Sunny&80The Ankle Clicks (#jammed daily devo, day 132)
Posted on May 12, 2018
May #jammed: Growing Grace.
Day 132: Reminded.
“Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.” Proverbs 23:12
The pink morning sky made my feet light as I hurried to the end of the pier. Warm 
morning air, boats leaving the river, and the first orange glint of the sun …made me want to run.
Click …click …click …
Recalling the sound of the spin of my ankle around it’s joint the day before, I remembered why that wasn’t a possibility. Some days it’s hard to be grateful for slower steps.
“Develop a disciplined life. Be attentive so you can be well informed.” Proverbs 23:12 (VOICE)
We have to come to terms with the fact that we aren’t in charge of defining who we are, and why and when life happens.
Today’s verse layers adversity in hope. “Instruction” and “discipline” aren’t fun experiences. Some are more painful that physical pain, others are make life almost unbearable. When stripped of everything we think we need, we realize how much we can depend on Him. Jesus holds our hand when we run, and He holds it when we walk and wait and hope and seek. The grip is just as tight. Jesus’ handshake is firm and confident.
“ears to words of knowledge …”
“attentive to be well-informed…”
It’s hard to accomplish either of those things when rushing by life too fast. It’s not always easy to understand why life’s pace is slowed for some and sped up for others. The dangers in looking around in comparison come so naturally to all of us. Entitlement has little in common with God’s good and just system of judgement. The way He loves us is perfect.
In this season of walking, we learn to love who we are with or without all the things we love to do. He is still who He says He is even when we can’t do what we want to do.
Father, Praise You for walking and running. Thank You for the different paces of life and seasons of growth. Some hurt more than others. Please forgive us for focusing on the negative attributes of hard experiences. Bless our hearts to embrace the unexpected changes in our life that You will for us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Get the conversation started by commenting below, and let’s encourage one another as we face life in 2017 armed with grace!
#greatgrace17
Happy Walking,
Megs
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The Twinkle Lights (#jammed daily devo, day 125)
Posted on May 5, 2018
May #jammed: Growing Grace.
Day 125: Sparkling.
“Do not move an ancient boundary stone
set up by your ancestors.” Proverbs 22:28
“Let’s read under the twinkle lights, mommy,” my daughter often asks. At bedtime, we sit 
underneath a fairy wonderland of flowers and toole, sparkles and twinkle lights …and we read His word. Through her VeggieTales devotional book, we bond and laugh and share a piece of His peace. It’s a safe place for a little girl who is sometimes afraid to fall asleep. It’s a quiet ending to a hectic day …a comforting routine for a growing little soul.
God is good to give us boundaries. During the time today’s verse was written, boundaries were very important to the survival of nations. God’s people had certain claims to certain territories, and the Bible is very exact at what the boundaries of those lands were to be. It seems boring to read about, unless we appreciate His hand of protection.
boundaries-The agreed limits to the lands of an invidivudal or people. Designated by God and protected by law, both national and local boundaries could be subject to dispute. Dictionary of Bible Themes
Old Testament boundaries prepare us for New Testament living. Jesus came speak to us and to show us where there were and how to live within them. Much more than landlines and borders, these were ways of living. There is no limit to God’s love, but we must choose to live within it.
boundaries- something that indicates or fixes a limit or extent. Merriam-Webster
Jesus fixed our limitations by doing what we cannot do. By going where we cannot go. The cross provided us a way to come to God. He is our Boundary. Within His grip of grace, we are living in God’s infinite love. The boundaries of a life walked on this path do not block out pain, hardship, or injustice. They don’t protect us from the consequences we earn. But they do allow us to live life as it was always meant to be lived.
My daughter will grow out of her twinkle-light paradise one day …but I pray she will grow into the His loving boundaries.
Father, Praise You for boundaries. Thank You for sending Jesus to show us where to go and how to live. We confess all of the times we overlook Him and seek to set our own limits. Bless us to seek Your will in our lives. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Get the conversation started by commenting below, and let’s encourage one another as we face life in 2017 armed with grace!
#greatgrace17
Happy Line-drawing,
Megs
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The Longer Days (#jammed daily devo, day 124)
Posted on May 4, 2018
May #jammed: Growing Grace.
Day 124: The right amount of time.
“Don’t gamble on the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow…” Proverbs 22:26 (MSG)
“I want …I want …I want. Can we …can we …can we? Why not …why not …why not?” …the joyous 
hymn of shopping with kids.
Raising kids to be fiscally responsible is difficult but necessary. So, does anyone want to tell me how to do it? I’m surely not done reaping the consequences for my financial irresponsibility.
This common thread produces fear in our lives, because we not only lack understanding but lack complete control …something humanity has a natural craving for. If I don’t do something soon …disaster awaits, just like this verse warns.
“Do not be a person to guarantee someone else’s loan
or put up collateral for the debts of an acquaintance;
For if you do and you can’t repay,
won’t you risk having your bed ripped out from under you?” Proverbs 22:26-27
Beyond the ability to tithe and pay bills on time is the need to be generous. Everyone is wired with a want to help. To give. Failure to work to be generous can fail our children’s understanding in how to give. Giving when there are debts to pay can lend a sinking feeling of obligation and legalism, which will not satisfy the desire of our hearts to give.
“It is far better to give to those in need or lend without interest” MacArthur Study Bible (NKJV)
When we let a fear of numbers affect our obedience the consequences are sure to bite us. Taking financial responsibility is not about strength and weakness in numbers, it’s about putting God at the center of them. And the time is now.
