May Your Cup Runneth Over: 110 Daily Devotions and Inspiration for the Broken and Blessed

By Jenny Rhodes

Life happens. But when you find yourself broken and empty, where do you turn? Do you look up and look to God to see the abundant blessings that surround you? Do you know how to live life with an overflowing joy, even on the most challenging days?
May Your Cup Runneth Over is an inspiring collection of devotional stories that are full of unexpected turns on a journey of faith, and whether its overcoming the Goliaths of life or finding the opportunities to dance in the rain and embrace joy amid the storms, author Jenny Rhodes offers you the encouragement you need to reevaluate your pain and transform it into purpose. Jenny also shares how a lifelong negative self-concept, poor personal choices, and stubbornness led to literal and figurative bondage and no hope of a future. But through faith, an army of angels, and an awesome and mighty God, she was able to break free and learn how to shine againsomething we can all achieve with God.
No matter where you are on lifes path, you can find joy on your journey. There may be sun or there may be clouds and rain, or you may be staring into an uncertain future or facing a past full of scars. But if you look up to God, then you will be filled with a warm and fresh perspectiveone that will leave you with joy and hope, with a cup running over!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973618454

Jenny Rhodes

Jenny Rhodes is a single mom from East Texas sharing her journey to joy with others. She has a Bachelors Degree in Communication from Stephen F. Austin State University and loves to use what she has learned in life to speak hope, strength, faith and love. Striving to be a living light, Jenny is very active in her church as leader of the youth program GLOW as well as leading the teen choir and helping with Kids for Christ. She also loves to sing in the choir and singing with her two daughters. Jenny most treasures creating memories with the Blondesquad (her girls) and enjoying time with family and friends.

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Copyright © 2018 Jenny Rhodes.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-9736-1846-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-1844-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-1845-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018901471

WestBow Press rev. date: 02/05/2018

CONTENTS

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

Day 19

Day 20

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

Day 25

Day 26

Day 27

Day 28

Day 29

Day 30

Day 31

Day 32

Day 33

Day 34

Day 35

Day 36

Day 37

Day 38

Day 39

Day 40

Day 41

Day 42

Day 43

Day 44

Day 45

Day 46

Day 47

Day 48

Day 49

Day 50

Day 51

Day 52

Day 53

Day 54

Day 55

Day 56

Day 57

Day 58

Day 59

Day 60

Day 61

Day 62

Day 63

Day 64

Day 65

Day 66

Day 67

Day 68

Day 69

Day 70

Day 71

Day 72

Day 73

Day 74

Day 75

Day 76

Day 77

Day 78

Day 79

Day 80

Day 81

Day 82

Day 83

Day 84

Day 85

Day 86

Day 87

Day 88

Day 89

Day 90

Day 91

Day 92

Day 93

Day 94

Day 95

Day 96

Day 97

Day 98

Day 99

Day 100

Day 101

Day 102

Day 103

Day 104

Day 105

Day 106

Day 107

Day 108

Day 109

Day 110

Endnotes

Savannah and Madeline,

this is for you, my sweet angels.

Please, and thank you, and I love you, too.

2 Timothy 4:7

#BLONDESQUAD

DAY 1

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.

—2 Timothy 4:7

Mamma, will you pray? Those precious words tumbled out of my little angel’s lips over the phone as she fought back tears.

I replied, Baby, I pray all day every day. I hardly ever stop praying.

Her response was, No, Mamma, I mean pray with me now. Then I too began to tremble. Holding back my tears so she wouldn’t know, I agreed as we both bowed in reverence.

I poured out my heart over the phone, pleading with our Lord to fill her with peace and hope, to give her strength and comfort, to protect her, and to help her not to lose faith. As the words continued to flow, so began her tears. I could hear her sobbing, and I knew the struggle her heart was feeling. Before I closed, I requested that God let her know He works all things for good and that even in her hardest moments, He never leaves or forsakes her.

