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Hear the Devotional here: https://bit.ly/35KE2ZJ
1 Oh, thank God - he's so good! His love never runs out. 2 All of you set free by God, tell the world! Tell how he freed you from oppression, 3 Then rounded you up from all over the place, from the four winds, from the seven seas. 4 Some of you wandered for years in the desert, looking but not finding a good place to live, 5 Half-starved and parched with thirst, staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion. 6 Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to God. He got you out in the nick of time; 7 He put your feet on a wonderful road that took you straight to a good place to live. 8 So thank God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves. 9 He poured great draughts of water down parched throats; the starved and hungry got plenty to eat. 33 God turned rivers into wasteland, springs of water into sunbaked mud; 34 Luscious orchards became alkali flats because of the evil of the people who lived there. 35 Then he changed wasteland into fresh pools of water, arid earth into springs of water, 36 Brought in the hungry and settled them there; they moved in - what a great place to live! 37 They sowed the fields, they planted vineyards, they reaped a bountiful harvest. (Psalm 107:1-9, 33-37 The Message Version)
Happy Friday, dear Friend! I pray this finds you well and blessed. I received good news from Mr. Dick Goss, who underwent a successful surgery in San Antonio yesterday for his ankle replacement surgery! Let's pray for his speedy and painless recovery, and may God grant him patience and peace during this recovery time. Thanks be to God! Let us continue to pray for those on our prayers lists, our hearts and minds, and those whom see hurting or in need. Pray for each other; pray for yourselves.
This time of isolation and social distancing has helped many of us discover movies, documentary, comedies, dramas, and other things to watch. Yes, we should be reading more, and some of us are doing that as we find time. And some of us have settled into comfortable routines; some of us have new routines, and challenges. One of the documentaries we watched concerned a man from Mexico who lives in The Bronx, New York City. He is there alone, doing very hard and difficult jobs to eke out a living for himself and to send home to his wife and sons. He lives in a basement on a cot in a building he shares with rats, roaches, and other vermin. His first job is to clean that building in exchange for free rent and for some pocket money. When he finishes that, he goes with a shopping cart and black trash bags to rummage through trashcans to find recyclable aluminum cans. When he has a load or two of these cans, he goes and sells them to a Korean man. He has a small cellphone to call home. What he usually gets are distressing news from his wife about one of this sons. Did I mention he has a son whom he has never met? He came to the US when his wife was pregnant and it has been almost 14 years. He wants to go home, for of all he is learning in the US is that money is not that important to him; family is. The most striking thing about this whole existence was when he went and bought seeds to plant in an area just outside his room. He tilled the soil, planted the seeds, and cared for them. In later scenes in the movie, it shows him cooking a meal with some of the vegetables he was able to grow.
Planting says a lot about a person, as we read in this passage. It is a Biblical notion that to plant is to set down roots for oneself; to say, this is my home and it will be God who will continue to provide for me and my family. To work the soil and plant seeds is to say I continue to have faith in You, loving God. And to see those first sprouts of life coming forth, it is God answering back; I am with you. To plant and grow is to remember all one has gone through and yet still have hope for the coming of better days. Our history, though we pray never to repeat it, shares our trials and tribulations as well as our joys and victories. And to be thankful, we are mindful of where exactly we saw God's loving hands at work in our lives.
I have said many times, we need just to change the word Israel into our name, and we see our story shared, even in this passage. And this should cause us enough joy to sing!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, our history is rich with your handprints on our lives, our struggles and our joys. May we plant in the hearts of our loved ones that truth, so that they never forget we belong to You. May we learn and be blessed from the difficult times, so that when joyous times return we can truly rejoice in thankful ways. Remind us that our story is still being written. If we are not yet at the place we desire, we are not far from it. Bless those who are sick, those recovering, those seeking answers and meaning; may purpose and joy come to all hearts today; this we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Plant a song of joy in someone's ear today! And you might even have to sing it out loud!
Receive my blessings of love and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