Father, Praise You for the lessons You teach us through numbers. Thank You for wiring us to crave generosity, and forgive us our lack of preparation to properly do so. Bless our financial states to reflect Your purpose. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Get the conversation started by commenting below, and let’s encourage one another as we face life in 2017 armed with grace!
#greatgrace17
Happy Number Crunching,
Megs
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The TV Junkie (#jammed daily devo, day 116)
Posted on April 26, 2018
April #jammed: Grace Studies.
Day 116: Turn it off.
Screens are a crazy bad for kiddos. I can attest to this by the crazed look in my daughters’ 
eyes when I de-screen them. There are days that we are all lazy, and I let them become zombies in front of the TV or their tablets …and I always regret it. They seem less relaxed after relaxing in front of media all day.
Today’s verse offers advice on what to focus on, and I think it’s applicable to the struggle we all have to maintain a a balance with our access to technological entertainment.
Are we focused on it? There’s a difference in being entertained and having it become the sole focus of our existance. Anyone that’s ever yanked a tablet away from a kid before they are done with it has witnessed first hand the evidence of intense focus that was interrupted.
What are we’re supposed to be focused on? “…a mind focused on the Spirit …”
It’s not something to be seen, but experienced. When properly executed, if flows through us like water, and when the flow is interrupted, we feel like we’re going to fall. It begins with Him and ends with Him. And for it remain uninterrupted, so does our focus.
Here’s a few simple ways to keep the reel rolling throughout the day:
- Get up and read God’s Word. Even five minutes is beneficial.
- Talk to God. Conversation …about what’s actually going on in your life …not just what you think He might want to here or what we feel like owning up to at the moment.
- Write it down or listen to it. I tuck verses away places I know I’ll see them because I am horrible at memorization. Listening to praise music is a good way to keep rolling too.
Be present in life’s moments, but always be focused on Him.
Father, Praise You for setting a desire to know You in us. Thank You for the many simple ways we can absorb and apply Your Word daily. WE confess that we are driven by apps more than Your Words more often than we’d like to admit, and pray that You will bless us to uphold little ways each day to hold You in focus, first. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Get the conversation started by commenting below, and let’s encourage one another as we face life in 2017 armed with grace!
#greatgrace17
Happy Focusing,
Megs
Get the #jammed Daily Devo sent straight to your inbox each morning, by subscribing to Sunny&80.
The Impossibly Cold Cup
Posted on February 24, 2018
“a time to laugh …” Ecclesiastes 3:4b
Have you seen these cups that claim to keep things cold for hours? It’s fascinating. How can an ice cube stay an ice cube in ninety degree heat for such an extended amount of time? It seems impossible. It makes me laugh at how fascinating these simple things can be to me!
Ecclesiastes 3:1-9 states the many different seasons of life, and laughter is included. God created laughter. He is the master of sarcasm, as evident in Old Testament Stories and New Testament Parables. Our innate sense of humor and craving for a good reason to smile comes from our good Father.
He created the entire universe in six days, and then rested for one.
He created time yet holds the ability to stretch our minutes.
He flooded the whole earth and destroyed everything, but left one arc untouched.
He spoke to Moses through a burning bush.
He made Joshua march around Jericho once a day for six days before the walls came down on the seventh.
Jesus set up scenes and solve problems in a way that would make us remember. We’re still reading them to this day.
He fed thousands of people with a few fish and some bread loaves.
He healed a woman who touched His robe as He passed by to heal someone else.
His best friends sat at the cafeteria table everyone else is afraid to walk by.
He walked just about everywhere He went, but then rode into town on a donkey …
He washed his friends’ feet.
He almost sunk his friends’ boat with a huge catch of fish.
Why does all of this make me smile? Laugh, even? Certainly not out of disrespect or ill-intended sarcasm as we have grown so accustomed to in our society. No, this humor is born out of love and intentionality. God purposefully places people and circumstances to encourage our smiles …our laughs. With God, there is no coincidence. No impossibility. He is sovereign. There is definitely no coincidence in soveriegnty.
Jesus wasted no parables with the minutes He chose to spend on earth. We only have access to what was written down about Jesus. I like to imagine what other kinds of things He did that we’re not privy to. Jesus is a fun guy. Heaven with Him is going to be a blast.
It makes a really cold cup seem like a simple accomplishment. We are created in His image, wired to accomplish the impossible. And with great faith and a Savior like Jesus, who can stop us? Each created for a specific purpose, let’s not forget to revel in the humor of our Father along the way. And marvel at the simple joys and impossibilities …like un-melting ice!
Father, Praise You for happiness and laughter alongside our awe for You! Thank You for lacing lightheartedness into miraculous wonders. We confess that we think humor is our thing …and often use it inappropriately. Bless our innate craving to laugh to be for Your glory, and never at another’s expense. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Happy Laughing,
Megs
This post was originally a part of the #jammed Daily Devotional Series from February, Dunked in Grace, Day 55: Grace outlasts the heat.
Throwback Update …
When I look back and read some of these devotional entries, I smile at the growth God has led me through since! The more I grow in my faith, and the closer I become to my Creator, the more I realize that His love is a joy-filled wisdom filter over every Instagram-able moment. I realize it’s no coincidence when I stumble upon a happy moment or a bust a gut laughing.
So often we are focused on the big things -good and bad – when we direct our attention to God. But the truth is, He’s in all the little moments of our lives, too. He cares so immensely for each one of us. When we realize how great His love is, it causes us to see things from a different, joy-filled perspective. Joy, that through ups and downs, sustains our strength. Moments of laughter that meet us in impossibly hard circumstances. What a journey …
Happy Laughing …
Sunny & 80 …by Meg!
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