Lillie Ammann's Blog, page 12

Lenten Devotional: The Light of Christ

If you do not come from a liturgical Christian background, you may not know much about Lent. If you aren’t accustomed to observing Lent and would like to know more about it, read these posts:

Ash Wednesday 2017Ash Wednesday/Lent 2016Ash Wednesday/Lent 2014

This year, Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is February 17. As explained in the posts listed above, many Christians fast or give up something for Lent as a form of penance and as a way to grow closer to God. While fasts are often food (sweets or meat or soft drinks), Christians can give up anything that will remind us of Jesus’s sacrifice for our sins as well as help us focus on our faith and the coming of Easter.

Personally, I give up fiction reading (which is a real sacrifice for a fiction lover like me) and spend time reading Christian nonfiction (which helps me grow spiritually). I also add more Scripture reading—usually a Bible reading plan designed for Lent. I journal my reflections on each day’s reading and write a short prayer. Every year, I publish my Lenten reflections from an earlier year.

The Light of Christ, this year’s Lenten devotional, is available as a free PDF download. The ebook is formatted in standard 8 1/2 x 11 size so that you can print it on your home computer printer if you prefer to read in print. It’s 34 pages long, so you will use only 17 sheets of paper if you print on both sides. There is a devotional for every day from Ash Wednesday through Easter.

Whether you read The Light of Christ or not, I pray that you will take time to reflect on our Lord’s sacrifice for our salvation as you prepare for the joy of Easter, Resurrection Sunday.

The post Lenten Devotional: The Light of Christ first appeared on Lillie Ammann, Writer and Editor.

Happy Thanksgiving

I haven’t been updating my blog during this crazy time. In the midst of the pandemic, I sold my house and moved into a senior independent living community. I love it here, but we have been in quarantine several times—including today. Staff will deliver our turkey and the trimmings to our apartments for us to enjoy alone. We had COVID tests today and will get the results next week and have to remain in quarantine until we have a negative test.

In spite of the challenges of this year, I have much to be thankful for. I love my apartment and the beautiful backyard here. The food is great, and when we’re not in quarantine, I enjoy seeing friends in the dining room. My family calls me often, and my sister has been able to visit me in the backyard during a short time when we were allowed visitors. Although I can’t get to my church, when we’re not in quarantine, we have church services here, and I belong to a prayer team.

I continue to edit Simply Pets Magazine and head Simply Pets Books. We have released three wonderful books in the last year: Mercury and Sirius by Debbie Garcia-Bengochea, Running Silently by Betsy Waterman, and Lisa and the Pet Detectives and Their Camping Adventure by Lisa Smith Putnam. These would make great Christmas gifts! Running Silently is a memoir telling how a decidedly one-dog family ended up with six dogs and discovered the sport of skijoring. The other two are delightful children’s books, though I confess I love them myself and it’s been nearly seven decades since I was a child. We’re planning more great issues of the magazine and more great books in the coming year.

I’m thankful for my family and friends, my church family that stays in touch even though I can’t attend, and the opportunity to pray for missionaries and others serving God in private messages. Most of all, I am thankful for the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Who makes it possible for me a beloved child of God with the righteous of Jesus imputed to me and for the promise of eternal life.

Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving with many blessings to be thankful for.

O MOST merciful Father, who hast blessed the labours of the husbandman in the returns of the fruits of the earth; We give thee humble and hearty thanks for this thy bounty; beseeching thee to continue thy loving-kindness to us, that our land may still yield her increase, to thy glory and our comfort; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect for Thanksgiving, The Book of Common Prayer 1928

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Advent Devotional: The Judgment of God

Advent begins this coming Sunday, November 29.

If you have followed my blog for more than a year, you know that each year I publish my personal meditations from Advent of the previous year. I publish a paperback book, with all the profits going to Love for the Least, a movement that shares the compassion of Christ with an unreached world.

