Stan knew he needed to be out sharing Jesus in his local area. Now, with the support of his church, he’s able to spend regular time in the town centre,…
WatchBack in 2010 when I was in university in Ghana, I made a friend who was two years ahead of me. Even though he was troublesome (he wasn’t always very…
ReadI want to share with everyone what…
ReadDon and Judy love to travel. Whether…
ReadGod’s hand was in every step of Saydee’s life from little boy in Africa to twenty-four years of serving at Our Daily Bread Ministries in the US. He grew up…
ReadI love the Lord and wanted to…
ReadJohn faced some major decisions about the…
WatchThose were His words to James, those were His words to John, and those have been His words to me for some time now. Oh how I wish I would have had the courage to drop my nets and follow Jesus immediately. Today I am taking that step. Jesus wants me, all of us, to be fishers of men. I have experienced so many divine moments in the past two years and Jesus has called me to share them with you!
In 2014, I was diagnosed with cancer and this year, by the very hand of God, I became a survivor. I know the sole reason I am with you a while longer is to share my journey. I will be writing to you frequently and I pray you will look for me here.
After I was diagnosed, I plunged into a deep depression. I could only see the worst of possible things to come. The day we recieved the news, I immediately began to pray and I immediately knew that I was again turning to God in a dark, desperate hour, as I have done many times before. Why had I not prayed as ferverntly for others... why had I not sought God during joyful times? I felt ashamed and not worthy of His help now. This was heavy on my heart but not His. I called and He came and sat with me on the darkest of days. I was home alone and lay in my bed overcome with fear. And then my miracle happened. I knew I was in His very presence. I shut my eyes tight, reached out my hand, and touched His cloak.
I will save the rest of this moment to share with you soon. It is not quite what you may be thinking. I am eager to share this, and so many other moments with you! Love and peace to you all!
ReadI was driving down the road when I saw the flashing lights of a police car directly behind me. I wasn't speeding so I was confused at why he was asking me to pull over, but I complied. When the officer approached my vehicle he asked me if I was aware that my registration tag was expired by a few days. I told him that I didn't realize this, that it was my husband who would normally take care of this.
The strict officer did not accept my answer and issued me a ticket for $300. I left the incident feeling negligent that I did not renew the registration on time as well as upset that the officer did not extend me some compassion as the registration was only expired by a few days.
I decided to contest the ticket with the judge, desperately hoping that maybe he might decrease the amount payable as the $300 fine was not an amount that I could easily afford. When I was able to speak with the judge he looked at the details of the ticket and decided to pardon the entire amount!
Surprised and joyful at this unexpected outcome, I reflected on my newfound relief and the freedom I experienced from this forgiveness from my debt. I thought about my joy at having this debt removed and about how much greater it is to experience Christ's forgiveness of our sins!
I remembered that His sacrifice on the cross allows me to experience the ultimate freedom and joy from the debt of punishment for my shortcomings. God is a merciful Judge and He desires for each of us to experience the joy of undeserved forgiveness.
ReadI have been a reader of Our Daily Bread for many years and wanted to say thank you and let you know how it has kept me going.
Some days I feel my life is worthless, that I have made to many bad choices, that I didn't choose to follow Jesus Christ earlier in my life and what is in store for the future.
Then I read the devotion for that day in Our Daily Bread and the words are directed to me. Either words of encouragement or the understanding of God's direction in my life and I am lifted up.
There may be other issues during the day that bring back worries and sometimes they are carried to the next day, but then I read the next days devotion and there is another inspiring story along with a prayer and I am renewed.
My faith has grown more and more with the help of the Holy Spirit and Our Daily Bread. God is in control and is the director of my life, even when it seems there is no direction. I know I can turn to Him and He is there.
May God bless you and all your writers.
Your brother in Jesus Christ
Thomas Eckhoff
It has been almost two years that I accepted Jesus into my life as my Savior. Before this, I always believed, but never took the time to really get to know Him. My life before my Savior came to me, was for of chains that held me down and made it easy for the devil to do his work. I let him take everything from me, everything. I was a hopeless broken man. It will be two years at the end of September and life has changed so much. Not everything I lost has come back, but all in life that has is wonderful. I thank Jesus everyday for this. It not an easy road to be a good Christian but it's worth it. I have love in my life, I have a beautiful woman who loves me Jesus does, I have a descent job. I really can't ask for anything more... I love all of you out there, and thank you Jesus for being there for me.
ReadWhen I was younger, about 3 years old, my mom and I went to a church with our neighbors, who had 12 kids. We saw them as the most wonderful family -- they helped us through tough times as my single, Japanese immigrant, 20-something year old mom raised me; and they showed their love to us. This was our introduction to God.
When they moved back to their family in Texas, I was about 5 years old, my mom lost interest in church. We stopped going, but I still held interest in God.
