Nancy
   McGuirk

What does God mean when He asks us to give our bodies as a living sacrifice? Can we die as a sacrifice and yet remain alive? In a spiritual sense, yes.

Many years ago, a woman who sewed clothing for a living also took care of a little boy each day. As she sewed she shared her faith with this small boy, sowing seeds by her words and deeds that she prayed would bear fruit one day.

Susanna Wesley is at the top of my list of nominees for the “Mother-Wife-Saint” award. The wife of a preacher in England at the turn of the 18th century, Susanna bore 19 children, nine of whom died. Two of these children, John and Charles, became the early leaders of the Methodist movement, and were mightily used by God.

Oswald Chambers defined patience as more than endurance: “A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see and He stretches and strains the saint. Often the saint thinks he cannot take anymore. Then God continues to stretch until His purpose is in sight and then He lets us fly.”

If you want to have power in your prayer life, you must regularly confess your sins. God wants to remove anything that would separate you from Him and you from others.

What is most important to you in life? What is the one thing you could not live without? Your family? Your health? Your money? Your reputation? The answer is what the Bible calls your treasure.

Is there anyone today who doesn’t feel pulled in a thousand different directions? Whether you are married or not, a mother or not, employed or not . . . if you are alive in the twenty-first century, you are likely very busy.

When my children were young, they jumped out of bed every morning eager to start a new day. They did not worry about what they would eat or whether they would have clothes to wear. They had a home where they knew that everything that belonged to their parents belonged to them as well. They trusted their parents completely and depended on their love at all times.

If you want to show your love for Christ, there is one way above all others: obey all that He has commanded you.

If you want others to see Christ in you, they need to see your weakness, not your strength. It is our need for Christ that draws others to Him—not our self-sufficiency. God extends His grace generously to those who choose to be humble (James 4:6).

What kind of inheritance are you leaving your children?

My youngest daughter married her childhood sweetheart. They grew up down the street from one another, were close friends in junior high, dated through high school, and knew they’d found true love together in college.

A stumbling block for many Christians who want to turn their worries over to God is the fear of becoming a nuisance. Sometimes we think, “I hate to bother God with all my concerns. I’m sure He has much bigger things to take care of.” Or, if we don’t fear being a nuisance, we think our problems are too small in God’s eyes for Him to direct attention to our need.

It has been said that we are not who we think we are, nor are we who other people think we are. Instead, we are who we think other people think we are. If that sounds confusing, it boils down to this: the mind is a powerful instrument just waiting to be told what to believe.