Master Sculptor

by Macy Johnson

“But godliness with contentment is great gain.”

(1 Timothy 6:6 NIV)

Sometimes the Lord teaches us contentment by gently removing whatever makes us discontent. We don’t always know the source, but He does.

We are foolish and imperfect, greedy, grabby, never satisfied with what we think we love. We imagine we can fill our empty hearts with created things. Yet, sometimes when we receive what we asked for, we push it away in disgust, like a tomato rotting on the vine.

Angel Rescue

by Macy Johnson

“For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

(Psalm 91:11-12 NIV)

My flight from Atlanta bounced down a Newark, NJ runway on a busy, frosty, Monday morning in January. I slid into the passenger parade from the terminal gate to the air-train, to the baggage claim. Grabbing my zebra-motif suitcase, I stepped into another accounting-controls-audit week at a manufacturing facility.

Fast Learners

by Macy Johnson

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,

and to the ends of the earth.”

(Acts 1:8 NIV)

We are students in God’s school. The Holy Spirit is our Tutor, guiding us through each lesson, opening our spiritual eyes to every truth to be learned.

As a college instructor I was disturbed when my students failed the class. Didn’t they want to succeed? Were they hoping I’d give them undeserved, passing grades?

Four Families

by Macy Johnson

“God sets the lonely in families, He leads out the prisoners with singing.” 

(Psalm 68:6a NIV)

Everyone is blessed with at least two families: one on the mother’s side and one on the father’s. I was blessed with four.

At 6 months old, my birth mother gave me up for adoption. I launched an intentional search for my identity in 1983, while pregnant with my firstborn. In 2010, a doctor recommended I have my DNA analyzed on “23andme” just to see what medical issues might arise. That suggestion re-triggered the desire to discover my birth parents.

Never Lost

by Macy Johnson

“Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one.

Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’”

(Luke 15:8-9 NIV)

I like to remind God that He knows where my lost items are and can easily help me find them.

Working all day in her yard a friend lost an emerald, which she later found in the middle of her kitchen. Another friend lost a diamond in her church’s recreation hall only to find it a week later in the middle of the recently mopped floor!

Friends Bridge

by Macy Johnson

 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship,

to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

(Acts 2:42 NIV)

One Tuesday afternoon while playing Bridge, the door to the church fellowship hall opened. A police officer stepped inside and politely asked, “Do any of you ladies own the red car that is parked on the street?”

One of the ladies at my table glanced up and responded, “Yes, officer, it’s mine. Is there a problem?”

Master Mechanic

by Macy Johnson

“For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds;

and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

(Luke 11:10 NIV)

Trust God with everything?

I brought my cassette tape player to church one night to share a recording of testimonies. I put the tape in…well, I tried to put the tape in. It didn’t drop in like it should. So, I foolishly proceeded to force it in, by-passing the door. When I pushed the “play” button the player ate the tape. I exclaimed out loud, “Leave me alone, Satan - I need this to work! Oh Lord, You are the Master Mechanic - You can fix this tape player!”