What DOES last forever? What can I let go of?

November 24, 2025

Maria Daniel 10, Eternity, God's Peace, God's Word, Isaiah 40 , , , Leave a comment

“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” — Isaiah 40:8 NIV

My book had been out for ten days when I discovered a terrible blunder. Wanting to clean up the mess of files I had on my Mac, I deleted—and then “emptied trash” of—what I had painstakingly uploaded, edited, and laid out in a software program called Vellum. As they say—and as I keep learning painfully—you don’t know what you don’t know.

I now readily acknowledge my lack of basic understanding in operating a computer. I assumed that the Vellum software would “save” these files, but they don’t provide a server to back up one’s work.

Why would I want these files since the book is already out? Simply to correct typos I’m finding as I read through the devotions myself.

After about 36 hours of pit-dwelling and trying everything I could to recreate the files from old documents, I gave up. What helped me climb up and out and into the light of eternal reality was when Mike uttered, “The juice is not worth the squeeze!” If I wanted to format and edit 448 pages all over again, it would take time I could be using to write the next book!

All mistakes and failures provide rich lessons if one is willing to accept and apply them. Mike has given me a tutorial in best computing practices, and I now know I won’t make some of the same mistakes again.

But most importantly, the Lord has shifted my eyes up and onto Him. My writing—this book about God—will not last forever, but HE will. And so will His Word. Every human being will also endure through time, either with God or away from Him.

Acknowledging the Eternal centers me. So, what I have been doing this last week is soaking myself in the Father’s lasting love for me.  One of the verses I’ve been basking in comes from Daniel 10:19. My rewrite goes like this: O woman, greatly loved, fear not. Peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.

God’s love and His Word never end. Focusing on them gives life. Tech problems drain us!

What makes me happy?  What I know!

August 29, 2024

Maria God as helper, God's Peace, Psalm 146, suffering, Trusting God, Truth , , , 1 Comment

Have you ever read or listened to the classic kids’ book The Adventures of Pinocchio, by C. Collodi? He wrote it in 1881 as separate chapters for a children’s magazine before it was published in book form two years later. Mike is reading it out loud for his You Tube channel Papa Mike Reads Children’s Classics. I listen to a chapter at a time, as he uploads them, while doing my morning stretching routine.

Earlier this week, I enjoyed the account of how the repentant yet always backsliding marionette hops on the wagon traveling to the ‘Land of Toys’ where boys don’t have to go to school nor are there any books.  Allegedly, all day and every day they play and have fun.  The journey to this naughty boy’s paradise turns out to be very difficult and uncomfortable. The boys are packed like sardines into a donkey-driven wagon where it’s insufferably hot. They have no food or drink.

In any other circumstances they would have grumbled and jumped off the wagon. Surprisingly they keep each other in high spirits talking up what awaits them. Not a murmur nor a negative comment taint their anticipatory good cheer.

Why? Because of what they know.

Their emotionally-charged happy image of what awaits them softens the hours of traveling discomfort.  Knowing their happy destination makes all the difference.

The same can be true of us. What we know about our God, and our savior, along with our sure and certain future in God’s Kingdom, a place FAR better than what awaits these wayward boys, should kill off any discontent and give us a peaceful and calm attitude.

One of the readings on Tuesday was this psalm:

But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the LORD their God. Psalm 146: 5 NLT

For my benefit, so I could really grasp it, I rewrote this verse to read:

Happy is the one who has a helper who is God and who KNOWS he has one.  Happy is the one who then counts on his helper, the one and only true God.

The verses that follow describe just what kind of helper we have.  The psalmist reminds us of how powerful, good, kind and faithful our God is.

What struck me, resonating with my soul, was that it’s knowing this promise and accepting it as FACT that creates a solid state of peace and contentment. As long as I keep recalling and thinking about what I know to be true, this reality that is God, I can put up with difficult, obstacle-producing circumstances. Knowledge makes all the difference.

For example, when I was pregnant with each of our sons and going through labor, knowing the outcome that awaited me on the other side of the pain helped. Then there have been those times of suffering and frustration in both relationships and work that have taught me the same.  I’ve learned over the decades that no matter the present misery, if the forecasted outcome is delightful or help is available, or I can know and understand the reason for the suffering, I can more easily deal with the pain, pressure and even fear.

Every day you and I live the reality that all of life is uncertain. The market goes up and down. Our kids find themselves included by friends or on the outside.  Our bosses come and go. Health varies. There’s nothing created by us or by God that can bring us perpetual satisfaction. He himself, as God, is our satisfaction. But we have to believe that.

