feels overwhelming.
- Unexpected disappointments — when plans fall apart, you can still be thankful for God’s protection, His redirection, and the lessons tucked inside the setback.
- A strained or uncertain future — even when nothing feels secure, you can be thankful for God’s promises, His faithfulness in the past, and the hope He guarantees for tomorrow.
“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” Psalm 107:1
A Most Unusual Christmas
No matter what age you are, you probably have a Christmas tale about a sad Christmas, one that didn’t go exactly as planned, one that was disappointing, one that was so sorrowful you can’t think about it without the tears flowing.
Or you may have a Christmas tale about a happy Christmas, one where someone surprised you with an unexpected gift, one where you reconciled with a loved one, one where everyone loved the gifts you bought them, or one where you had enough money to buy someone the gift they wanted but didn’t think they’d get.
Some of you may even have a Christmas tale about an unusual Christmas, one where events unfolded in a non-traditional way, so much so that you can remember the circumstances as if they happened yesterday.
I’ve had all of the above, and although space—and my introverted personality—doesn’t lend itself to reciting the details of each situation, here’s a partial list of my most unusual Christmases.
- A Christmas morning when a family member had a kidney stone, and we had to spend the entire day in the ER.
- A Christmas when an ice storm struck so no family members were able to make it to our house to participate in our gift-giving and holiday meal together.
- A Christmas Day when my husband, young daughter, and I had to travel to a foreign country where we would be living for the next three years—a frightening and very lonely day.
- A Christmas Eve when I had to call an ambulance for my husband, who thought he was having a heart attack. In the ER, we learned it was acute pancreatitis, and he ended up spending the next three months hooked up to an IV.
Although it may be hard to believe, I could list several more unusual Christmases during my lifetime. But strangely enough, in all of these circumstances, I found peace by focusing on the most unusual day in all of human history—the First Christmas Day—the day God arrived on planet Earth in a human body.
It was a day like no other day, an unusual day, a unique day, a day we should celebrate even if our Christmas Day ends up being sad, happy, or unusual.
Jesus tells us why in His own words. “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” John 12:46.
What Can I Give You?
If I asked you, “What can I give you?” you might not be as excited about the prospect of getting something from me as you would be if God Himself were to ask you that question.
After all, this is the God who made heaven and earth, who created man from a handful of dirt, who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, who speaks with the voice of thunder, who is sovereign over all His creation.
While it may sound like I’m engaging in a spiritual fantasy, this actually happened when David’s son, Solomon, was anointed King of Israel. The account is in I Kings 3. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” I Kings 3:5.
Pastors and Bible teachers often use this question to get their listeners to ask themselves what they would do in this situation. “What would you say if God offered to give you anything? What is one thing you would ask God to give you?”
Although there are always some humorous answers like, “I’d ask Him for fifty more things,” most answers aren’t of a selfish nature. In moments like these, most believers focus on eternal values.
Here’s what Solomon answered: “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” I Kings 3:9.
Some might think God would just naturally give Solomon all he needed to do the task he had given him, and Solomon had just wasted this request by asking for wisdom. But how did God feel about it? “It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.” I Kings 3:10.
It pleased Him because before Solomon asked for wisdom, he acknowledged he was humbled to be chosen as King of Israel, but he felt inadequate for the task and could only accomplish it by God’s help.
As unique as it sounds, Solomon wasn’t the only person to be given the opportunity to ask something of God. Jesus said to all believers in Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
Like Solomon, God will be pleased to answer your request if you come with a heart of humility and selflessness, acknowledging your inadequacies, and trusting Him to answer your request in a way that honors His name.
“What can I give you?” asks God the Father, who has already given us His Son.
Do you really want to believe?
Why do you believe in God?
I’ve seldom had to answer that question. In fact, when I heard it the other day, it surprised me. That’s like asking me why I breathe or why I love my grandkids. The answer seems obvious.
Then again, maybe it isn’t.
Why do I believe in God?
It’s certainly not because I’ve had some tangible experience. I’ve never seen God or had an angelic visitation, nor have I received some special sign—a cross in the sky or writing on the wall—to prove He’s real.
The answer to why I believe in God involves trust; it involves faith. I trust what the Bible tells me about God. Ironically, the faith to believe in Him and what the Scriptures tell me about Him is a gift, a gift from God. It is, as Ephesians 2:9 says, “not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Believing in God is not something I can do for myself. The ability to believe in God comes from God.
Any person who sincerely wants to know God will find Him. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13.
I believe in God because He created the desire, provided the means, and made the provision for me to believe in Him.
He Came! Yes, He Did!!
A hush
A rustling
A stirring
A head
A push
A cry
A miracle
A birth
A life
A love
A light
A death
A time
A choice
A future
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11
What is God Thinking?
I love looking at NASA’s Hubble image of the day, and I subscribe to several daily news feeds which send me announcements about the latest space and astronomy happenings.
I’m drawn to the heavens because I’m able to see the incredible beauty of God’s handiwork there. “The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above declares his handiwork.” Psalm 19:1.
Scientists tell us when we look at the heavens above our heads, even with the most powerful of telescopes, we’re only able to see a minuscule portion of the universe. Human beings can never fully grasp the vastness of the world our Creator has made all in order to display His glory.
I believe God intended it to be that way.
God created an incomprehensible universe because He is incomprehensible. The immense heavens reflect an immense God, giving us, at best, only the barest pinhole glimpses of a God of unlimited power.
Someone has suggested perhaps the Universe is just ONE of God’s thoughts. How mind-blowing is that?
