Devotions With Family

My brother, his wife, my wife and I spent a month together in Bradenton/Sarasota Florida. I believe it was the best trip that I have ever experienced despite the fact that my brother was part of our foursome. I will write about some of what we did another time, but today’s post is about the best part of our time together. 

Every morning our devotions focused on the reasons for adoring our Father. My wife, Sherri, led each day’s devotions. She spent a lot of time before we left home to prepare for our devotion time. Her preparation no doubt had been guided by the Holy Spirit. 

Here is a brief summary of how God blessed us. Sherri called on one of us to pray, asking God to prepare us to listen to what he wanted us to teach us about himself. Then we took turns reading some cards on which were several passages of scripture that pertained to how we should adore God that particular morning—for  instance, God who watches us, God who redeems us, God who loves us and God who heals us us to name a few. There are many ways we can adore our Heavenly Father. I guess we read at least 15 passages of scripture each morning. After the scripture passages were read Sherri would make some comments about these verses, and we spent time discussing what she had shared. 

We changed directions for the next part of the devotion. Sherri had selected a song that went along with each day’s plan for adoring God. She had made copies of the lyrics for us, and we took turns reading the verses of the song. Sherri then played the song on her computer, and as we listened we meditated on the words which so beautifully praised the Father. 

Finally Sherri read a daily devotion from a book called “The Book of Mysteries” by Jonathan Cahn. He is a Messianic Jew. Many consider him to be a modern day prophet. Every day we learned something that opened our eyes to a specific mystery about our Father. Our discussions took us deeper into our knowledge of who God is. Our knowledge of God on this earth pales in comparison to what we will know when we get to heaven. Our devotions ended in prayer.  We prayed  for people that we knew who were going through trying times. We prayed for our daughters, our grandchildren, and we prayed for each other. 

One last thing. One morning the four of us observed the Lord's Supper. I think we had focused on adoring God who sacrifices. That was an extra good morning, but there was one morning that touched all of us the most. On that morning each of us gave our testimonies. We have known each other for a very long time because we are family, but, even so, we expressed the pain from how we had been hurt more deeply than we had ever shared wi6h anyone else except God.  and troubles we had experienced. Sometimes it helps to when we vocalize the anguish that has been buried in our hearts. 

All of us have gone through some very rough times. It is good to tell someone who loves us about things that are tearing us apart.  God often heals us through the loving concern and touch from special people in our lives. The difficult times can make us stronger. Listening to someone else tell how God blessed them during the hard times can give us hope. My brother and his wife have been through some very trying times and God has been a powerful source of strength in their lives. They have learned much and in turn have given much. They have been a blessing to many. They both taught me a lot about depending on God in the storms of life..

After we finished giving our testimonies, my brother suggested that each of us should share our testimonies with our children and our grandchildren. These are the ones who need to know that life can and will be rough, They need to know that God has taken care of us when we were at our lowest. There is much we can share with them. You never know how God might use your testimony to bring those you love the most closer to him.