So, if you want to be happy, then write down what you are certain of, what you know.  And focus on that. Since God is God, his characteristics won’t change. His promises to you won’t waver.  And your future is more amazing than you can imagine.

It’s what (and who) you know that makes you happy.

Actual strength that changes life

August 23, 2024

Maria God's Peace, Holy Spirit, Judges 7, Psalm 23, Spiritual Warfare , , , , 2 Comments

Psalm 23:3 He restores my soul (NIV)……He revives my life (ISV)…He renews my strength (NLT)….He refreshes my soul (LSV)

I was on the elliptical cardio machine at Orange Theory Fitness this morning.  I never ‘feel’ energetic when I hop on.  But after 5-6 minutes, strength seems to arrive.  I don’t actually feel it, but I notice that I can go faster and steeper than when I started.  This has gotten me thinking about the strength that God infuses into our souls.

Last week, when I felt attacked by obsessive, unrelenting thoughts for a good 24 hours, it didn’t occur to me that spiritual forces of darkness were behind this.  But when Mike prayed for me, immediately followed by my reading pastor Scotty Smith’s words about spiritual warfare, the attack melted away.

That quick insight or clarity, something I already knew but Satan had blinded for a spell, changed my mood entirely.

Just as going to the gym and eating good quality protein provide energy and strength, God’s truth sources our power. But it’s not something we feel come into us or reside inside of us. In the spiritual realm, the Holy Spirit enables us to live out of a different perspective, God’s knowledge of reality.

This week I’m reading through Judges.  In chapter 7, Gideon has been prompted to free his people from the Midianites.  Knowing that this young man doesn’t FEEL capable, God goes out of his way to meet Gideon in his fear and weakness:

That night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up and go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. But, if you are afraid to do so, then go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Then your hands will be strengthened to attack the camp.” So, he went with Purah his servant to the outposts where armed men were guarding the camp. Judges 7:10-11 Berean Standard Bible

What made a difference to Gideon? An unimaginable conversation, a bit of new information transformed the outlook of this ‘least of the least’.  Now he was mentally and emotionally prepared to trust God and follow his plan, however strange it sounded.

What our mind believes affects our strength.  And God’s word delivered by his Spirit is transformative. 

Just before his departure heavenward the resurrected Jesus told his followers: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8 NLT

We all know about Peter’s courage and the effect of his bold preaching after the Spirit visited them. I think Peter and the rest believed Jesus with a new assurance of the truth. It was holy-spirit-infused new information. Not the news alone, not the Holy Spirit without any content.  Both together.

If you are a born-from-above believer, then you too have the Holy Spirit in you. And he is able to transform truth into power that you don’t physically feel. But believing you can do what God says is enough.

The parallels between working out, eating healthy and God’s amazing news of reality fascinate me in how they transform ‘mere’ words or energy expenditure or food intake into a powerful force that I can’t actually FEEL.  But I see the results, the outcome.   

So it was with my immediate change in mood and outlook last week. That incident renewed my trust in the Lord.  If he can act THAT fast in such a significant way, dispatching the obsessively fearful and negative thoughts, then I want to take him at his word ALL the time.

Whose faith is needed to relieve burdens?

March 23, 2023

Maria Faith, God's Peace, Isaiah 53, Joy, Our lot, Psalm 55 , , Leave a comment

Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. Psalm 55:22 NLT

the LORD has laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6 ESV

Yesterday God reminded me to fling onto Jesus all my worries and preoccupying fears.

In looking at the Hebrew term for these ‘burdens’, I see they refer to the ‘lot’ God has given us.  Can that be true? That my ‘burdens’, my issues, my difficult and painful situations, my problems with no visible solution are given to me by God? Well, yes, if I recall that God is the first cause of everything that happens in my life.

Yes, these are circumstances laid on us, and include responsibilities that ‘fall’ to us. Up until now, though, I’ve thought of them primarily as self-generated concerns.  But the Bible clearly teaches us that they are from the Lord himself.

I think this text means that God gives us a physical body, people and possessions to steward for him. They represent our allotment. But we are not to angst about them.  We are not meant to carry them around day and night. He is our good Father, apportioning everything that pertains to them. Provisions we need to manage, handle, live through them come from him. He intends us to depend on him in all our dealings. For those things we don’t have at hand to live with our ‘lot’, we ask him to provide.

