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A Love Letter to Christmas
Merry Christmas Divas! Man, I prayed all fall and December for words or meaning or a theme from God to share with you all here on Devotional Diva. I always do something special on Devotional Diva for Christmas, because it’s my favorite holiday, of course. But nothing came. No guidance, no whispers, no inspiration, no creativity. Not until today, in my shower of all places. And now I’m proud to say I wrote this special little diddy just in the NICK of time. (No pun intended Saint Nick.) When I was a kid, we always spent Christmas Eve at my grandmother‘s house. It was magical. My grandmother was and is…
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After Death Comes Life
I launched Devotional Diva as a single person in 2009 under the name Renee Johnson. It was my dream to use that platform to get noticed and become a published author. God knew. A few months later, NavPress signed me for my first book, Faithbook of Jesus, a 365-daily devotional. It released one year later while the ink was drying on the trademark I purchased for Devotional Diva. Talk about a whirlwind. I experienced tremendous growth as an author those first few years as well as personal. My first book sold so well that NavPress signed me for another book. Then the economy tanked. It was a God-sized miracle that Harvest House signed me for…
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The Cleansing of Easter
Editor’s note: This is the first story in our Easter devotional series. Enjoy! One Easter holiday, the message of Jesus’ cleansing power was clearly put on my heart. My youngest daughter was two years old at the time, and my girls and I were excitedly coloring Easter eggs for our family Easter egg hunt the following day. Suddenly, I noticed an egg dye tablet was missing from the package. Where was it? Sophia? Everyone has one child that is more likely than the others to find and make mischief; Sophia is mine. I opened her mouth, squeezed her adorable chubby cheeks and found yep, a yellow mouth! Sophia…
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Shadows: A Mother’s Day Devotional
Editor’s Note: This is a guest story by Sheila Lloyd! Welcome back Sheila. I hope that this devotional can be an encouragement to you all today. Shadows lengthen on a mid-October lawn reminding me of Autumn afternoons of my childhood and adolescence in a veritable garden of love, where kindness and tenderness cast long shadows on walls of growing maturity. The gift, not only of being loved but actually enjoyed, of not just feeling protected but also supported and celebrated, engendered confidence to fly high pursuing dreams. And when the wild blue yonder conjured up storms that tore the parachute, my parents were soft piles of hay ensuring a safe…
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What Did I Learn Through My Husband’s Stroke? – a devotional
Editor’s Note: This is a guest submission from Sheila Lloyd. Sheila’s husband had a stroke in 2014, and this is part of their story of recovery. Thanks so much, Sheila! WHAT DID I LEARN THROUGH THE STROKE? How I am more like Jesus because of this experience? I WILL ADMIT, WHEN ONE OF MY EDITORS POSED THESE QUESTIONS TO me, I was at a loss. So…as I am flying in a plane at 20,000+ feet, I will endeavor to dive into that question and see what happens. Couldn’t pay me to strap on a parachute and jump, but then again, this kind of feels just as precarious. Do I wish…
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Come Sit On Our Couch – a marriage devotional
Editor’s Note: This is a guest submission by Bhreagh Rowe. An awesome marriage devotional! I think the biggest thing I struggle with is feeling like a crazy person. I literally feel like I am the only person in the world who cries every time I see a baby born on TV, or when Sassy comes over that hill in Homeward Bound or loses it on every time my 4 year old hits that stupid fork on the table and makes another dent. What about when the paper boy throws the paper at the end of my driveway and I can’t NOT not drive over it because its right in my…
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Joyfully Abandoned – a devotional
Editor’s note: This is a guest submission by Ann Grace. She has shared her story before – most recently here. Today’s devotional may be hard to get through as it’s very emotional, but powerful. Thank you, Ann. Is it even possible to be joyful in the midst of feeling abandoned? My life has been filled with my share of feeling abandoned and lonely but these days, I’m once again experiencing it again. My husband of 1 year has left us. No contact. No “I love you”. Nothing. It’s been almost two weeks of pure grief not knowing whether he will come back or file for divorce. I’m angry. I’m confused…
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After the Storm – devotional
Editor’s Note: I thought I would just jump back right into posting devo’s! I have closed submissions for the time being – and you’ll be getting a fresh devotional to read every Monday morning for this fall! This is a guest submission by Heather Ream. This is somewhat of a follow-up to Heather’s previous post about her mom here. Thank you for sharing, Heather! My mom has been living in a nursing home now for a little over a year. Most of the time, she’s stable. I’m blessed to be able to write that. Praise you, Lord. Most of the time, she’s stable. Sometimes, she has a short series of…
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It’s Time to Be Kind to Ourselves
‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
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Balancing Motherhood
Now ask yourself whose measure of accomplishments are we attempting to live up to?