The missionaries serve in a refugee camp on the border of Iraq and Syria, a dangerous place near ISIS with many people who have never met a Christian. They also have orphanages and ministries in Africa run by local people who have become Christians as a result of Love for the Least and have been discipled so they can make disciples who make disciples.

If you would a copy of the book to hold in your hand and want to contribute to an amazing mission for God’s Kingdom order the paperback.

I’d like to raise as much money as possible for Love for the Least, but I also want everyone to have access to the devotionals. If you prefer, you can download a PDF version of the devotionals at no cost. If you order the print book, you may want to download the PDF to use until you receive your print copy.

Devotional for the First Sunday in Advent:

The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

~ 1 Thessalonians 5:2-8

We often think of Advent as preparing for Christmas, and that is correct. However, even more, Advent is preparing for the Second Coming of Christ in glory at the end of time. That is what we need to be ready for. That determines where we will spend eternity. Scripture tells us that we must be prepared at all times, because we will not know when Jesus is coming. Let us keep awake and be sober, Paul tells us. It may seem like we have plenty of time to get right with God, but He could come tonight, and we must not be found sleeping.

Lord God, empower me by the Holy Spirit to be awake and sober always in readiness for the Coming of Jesus in glory at the end of time. In the name of my blessed Lord and Savior Jesus I pray. Amen.

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Belated Happy Birthday to My Blog

The last few months have been chaotic. I know everyone’s life has been disrupted by the pandemic and the civil unrest. Add to that my move from my home of fifty-three years to a senior living community in lockdown, and I have been adjusting to a whole new way of life. I love my new home and after a long delay because of the lockdown, I finally have my furniture and possessions. My apartment, including my workstation, is set up the way I want, and I am beginning to develop a routine.

Obviously, I have neglected my blog during this time. I had written a post several weeks ago about my blog birthday. Today, I realized it was still a draft and had never been posted. So with this introduction, I’m posting my short blog birthday recognition and will start blogging again soon.

On June 11, 2006, I wrote my first blog post—five one-sentence paragraphs about why I started the blog and what I would cover.

In the past fourteen years, I have covered the topics I said I would, but I have expanded into other fields as well. I didn’t start out planning to write about religion, but my Christian faith is such a part of me that I naturally expanded into talking about what I believe. I started posting devotionals in Advent and Lent, and they make up a large percentage of my total quotes.

Through the years, my publishing schedule has changed or been disrupted, but I’m still blogging!

Memorial Day

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, in whose hands are the living and the dead; We give thee thanks for all those thy servants who have laid down their lives in the service of our country. Grant to them thy mercy and the light of thy presence, that the good work which thou hast begun in them may be perfected; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen.

~ 1928 Book of Common Prayer

Moving During a Pandemic

I’ve been thinking about moving into a senior independent living apartment for a good while now. Every time a problem occurred with the house—such as having to replace the sewer lines under the house, not once but twice because the first contractor botched the job—I wished I didn’t have the responsibility of the upkeep of the house.

My husband Jack designed and built this house in 1964, and I’ve lived here since our marriage in 1967. I spent my entire childhood on the farm and my entire adulthood in this house. The only times I’ve lived anywhere else were the three years I was in college (I was in a hurry and finished early) when I lived in the dorm during the school year and stayed with an aunt two summers to be near a job.

Every time I thought about moving, I realized I wasn’t ready to leave the comfort of my home, the place where I shared forty-five years of marriage with my beloved husband, the place where we raised our son from the time we adopted him at age eleven until he left home as an adult, the place where I’ve worked as a writer and editor for twenty-four years, the place filled with love and joy and beautiful memories.

But in the past year, my mobility has decreased significantly, and just getting dishes out of the cabinet was a challenge. I’ve been blessed to have a friend living with me the last six years. She has been a tremendous help to me; I could not have continued to live in the house without her help. Now, though, the difficulties of living in a house that wasn’t designed for wheelchair access are becoming more than I can handle. So I put my house on the market and started looking for a new home. I figured it would take at least six months to do everything I had to do. Planning to move in the summer, I started my search in late February.