Furthermore, he expects us to care for this entrusted ‘lot’ without worrying. He handles them and we obey his on-going promptings throughout each day.

This morning reading Isaiah I saw how the Father himself struck Jesus, causing all the world’s sins to land on him. We know that the Savior willingly bore that burden all the way to the cross until the job was done. I conclude therefore, that if Jesus’ shoulders handled all that, surely, he is capable of taking care of our issues.

In the light of Scripture and with some chagrin I see just how incomplete my faith is, how I don’t fully trust God to take care of me and all that concerns me.

But in these past two days, he’s been encouraging me with insight into a truth that is moving ‘front and center’ in my mind. My life, this world, in reality are all about Jesus. I find this actually to be quite logical or rational, now that I think of it. If God originates all that concerns me, all the individual circumstances of my life…..plus iff he expects me to hand over all the details for him to manage…..then part of Jesus’ oversight includes providing me with daily provisions of faith and strength and wisdom.

About this counter-worldy way to live, for a while, I’ve usually found it easy to accept that the wisdom I need is HIS wisdom. But now I see that the faith I am to exercise is actually HIS faith. Not mine. Ephesians 2:8 explains that faith is a divine gift. We don’t fabricate it. So too is our love. Romans 5:5 describes how the Holy Spirit fills us with God’s love. And I can’t forget joy. Whose joy is my strength? Not mine, but God’s. (Nehemiah 8:10)

What about peace? I certainly want to have more peace of mind, don’t you? Well, the Holy Spirit pinged me last night. I was stretching before bed and thinking over the day. Have you ever run through your mind checking to see if there is anything ‘you need to be worried about’? Okay, you get the picture. I came up with nothing and sighed with peaceful relief. But God caused me to think, “Oh, so is your peace, Maria, contingent on circumstances? Something that I can change in a nano-second? If so, that’s no peace at all. What you really want is MY peace, that settled tranquility and contentment that come from our relationship. Because of Jesus, you are my beloved daughter and our relationship will never change because I don’t change.“

So, the REAL peace I need and crave is also a gift. Friends, what a relief to know that we don’t bring anything to the table. All is from God’s hands: our lot and our sufficiency.

I’ll leave you with something I copied this morning in my journal from the Valley of Vision: “It is sweet to be nothing and have nothing, and to be fed with crumbs from thy hands.”

Have you ever experienced God’s supernatural peace?

December 8, 2022

Maria God's Peace, Philippians 4, Psalm 123 , , , 3 Comments

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 NLT

The other night, as I settled into bed, I prayed for supernatural help NOT to think about two problems that had surfaced during the day. I didn’t want to lay awake running through what ‘I should do’ about these two situations.

One of these issues involved money, a topic which triggers me.  That is, if I have wasted money or if a bill requires dealing with a call center to resolve, I can stew and suffer unnecessary anxiety. 

As soon as I begged the Lord, “Please help me not to lie awake thinking.  I want to sleep soundly! But I know I need your supernatural help, Jesus,” a thought just ‘popped’ into my mind.

The Bible teaches that God sovereignly controls all things in the universe. Therefore, these two problems are from his hand.  He appointed them.  He sent them to me as good things, for God IS good. And if that is true, then they are his to fix, not mine.

I prayed, “Father, you appointed these, I believe you will fix them.  So, here they are. They are yours.”

And with that, I fell asleep. I awoke the next morning with a sense of peace and thanked the Father for a good night sleep.  Going about my day, a growing awe over this supernatural calmness took hold of me.

I don’t know about you, but up until now I’ve never experienced the peace that Paul promises is ours if we hand over our worries with thanksgiving to Jesus.

It’s been almost a week and I continue to trust God and not fret. Nothing is resolved, yet. But I await his timing.  Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit is working overtime to build a case for the true blessing that comes when we release something to God because we take him at his word.

I am seeing supporting scripture every day. For example, one of our readings this week was Psalm 123.  Straight out of the gate, I stopped on the first verse,

To you I lift my eyes…. Psalm 123:1

Not to these problems, do I look.  No!  I lift my eyes off Maria and look to God.

I’m growing convinced that what we look at shapes and colors our attitude, our responses to people and events as well as our feelings.

Taking time to think slowly about all verse 1 implies allowed me to remember that I’m not going to find a solution to any problem by dwelling on it.  The One who created me, the universe and all of reality, both visible and invisible, has the answers I need.  And He promises to give us this wisdom, if we ask.

How is that for a case in favor of looking away from the current trial to the One who sent it and the One who promises to handle it!