Chapter 40: Ears to Hear

“Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

--Luke 14: 35b

“So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.”

--Romans 10: 17

“Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.”

--Ezekiel 2: 5

Murphy’s Law is an adage that broadly states, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong!” and that was my day the day before I wrote this. You may have a day like I did. You will have! I can guarantee it…

I had planned to write, but my husband had a different agenda for my morning. From there it seemed downhill. After the 4^th of July weekend, I also had piles of mail and dirty laundry to take care of and a lonely house to clean after my family left. My mood spiraled further downward as I remembered my dog, Sabrina, and grieved not only for her recent death, but for two friends in their sixties that died during the previous couple of weeks. It certainly didn’t help that I had just turned 63, myself, on the third of July. The final straw was when the mail came with an invoice for repairs done at a rental house with the amount far exceeding that which I had expected...

To read the rest of this chapter, you will now need to buy my book, Simple Faith, Mighty Faith, published by Cornhusker Press and released 7-3-2011. Go to my website, http://www.JerriHaussler.com for ordering details. Thank you!

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Thoughts to Ponder/Points for Discussion

1. Recall the last time you had a “bad day.” How did God lead you out of that troubled time?

2. Now that this devotional is finished, what will you do to continue learning and growing in your faith?

Chapter 39: Smoke and Mirrors

“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face.”

--1 Corinthians 13: 12

“If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”

--John 3: 12

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

--John 3: 16

A framed poster on the wall outside my pastor’s office has tiny, little turquoise, navy blue, and black geometric figures on it. When one stares at the solid sheet of colors long enough, a silhouette of Jesus hanging on the cross is revealed. Many people cannot see the picture emerge, but if one is lucky and looks beyond the reflection on the glass and farther into the void behind the dots for ten to twenty seconds, the three-dimensional figure magically “pops out.”

Take any beginning psychology class and at least one session will be spent talking about these kinds of optical illusions. I remember one particular image that I first observed almost fifty years ago which tricks me every time I look at it. One can see the face of a beautiful, young woman or that of an old hag—and as I look at it, the two images switch in my own mind without explanation...

To read the rest of this chapter, you will now need to buy my book, Simple Faith, Mighty Faith, published by Cornhusker Press and released 7-3-2011. Go to my website, http://www.JerriHaussler.com for ordering details. Thank you!

* * *

Thoughts to Ponder/Points for Discussion

1. Does the world really need forgiveness and eternal life? Does the world want it?

2. Has pain in your life caused you to turn away from God, or drawn you closer? What steps can you take to come to a stronger belief in the Triune God?

Chapter 38: Remember the Sabbath

“Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.”

--Exodus 20: 8

“Then he said to them, ‘The sabbath was made for humankind,

and not humankind for the sabbath,’

so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”

--Mark 2: 27-28

The large parking lot was full of vehicles with license plates from Hastings and other counties surrounding Grand Island. The long hallways of Conestoga Mall were completely filled with people of all ages, rushing from one store to the next with packages in hand. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon, but it wasn’t even during the Christmas season, when I would expect it to be bustling. The crowds struck me as being unusually large, but I had just been to church earlier that morning, so perhaps I was just comparing it with a sanctuary that seemed almost empty. The busy scene caused me to wonder if this mall was the New Church and the god of these people was Materialism...

To read the rest of this chapter, you will now need to buy my book, Simple Faith, Mighty Faith, published by Cornhusker Press and released 7-3-2011. Go to my website, http://www.JerriHaussler.com for ordering details. Thank you!

* * *

Thoughts to Ponder/Points for Discussion

1. What can you do to remember the sabbath and keep it holy? Why may this be difficult?
2. How can you help others in your family, church, and community to observe a day of rest, relaxation, recreation, and/or worship?