Things are going along well. Life is good.
The kids are getting along ... "What a great mother I am!"
or ...
Your job review turns out much better than you thought ... "I can face every challenge people throw at me!Read More
Where do you go to commune with your God?
Do you go to a chapel or a church? to a favorite place near a stream, at a mountain retreat, or on a beach? Do you go to a "prayer closet," a special place in your own home?
But maybe you are frustrated because there never seems to be a "place" where you can go. Maybe you're a mom with young children or a special needs child. Perhaps you are a working mom or a worker who needs to moonlight at a second job to make ends meet. Maybe you or a loved one has a handicap or serious illness that takes you to services and medical places that seem to consume your life. Where is the place for you?
I have good news for all of us ...
Read MoreEvery Easter I think of family and friends who have died in Christ. Somewhere and sometime on their earthly journey they each met the Risen Christ in a unique way...some quite dramatically, some softly and quietly.
During this Easter week, I'd like to tell you about a friend who was arrested by the Risen Christ. She's virtually unknown, except by those whose lives she touched. Her name is Brenda.
Read MoreNow I lay me down to sleepI pray the Lord my soul to keep If I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take
So goes a traditional nighttime prayer taught by American moms to their children for generations.
It may seem odd to us today that there would be the mention of death in a child's prayer. But scientists say that sleep is the closest we come to death while still alive. The Greeks even had a proverb,
Read MoreSleep and death are brothers.
Jesus said “...what is that to you? You follow ME!”
John 21:20-21 ESV
Sometimes we just need to go it alone.
I know...that's not a popular thing to say in the "church." And I get it because God has placed us into families and communities. He wants us to care for one another.
But stay with me here...there are times when we truly are alone .... and other times when we need to choose to be alone.
Read MoreAs I was walking one day, listening to a mixture of songs on my ipod, one of my old favorites by Steve Green came on, He Holds the Keys. This song dates back to the era when Steve was singing big songs about our big God! It was also during the time that I was beginning to experience Jesus as my Life in a deep way!
Read MoreAbandoned! Left on the "doorstep of Life"...but with no Rescuer in sight! What happens next in the unfolding drama of the crucifixion of our Lord is incomprehensible!
It's an abandonment so profoundly mysterious that it boggles the mind...but ravishes the believing heart! Let's watch it unfold...
It is noon.
Read MoreAs far back as I can remember, I longed to know God. At my mother's knee, I would sit and listen to stories she would tell me from our big gilded Bible. You know the one...with the records of births and deaths, marriages and first communions. But it wasn't until later, in my young adulthood, that I became aware that I could hear God's voice speak to me...not audibly, but in the still, small voice of His sweet Spirit dwelling within.
Read MoreI have a precious friend named Kitty. She sees and hears God EVERYWHERE! Her favorite "mantra," so to speak, is"He is is SO personal!" And that's what I love about Kitty!
However, for Kitty and for all of us, hearing God can be a little tricky. Jesus said we DO hear Him if we belong to Him. But how? Where does the hearing take place?
Kitty and I had such a conversation the other day. Here is my paraphrase:
Read MoreKitty: I'm struggling. One minute I hear this message in sermons and songs and blogs,
"Wait upon the Lord. Keep silent and wait."
And that's what I'm trying to do. But then the next minute, it is
"God is waiting for you to step out in faith, and then He will move."
Which is it?
Jan: This is the key, Kitty...
I would like to tell you about Lou, a friend and brother in the Lord. Lou was a "flower child" of the '60's. He, of course, would never have missed Woodstock -- along with all his long-haired hippie freak friends. And Lou loved to share. What he always shared was the latest "turn on" he had discovered and enjoyed, no matter what it might be. But there was Something missing in Lou's life. He didn't realize that it was a God-shaped Someone, and He had a Name. His Name is our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Read MoreTruly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise. Luke 23:43
Jesus seems to have a special love for lost people ... This makes me think of the criminals executed with Our Lord Christ. They certainly were the lost sheep, ...the lost coins, ...the lost sons...and Jesus came to seek them.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10
They obviously had been running away from God...who knows what kind of crimes they had committed! The Bible just calls them "criminals" [thieves, malefactors KJV]. Maybe God didn't come into their thinking...but that's the point. They had gone their own way.
