Hershey Kisses

by Macy Johnson

“Man does not live on bread alone

but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

(Deuteronomy 8:3 NIV)

I struggle to learn obedience in the area of eating. Addicted to food, I shove aside the spiritual for the physical.

God blessed me with this weakness to teach me that nothing He creates is ever meant to satisfy my desires. Everything looks delicious, but the taste… disappointment, again.

Teaching Opportunity

by Macy Johnson

“During the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, 

“and tell the people all about this new life.”

(Acts 5:19-20 NIV)

The director of a local university called me two weeks before I was scheduled to teach a class. He said, “Unfortunately, you don’t have the qualifications for the upcoming class you agreed to teach.”

Car Trouble

by Macy Johnson

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28 NIV)

Click-click, click-click. My car wouldn’t start after Bible study one morning.

Navigating the mega-church halls, I asked a passing school teacher where was the nearest phone. She directed me to the school office. But, when I arrived something in my heart told me to turn around and go to the church office at the other end of the complex. Quite a hike.

Housekeeping

by Macy Johnson

“Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.”

(Nehemiah 13:14 NIV)

I’ve been a sloppy heart/house keeper lately. Neither my heart nor my house will clean themselves.

Do I ignore the stench of rotting desires in my heart as piles of dust and clutter multiply inside my home? There is a connection, the physical with the spiritual, just as in Nehemiah’s account of cleansing the temple and tackling personal reform.

Cleansing Blood

by Macy Johnson

“How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts

that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

(Hebrews 9:14 NIV)

I was hooked up to a machine for apheresis (platelets donation) at the local Red Cross center. 

Not long before, I didn’t know what a platelet was, much less that someone would want mine. Platelets are defined as “numerous small disk-shaped bodies found in the blood of vertebrates and associated with clotting.”