After saying amen, I noticed that the sobbing had slowed, and I asked her whether she was going to be okay. A weak Yes, ma’am was all she could say. I told her that no matter what was going on during the day or night, whenever she felt sad, scared, worried, or anxious, she should stop right there and pray just as we had done. I reminded her of her verse, and I told her to always say it as well. As the conversation ended, all I could do was reassure her that God hears her prayers and remind her to keep her head up. With a gentle I love you, we said good night.

My prayer for you today is that you will realize our pain is temporary. The struggles today will eventually subside. Until they do, we all must remember that He hears our prayers. He is always there, even when it’s quiet and we can’t see what He is doing—He’s there. He will never let us go. There’s nothing we will face that He hasn’t already gone ahead of us to prepare. He has it lined up and in order. Your pain will be healed. Your struggles will become triumphs—in His timing and will.

Keep fighting the good fight, my angel. Finish your race and never, ever lose faith.

May your cup runneth over.

Use the space below to write out your own prayer and reflection after today’s devotional.

DAY 2

God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

—Psalm 46:5

I was a runner. I am a runner. In school, running became a passion that actually presented me with a future opportunity. That is how hard I worked at it, and it’s how God blessed me with the ability to do so. I don’t say this boastfully but rather to help you grasp the severity of the following story.

Building up to my senior year, I had worked extremely hard at improving my time in the eight-hundred-meter run. I trained on dirt roads and on the dirt track, and I would pull tires, do intervals, or do whatever it took. I advanced to regionals two years prior, and I ran quite well behind the state record holder during my junior year (her times were faster than most guys that year).

My senior year had already been plagued with disappointment, disaster, and heartbreak. Our family had to endure one of the most pivotal moments in our lives, which actually remolded me completely. We had a whole staff of brand-new coaches too, and things just weren’t the same. When track rolled around, I still trained, but the motivation was lacking. At the district track meet, I had already scouted out the competition. I had the top time going in, and there was no reason that I shouldn’t take first and advance to regionals. Only the top two places advanced.

I will never forget the race that day. I just felt lost and empty. I started off as I always do, using the same strategy as the numerous races before. I hung tight in second right behind the top spot, saving my energy and kick for the last 150 meters. The problem was that when it came time to push hard toward the finish line, I couldn’t. It wasn’t there. I had no drive. No push. I remember it like it was yesterday. I can still hear my dad in the curve, where he always stood to encourage me, but I just didn’t go.

It was like a slow-motion disaster. I heard feet coming upon me. On any other day, that would have been enough to drive me past the finish line. Not on that day. My feet were heavy and refused to go. My heart wouldn’t pump harder either. As that girl passed me, I finished third in the last hundred meters, and my chances at regionals were shattered. And for what? I hadn’t fought. I hadn’t tried harder. I just let her pass, and I watched her cross in front of me. The sad part is that I had it in me to pass her and the first-place finisher, but to this day I cannot explain why my body, mind, and heart didn’t do it that day.

Even though I didn’t advance that year, I still got an offer to run after high school. I turned that opportunity down too. I was empty. I had allowed what went on around me that year to drain my heart. It literally drained all the life right out of me, and I turned away from everything, including God.

Instead of letting Satan and his lies empty me, I should have followed God’s lead and allowed Him to fill me up during that time—to use the struggle to bring Him glory. God is the only way we can find strength to press forward. He is the only source of energy that can fill us up and drive us past the finish line. He is the only One who can help us defeat Satan. He can help us overcome the lies Satan puts in our heads—lies that cause us to lose opportunities God has placed before us. Satan is always hard at work, and he thrives on the idle hands and minds of those who have lost their way and the will to continue, but if you will fill your heart and mind with our Lord and Savior, you will overcome.

My prayer for you today is that you will remove doubt. Forget past hurts. Look beyond what was and have faith in what will be. When you feel like giving up, remember that our Savior sacrificed it all for us, so we should keep pressing forward and place our hearts in His hands. He will guide us where we need to go. Trust Him. Be covered and filled with His love. He will drive your heart and feet to the finish line.

May your cup runneth over.

Use the space below to write out your own prayer and reflection after today’s devotional.