Then I made my first visit to view an apartment at Timberhill Villa. The owner picked me up, as I didn’t have anyone available to take me and their van was on a scheduled trip. As we drove up to the front door, I fell in love with the beautiful setting—lovely trees framed the beautiful entrance. When I toured the building, I loved it more and more. I almost took the apartment on the spot—it was the last studio they had available, and it’s a lot easier for me to get around in one room. However, I didn’t think it was prudent to take the first place I saw without seeing what else was available.

The following week, my friend Pam took me to look at the only other senior apartment building that fit my budget and specifications. When we got inside, we looked at each other and shook our heads. However, we stayed for lunch and took the complete tour to ensure that this wasn’t the place for me. We then went back to Timberhill, and when we reached the beautiful lobby, Pam said, “You’d be crazy not to sign the lease right away.” I made special arrangements for them to hold the apartment until the end of April, as I just given my tenant two months’ notice.

Then came the business of selling my home of 53 years. This was a high-speed series of ups and downs as circumstances changed. At the beginning the prospects were rosy for selling quickly for cash at full price. Then suddenly it wasn’t safe for someone my age with the medical conditions I have for strangers to roam through the house. The real estate agent tried to keep me safe while showing the house, but as restrictions on contact were imposed, we realized selling the house the conventional way was not a good idea. So I sold to a lady who flips houses. I didn’t get as much money, but I had a lot less hassle and was safer from the coronavirus.

At first, everything was on track to move into my new apartment without a hitch. Now, as restrictions have tightened, no one is being allowed in the building except residents, staff, caregivers, and medical personnel. I can get in, but the movers or even family and friends can’t bring in my furniture. I’ll be using borrowed furniture from a model apartment, and my meals will be delivered to my room.

So it will be my smartphone (which I just got and am learning how to use), my Kindle (which contains more than 800 unread books), and me enjoying a reading vacation for the duration of the lockdown. When I get my freedom, I’ll have my furniture delivered and my computer set up.

Then I’ll be back online and back to work. See you on the other side of the pandemic restrictions.

Threatening Client

I saw this newspaper article: It reminded me of my experience with this character as a client of my interior landscape company. We installed plants in two atriums and provided maintenance services for a few years. All of my employees hated to go there. He was seldom at the house when we tended the plants, but his wife was often home. Both of them were very unpleasant and rude. Anyone who went there was always happy when no one was there but the maid.

I wrote about the encounter that ended our business relationship in my devotional book, Finding God in the Everyday. Although I didn’t identify him in the book, the article brought back the memory. The devotional based on this incident follows.

Excerpt from “Finding God in the Everyday”—Threatening Client

One day I went to the home of a client to check on two atriums my staff had re-planted after we’d removed and stored the plants for several weeks while plumbing repairs were being made.

As I left through the front door, the homeowner dashed around the side of the house and accosted me on the front porch. He started berating me because the atriums didn’t look like they had before. I explained that it was impossible to put every plant back in exactly the same spot it had been before. In a little while, the plants would settle in place and grow, and the atriums would look lush and full again.

The businessman started screaming and shaking his fist at me. I was still very weak from the stroke and had to sit down. There was no place to sit, so I dropped to the porch, which put me only a couple inches off the ground. This large man in a skimpy bathing suit towered over me, yelling and making threatening motions. I was absolutely terrified. He demanded that I remove all the old plants we had returned and replace them with new plants at no charge. He screamed that he would destroy my business if I didn’t do what he demanded.

Since I was weak and unsteady on my feet, the perceived danger made it almost impossible for me to get up from the ground-level concrete and walk to my car when he finally backed off a few inches, still yelling that he would destroy my business and my reputation. I don’t think I said anything—just nodded and maybe mumbled something incoherent. When I returned to the office, I mailed him a refund check with a letter saying he could have the plants and the money, but no one from my company would return to his home.

