Saturday, December 28, 2013

He Is the One!


The wrappings are gone.
The boxes played with.
The toys are scattered.
The children content.

I sit in my chair.
What did it mean?
Is that all there is?
Now that it’s clean.

Something is missing.
My heart – it aches.
What is wrong with me?
Is it all fake?

The carols I sang.
Was it by rote?
The Father above.
Did He hear each note?

The Christ child - He came.
Did I forget?
To honor His birth.
To worship His breath.

I sit in quiet.
I ponder His birth.
Why did He come?
To this sin-filled earth.

The love of His Father.
Bid Him to come.
To save my soul.
He is the One!

In Christ,
Berta

If this poem blessed you would you consider sharing it with your friends? Thank you, Berta

Monday, December 16, 2013

Starving For Love


I’ve made a habit of praying for all the women who come into my home as caregivers. As we work, I tell them how Jesus helps me get through each day.  

Often, these women open up emotionally and tell me their stories of abuse, fear, and loneliness. Many say they’ve never told anyone about these issues. Or if they did tell they weren’t believed.

These children of God are in pain. They're angry with God because people who were supposed to love them have hurt them. Hatred flows through their veins and is venomous to their souls. They’ve been cutting themselves, abusing drugs and alcohol, and many have attempted suicide—having given up on life.

God’s children are created in love, yet many are starving for love—God’s love. They have no hope. Can you see the person hiding behind the angry outbursts, sad faces, baggy clothes, tattoos, and piercings?

Will you love these societal outcasts—these important children of God? Will you listen and not judge? Will you show them Christian love? Will you give them hope?

I pray these words will open your heart to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and that as you walk through life you’ll look people in the eye, smile and say, “Hi! How are you?” You may just save a life.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 NIV).

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13)

In Christ Alone,

Berta

 If this devotion blessed you would you consider sharing it with your friends?

Sunday, December 8, 2013

A New Creation


In 1972, my stepmother began to isolate my sisters and me (along with her own children) by moving us away from the town we knew and restricting our access to peers. I quit school and worked alongside Dad each day in the wooded area deep in the bottoms along the Illinois River where we lived in a school bus.

I enlisted in the Navy in 1975 and followed orders 24/7 in basic. At my “A” school and then my permanent duty station, I had time off. Used to structure, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I didn’t understand why everyone in my barracks sat crowded together in the lounge watching television. I tried to make friends but was socially inept.

Lonely, I started drinking and fell in with the wrong crowd. I did fine for a while but alcohol soon became my enemy as people took advantage of me. Tired of being used and thrown out like yesterday’s trash, I grew hard-hearted. I lived by my own rules and hurt many people—mostly myself.

I’d heard about Jesus in those days but believed I had to be perfect in everything I did for him to love me. Imperfect as I was, I knew He couldn’t.

But when I met Jesus, I knew He loved me. As dirty as I was, He wrapped me in His loving embrace. He knew everything about me—the good, the bad and the ugly. He washed me clean. He healed my wounds. He saved me from my life of sin and death. He set my feet on the Solid Rock.

I received a new and loving family. Forgiving. Accepting. Welcoming. Alive in Christ.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:17-18 NIV).

In Christ,
Berta

If this devotion blessed you would you consider sharing it with your friends please?

Monday, November 18, 2013

Charity Begins In Your Heart





As a young girl, I wore my strawberry-blonde hair long and if I had any pride, it was in my hair. I had it cut to shoulder length when I was ten years old and disliked it so much I knew I’d never cut it short again.

Time passed and at twenty-three, I had it cut again—even shorter. I began having it permed in the 80’s and combed it with a pick to make.it BIG. Short, big hair continued through my accident and for a few years after. Having random nurse’s aides “pick out” my hair was frustrating.

In 1996, Earl and I decided to let it grow out. It grew quickly and the young women who took care of me then couldn’t satisfy me either. I considered cutting it off.

Then I heard about donating hair for wigs for children who had lost their hair through cancer treatment. I called 
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis and asked for information about Locks of Love. They wanted ten inches and I almost had enough.

Still, I hesitated. People often told me how pretty my hair was and I liked receiving compliments.

Shortly after the Columbine shooting in 1999 I attended a service at a local Baptist church where the pastor told that one of the girls killed was growing her hair out for Locks of Love. I cried over my pride and selfishness.

Having been dependent on others so long, this act of giving my hair helped me focus outward. To be able to do something for another person on my own was the beginning of loving my neighbor for me.

I’ve donated my hair three times and several people were inspired to give their hair after reading my story in the local paper. I will continue in charitable contributions whenever and wherever I’m able.

Charity comes in many sizes and various locations. Be an inspiration.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:36-39 NIV). 


In Christ,
 
Berta