Author: Nan Jones

A Prayer to Journey With God No Matter What

Lord, take my hand and lead me on to the mountaintop of my God. The journey is difficult with jagged precipices and rock-strewn paths. I trip easily and lose my footing but then, from bended knee bruised from the fall, I look up and see Your lovely face and all is well.

Thank You for holding my hand as we travel together. Thank You for being near.

Lead me beside still waters where I can rest and be refreshed. Help me find the green pastures where I can lay down like a child at play and cease my striving.

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Faith Notes ~ Kristi Carden: Would My Protective Wall Ever Come Tumbling Down?

I met this remarkable woman several years ago. Kristi Carden and I were both taking our first step out of the boat in the sea of writing at a writers retreat in Todd, NC. She made my heart smile from the very first hug inside that mountain cabin.

Over the years I’ve watched Kristi handle life’s tragedies with courage and grace. I’ve laughed at her shenanigans with her boys, and I’ve been blessed by her love for her husband, Cliff. I believe you will be encouraged by Kristi’s transparency as she struggled for many years to let down her wall that kept others out and allowed her own heart to remain in isolation so she could survive.

Jesus made a difference in this girl’s life. We both pray He will make a difference in yours too.

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Finding God’s Presence ~ Have You Thanked God For The Thorns? Me, Either! ‘Til Now

“George Matheson, the well-known blind preacher of Scotland once said, ‘My dear God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses but not once for my thorns. I have always looked forward to the place where I will be rewarded for my cross, but I have never thought of my cross as a present glory itself.

“‘Teach me, O lord, to glory in my cross. Teach me the value of my thorns. Show me how I have climbed to You through the path of pain. Show me it is through my tears I have seen my rainbow.'”*

I sat curled up on the sofa’s end, coffee cup in hand on that chilly April morning. Quiet time with Jesus is my favorite time of day. I held Streams in the Desert next to my Bible, its pages dog-eared and underlined with scribbled notes in margins after years of repeated use.

And yet the words of this sweet devotional spoke fresh to me again that morning.

I realized I had not thanked the Lord for my thorns.

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A Prayer When Needing to Pray With Expectation

Lord, You are the Giver of all things — You are my Provider, Protector, Peace, and Hope. You are my joy, my Beloved. You teach us to pray believing — expecting Your response. Help us our unbelief.

I love knowing that You respond to our prayer even as it escapes our lips. Help us get that in our knowers — to expect Your response — to wait for it, look for it, hope for it. And then teach us to recognize and accept Your response when we see it, even if it doesn’t look the way we thought it should.

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Faith Notes ~ Corrie Ten Boom: When Cockroaches Are a Blessing

Corrie ten Boom is a hero of my faith. Words do not adequately describe this woman and the way she lived out her simple faith. Corrie is the one who taught me to hide beneath the shadow of God’s wing. She taught me to open my eyes to see the Lord in the midst of horrendous circumstances.

I am forever grateful for her.

Corrie and her family risked their lives by hiding Jews in occupied Holland during World War II. They were eventually found out, arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Ravensbruck, a notorious Nazi death camp. Corrie survived. Her family did not.

The following is an excerpt from the book of Corrie’s story, The Hiding Place.* May you be inspired to endure life’s hardships and find the goodness of God in the midst of broken places when life does not make sense.

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