My staff all breathed a sigh of relief that they didn’t have to deal with these rude people any more, and I said a prayer of thanks that I was physically safe, even though I’d lost several thousand dollars. I still worried for some time that he would follow through on his threats to harm my business, but we never heard anything else.

Several years later, I heard on the news that the man was arrested for solicitation of capital murder for hiring someone to murder his wife, who was planning to divorce him. I had often wondered if I overreacted that day—after all, I couldn’t really believe that a respected businessman would threaten me or physically harm me. He died of a heart condition before going to trial, so he was never proven guilty in a court of law, but I can’t help but believe I had reason to be concerned that day.

The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in. From this time forth and forever.

~ Psalm 121:7-8

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your protection. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Finding God in the Everyday is available in print and Kindle editions.

Devotion for Easter Sunday

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

~ Matthew 28:1-10

He is risen. He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Imagine going to a grave to anoint the body that was buried three days earlier only to find—no body! Then an angel tells you the One you seek has risen. Then, you see Him—the One you saw killed and buried—now alive! What amazement the two Marys must have felt. What awe the disciples had to feel when they heard it. No man could conquer death, but our Lord conquered death. Even though the Resurrection story is familiar to us, may we never lose our awe.

Alleluia! Lord, by Jesus’s death and resurrection You have given us victory over sin and death. I cannot say or do anything but fall down and worship You! In the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Ghost, now and forever, world without end. Amen.

Alleluia!

These daily devotions are available in a book The Grace of God, with all profits donated to Love for the Least to share the compassion of Christ with an unreached world. L4L shares the Good News of the Gospel with the least and unreached by making disciples of Jesus who make disciples (2 Tim 2:2) and by helping to meet the physical needs of the poorest of the poor.

Devotion for Holy Saturday

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

~ Matthew 27:57-66

The soldiers thought they could make the tomb secure. They secured it against men, but they couldn’t secure it from God’s power. All the strength and authority and power we think we have as humans is as nothing in the face of the strength and authority and power of the Lord.

Holy Omnipotent God, Your power is infinite, and nothing men can do will thwart Your plan. You are sovereign. You are in control. I praise You and glorify You for Your power and Your might. In the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

These daily devotions are available in a book The Grace of God, with all profits donated to Love for the Least to share the compassion of Christ with an unreached world. L4L shares the Good News of the Gospel with the least and unreached by making disciples of Jesus who make disciples (2 Tim 2:2) and by helping to meet the physical needs of the poorest of the poor.

Devotion for Good Friday

And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

~ Matthew 27:31-54

The physical pain Jesus experienced was horrific. Crucifixion was the most vicious form of death possible, and He had been flogged almost to death before He was ever hung on the cross. I read recently that there are five kinds of wounds that can happen to the human body, and Jesus experienced every one of them. Crucifixion usually results in an excruciatingly painful death by suffocation, but I read that Jesus bled to death from all His wounds while suffocating. I can’t imagine that much pain, but that wasn’t the worst of it. For that short time when Jesus cried out to the Father, “Why have You forsaken me?”, the Father and the Son were separated—for the only time in all eternity. Jesus became sin for us, and the Holy Father cannot look upon sin. The separation was more painful to both the Father and the Son than all the physical pain, which was pure torture. And They did it all for us! Because of that moment of indescribable and incalculable pain, we are forgiven of our sins and have eternal life with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Father God, I cannot fathom the depths of pain that both You and Jesus suffered to pay for my sins. It is because of my sins that Jesus was tortured and murdered. It was because of my sins that You and Your beloved Son were separated for the only time in all of eternity. How can I thank You both for that incredible gift? I will endeavor the life You want me to live, with the help of the Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. Amen.

These daily devotions are available in a book The Grace of God, with all profits donated to Love for the Least to share the compassion of Christ with an unreached world. L4L shares the Good News of the Gospel with the least and unreached by making disciples of Jesus who make disciples (2 Tim 2:2) and by helping to meet the physical needs of the poorest of the poor.