January 16, 2010 by Kelly.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.”

~Acts 1:8a

It was a “light bulb moment.” My children and I were studying the life of Jesus, and we read Matthew 5:16 (”In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”) I blurted out, “Our light source is God, and we have the choice of either being AC (accepting Christ) or DC (declining Christ). My children just stared at me, so I went on.

“When we accept Christ into our hearts, we tap into His power. We no longer rely on ourselves to get through life’s trials. We ‘plug in’ by reading the Bible, serving others, and gathering as a church. By accepting Christ, we have the potential to let our light shine steadily.” They looked like they were starting to understand, so I continued. “When we decline Christ, we don’t look for–or to–Him. All our energy is focused on ourselves. We don’t understand the message preached at church, and our Bibles lay unopened. We don’t ‘plug in’ because we’re running on our own batteries.”

They understood. They know the difference between batteries and electricity. They know the benefits of being plugged in. They are AC.

Lord, help me to be a light for You today. Fill me with Your Spirit, Your energy, Your love. Let me plug into You, and shine Your Light to the world.

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January 6, 2010 by Kelly.

On January 3rd, 2005, I began going through Search the Scriptures: A Three-year Bible Study Course for my daily devotions. Sometimes I’ll set it aside to do other devotional books, but I always come back to this book and pick-up wherever I left off. It’s not been an easy task. Although the book only asks two or three questions per passage studied, some of those questions really make me think!

I struggle with some of the questions–not because they point out sin in my life (which they do!), but because they don’t seem to make sense to me. I re-read the passage; I read it out loud. I re-read the question; I read it out loud… the point the author is trying to make still eludes me and I get frustrated. It can’t be that hard, can it?! There are no answers, so I can’t check to see where the author is going with his question.

There have been times when I try so hard to wrap my brain around the question that it brings me to tears. Lord, what am I missing? I just don’t get it! After I change my attitude from anxiousness to acceptance, my frustration levels drop and I can move on with my studies. Show me what You want me to learn. That attitude change often comes slowly.

Why do I get so frustrated? This flaw in my character has been a thorn in my side for a few years now–until a few days ago.

My daughter brought me a paper she had written. As I read over it, and mentally thought of all I wanted to correct on it, I remembered past times that I’d corrected her work.  It left her in tears. No, I wasn’t harsh, and I didn’t use a red pen. My daughter–who is the most willing to do her school work–is the most sensitive to correction. She will get so frustrated because she can’t seem to wrap her mind around a math concept, or she will forget basic grammar/spelling rules.

After I went over all the corrections to her paper and she didn’t cry, I looked at her and said, “You don’t know how hard that was for me.” I thanked her for not taking it personally, for allowing me to correct her. I reminded her that if she knew all the answers, and everything came easy to her, she wouldn’t need me to teach her.

I am so glad that God corrects me. I have so much to learn! It is my prayer that it will be easier for me to change my attitude from anxiousness to acceptance whenever I don’t understand something. It is my prayer that I will seek out the answers, dig for the truth, and search the scriptures until I do understand.

The thorn is still there, but at least it is now bearable.

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