FROM MY HEART TO YOURS

By Barbara Russell

This collection of devotional thoughts, written over two decades, is now available to you. Barbara covers an array of topics related to her faith in Christ, with the hope and prayer that they may also be helpful to your Christian walk.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Book Writing Pioneer
• Release date: Jan 29, 2024
• ISBN: 9798869071446

Book preview

FROM MY HEART

TO YOURS

VOLUME 2

BARBARA RUSSELL

Copyright © 2023 by Barbara Russell

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Printed in United States of America

Published by Book Writing Pioneer

Contents

Foreword

My Testimony

Hot, Cold Or Lukewarm

Testing Vs. Tempting

Where Is The Treasure

Wrong Vs. Right

Envy

Legacies Of Faith

One Way

Boneheadedness

Blessings Or Destruction

Praise Him

Fear Of Death

Obedience

Frustrations Vs. Blessings

Being A Light

Our Destination

Jumping To Conclusions

Embarrassment And Forgiveness

Persecution

Accomplishing Our Goals

Our Identity

God's Music

Wisdom Of The World Or God's Wisdom

Special Ministry

How Does The Lord Lead And Guide?

Walls

His Protection

What Is Appealing To You?

Eternity

More Wisdom

Loyalty

Running Faster And Jumping Higher

What Are We Focused On?

Embarrassment

Who Is Calling Us?

What Gives You Joy?

Lost

Wisdom Vs. Folly

Wearing A Mask

Spiritual Blindness

Binging

Each One, Win One

Holding To The Lord's Hand

The Names Of God

Perseverance

The Giants Of Our Lives

Shalom-Peace

The Most High God

Sufficient Grace

God's Safety Net

Stained Or Clean?

The Great I Am, Still Is

The Right Card

God Is Greater

God's Encouragement

Are We Ready To Be Used?

Commitment

God Notices All Things

Are You Ready?

The Greatest Gift

God Is In Control

Do We See The Truth?

Gratitude

Wholly Follow The Lord

New Beginnings

God's Beauty

Fear

Wisdom And Righteousness

Truth

Prosperity

Words Of Power

Giving Thanks

Adoption

Brokenness

Legalism

Aiming For Heaven

Wisdom Vs. Vanity

Peace Vs. No Peace

Winning The War

Instruments For You, Lord

Seeking

Age And Wisdom

True Worship

Withholding Blessings

Life Verses

Circumstances

There Is Hope In The Lord

What Are We Plugged Into?

Proclaim Truth

Beautiful Music

God's Law Or Man's Law

God's Word Never Changes

Who's In Control?

Living By Faith

Numbers

Preparation

Living Righteously

Gifts

Sorrow

Our Focus

Asking Him Anything

In One Accord

Keeping Our Faith

Never Changing God

God's Harmony

Perceptions

The True Meaning Of Christmas

Contentment

Darkness Vs. Light

Looking For The Good

Goodness And Mercy

Peace

Let God Lead

Sowing And Reaping

The Most Important Truth

Verses Of My Life

Restoration

Knowledge

Presumptuous Sins

Real Truth

Answered Or Unanswered Prayers

Assessing Our Needs

Bored But Thankful

Your Thought Life

Steadfastness

Restored And Refreshed

Good And Bad News

Our Purpose

Our Relationship

The Lord's Rules

Consistency

The Holy Spirit

Praying For A Miracle

Children Today Vs. Children In The Past

Smelling Sweet

Freedom Check

Live Today

Truth Or Untruth?

Futility

Accomplishments

The Desire Of Our Heart

God's Sleeping Pill

Our Eyes

Integrity

Ministry Of Song

Our Prayer Life

True Worship

Family

Our Legacy

Wisdom

Blessed

True Love

Reaching Out To Others

Eating Right

Joy

Witnessing

Focus And Concentration

Anger

Discipline

Belief Vs. Unbelief

The Music Of Praise

The Grace Of God

Holiness And Sanctity

Revival

Struggling

Is God In Control?

