Cross My Heart Ministry

“In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord.”
I Samuel 1:10

Hannah wanted desperately to be a mom. Year after year she prayed, waited, and prayed some more. Her grief was great, made even more painful by the constant, cruel provocation of her husband’s second wife. But she kept praying. She kept going back to God and asking. Her prayers testify to her continued hope. And most of all, her continued prayers demonstrate her faith in God.

Hannah chose to pray through the pain.

Waiting to become a mom was painful for Hannah. Today is Mother’s Day … and all these centuries later, women are still hurting because they desperately want to have children. As we enjoy the day, let’s also be sensitive, remembering that for those who long to be moms, have lost their own mother, or have experienced the devastation of losing a child, today is a day to mourn rather than celebrate. If someone you know falls into one of those categories, take a moment to pray them through the pain.

[bctt tweet=”Hug your babies, your teens, and your grown-up kids. Hold them tight and tell them how proud you are of them. And when the days to come bring disappointment or hurt, pray through the pain.”]

But even after becoming a mom, there will be pain. Being a mom is a deep joy, but it’s also hard work and sometimes painful. It’s challenging emotionally, physically, financially, psychologically, and relationally. Our babies try our patience, make us laugh, and spur us on to be our best. They make choices different than we would like, disappoint us, make us cheer, make us cry, make us proud — oblivious all the while to the power they have over us.

In a devotional at one of my baby showers, a wise older woman shared, “You will always love your children more than you love your parents.” That statement first startled and then sobered me. Though I wanted to protest, I knew it was true, and that means our children will never truly understand the depth and breadth of our love for them until they become parents themselves.

So, Mom, enjoy your chocolate and flowers. Relish every sappy word in those beautiful greeting cards. Go out to lunch. Hug your babies, your teens, and your grown-up kids. Hold them tight and tell them how proud you are of them. And when the days to come bring disappointment or hurt, pray through the pain. Intercede for your lovelies. Ask God to allow you to know when to close your mouth and drop to your knees (or as I like to say, to “shut up and pray”).

Pray through the pain. Pray for them and with them. Then, when God provides, consider using the words of Hannah’s Prayer to praise and thank God:

My heart rejoices in the LORD; in the LORD my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.
There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God,
I Samuel 2:1-2

Have a blessed Mother’s Day!

In this week’s devotional video, Laura talks about lessons from Genesis 24, as Abraham’s faithful and trusted servant Eliezer is given the critical assignment of finding a wife for Abraham’s beloved son Isaac. What can we take away from this story? Watch below to find out!

To download the free Write the WORD: Prayer bookmark, visit our Downloads page.

Very early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place,
where he prayed.
Mark 1:35

If Jesus Christ our Lord, the holy and perfect son of God, made prayer a continual priority while He was in human form on this earth, then surely you and I need to do likewise.

Following the example of Jesus in this passage, we note that:

1. Prayer is a priority. Jesus did this first.
2. Jesus had to get up early to find time to pray. (And lest you think an early morning only happens with an early bedtime and calm day before, back up a few verses to read about the “day before” for Jesus.)
3. Prayer is personal. There are many examples of Jesus praying with His disciples and praying in public, but His first-prayer-of-the-morning was in private. He got off alone to avoid the distractions.

We talk about prayer. When we hear troubling news from a friend, we respond, “I’ll pray for you.” We would raise our hands and vote for prayer if there were a prayer election. But I ask you this deeply personal and soul-searching question: Do we really pray?

Is prayer a proverbial Hail Mary that we throw up as we dash from place to place? Is it a mutter under our breath … or perhaps just a good intention that never becomes reality?

In our Write the Word this month, we are doing something just a bit different in honor of the National Day of Prayer on Thursday, May 5th, which was instituted in 1952 when President Harry Truman signed into law a joint resolution of Congress. On this day, once per year, citizens of our nation gather together and pray. This year is particularly poignant because many of us were denied the opportunity to gather on this day in 2020 and 2021.

For the follower of Christ, however, prayer should be more than an annual event. It should be a daily, continual priority. Prayer is vital for our survival.

When we are “prayed up” in advance, we have peace before the challenge. The football team really wins Friday night’s game during the grueling practice and preparation on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Likewise, as Christ-followers, we prepare best for surgery, family reunions, difficult meetings, parenting, and every other challenge life brings by praying in advance.

Oswald Chambers (one of the folks I’m most looking forward to meeting in heaven) said it well:

Prayer does not fit us for the greater works;
prayer is the greater work.

Whether prayer is already a priority for you, or you find your heart stirred to begin making it so, I pray this month’s Write the Word will inspire and equip you to learn from those whose prayers are recorded in the Bible.

