We hope by now you have received your 30-Day Devotional Guide created by your Flourish Committee. If you haven't, we may not have a correct address for you. You can find a printable pdf version of the Devotional on our website www.theflourishconference.org or at www.cggcwomen.org. Over the next several months, we will be posting each devotional on our blog as well, helping us to celebrate this milestone throughout the year. Today's blog post commemorates the fifth and sixth years of the March Retreat.
#5 1996 Speaker: Adelle Campbell
Bon Voyage
“The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strength to your bone; and you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.”
~Isaiah 58:11 (NIV)~
Single, married, or widow—no matter your season of life—you are on a journey with God. Our scripture today promises that the Lord as your Captain will continually guide you in the way you should go and teach you all things through the Holy Spirit. God will guide you in All things, in All ways, through All places, and throughout All circumstances of life.
Let’s begin each day as if we are heading on a great adventure. Bon Voyage is used to express good wishes to someone about to go on a journey. With God as our captain, each day is a journey. Let us daily ask God to help us as we love Him, love people, and do something about it.
Let this be our prayer. God, please help me to go where you want me to go, do what you want me to do, and be who you want me to be as I try to please you on this day of my journey.
Bon Voyage. Payers and blessings to you!
Author: Sharon Ulrich
#6 1997 Speaker: Marian Pledger Growing in God’s Garden
“If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person;
for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”
~1 Corinthians 3:17 (NIV) ~
Quarreling and jealousy are damaging to God’s holy temple, which is the body of believers. Those who try to stand against God will not stand—He will take them down. “You together are that temple.” Sisters-in-Christ, we are part of the temple—the body of believers, the one Church.
Paul tells us in Corinthians that we are all members of one body, and that body is made up of many parts. Every single part is important; not one part is unimportant. Just as we are all important, we all need to work together because a body cannot function if its parts are not in unison. We know how hard it is to walk after we stub our toe on something. It is the same in the spiritual body of Christ. If one part is hurt in any way, it does not function well.
While we are all human and have feelings that can be hurt and grudges held, we must recognize those feelings and attitudes, and work to not hold an account of the wrongs. When we accepted Christ, our lives were wiped clean. He holds no record of the wrongs we do, so why do we? We should not be doing this. We should be loving, caring, and working together to uplift each other for God’s glory.
The partisanship that comes from quarreling and jealousy can only be damaging and unworthy of something holy. As part of the body of Christ, we are called to work together. How can we bring harmony and appreciation into the tension that can take over? How can a small ripple affect the larger body of Christ?
Author: Molly Weaver, Flourish Intern, Winebrenner Theological Seminary