Choices

Looking Up

Counting Our Blessings

Answers To Prayer

Doing What Is Right

Temptation

God Knows All

Conflict Between Right And Wrong

God Is Greater

Drawing Close

Growing In The Lord

Christian Mentoring

Fathers

Glass Half Full Or Overflowing

Taking The Lord For Granted

Fear Of Dying

Training Our Children

Rejoicing

Victory In Jesus

The Psalms

The Lord's Words

Overcoming

If That Isn't Love

Godly Regret

Practical Wisdom

Faith

Thoughts

Guilt

Encouragement

Blind Spots

I Can Only Imagine

FOREWORD

This book is a miracle of God! When I publish my first one, I thought that there would never be another one, but the Lord has been so good to me and has blessed me beyond anything I ever dreamed. I am so thankful for all He has given me over so many years. I pray that you will be blessed as you read this. Most of this book was written as devotionals during COVID and at this time there were many circumstances happening in the world that I referred to.

I would like to thank my friend Kristen Swartz for her expertise in putting all my thoughts together and turning them into a book. I couldn't have done it without her.

My thanks also go to Sarah Bembnowski for her contribution of the sweet cover photograph of Maggie and I.

There is only one article that I have taken from my 1st book and used in this one. That is my testimony. In my opinion, the best of both books! God bless all who reads this book.

MY TESTIMONY

On March 10, 1968, at the age of twenty-nine, I became a child of God. I went to church all my life, and had become accountable for my sins at the age of 10 during Vacation Bible School. At that time, I went down to the front of the church with several other children, wanting to accept Jesus as my Savior. However, the girl on my left was giggling and punching me in my side and that took my attention away from the serious reason why I was there. Because of this, I did not actually accept Christ into my heart at that time; but from that day I claimed to be a Christian. No one ever questioned that fact, but from the time I was ten years old until I was almost thirty, I knew that if I died, I would go to hell.

I made many bargains with God to let me live, and I lived with many fears, nightmares, and a feeling of hopelessness. I had emotional problems to the extent that I ended up going to a psychiatrist for group and individual therapy, but he could not get to the root of my problems because they were spiritual.

In January 1968, my grandfather died. He was the first person close to me I had lost. I would look at him lying in the casket, and the thoughts going around in my head were that I would be eternally separated from him since he was a Christian. I loved him very much. I know now that God uses things like the death of my grandfather to bring us to the Lord. He chose us and pursues us. After two months of living hell, I knew that I could not push the Lord away anymore. I had to decide to either accept Him or reject Him. I wanted to so badly, but what would people say who knew me and thought all these years that I was already a Christian? On March 10, 1968, I believed this was my last chance to be saved, and I went to church that morning knowing that it was now or never. When the altar call was given, I practically ran down the aisle, crying and sobbing, knowing that it did not matter who saw me, I had to come to Jesus!!

This happened BC, before Christ. I can truthfully say that the last fifty-one years of my life have been a turnaround of 180 degrees. So many things have happened, such as divorce, pain, and trials that have tested my faith, but there has never been a time that God has forsaken me. He promised He would be with me in everything and He has. In these years I have had opportunities for ministry, such as teaching and counseling women.

Several years ago, the Lord, through a number of circumstances, led me to leave the denomination I had always belonged to and led me to a church far different. In my prayers, I asked Him why, and He said, So that you can learn. I learned a great deal in those years about forgiveness, breaking soul ties, healing my spirit, and dealing with issues in my past. We can never be truly healed spiritually until we deal with things in our past, whether they are abuse, terrible home life, rejection, bitterness, or any other snare the devil uses to keep us in bondage.

There has never been a time in the last fifty-five years that God has not been in control of my life. There has been peace, with joy unspeakable and full of glory. There have been the wilderness times when I have grown, and there have been mountaintop experiences when I could see the hand of God guiding my life. All of this is because one Sunday, after twenty years of running from God, I ran to Him. Why was it so hard? Why do we care so much about what others think and let pride stand in the way of coming to Him?

My prayer for anyone reading this testimony is that they do not waste their life, as I did, running from a God who loves you so much that He sent His only Begotten Son to die for you. Come to Him as you are, and He will meet you there. Let the Grace of God and the shed Blood of Jesus Christ wash your sins away now and start on the best part of your life.

