Daily Picture

Yesterday I had a 15 minute interview at an Immigration office in Northern Central Portugal. I had been waiting 18 months to be given this appointment and it took 6 hours by public transport, door to door, to get there. Waiting can sometimes seem to take so long as compared to the event waited for, but often character, trust and faith are being built up. After my short interview yesterday, I felt...

Yesterday we looked at different nuances of words in the world and today I remind ourselves that as well as some cultural, historical and translation issues to consider in the Bible, there are also deeper mysteries. In the Bible, God is referred to as our husband, such as "Your maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name." (Isaiah 54:5). It is relating to an intimate covenant relationship...

This morning whilst praying I thought of the Portuguese word 'cachorro' which in Portugal refers to a young dog/puppy but in Brazil, where they speak a form of Portuguese which has evolved differently over time from mainland Portugal, with differences in grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary, they generally say 'cachorro' to refer to all dogs. In Portugal, the general term for dog is 'cão' soundin...

Today I saw the top left hand corner of a door frame so, basically, part of the horizontal top beam or lintel. In the Old Testament book of Exodus 12: 7 and 12, we read God's instruction to the Israelites who were slaves in Egypt at the time. The context is that, on God's instruction, guidance and power, Moses was bringing the Israelites out of Egypt but Egypt's Pharaoh kept on reneging on his pro...

On Saturday we reflected on "waiting on the Lord" which, in the original Hebrew, means to have forward leaning tension, eager anticipation and confident hope, which I likened to an elastic band ready for action. Well, today I extended that to the sling shot which the very young David, at the time, used to slay his huge, strong and heavily armed Philistine enemy of the Israelites, Goliath. No-one i...

Today I pondered on the word 'wait', bringing me to the Isaiah 40:31 verse: "But they that WAIT on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint". We can think on the word 'wait' as a time of inactivity or as serving as a waiter would do. However, let's dig deeper. The original Hebrew meaning of tha...

Today, in my mind's eye, I saw a brown magnolia seed pod like an oyster shell, open up to reveal a single beautiful ruby red pearl-looking seed. In reality, the dry brown pods spontaneously crack open in the autumn, displaying a whole cluster of small bright shiny red seeds. This reminds me that we can look at other people and at situations, thinking that they are dry, boring and with no abundance...

Today I saw a cheese grater, making me think of cheese and the nursery association of the moon being made of cheese. The moon has many constant and vital functions for our earth. Genesis 1, first book in the Bible tells us "...to separate the day from the night, to mark sacred times and days and years ... to give light on the earth ...the lesser light to govern the night ..." (Genesis 1:14-16). Al...

Today many people are excited and looking forward to seeing a total or near total lunar eclipse, enabling us to see the beauty of the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere, its corona, seen as a bright white ring encircling it. It is the exact positioning of the moon directly over the sun, veiling the blinding surface of the sun, which enables us to look directly at the sun with special glasses....

Today's Daily Picture is of maggots, a continuation of Saturday's message on God's perfect provision for us. The book of Exodus describes the Israelites being delivered from slavery in Egypt, with Moses and his brother Aaron leading them to God's Promised Land. Chapter 16 tells us that in the middle of the second month of their freedom, whilst they are crossing the desert, the people are complaini...

Today I moved a plant from the direct sunlight of my kitchen, as I am going away for 3 days. It feels like I have a big gap there now. This has brought to mind the "God shaped hole" that is often described as in humans and can only be filled by our creator God. If we try to fill it by sleeping, drinking, eating excessively or through substance abuse etc, the gap remains. Theologian and Philosopher...

Today, in my mind's eye, I saw a wake, the disturbed water behind a boat or ship as it sails along. As we go forward in life with our actions and interactions, do we consider the impacts and effects that we leave behind? The best guide for us is the Holy Spirit living in us, His advice contrary to what our flesh wants. "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not b...

