Devotionals – Page 6 – Ericka O Smith

Death Grip – a short devotional

Meet Jude. I have a part of my heart reserved for this precious little guy. I am no longer able to hold him in my arms, to touch him with my hands. He would have turned 17 today. — Meet Jude. I am no longer able to hold him in my arms or to touch him with my hands, but he still holds a special place in my heart. He would have turned 17 today.

My grandfather died when I was in elementary school. My remaining three grandparents followed suit over the next twenty years. My father died on my 23^rd birthday. My mother died a few years ago. Within seven months of one another, my husband’s grandparents died (separately) and my second-born son, Jude, died. After my son’s death, we grieved with three separate families at church who also buried their children. Loss has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. The fear of loss has been around just as long. It would be accurate to say that I have held those I loved in a death grip most of my life, always fearing the worst-case scenario would be the one that played out. Two years ago, when I read . . .

For I am the Lord your God, the One Who takes hold of your right hand, Who says to you, “Don’t be afraid, I am helping you.” Isaiah 41:13

. . . it was like God reached over to place His giant, gentle hand on my two clinched fists, and said, “It’s okay. You can let go now. You don’t have to be afraid because I am here. I am helping you.”

PONDER: What are your hands holding, clinched in a death grip? Do you trust God enough to let go?

PRAYER: Father, please help me to loosen my grip on these things that I hold dear. Help me to notice when I begin to clinch my fists, holding tightly to anything other than Your hand. Thank You for wanting to help me learn to trust you more fully, with everything.

Death Grip is one of thirty devotionals I’ve written as part of a friend’s devotional project. You can read more short devotionals like this by clicking here or the Devotionals tab at the top of this page.

All Aboard – a short devotional

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Isaiah 55:8-9 – Indeed, My plans are not like your plans, and My deeds are not like your deeds, for just as the sky is higher than the earth, so My deeds are superior to your deeds and My plans superior to your plans.

I read a book to my oldest kids when they were very young titled Train to Somewhere. Of all of the children’s books I’ve read with my children through these twenty-five years of parenting, no other book has stuck with me like this one. In it, Eve Bunting took the readers on a journey across the U.S. on an orphan train. The ride was punctuated by stops all along the railway during which the orphans were taken onto the train platform and lined up for inspection by potential adoptive parents. Stop after stop, the number of children climbing back aboard the train got smaller and smaller. Pickens, as you can imagine, were slim by the last stop. To be honest, I don’t remember the specifics, but this one sentence about that last train stop has repeated in the story of my own life many times since reading it: “Sometimes what you get turns out to be better than what you thought you wanted in the first place.”

PONDER: Have you noticed the same truth in the pages of your own story? In the comments, share one or two times when what you got was better than what you thought you wanted. Are you thankful that you didn’t get your way?

All Aboard is one of thirty devotionals I’ve been asked to write this year as part of a friend’s year-long devotional project. I look forward to taking this step outside of my comfort zone by sharing what the Lord is showing me. My hope is that you will find a place here where you feel comfortable in taking that step with me.

But Jesus – a short devotional

Proverbs 19-21 (1)

I struggle when life looks differently than I had planned. In my plan, my children all have perfect testimonies of growing up in a Christian home, never having tasted what the world has to offer, never dipping a toe in the cesspool of sin, never wrestling with God over anything. My children learn from their parents’ mistakes without having to make any of their own. My children’s plans differ from my plan. They are tripped by sin. They make mistakes. They choose poorly. They give in to temptation. Sometimes it seems there is a wide chasm between their plan for them and my plan for them. I cringe when I see them struggle. I grieve when they wrestle God. But Jesus. Because of Jesus, their temptations are turned into invitations. Because of Jesus, their poor choices are reclaimed. Because of Jesus, every mistake is redeemed. No struggle is wasted. No sin is too great that God cannot recycle it. Somewhere in the middle, spanning that chasm between our different plans, I think, might be God’s plan for them.

PONDER: What plans do you need to release to God today?

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But Jesus is one of thirty devotionals I’ve been asked to write this year as part of a friend’s year-long devotional project. I look forward to taking this step outside of my comfort zone by sharing what the Lord is showing me. My hope is that you will find a place here where you feel comfortable in taking that step with me.

Veto Power – a short devotional

John 18-11

I have been pondering John 18:11 this morning and the two opposite sides of the coin represented when it comes to surrendering to God’s will.

Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

On the one hand, I want desperately to be like Jesus, trusting and accepting and following as God directs my life. I want to live in unreserved surrender to His plan in an “all in” kind of way. On the other hand (the one that struggles for dominance), instead of accepting the cup with the trust in God that Jesus displayed, I’m more like, “Well, let’s have a look in that cup first.” I want to discuss – to bargain – with God until we come to some sort of mutual agreement before I take my cup. As one hand reaches for the cup God is handing to me, the other tightens on the sword at my side in a struggle with the desire to have veto power over God’s plan for me.

PONDER: In what areas in your relationship with God do you struggle with wanting veto power? Which hand will you give dominance to today?

Veto Power is one of thirty devotionals I’ve been asked to write this year as part of a friend’s year-long devotional project. I look forward to taking this step outside of my comfort zone by sharing what the Lord is showing me. My hope is that you will find a place here where you feel comfortable in taking that step with me.

A Walking Faith – a short devotional

547168_10151604986352915_72148924_n — Welcome to the family, pup! This is the day we brought Rosie into our home as a member of our family. Oh, did she have a lot to learn back then.

181269_10151712941977915_439136551_n — These are some of my favorite pics of Rosie as a puppy. Though an unenthusiastic participant during Dress Up, Rosie learned to submit to Chloe’s leadership from that first week in our family.

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2 Corinthians 5:7 – “for we walk by faith, not by sight.”

When Rosie was a puppy, my youngest daughter began obedience training with her. To help, I sometimes took Rosie on “training walks” around the park by our house to help her learn trust in the one leading her. Without fail, after a few yards Rosie would begin inching ahead of me, taking the lead on our walk. A quick tug on her training collar and she was back by my side, walking alongside me again. The more experience Rosie had during these training walks, the better she was at following my lead. I began to look for opportunities to challenge her, to allow her to choose to trust my lead. Yippee dog up ahead? Great! Children running around the playground? Super! These were opportunities for Rosie to grow in her walk with me, to grow in her trust of me to lead her well. Too often, I am like Rosie in my walk with God. I pull ahead, trying to lead. I get distracted by what’s around me and react instinctively, walking by sight rather than walking by faith in the One leading me.

10497035_10152580987882915_2348894236733199749_o — Undistracted by everything around her, Rosie looks to Chloe to lead her as they walk in this Dallas July Fourth neighborhood parade.

PONDER: What sights are keeping you from walking by faith? What is keeping you from praying, “yet not my will, but yours be done?”

PRAYER: Father, I confess to you that I am tempted to walk by sight in this situation. Please help me to trust you fully so that I may walk by faith. Gently tug at my heart when I pull ahead of your leading. Teach me, Father, to walk with you every step of today.

1548189_870928762963798_2500531386255774058_o — Rosie (with her leader) the night they won Member of the Month for obedience training. Rosie has since won several ribbons and a trophy in club competitions under Chloe’s leadership. She’s come a long way in two years! May I learn, as Rosie has, to trust God fully as I walk in faith with Him leading the way.

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A Walking Faith is one of thirty devotionals I’ve been asked to write this year as part of a friend’s year-long devotional project. I look forward to taking this step outside of my comfort zone by sharing what the Lord is showing me. My hope is that you will find a place here where you feel comfortable in taking that step with me.

Being Still – a short devotional

My view for the past several days of being still (Hello, Rosie!)

The first time my back went out, I was nineteen. When I was younger and my primary job was lifting babies all day long, it went out with regularly and always took several weeks to recover. As my children grew, so did the time between incidents. Imagine the frustration of being stuck lying on the flat of your back for weeks on end, of needing assistance to do such essential tasks as emptying your bladder, of gross inactivity when you want to do something. Though still frustrating, my perspective is changing. When you have no other option available to you except being still on the flat of your back, there is nowhere to look but up.

PONDER: What circumstances have you experienced that brought you to a place where there was nowhere to look but up? Perhaps these were God’s invitations to you to be still and know Him.

BE STILL

PRAYER: Father, I long to be still and to know You in a deeper way. Please open my eyes so that I may see my circumstances as invitations to fellowship with You. Help me to embrace being still with You today.

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Being Still is the first of thirty devotionals I’ve been asked to write this year as part of a friend’s year-long devotional project. I look forward to taking this step outside of my comfort zone by sharing what the Lord is showing me. My hope is that you will find a place here where you feel comfortable in taking that step with me.