On the last day before going on Winter Break in 8th grade, I was helping my science teacher clean his fish tank. The topic of religion came up, for he asked if my mom was Buddhist since she was Japanese. I answered no, but that we used to go to church, and I think of God often--so much, that I crave to learn about Him. My science teacher told me that he was Christian, and he said that when we got back from winter break, he would answer all my questions and tell me all about God.
Even though I did not grow up learning every name, story, or verse in the Bible, I found my way to God just by talking about my interest in Him, and I have never felt so happy. Don't rule out people who may not appear interested or know anything about God--our purpose is to spread the Good News to every single person.
The message August 13th 2016 was very meaningful in trusting God even when I cannot understand.
My husband left his job to become an RN and just at the end of his 3 month orientation in a major hospital with great job benefits he had a sudden onset of neck pain resulting in cervical surgery. This resulted in unemployment for a while. He moved to other nursing jobs which did not seem to work well . Was moving into nursing the best thing I do not know.
My testimony is that, during that time I was the only person working full time. My family has never been behind our mortgage, our bills have been paid including student loans, we tithe faithfully and give to missions. God has used the five loaves and two fishes and blessed us tremendously. Why my husband lost his job which was so promising, I don't understand. I know the Lord has been forever faithful, and we are trusting His Plan. The lyrics of the song ,"Trust his heart" fits in well with the devotion today.
God bless all ODB staff and management.
Fedelie.
Today like many days before I stood at the brim of the ocean amazed at its secrets. We watch dolphins dance through waves and seagulls spiral into them. Suddenly, my dad scooped something small out of the sand and handed it to me. "Here, it's an oyster shell. Open it---does it have a pearl!?" I turned the opal shell over in fingers a few times and looked--"No pearl." "Shucks," he said. "Maybe next time." Peals are of great value, aren't they? Not necessarily something you're lucky to scoop out of the grey tide without a search. I learned once a long time ago that pearls are formed through trial. Something unexpected seeps in--the oyster fights back, layer upon layer. It's defenses persevere and produce something beautiful, through the process was painful. Again, I'm reminded how God flips the world upside down, reassuring all things that happen to us happens for us: "We can rejoice too, when we run into problems and trails, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment". (Rom.5:3-5).
AnneRyanDempsey
Regardless of how old we are or who we are, we are ALL storytellers. From the moment we take our first breath until our very last, with each new sunrise God grants us, our life’s story is being written. Along the way, there may be some chapters in our lives that are more significant than others, which we may remember more passionately. Nevertheless, each of us has our very own “special” biography to share with others; for we are all custom-made by God’s design.
After being diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer three years ago, I was to discover just five months ago that I am now living with Stage IV breast cancer; in other words, it has now metastasized throughout my body. Subsequently, I am now in aggressive therapy to hopefully put the cancer in remission, which has yet to occur.
Recently, I was asked why I wanted to write and publicly share my story. Without a moment's hesitation, I knew exactly why. It's all about H.I.M., aka Hope – Inspiration – Motivation.
It is my heartfelt passion to encourage others during their life’s journey when facing their trials and tribulations. With God’s compassion, grace and strength, it is my sincere mission to turn my life’s story into a message of H.I.M. Rather than wallowing in my own fears and tears, I am inspired, more than ever, to give H.I.M. to others, while their life feels like it is crumbling all around them.
Like Jeremiah, when we read the first two and a half chapters of Lamentations, we, too, may feel afraid, alone, discouraged and in despair. However, as Jeremiah begins to trust and seek God’s compassion and great faithfulness, which we read in Lamentations 3:22-26, he also learns to “quietly wait” (patiently) for God’s deliverance for hope, inspiration and motivation.
• Hope – “The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will hope in Him.” (Lamentations 3:24)
• Inspiration – “Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)
• Motivation – “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:25-26)
It is, therefore, by such lessons of Jeremiah that we, too, can experience God’s unwavering love, faithfulness, and mercy cascade into our lives when we seek and trust Him. For I know, I will never be alone, while the chapters of my life continue to be written, and as I continue sharing H.I.M. to others.
When you feel you can no longer cope, remember God gently whispers, "persevere, stay calm, carry on and never give up hope."
For "true faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible" (Author Unknown).
Read “Grace, grace, God’s grace…grace that is greater than all our sin!” is part of the refrain from the song, Grace Greater Than Our Sin, by Don Moen. That lyric is a byline for my life. Even when I was still in my sin (Rom. 5:8), He chose me and saved me (Eph. 1:4-5).
I was fearless as a child, so my first brush with death came at around two. I was running like the wind down a steep hill of a cemetery while my parents put flowers on nearby graves. Tripping on the trunk of a small tree, reeling out of control, I landed hard and was later diagnosed with a broken femur. Next around four, I ventured into the river while my dad swam across the river, he looked back to see my long brown hair floating on the top of the water. I climbed on roofs, jumped off high places, and ended up covered head to toe with poison oak after one summer adventure. Those were innocent times.