How can I be saved?

That you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it's with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Rom. 10:9-11

Hot, Cold or Lukewarm

It has been so hot lately that I've reversed my routine and walk my dog Maggie about 6:30 am to beat the heat. Then I have breakfast and do my devotional and Bible reading. As I was walking and feeling a little guilty for putting Maggie before my time with the Lord, the thought came to me, Am I on fire for the Lord? Everything around me is hot, but, how is my walk with the Lord? Is it hot, cold or lukewarm?

My devotional the other morning asked, how deep is your faith? Is it strong enough to trust Jesus through the really tough times in life? To be honest, things get in the way of my seeking Him with my whole heart, and I have to repent of it. Worries and cares sometimes take over and I miss my chance at letting the Lord be in control of the things I can't change. Do you ever feel like that? When you have lived as long as I have, you would think I would be wiser and stronger, but, here I am.

I remember many years ago when I fell on my face before the Lord and cried out to Him with all my being, and He answered me in so many ways. He healed my brokenness. I long for that relationship now. Where is my fire?

One thing I know without doubt is that the Lord hears and knows what we need, when we need it, but we need to cry out to Him and let Him handle things His way. I am trying, Lord!

I sometimes feel like Peter must have felt when he tried to walk on water to Jesus and sunk because he took his eyes off of the Lord. The good thing is that Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up again. (Matt. 14:30-31.) This is something that we can expect if we cry out to Him. He will not let us drown!

No matter what our problems are, Jesus will lift us up if we cry out to Him. He will not let us drown. That is encouraging isn't it? I am so thankful that the Lord saved my soul many years ago. What would life be like without His caring Hand in our low times. His love, mercy and grace is always there if we reach out our hand to Him. Amen.

Testing vs. Tempting

When I walk Maggie lately, she has discovered culverts, and her obsession is to stick her head in and smell all of them. I'm sure if she wasn't restrained, she would run into them, to discover what is in them that smells so good. It is a great temptation for her.

The other day when she was doing this, the thought came to me that this is how we fall into sin. Something looks interesting and we cautiously look into  it, and if we aren't restrained, we would be tempted to explore it more and more. I think of the people who have addictions that didn't intend for it to take over their lives, but they weren't restrained.

The Lord is our restraint if we will let Him be. In the O.T., Israel sinned because they disregarded God's warnings (restraints), which was not to marry foreign women, but they did and that led them to worship other gods. Sin starts out small, but ends up destroying us.

Temptation is a sin that all of us have to deal with, right? Being tempted is not sin, but giving in to the temptation is. In other words, don't stick our heads into a culvert! The world is full of temptation, and it could be different for each one of us. We pray, Lord lead us not into temptation but then we disobey.

Thankfully, we can have victory over temptation. James 1:13 says God does not tempt us, so we know it comes from the devil. God tests us and we need to know the difference.

It is comforting to know that there will not be a human in Heaven who did not sin. There is hope for all of us in the Blood of Christ. Let Him be our restraint!

Where Is The Treasure

I'm not a person who remembers a lot of my dreams, but the other morning I woke up to one that caused me to think. I dreamed that I came into 100 million dollars after taxes! Since I don't play the lottery, it wasn't from that, but my dream was about giving it away. My plan was to give a million to each person or organization. Of course, my family came first, and after that to the ones I chose. It was a hard job trying to figure out the ones to give it to, and I didn't get it all decided before I woke up.

I thought about the dream and couldn't figure out why I would dream it, but when I started my Bible study that morning, the 12th chapter of Luke was where I started reading. Are you aware of what that chapter is about? The parable of the rich fool! Starting with verses 13-20, it tells about a rich man who had so much that he decided to build bigger barns and keep it all for himself. From then on, he would enjoy his life by eating, drinking and being merry, but God had different plans for him. v20 says, Fool, this night your soul will be required of you. v21 says, So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. v34 says, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

"When I thought about my dream, I was so happy that I was intent on giving it all away! Was my dream spiritual? I don't know, but the lesson of the rich man was a great lesson-store up our treasure in Heaven. v33 says a treasure in Heaven does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. That is where I want my treasure to be. My commentary says that a life totally occupied with things of the Kingdom will be free from covetousness. Amen.

