Your Father Knows August 14, 2016

Read: Matthew 6:25-34 Bible in a Year: Psalms 89-90; Romans 14 Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. —Matthew 6:8 I was only four years old as I lay by my father on a floor mat on a hot summer night. (My mother, with a baby, had her own room at the time.) This was in northern Ghana where the climate is mostly dry. Sweat covered my body, and the heat parched my throat. I felt so thirsty I shook my father awake. In the middle of that dry night, he rose up and poured water from a jar for me to quench my thirst. Throughout my life, as he did that night, he exemplified the image of a caring father. He provided what I needed. Some people may not have a good father figure in their lives. But we all have a Father who is strong and ever-present and who does not disappoint us. Jesus taught us to pray to “our Father in heaven” (Matt. 6:9). He told us that when our daily needs confront us—food, clothing, shelter, protection (v. 31)—“your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (v. 8). We have a Father who is always there. Night or day, whenever the going gets tough, we can trust that He will never abandon us. He has promised to care for us, and He knows better than we do what we need. —Lawrence Darmani Thank You, Lord, for the privilege of coming to You as my Father. You know my needs before I even ask. Thank You that You will never turn me away. Your loving heavenly Father never takes His eyes off you. INSIGHT: Among the topics Christ so eloquently addresses is the subject of worry. It appears that He was attuned to the fretting the human heart experiences in daily life. He encourages us to seek God’s kingdom as the top priority and then we are assured our Father God will provide for us (Matt. 6:33). He suggests we manage stress by faith: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (v. 34). Dennis Fisher Share your thoughts on today’s devotional on Facebook or odb.org.

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Day 288 - Grief Support Group

365 daily emails to help you through the grieving process Grief support groups: Click here to find a GriefShare group near you. If you would like to find a group for a friend or relative, try our Search Page. Want to read ahead or resend a previous daily email? Click Here Grief Support Group Day 288 We encourage you to join a biblically based grief recovery support group to aid in your healing. It does not matter how long ago your loss occurred; grief support groups are for people at all stages of the grieving process.* "It's in the sharing and the group's caring for each other that the healing is accomplished," says Dr. Jim Conway. Healing is a mending together for the purpose of making something whole again. Your heart, mind, and body can become whole and in excellent working condition again through Jesus. But healing does not mean there will be no scars. It means that you were once broken, but through time and effort you are being made whole again. "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds" (Psalm 147:3). Jesus, it's hard to imagine I will ever be healed. Help me to remember that healing is not forgetting, but it is remembering with love and tenderness and joy. Amen. *GriefShare groups are meeting throughout the United States, Canada, and several other countries. Here is how you can find out more about these groups: Search the database at http://www.griefshare.org and find the location of the nearest GriefShare group by zip code, area code, or city. Or e-mail your zip code to info@griefshare.org to receive a list of the groups nearest you. You can also call 1-800-395-5755 or 919-562-2112. Through a Season of Grief The daily email messages you are receiving are also available in a book format. Purchase as a gift for a friend or buy a print copy for yourself. Through a Season of Grief by Bill Dunn and Kathy Leonard is available at online and local bookstores or at griefshare.org/devotional. If you would like to recommend these daily emails to a friend, please click here and choose one of the options under Share. For more information about GriefShare, including how to sign up for these daily emails, please click here. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2003-2013 by The Church Initiative, Inc., All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without explicit permission in writing from Church Initiative. You subscribed to this daily email through www.griefshare.org. We value your privacy! We will never give, sell, rent, or otherwise share your email or personal information with any other organization — EVER. To remove this email address from further mailings Click Here while connected to the internet. If you have any problems or concerns, please contact dailyemailsupport@griefshare.org. GriefShare 250 S. Allen Rd. Wake Forest, NC 27587 (800) 395-5755