At eleven my sixteen-year-old brother died in a sudden vehicle accident colliding with a train. The police reported the news to me (I looked much older than my years). His death was followed by my grandmother’s sudden death from cancer and my 46 year old uncle’s sudden death from a heart attack leaving my six cousins all under the age of 18 to figure out life without a provider or protector. I decided at a young age that if I was going to die young, I might as well make the “best” of it while I could. Was it a conscious decision? I do not believe it was, but when added to my fearlessness nature, the combination lit a fire of rebellion that lasted the next thirteen years.
From age 12 to 25, many of my choices were foolish and dangerous. At 17, I came near to death again from Toxic Shock, surviving a 107-degree fever and other awful and painful symptoms. After 30 days of recovery, I got out of my house for the first time, only to be rear-ended by another vehicle, the force so powerful it bent the metal frame of my 1968 Mustang. While my daily life was colorful and full of friends, family, and school activities, my nights and weekends were often filled with edgy, darker activities.
I went to college with the help of my parents and student loans. I continued my sinful decisions and what had now become defiance toward God. I met a young man who knew God, but was not walking with Him. He tried to tell me about God and the devil, but his life was total hypocrisy to me, which was the only loophole I needed to push God even farther away.
Fast forward four years, I was living in another town and working at a small vitamin store, barely getting by. My coworkers were a witch (she said she was a white witch, the “good kind”), a prostitute, and a Christian (although I did not know she was a Christian at the time). The Christian woman was kind and hard working. She had a peace about her that I was attracted to and needed desperately in my life. Finally, amongst the strange environment (we were having break-ins at night), I asked the woman, “Do you go to church or something?” She replied, “Yes, would you like to go with me sometime?” I was in such a hopeless place and knew the only thing I hadn’t tried was God, so why not? Much happened in between, even a miracle that to this day I can’t explain, except that it was God. But after going to church with this woman less than a year, she asked me if I wanted to pray to have Jesus come into my life and by then I knew He really was the only way, the only truth, and the only life (John 14:6).
After years of looking in the rearview mirror, to see if my decisions would either literally or figuratively catch up with me, I felt freedom from my past. God’s grace, His unmerited, undeserved favor had caught up with me instead. I no longer look back, but rather forward to what God has in store for my future as His child, saved only by grace.
I can remember a specific time when God used the daily devotional in “Our Daily Bread” to speak directly to me, giving me direction to get something done. It was a time in my life where I was going through a lot of changes. I was 32, had gone through a divorce about 8 months prior, and my work situation was starting to change. I was moving out from computer programming more into writing, having just finished writing up a manual for a computer project. I was working for a government research site in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Over Christmas, I visited my relatives in Waco, Texas. While there, one of my cousins handed me a college bulletin to Baylor University, which is in Waco, and asked me to send it to my sister because she had been asking for one. Out of curiosity, I opened the bulletin and browsed through the pages looking at the different programs. All of a sudden, my eyes lit upon a degree program called a “Master’s degree in International Journalism.” I reviewed through the requirements for the program, and began to get excited with what I was reading. I love to travel, and one of the requirements was to go on an internship to a foreign country for 6 months. And the idea of writing news stories as a career also excited me. I drove over to Baylor to visit the campus and just walked around, familiarizing myself with it. I would have tried to see a department head about the program, but it was Christmas break and no one was around. While walking around and exploring the campus, I became aware of God’s affirmation on me that this was the right thing to do. Somehow I just knew deep in my spirit that this was a new direction the Lord was leading me toward.
I returned to Idaho all excited about this new direction. However, upon my arrival back home, I was faced with a pile of mail to go through and errands to do that had accumulated while I was away on Christmas break. I temporarily shelved the university idea to tackle my “to do” pile.
Shortly thereafter, one particular morning, God spoke to me rather strongly. Nearly every morning for decades now, I have always started my day with reading the “Our Daily Break” devotional to get in tune with God and to start my day right. That morning, the particular scripture reading was Matthew 21:28-31 about a man who had two sons. I’ll just quote it (Jesus speaking, NASB version):
“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.”
After reading that scripture, I then read what the author of the devotional had to say. He basically said that if God is telling us to do something, we need to act on it promptly and get it done, not say we’re going to do it and then not do it.
It was a mild rebuke to me. I knew that I identified with the second son who said he would go but then did not do it. So I repented, put aside my “to do” list, and started checking into what I needed to do to apply to Baylor University. As it turned out, I needed all that time (starting in January) to get ready for the fall semester of that year. I had a GRE exam to take, lots of paperwork to fill out and send off, transcripts to send, phone calls to the university to make, etc. By listening to the Lord and moving quickly at His direction, I was eagerly ready for college that fall semester, for attending Baylor to get a Master’s degree in International Journalism, a field of study that seemed like a dream come true for me.