DAY 3

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

—Psalm 27:13–14

Running long distance really hurts. Your legs begin to ache and burn, but you keep going. Your feet pounding with each step jar your knees and ankles, but you keep going. After some time, your lungs begin to gasp for air, and your chest feels like it may cave in at any time, but you keep going. The last thing to weaken is your mind. You no longer can feel your body and its pain. It’s now numb. Your mind starts to tell you one of two things—either you give up and quit, or you finish. The deciding factor comes from your heart.

People are going to run great distances in their lives. Some will also run shorter ones. No matter the length of the trial, they all have a choice: give up and quit or finish.

There are so many people today who will quit. They don’t have a heart big enough, nor one filled with the love, hope, compassion, endurance, and strength to press on or to fight for what they know is good and true. They don’t have the strength within to finish what they start. Instead, at that pivotal moment in the run, the mind and heart disconnect, and they stop. They choose to quit. They walk away, gasping, aching, and focusing on how they feel and how bad it hurts, saying, I can’t. I just can’t.

Then there are those who choose to finish. When the physical pain is almost unbearable after a long, long journey and the mental battle to continue or not begins, the mind is shut off, and the heart takes over. The heart tells the runner to take another step—that it’s almost over. The heart begins to do the breathing, and it produces the will, courage, and ability to finish. These people have a different heart—one that feels the pain of this world but chooses to see the future outcome and how it will benefit not just them but others. They think, What if I give up now? What lesson would others learn, and what would I learn? This heart says, I can, and I will.

The long-distance race of life is filled with choices. Some we make will be good. Some will not. We will suffer the aches and pains, and sometimes we will gasp for air, wanting to quit. We will sometimes focus completely on ourselves and forget how quitting will affect others. Selfishness, fear, lack of confidence, and so much more seep in and consume even some of the best hearts.

When this journey gets rough, instead of looking at yourself and relying on your own ability and your own thoughts, you should always—always—turn to God. He is the One who casts out fear. He is the One who fills you with strength. He can and will give you what you need to finish. He can take away the pain and the doubt. He can do it all, but you must give it all to Him. You are His anyway. He created you. He deserves the chance to fill you with His mercy, grace, love, compassion, and strength. He never promised the path would be easy, but He did promise to carry you when it gets hard.

My prayer today is that we will all take the next step. We keep running, even though it hurts and seems like we can’t. My prayer is that we will all stand without fear and be filled with God’s mercy, grace, and compassion; that our hearts would take over our minds. I pray that we will allow God to help us choose in life, that He will be the guide to our decisions and not humankind, not this flesh. We all need to finish, but we cannot do so without Him.

May your cup runneth over.

Use the space below to write out your own prayer and reflection after today’s devotional.

DAY 4

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.

—2 Corinthians 4:8–9

We are all damaged. Some of us are damaged in small, insignificant, and unnoticeable ways. Some of us have had our damage displayed for the masses to witness. The fact is, we’re still damaged.

Some of us allow those wounds to get infected and grow worse. We allow them to completely ruin everything that is good. They even start to damage others around us.

Then there are those of us who realize that sometimes wounds hurt, but they can be healed. While they cut deep and may cause lots of pain and suffering, they’re temporary, and we can patch them up, doctor them, and watch them gradually disappear. We know the damage is done and may leave a scar, but the scar is a reminder of the healing, not the hurt.

What we all need to do is see ourselves as survivors, not victims. We aren’t victims of our circumstances. Instead, we are warriors God saw worthy and able to bear the burden and fight the fight. He knows what we need and what we can handle.

Sometimes the battles we face and the damage we receive produce scars for others to see so they will find hope and strength in our healing and happiness.

Dear Lord, I pray for those who are damaged today. Some have lost all hope. Lord, I pray You will embrace all of us in our circumstances and help us to find strength in the healing. Help us to use our scars as tools of love and hope for others. Lord, may we be broken vessels that allow You to mold the pieces back together and make something beautiful. Help us to see the beauty in the brokenness and grow closer to You. In Jesus’s name, amen.

My prayer for you today is that you won’t see yourself as damaged but healing. See yourself not as a victim but as an opportunity for God.

May your cup runneth over.

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