Trying to comprehend the power behind a Being who can create the Universe is impossible for a finite human creature. It’s just as impossible to understand the grace of God in making provision through His Son for human beings to live with Him in His Universe forever and to enjoy a personal relationship with him.
Psalm 8:3-4 “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”
What to know more about the possibility of a personal relationship with God? Watch the video below.
To Know Him is to Fear Him
Be afraid. Be very afraid. Being afraid of God seems foreign to those of us who sing of His blessings, who trust Him with our eternal soul, and who pray daily to Him for guidance, for help, for comfort.
Yet, one can’t read the Bible without encountering the oft-repeated admonition to “fear the Lord.” Throughout the Old Testament, there are numerous examples of God’s children receiving a blessing because they fear God. Also, because of fearing God, they do what He commands them to do. (Genesis 42:18; Exodus 1:17; Exodus 18:21)
Fear of God is not just an Old Testament concept. Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Nevertheless, there are times in my life when I’ve struggled with the concept of what it means to fear God. Yet, I’ve come to realize that having a fear of God gives us a more realistic view of God’s holiness and His power.
Fearing God doesn’t mean we cower in His presence—like a dog who knows he’s displeased his master—nor does it mean we run and hide instead of joyfully approaching Him. Instead, we embrace the fear of God because we recognize His characteristics—His all-powerful wrath toward sin, His unending sovereignty, and His unapproachable holiness—are an accurate understanding of who God really is.
The fearfulness of God is a reality, even if we don’t like it very much.
Having a true picture of God is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 9:10: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”
We should fear God. We should be in awe of His wrath and His judgment. Yet, at the same time, we should have peace, knowing He is shielding us from wrath, sheltering us in His arms forever.
To Be Loved
The words, “I don’t love you,” have to be the most hurtful words ever spoken. As human beings, we are born with the desire to be loved. Whether it’s romantic love, family love, brotherly love or even self love, God gave us the desire to be loved and to love God, others, and ourselves.
Love comes from God. “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.” (1 John 4:7).
Because human love is so flawed by sin, none of us can ever love ourselves or another human being perfectly. In the same way, until we receive our glorified, perfected bodies, we can’t love God perfectly.
God has no such hindrances. He loves perfectly. On three different occasions, the prophet Daniel was told by the angel Gabriel that he was greatly loved by God. “I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved.” (Daniel 9:23). The same thought is expressed in Daniel 10: 11 and Daniel 10:19.
How sweet those words must have sounded to Daniel! How would you like to hear those words for yourself? Well, you can.
Paul says in Ephesians 2:4-5: “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses,made us alive together with Christ.”
God’s love is on display for us in Romans 5:8.“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Like Daniel, God sent word to us that we are greatly love. He sent His Word in the form of His Son who demonstrated how much he really loved us by paying the penalty for our sins by His death on the cross
Accept His love. Bask in His Love. Know His love for all eternity.
Finding Hidden Treasures
Don’t you love to find a word from the Lord in your Bible that you’ve never seen before? That happened to me just recently when I was reading the last verses in the little bitty book of Jude, so small it doesn’t even have any chapters.
The verses I hadn’t noticed before were verses 24-25 of . . . well, just Jude.
“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
While there’s so much in these verses, I’ve highlighted three phrases that blessed me especially.
Present you blameless: I love being reminded when believers stand before his presence one day, we’ll be considered blameless. How great is that? And notice how it happens—through Jesus Christ our Lord.
With great joy: Notice the one doing the presenting of us before His presence will do so with great joy. He—Jesus—will be delighted to make everyone who believes in Him known to His Father. It will be His pleasure to do so. He even asked the Father in John 17 for this to happen. “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory.”
Before all time: Our God is an eternal God. There has never been a time when He didn’t exist. He was before all time, and He will go on forever through all time, even when time is no more. This is mind-boggling, hard to grasp, and yet, strangely reassuring.
There’s so much more in these two verses, and in the days ahead, I plan to give more thought to the treasures to be found there. I have a feeling I won’t be disappointed.
Book 8 in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series, Click on cover
Book 5 in the Silas McKay Suspense Series, Click on cover
Book 11 in the Titus Ray Thriller Series. Click cover
Book 7 in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series on Amazon. Click cover.
Book 4 in the Silas McKay Suspense Series on Amazon. Click cover.
Book 10 in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click cover.
PREQUEL to the Mylas Grey Mystery Series on Amazon. Click cover
Book VI in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series on Amazon. Click cover
Book III in the Silas McKay Suspense Series on Amazon. Click cover
Book IX in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click cover
Book V in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series on Amazon. Click cover
Book II in the Silas McKay Suspense Series on Amazon. Click cover
Book I in the Silas McKay Suspense Series, Available in Winter Deceptions
Ben in Trouble follows Four Steps Missed in the Titus Ray Thriller Series
Book IV in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series on Amazon. Click cover
Book VIII in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click cover.
Ben in Charge, Follows Three Steps Away in the Titus Ray Thriller Series
Ben in Love, Follows Two Steps Forward in the Titus Ray Thriller Series
Two Days Taken:Book II in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series; Click cover.
Book VII in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click on book cover
One Day Gone: Book I in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series; Click on Cover
NEWEST BOOK: Available on Amazon. Click on Cover.
Prequel to the Titus Ray Thriller Series is $0.99 on Amazon. Click book cover
Book I in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click book cover
Book II in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click on book cover
Book III in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon: Click on book cover
Book IV in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click on book cover.
Book V in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click on book cover.
Book VI in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click on book cover.
Books 1 & 2 in the Titus Ray Series Available on Amazon. Click on cover.
His Glory My Joy, a blog of Author Luana Ehrlich 
You must be logged in to post a comment.