The Upper Room Daily Devotionals in Nashville, Tennessee, United States "Calling All Volunteers!" for Tuesday, 24 January 2017 with Scripture Exodus 35:4 Moshe said to the whole community of the people of Isra’el, “Here is what Adonai has ordered: 5 ‘Take up a collection for Adonai from among yourselves — anyone whose heart makes him willing is to bring the offering for Adonai: gold, silver and bronze; 6 blue, purple and scarlet yarn; fine linen, goat’s hair, 7 tanned ram skins and fine leather; acacia-wood; 8 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; 9 onyx stones and stones to be set, for the ritual vest and the breastplate.
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Isaiah wrote, “I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ ” And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’ ”[Isaiah 6:8 (NIV)]
This verse from Isaiah was one of the verses that touched my mother’s heart with the desire to become a missionary. Many times I heard the story of how my mom felt called as a young girl to go preach to foreign lands. But she was from a very poor and uneducated family. In fact, she was the first person in her family to graduate from high school. Nevertheless, she surrendered to God’s call, went to nursing school, and there met a young medical student who also felt called to foreign missions.
Even though this verse is quite familiar to me, last Sunday I gained new insight into its meaning: God takes volunteers! Whether a person is rich or poor, educated or uneducated, God openly receives all who volunteer to be of service. God has work that can be done by anyone and everyone.
In today’s reading Moses tells the children of Israel that everyone who is willing should bring the Lord an offering for a special purpose. “Everyone who is willing.” Isn’t that wonderful? God takes volunteers and gives them amazing jobs to do!
Read more from the author, here.
"More from Harriet Michael"
“The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.”
This is the way Psalm 16:6 reads in the New American Standard Version of the Bible. The verse is a favorite of mine. I was born and lived my childhood in Nigeria, West Africa as the daughter of foreign missionaries. That land still claims half my heart. My early memories are filled with sweet recollections of places, people, and experiences that were so dear to me.
Sadly, this came to an end when my parents returned stateside at the height of the Biafran war. My parents came back to a home here in the states, but I, on the other hand, left what I considered my home far away, across a vast ocean. They continued living lives dedicated to God in their home, church activities, and work. I struggled for a while, feeling I had lost everything.
In time I made new friends and learned to love my home in the U.S. too. For many years, I did not have contact with friends from my childhood and did not give the past much thought. It was a closed book, a lost treasure.
In my adult life, however, God has reopened this closed book of my life and found my lost treasure for me. With the internet making communication so much easier, I have reconnected with childhood friends, many of whom I also now see every year at a reunion. My heritage is beautiful to me, indeed!
As I reopened that once closed book, wonderful stories sprang forth, all fodder for the writer I have now become. In recent days, reconnecting with friends and recalling things of the past has borne fruit in my writing career two ways. I have collaborated with one of my childhood friends, Shirley Crowder, also a writer, to write a seasonal devotional. And now she has written a study guide companion to my recent nonfiction book, “Prayer: It’s Not About You." That study guide can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Study-Guide-Prayer-Companion-About-ebook/dp/B01MT5DTUC.
In addition, I have written my first novel—a fiction work based on fact. It is the fictionalized story of my parents lives and calling to the mission field. That book, entitled The Whisper of the Palms is still at the publisher's but should be released in the not-too-distant future and will be listed on my author page as soon as it is released: amazon.com/author/harrietemichael.[Harriet Michael, Check out Harriet's blog here: www.whatHehasdoneformysoul.blogspot.com.]
See a pictures of Harriet and her family, here. here.
The Author: Harriet Michael (Kentucky, USA)
Thought for the Day: If I volunteer, God will give me work to do.
Prayer: Gracious heavenly Father, give us willing hearts to serve you. In your son’s name. Amen.
Prayer focus: For the spirit to serve
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Isaiah wrote, “I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ ” And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’ ”[Isaiah 6:8 (NIV)]
This verse from Isaiah was one of the verses that touched my mother’s heart with the desire to become a missionary. Many times I heard the story of how my mom felt called as a young girl to go preach to foreign lands. But she was from a very poor and uneducated family. In fact, she was the first person in her family to graduate from high school. Nevertheless, she surrendered to God’s call, went to nursing school, and there met a young medical student who also felt called to foreign missions.
Even though this verse is quite familiar to me, last Sunday I gained new insight into its meaning: God takes volunteers! Whether a person is rich or poor, educated or uneducated, God openly receives all who volunteer to be of service. God has work that can be done by anyone and everyone.
In today’s reading Moses tells the children of Israel that everyone who is willing should bring the Lord an offering for a special purpose. “Everyone who is willing.” Isn’t that wonderful? God takes volunteers and gives them amazing jobs to do!
Read more from the author, here.
"More from Harriet Michael"
“The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.”
This is the way Psalm 16:6 reads in the New American Standard Version of the Bible. The verse is a favorite of mine. I was born and lived my childhood in Nigeria, West Africa as the daughter of foreign missionaries. That land still claims half my heart. My early memories are filled with sweet recollections of places, people, and experiences that were so dear to me.
Sadly, this came to an end when my parents returned stateside at the height of the Biafran war. My parents came back to a home here in the states, but I, on the other hand, left what I considered my home far away, across a vast ocean. They continued living lives dedicated to God in their home, church activities, and work. I struggled for a while, feeling I had lost everything.
In time I made new friends and learned to love my home in the U.S. too. For many years, I did not have contact with friends from my childhood and did not give the past much thought. It was a closed book, a lost treasure.
In my adult life, however, God has reopened this closed book of my life and found my lost treasure for me. With the internet making communication so much easier, I have reconnected with childhood friends, many of whom I also now see every year at a reunion. My heritage is beautiful to me, indeed!
As I reopened that once closed book, wonderful stories sprang forth, all fodder for the writer I have now become. In recent days, reconnecting with friends and recalling things of the past has borne fruit in my writing career two ways. I have collaborated with one of my childhood friends, Shirley Crowder, also a writer, to write a seasonal devotional. And now she has written a study guide companion to my recent nonfiction book, “Prayer: It’s Not About You." That study guide can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Study-Guide-Prayer-Companion-About-ebook/dp/B01MT5DTUC.
In addition, I have written my first novel—a fiction work based on fact. It is the fictionalized story of my parents lives and calling to the mission field. That book, entitled The Whisper of the Palms is still at the publisher's but should be released in the not-too-distant future and will be listed on my author page as soon as it is released: amazon.com/author/harrietemichael.[Harriet Michael, Check out Harriet's blog here: www.whatHehasdoneformysoul.blogspot.com.]
See a pictures of Harriet and her family, here. here.
Link2Life for January 24, 2017
Alice Edwards
Alice & T. Keith Edwards
Alice & T. Keith Edwards
Harriet & mom, Alice Edwards
Thought for the Day: If I volunteer, God will give me work to do.
Prayer: Gracious heavenly Father, give us willing hearts to serve you. In your son’s name. Amen.
Prayer focus: For the spirit to serve
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