Rather than only 1-2 daily verses, this month I’ve selected a daily passage that highlights a specific prayer in the Bible. After reading the passage, please choose a verse or phrase to write in your journal. Then allow it to prompt prayer to God.

I would like to invite you to post your thoughts (and your prayers) below. We would love to pray for you. And if your request is too personal for public posting, please email me directly.

Are you ready to be like Jesus –
to get up, get alone, and get praying?

In this week’s Friday devotional video, Laura took the opportunity to introduce this month’s Write the WORD topic by unpacking Mark 1:35-39, which tells about Jesus getting up early to be alone with His Father.

The May bookmark is a bit different than usual. Each day of the month will feature a different prayer found in the Bible. Rather than write the entire passage, we encourage you to read the prayer and then choose a verse (or verses) from the prayer that speaks to you, and write that in your journal. Both our Sunday Soaking posts and the Friday teaching videos will each highlight one of the prayers from the bookmark.

If you have not yet downloaded the May Write The WORD bookmark or the optional S.O.A.P. study pages, we hope you’ll visit our Downloads page and get your copy today!

My eyes stay open through the watches of the night,
that I may meditate on your promises.
Psalm 119:148

Insomnia.

We’ve all struggled at one time or another with a sleepless night or two. Too much caffeine, too much noise from the neighbors, or a too-long to do list. The reasons are many.  Sometimes there is no reason.

We can make ourselves do many things: get up every morning, cook dinner, grade math, pay bills, do laundry. But we can’t make ourselves sleep—in fact, the very process of trying to force sleep can produce adrenaline that does just the opposite—and difficulty sleeping is not unusual. According to the American Sleep Association, “Insomnia is the most common specific sleep disorder, with short term issues reported by about 30% of adults and chronic insomnia by 10%.”

Insomnia used to bring frustration. Rather than wasting time trying to sleep, I would hurl myself out of bed and balance the checkbook, grade some papers, or clean a bathroom. No point squandering awake time. (Type A much?)

But as I’ve grown older—and, hopefully, a skosh a wiser—I’ve learned to just embrace the awake time with peace and prayer. The stillness and darkness of the night coupled with the absence of sound and visual images, means my heart can be more attuned to my Lord.

I begin with praise. I regale His character traits. You are El Shaddai, God Almighty … all powerful, unchanging, strong, capable, solid, forceful, you are the boss! You are El Roi, God who sees me. You see everything that is happening in my life. You are Immanuel, God with us.  You are not just the God of “up there” but the God of “down here.” Because you have walked this earth in human form, you know how this feels.

I remember God’s promises and remind Him (and myself) of each as they come to mind:

• You promised to be with me always. (Matthew 28:20)
• You came to give abundant life. (John 10:10)
• You promised to equip me to do what you call me to do. (I Thessalonians 5:24)
• You promised to provide the harvest if I don’t give up. (Galatians 6:9)
• You promised to do exceedingly and abundantly more than I can ask or imagine—and I have a big imagination! (Ephesians 3:20)
• You promised to trade with me – my worry for Your peace. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Sometimes, I ask Him, “Who should I pray for, Jesus?” Often, of course, that means praying down the list of my precious ones: my hubby, the children, their spouses, my three beautiful GRANDdaughters. Then my mind wanders in freedom. In the darkness, I’m not limited by a church prayer list or a bullet list from an email. I can pray as the Lord leads. We are in tandem; He leads, I follow. It’s precious and peaceful, an unhindered and unbridled approach to prayer.

My eyes may be open, but my heart is praying.

In this week’s video devotional is the last in our series from II Kings. What a rich, yet challenging, study it has been! We hope you’ll enjoy these final words from Laura.

Have you missed any of the weekly videos in the II Kings series? You can find the entire playlist HERE. And if you have not yet subscribed to our YouTube channel, we would be honored if you’d do so! It’s free for anyone with a Gmail account, and a great way to show your support for the ministry of Cross My Heart.

Watch this week for the newest Write the WORD bookmark
& S.O.A.P. study pages. Our May focus: PRAYER.

God created a beautiful garden for the crown of His creation—man, created in God’s own image, and his wife, a helpmate suitable for the man.

He gave them complete freedom:  You are free to eat from any tree in the garden… [Genesis 2:16]

He gave them only one rule to keep: …but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. [Genesis 2:17]

Only one rule to keep and so much good to enjoy. And yet, they couldn’t do it.

I was around seven when I lost a tooth and my PaPa Charlie told me, “If you can keep from poking your tongue in the hole, a gold tooth will grow in where you lost that one.” My eyes grew big … but less than ten minutes later I had forfeited my college nest egg.

He grinned and said, “You couldn’t do it, could you?”

Red-faced, embarrassed, I shook my head no.

And that’s what sin also does: it leaves us shamed and robs us of something good. It often sends us into hiding.