Wrong vs. Right

I ran across this sentence in the margin of my Bible recently: We have a right to choose right. This has been stuck in my mind ever since. I don't remember the circumstances of when it was written, but there is a lot of truth in it for today.

First of all, how can we know what is right? I'm convinced that many people are blinded to right. Think of the many hot button issues being discussed in this nation today. Both sides consider they are right.

I've been reading 1 Samuel lately, and the people demanded a king like the other nations, so He gave them what  they wanted. The sad thing is, they already had a King like no other, The Lord God, and they were not happy. God gave them what they asked for and the consequences were great. Saul chose his way instead of the Lord's. He chose wrong instead of right and there were consequences.

I am guilty of making wrong choices in my life as I am sure anyone who has ever lived has done, and we have suffered the consequences of those choices.

We have the right to chose right, but there are consequences when we choose wrong. Here are a couple of verses to speak to that: Isa. 7:15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse evil and choose the good. Prov. 14:12 There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way of death.

Envy

Do you ever say, I love that, I wish I had one of those, or I wish I had her figure? Do you ever think of this as envy? Most of us don't. What are you envious of?  Do you wish you had things that others have? Do you think of envy as sin? One of my devotionals has been on the subject of envy all week, and it mentioned Cain's envy of Abel, Joseph's brothers' envy and Saul's envy of David. Just thinking of the evil they did makes us think envy is bad. Right?

I know there are people who want everything others have, a big house, expensive cars and jewelry, even others' families they may not have, but, I believe one of the benefits of growing older is not wanting things anymore. I will confess that I envy peoples' talents of singing and playing instruments, but even that is not as strong as it used to be. I told my Sunday School class recently that I wanted to be in the Heavenly Choir and orchestra one day! I also confess that I had never considered envy as being the great sin that it is, probably because most of my envy was for inanimate objects such as relationships etc, but that is also envy. The Bible's definition of envy is a resentful, dissatisfied longing for anothers' possessions, position, fortune, achievements or successes. It also says it is the act of the flesh, the result of human sin, such as sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, hatred and many more! I would say we are all guilty of at least one of these and need to repent.

Did you know that there is also Godly envy? 2 Cor. 11:2 says, For I am jealous for you with a Godly jealousy; For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Envy is an issue of the heart. Jesus taught that purity and Godliness comes from inside a person. (Mark 7:20-23) Paul says that love does not envy. (1 Cor. 13:4)

Envy is a real struggle, but thankfully Christians have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them to strengthen them to fight it. I pray we will always call on Him and be wise. Amen.

Legacies Of Faith

May all who come behind us find us faithful. May the fire of our devotion light their way. May the footprints that we leave, lead them to believe.

Once again, a song has inspired me with a message! Do you ever think about the legacy you will be leaving when you are gone? In our finite way, I am sure that leaving a good one would be a desire for all of us. In our day to day existence, we fail in many ways, right? But, in terms of what people remember us by, I pray that it will be good, not bad.

There are many in the Bible who have left legacies for us to follow, and guess what? None of them were perfect. Hebrews 11 and 12 are two chapters that list several of the elders in the Old Testament who lived by faith. 11:1-2 says faith is the substance of things hoped for but not seen, and by faith the elders obtained a good testimony. Their lives give us hope that our testimonies will go on also by faith.

What exactly is faith? I have written in the margin of my Bible that it is expecting the best. Heb. 11:6 says without faith it is impossible to please Him. Are we living our life by faith? Do we persevere even when there is no evidence of what we are expecting? The Word says that none of them received everything they were expecting, but their faith remained strong.

Lord, I pray that each and everyone of us stays strong and leaves a legacy of faith for all who come behind us. Amen.

One Way

I was listening to a sermon on the radio the other day and the preacher said something to make me think, he said that salvation makes bad people good and good people better. I was reminded of something a friend used to say, that the meanest person