Read MoreChristianity is a PERSON, not a procedure; the LORD, not a list! Not church attendance, not Christ-like qualities, not good works, not the Christian "to-do list" (which may vary depending on the group and "camp" you are in)...
Not evangelism, not mission trips, not a quality "quiet time," not Scripture memorization or Bible study...
Not spiritual disciplines, not prayer, not fasting, not obedience, not miracle-working faith...
Not ______________________ (you fill in the blank with your favorite supposed "godliness-producing external" activity).
Read MoreAlexander Pope (1688-1744), English poet, once said,To err is human; to forgive, divine.
So true...but we humans more readily echo what someone else has said,
To err is human, but to get even? THAT is divine.
We struggle so, with forgiving our offenders! Perhaps that's why we are amazed and awestruck to realize that Jesus' first words from the Cross were ones of forgiveness.
Read MoreTo end the month of February, the month of Valentines and Love, I would like to share one more love song. This time, my husband was the one to say, "This is a God song."
And it's true. Even though he and I consider it one of "our songs," it can only truly and honestly be sung to the Lover off our Souls, our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ.
Read MoreI've been thinking about the true love that we all crave in our heart of hearts. It's a love that we only get glimpses of in this life in this broken world.
So here's another love song (remember the last post?)...one that we usually connect romantically and emotionally to that favorite someone. But again, truly...if we listen to the words...can we really sing it to another human being? I suspect that if I really honestly sing a song like this one to someone on this earth, then I would probably be making that someone a "god" in my life.
Read MoreA few years ago, I did a series I called "Findings in the File." As I was making an attempt to clean out files (which still hasn't totally happened), I found treasure after treasure buried there. And just the other day, I had another "finding in a file"... ok, notebook, hidden in one of those infamous files. It was such fun to find.
Since I'm working on sharing my spiritual journey with a new Bible study group soon to begin, it was a delightful "trip into yesteryear" when I found this -- a "life story and favorite things." It was a presentation done with a small group of precious friends back in 2007, who shared their memoirs also. And then we celebrated each other's lives. What joy!
And so now I thought maybe I would just share my "outline"found in that notebook, in that file...just for fun of it and to encourage you to think about your own life with the "mind of Christ" and gratitude for the treasure that is YOU!
But first, something that came at the end of my outline, but I don't want you to miss if you have just a few minutes to read -- truths still most precious to me. I hope they encourage you too.
Read MoreYou belong to me, and I belong to You, TODAY, my Jesus.
You live in Me, and I live in you, TODAY, my Lord.
You abide in me, and I abide in You, TODAY, my Vine.
You save me TODAY and always, my Savior, and You save me right NOW, my King!
You are my I AM, now, TODAY...AND FOREVER!
Read MoreAre you a futuring-type person? Or as a friend of mine says, a future-think? In other words, do you constantly project into the future?
I do.
For this NON-procrastinator, it is very difficult to live in the moment, in the today! My mind is always racing ahead...to the next responsibility, the next event, the next idea.
Read MoreI'm receiving Christ's fullness as my daily portion, morning by morning, day by day.
Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
John 1:16 NIV
And so as I embrace HIM for my day, moment by moment, I'm also revisiting some of my previous meditations.
Would you like to join in and relearn with me? I don't know about you, but I need to be reminded often of that which I already know. But I need to know it today ... in my real life ... now.
Read MoreJanet Renner Loyd has been a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ most of her life. Her formal education includes a degree in education from the University of Arizona and also a degree in Bible & Theology from Moody Bible Institute. For more than thirty years, she has been involved in teaching and leading women’s Bible studies, retreats, and meetings…most notably Precept upon Precept and various studies that she has personally developed. Professionally, Jan recently retired from teaching language and writing to GED and adult ESOL students.
About her life, Jan says, “The most important thing about me is my relationship with my Father God through my Lord Jesus Christ. I am forever grateful to Him for His love, mercy, and grace to me and my family and friends...and the world.”
Jan has been happily married to John Loyd for more than forty years. They have two adult, married children and five lively young grandsons.