Today I have another example of a wonderful experience of precious fellowship in God's Kingdom. I have to cast back to yesterday when a friend spontaneously gave me some information on resin to possibly include in a Daily Picture devotional. She knew I would pray about its inclusion for today or in the future. Anyway, in yesterday's devotional, I referred to the fact that God changes us 'little by...

Fellowship with others in God's Kingdom is such a blessing. A friend spontaneously wrote to me yesterday, without having heard the last Devotional on repentance whereby I had said on changing direction into following God's Will, God immediately has his arms outstretched to receive us. My friend gave me further food for thought when she wrote, to this effect, that even though we receive complete fo...

Yesterday I read these words from a secular book: "What happened is never what defined you in life. What you did next is what defines you". I would apply the wisdom in those words to the present tense, saying "what you do next is what defines you". Those words are not attributed to God, but their wisdom reminds me that we are all created by God, whether we believe in Him or not, and have His DNA i...

Today's message is a continuation of Saturday's when we reflected on the need to fellowship with others also wanting to familiarise themselves with God's Word. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, we read that, " All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work". We are all gifte...

Today I saw a dusty diary in my mind's eye which reminded me of Jewish leader, Nehemiah, leading the exiled people of Israel, back to Jerusalem to physically rebuild the city's walls which in turn encouraged them to want to restore their spiritual connection with God. They had lost all connection because God's written Word in the Torah, the first 5 books of the bible, had been completely forgotten...

Today I saw an image of a white rainbow. They are a rare phenomenon, whereby the light doesn't split into 7 different colours as in our usual rainbows with larger raindrops but instead, with smaller fog droplets, the colours are blended back into pure brilliant light. God is Light. In the first book of the bible, Genesis, chapter 1 verse 3, we read that God said, "Let there be light". What was thi...

Ten days ago I made the remark that random sex binds people in more subtle ways than maybe we are aware, which sometimes leads us into dangerous, risky and, at the very least, regrettable situations. I was thinking more on physical, pyschological and spiritual bases. I subsequently heard a podcast as to the chemical reactions in our brains when having sex, with the release of oxytocin. This bonds...

Today I am reminded not to compare ourselves to others. It can become a spiritual and emotional trap, whereby we are measuring our worth, our success and our life against others, possibly leading to pride and envy. Pride, because we think we should be getting more than another and envy, because we are coveting what someone else has. Also, consuming thoughts of comparisons can distract us from God'...

In seeing a face contorted with anger and unforgiveness and with hands clenched, I found myself reflecting on the physical aspects of unforgiveness. We can say we forgive, we can genuinely believe we forgive but then our face and body language reveal otherwise, as does our health. I have witnessed back ache, deafness, chronic fatigue, disorders of internal organs etc as physical consequences of un...

Today I saw an image of an old fashioned fountain pen, reminding me of writing with ink and not being able to edit anything as once on paper the ink was permanently there. This further reminds me of Jesus telling his disciples and crowds of other people, including the legalistic religious leaders (the Pharisees) and the scribes who meticulously recounted and recorded the sacred Torah - five books...

In the Garden of Eden "God saw all that He had made, and it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). However, Satan, in the form of a serpent ("...that ancient serpent called the devil, or satan" Revelation 12:9), twisted God's words to Eve; she believed satan and ate from the tree God had told her not to eat from. Part of the subsequent curse of separation from God and ultimate death, was represented by th...

As I am currently on holiday I go down to the beach sometimes and ensure I use a wall for shade against constant glaring sunshine. The shade is only there at certain times of the day and it is only on one side. God, meanwhile, provides us with constant and full protection. There are many bible verses that tell us that God's protection is like all-encompassing walls (for example, Zechariah 2:5; Isa...

I am reminded by my cousin who is going through a troubling time and yet can say "but good has come out of it", of the account of the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4:8-37. The woman's young son had died suddenly and yet as she rushed out to meet prophet Elisha, who was a regular visitor of her family's and who had prayed for her to have had her son against the odds as her husband was old, she still...