DOING LIFE: Daily Devotions For Finding Peace in Stressful Times
We live in a world that has been driven to the brink by natural disasters, political divisiveness, and a pandemic that threatened to crush the world's socioeconomic infrastructure, no less the health and welfare of every individual. Dr. Thurston draws on a lifetime of experience in medicine, his formal theological training in seminary, and his love of music, sailing, animals and children, to bring you these first 365 devotions. Through laughter and tears, each will reorient you to what's truly important in life, and provide you with new approaches to finding lasting peace and contentment! Anyone dealing with stress or grief...
October 25 Doing Life: I Got This
Feeling like you have no control is a bad feeling, worse when you have to cede control to someone else. But trusting the Lord completely is the only assurance of a reliable outcome.
Proberbs 16:9
October 24 Doing Life: No, He Didn't
God doesn't cause tragedies; He is Love and He's in the Response to tragedy
October 23 Doing Life: Just a Sec!
Help us view interruptions as opportunities to show God's love through our response.
October 22 Doing Life: Disqualified
Can a Believer's behavior disqualify them from salvation? On the other hand, can anyone earn their place in Heaven?
October 21 Doing Life: Are You Worth?
Does God reward you for being a "good person?"
October 20 Doing Life: Mess Up of Cover Up
No one is righteous; not one of us.
October 19 Doing Life: It's the Little Things
Unexpected kindness is one of the most powerful forces for human change.
October 18 Doing Life: The Gap Remains
The pain of loss persists, but we can learn to love around it.
October 17 Doing Life: Spiritual Muddle
KISS means "Keep It Simple Stupid!" This adage has been known to be good advice forever. So why are so many Christians in what Oswald Chambers calls "A Spiritual Muddle?"
October 16 Doing Life: Surfing the Internet
Animals, over which we as humans have dominion, also bring us unspeakable joy in their antics! The Internet can provide us with an endless source of entertainment from cat and dog videos, to accidents in nature.
October 15 Doing Life: Exploit the Joy
Children demonstrate the Wonders of Creation unconsciously, all the time!
October 14 Doing Life: In the Pocket
If we trust our Savior, we can step into the pocket, rather than retreating or trying to make an end run!
October 13 Doing Life: Stay Different
"And do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind....." (Romans 12:2)
October 12 Doing Life: Self-Conceit
"There is no fault which makes one more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves, and the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others. Conceit." (C.S. Lewis) Putting our own interest ahead of others is the sure sign of a self-conceit state of mind.
October 11 Doing Life: Joy from Adversity
Applying our god given gifts through adversity can lead to a joy we would not otherwise have known!
October 10 Doing Life: Whose Will?
Choose that path that most glorifies Him, and alleviates the suffering of others.
October 9 Doing Life: Lean In
Fear of the dark, fear of separation, fear of aging, fear of death, really all the same: Fear of the Unknown. God is present. And those of faith can FEEL His presence and lean into their fears knowing He is with them.
October 8 Doing Life: Your Purpose in Life
"The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever!" Westminster Catechism
October 7 Doing Life: Anticipation
"Such is the state of life, that none are happy except in the anticipation of change; the change itself is nothing...." (Samuel Johnson)
October 6 Doing Life: Cast Off
"Some will say, ' You James, have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works!" (James 2:18 ESV)
Don't be a Christian who is simply "great on paper!"
October 5 Doing Life: Uncertainty Redux
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding...." (Psalm 3:5) Look to the only sure thing when everything else in life is unsure!
October4 Doing Life: Is There Hope?
God can and does turn evil to good for those who believe. (Romans 8:28)
October 3 Doing Life: You Might Be Right
"Honestly, I think there is nothing more stressful than arguing with someone when you know they're right!" (Jennifer Worth)
October 2 Doing Life: Negotiation
There is no behavior you can exchange for salvation. It is a GIFT.
October 1 Doing Life: Too Bad
" A moderately good man thinks he is not very good. A thoroughly bad man think he is alright."
(C.S.Lewis)
September 30 Doing Life: Too Good
Don't start to think too much of yourself and your good deeds.
September 29 Doing Life: Slumber
When you are too tired to keep your eyes open, its nice to know that the Creator maintains the watch!
September 28 Doing Life: Growing Out
Let the needs of others gradually outweigh your own needs.
September 27 Doing Life: Ash in the Air
Show your love with action, not words alone.
September 26 Doing Life: Make Over
God sees what is in your hearts, not outward appearances.
September 25 Doing Life: Your Crowd
Engage people different from yourselves.
September 24 Doing Life: Leadership
Jesus turns leadership on its head. The last shall be first.
September 23 Doing Life: Lion Haired Bunny
Ask the beasts, they will tell you.
September 22 Doing Life: I Believe in Me
"Complete self-confidence is not merely a sin, but a weakness." (G.K. Chesterton)
September 21 Doing Life: Good Shepherd
We must TRUST, even when the wolf pack gathers in the gloom!
September 20 Doing Life: Coming Home
Building your home on the Rock is a really good idea as it turns out!
September 19 Doing Life: It's Evitable
Benjamin Franklin, it turns out, was only correct about taxes; not death!
September 18 Doing Life: Brand New Life
"They say that people need just three things in life to be happy: something to love, something to do and something to hope for." (Tom Bodett)
September 17 Doing Life: Eye of the Hurricane
"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." (Romans 12:12 ESV)
September 16 Doing Life: Mathematics and the Truth
You have written Your law on our hearts so that we KNOW 2 + 2 doesn't equal 5 no matter how convincing Satan might be!