Adam and Eve only made it a single chapter before breaking that one rule. When God confronted them, they followed their shame game with the blame game: Adam blamed Eve (that woman) and even God (that woman YOU gave me), and Eve blamed the serpent.

The human tendency to blame someone else and refuse to take personal responsibility has made many lawyers fat and many souls lean.

How’s your soul? When the Holy Spirit convicts, do you play the blame game? Does today find you lugging around the heavy burden of shame? Are you growing weary of hiding it, stuffing it, and trying to contain it?

Sin has a way of stripping us of our identity, our freedom, our dignity. Sin robs us of our future. It marginalizes our present. It brings disgrace from our past. No fig leaf can cover all that.

We work hard to keep anyone from knowing … but God knows. And He chose to do something about it:

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8

He provided—and still continues to provide—for us in the person of Jesus. He also provided for Adam and Eve following that first sin:

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
Genesis 3:21

He gave them animal skin clothes to cover their nakedness. A living thing had to die to cover the shame brought by their sin.

The sacrificial system of the Old Testament was bloody. And it was unending because sin was unending. Sin continued, so sacrifice to cover sin was required. Reading through Leviticus—all the rules and regulations for what to kill and how to kill it and what to do with the blood after—brings a touch of distaste, a bit of confusion, perhaps (if we’re honest) even boredom, but it surely should prompt gratitude that we live this side of the cross.

We couldn’t keep the one rule. We can’t keep God’s Top Ten. But thankfully, because of Jesus, the Old Testament sacrificial system has ended. He became the “once and for all sacrifice” for each one of us. Our identity in Christ means we get what He has (righteousness) and He took what we have (sin).

What a trade.

What a Savior.

Today, as we ponder Christ’s great sacrifice and His forever triumph over sin, aren’t you grateful that getting right with God doesn’t require going to the market?

As we celebrate Resurrection Sunday,
my prayer is that you have come to know and love the One
whose sacrifice has saved us, once and for all,
from the eternal consequences of sin.

He is risen.

He is risen, indeed.

In this week’s devotional video, Laura reflected on the high price Jesus paid for our salvation. We invite you to consider these thoughts today, as we celebrate His resurrection.

They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the King of Israel!”
John 12:13

Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week—Super Bowl week, if you will, for followers of Christ. The week we celebrate the ultimate victory: life over death! Love wins out!

Our English word Hosanna came over from the original Greek word in the New Testament, Hosanna. And that Greek word came from an original Hebrew phrase, Hoshiya na.  The original Hebrew meaning was Save! or Save, please! But through the years the meaning has shifted to mean, Salvation has come!

As the crowd welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, they praised Him as their Savior and acknowledged Him as the King of Israel. Every word they uttered was true, but they attached their own connotation. Their expectation of a Messiah and King fell short of what Jesus delivered. Their hope was not big enough, their adoration not high enough: they hoped only for an earthly king and a hero to conquer Rome, but Jesus was an eternal king who came to conquer death.

John gave them a heads up in John 1:29 —

“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

His words should have stirred their hearts and minds to think of Passover and to recognize Jesus as the once-and-for-all sacrifice for the sin of the world.

As followers of Christ, familiarity with this truth can blind us to its magnificence, but I hope you will take some time this week to marvel. Ponder the awesome truth that God became man, took the penalty we deserved by dying a sinner’s death, and then supernaturally came back to life.

Take some time to thank Jesus for loving you like no one else ever has or ever will. He knows everything about you. He knows you better than your mom or dad, your spouse, and your best friend. All that junk you would like to hide, erase, or forget about … He knows it and He still loves you. And He died for you, mess and all.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8 (NIV)

Acknowledge your gratitude that He cared enough to “cut in.”

He loves you. He died for you.

When Judgement Day comes, Jesus will be the judge of all:

Moreover, the Father judges no one,
 but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.
John 5:22 (NIV)

As those who have placed our faith in Him, we can come to that day with confidence, rather than fear. All will bow to Him, but we will bow to Him as our Savior rather than our judge. Our identity in Him means we are clothed in His righteousness, rather than the filthy rags of our own sin.

Because of the gospel, we have hope for eternity on that day, and we can live in peace and joy on this day.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith,
 we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace
in which we now stand.
 And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Romans 5:1-2

As we celebrate Easter, we rejoice in serving a risen Savior.

As we look to the future, we rest in our confident hope for eternity.

If you follow along with our monthly Write the Word series, we have chosen to focus on LAMB verses during April. My prayer is that dwelling on these verses has filled  your heart and mind with hope because of Jesus—the Lamb of God and the risen Savior.

Hosanna! Thank you, Jesus! Salvation has come!

This week’s Bible study found us in II Kings, chapter 20-22. We hope you’ll be encouraged to hear Laura teach about the growth and transformation of King Hezekiah!