When We Don’t Understand August 13, 2016

Read: Isaiah 55:6-13 Bible in a Year: Psalms 87-88; Romans 13 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. —Isaiah 55:8 Although I depend on technology every day to get my job done, I don’t understand much about how it works. I turn my computer on, bring up a Word document, and get to work on my writing. Yet my inability to comprehend how microchips, hard drives, Wi-Fi connections, and full-color displays actually function doesn’t get in the way of my benefiting from technology. In a sense, this mirrors our relationship with God. Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us that God is far beyond us: “ ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’ ” Even though we don’t understand everything about God, that doesn’t prevent us from trusting Him. He has proven His love for us. The apostle Paul wrote, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Trusting that love, we can walk with Him even when life doesn’t make sense. —Bill Crowder Heavenly Father, thank You that although I cannot comprehend You, I can know You. I’m grateful. Remind me that even though You and Your ways might be beyond me, I can always count on Your love for me and Your presence with me. Share your story of God’s faithfulness on ourdailybread.org/story. God would not be worthy of our worship if He could be understood by our wisdom. INSIGHT: Isaiah had the unenviable task of proclaiming the sin of Judah and foretelling the impending Babylonian exile. His message, however, is not without hope. Verses eight and nine say quite a bit when seen in light of their context: “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” Even though the Israelites are facing exile and are in the throes of judgment, God’s grace still shines through. Dennis Moles Share your thoughts on today’s devotional on Facebook or odb.org.

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Day 287 - Share with a Friend

365 daily emails to help you through the grieving process Grief support groups: Click here to find a GriefShare group near you. If you would like to find a group for a friend or relative, try our Search Page. Want to read ahead or resend a previous daily email? Click Here Share with a Friend Day 287 Pray for God to bring you a friend you can talk with about your loss. Let your friend know what you need from him or her. You might prefer writing your friend a letter that expresses your feelings, your needs, and your thankfulness for the friendship. Sylvia, who lost her parents, had a close friend who helped her through her grief: "He was just a friend that I could go to and talk to and know that he understood; that was the main thing, just having somebody to listen to me." Never underestimate the comforting power of friendship. "You have comforted me by speaking so kindly to me" (Ruth 2:13 NLT). Provider God, I pray that I keep up my friendships with those who are true to me, even when I don't feel like making the effort. Amen. Grieving with Hope This GriefShare-based book contains short, topical chapters addressing issues that grieving people face but are often hesitant to mention to others; it gently guides people to determine whether they're grieving in a way that leads to hope and ultimate healing. Look for Grieving with Hope by Samuel Hodges and Kathy Leonard at a local or online bookstore or at griefshare.org/hope. If you would like to recommend these daily emails to a friend, please click here and choose one of the options under Share. For more information about GriefShare, including how to sign up for these daily emails, please click here. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2003-2013 by The Church Initiative, Inc., All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without explicit permission in writing from Church Initiative. You subscribed to this daily email through www.griefshare.org. We value your privacy! We will never give, sell, rent, or otherwise share your email or personal information with any other organization — EVER. To remove this email address from further mailings Click Here while connected to the internet. If you have any problems or concerns, please contact dailyemailsupport@griefshare.org. GriefShare 250 S. Allen Rd. Wake Forest, NC 27587 (800) 395-5755

Shaping Your Thoughts August 12, 2016

Read: Romans 12:1-8 Bible in a Year: Psalms 84-86; Romans 12 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. —Romans 12:2 When Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message” in 1964, personal computers were unknown, mobile phones were science fiction, and the Internet didn’t exist. Today we understand what great foresight he had in predicting how our thinking is influenced in this digital age. In Nicholas Carr’s book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, he writes, “[The media] supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. Whether I’m online or not, my mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles.” I like J. B. Phillips’s paraphrase of Paul’s message to the Christians in Rome: “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity” (Rom. 12:2). How relevant this is today as we find our thoughts and the way our minds process material affected by the world around us. We cannot stem the tide of information that bombards us, but we can ask God each day to help us focus on Him and to shape our thinking through His presence in our lives. —David McCasland Father in heaven, still and focus my mind, quiet my heart, and fill me with Your thoughts throughout this day. Let God’s Spirit, not the world, shape your mind. INSIGHT: Tradition has it that the apostle Peter brought the gospel to Rome. This is unlikely as there is no historical evidence that Peter was ever in Rome. The gospel was probably brought into Rome in two ways. First, among the three thousand converted on the day of Pentecost, there were “visitors from Rome” (Acts 2:10). These converted returnees could have brought the gospel back home. Second, because it was the capital city of the Roman Empire, thousands of other believers (visitors, tourists, soldiers, traders, businessmen, and migrants) would have come into Rome. These visiting believers would have brought the gospel with them. Sim Kay Tee Share your thoughts on today’s devotional on Facebook or odb.org.

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