beauty

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Devotions Day 21

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Beautiful Feet

by Pastor Karen Runjo

You’ve heard the joke, right, where a man is hanging onto a cliff in bad weather, praying for God to rescue him? A raft comes, a boat comes and finally a helicopter but he sends them all away, saying God is going to rescue him. When he gets to heaven he asks God why he didn’t rescue him, and God says – well I sent a raft, a boat and a helicopter… God usually sends help in the form of people!

The story of the widow who helped Elijah in 1 Kings 17 springs to mind. That is a woman in desperate circumstances who still shows a willingness to help someone else. An unlikely source of help for that alone, let alone the fact that she wasn’t a Hebrew so was even more unlikely to be chosen by God to offer assistance. Yet that is who God chose – the unlikely and the already desperate. 

Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”  How beautiful are the people God sends to help us?!

There is an African proverb that says: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go further, go together”. I’m sure you can agree with me that I have gone further in life for the beautiful, even if unexpected, people God has sent into my life who offered assistance. The beauty of God…in others.

Prayer thought / Challenge

Read through 1 Kings 17. Think about the beautiful, though maybe unexpected people who have come into your life right when you needed help. Thank God for their presence. Thank them, too, by way of a card, text or phone call, for being willing to help and be God’s beautiful hands and feet.

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Devotions Day 20

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Lillies and Birds

by Pastor Karen Runjo

Phil 4:6-8 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things”.

There is no mistake that these verses, both well-known in their own right, follow one another. Present your concerns to God, this will bring you peace – leaving them with our capable, caring God. Then get your thoughts off your concerns. Turn your thoughts intentionally to the good and hold them there. Who, by worrying can add a single hour to their life? (That would be – no one)

Matthew 6:25-34 in speaking about worrying, tells us to look around us to see God’s faithfulness displayed in nature; the birds of the air fed by God and the lilies of the field dressed in splendor. There is beauty in the care, concern and generosity of God. Because of who He is, He makes flowers beautiful – more than a basic necessity. As you see the generosity of God today in the richness of colour, texture and variety of nature today, may you grow in confidence in your Father in Heaven’s care - the God of ‘more than enough’.

Prayer thought / challenge:

Look today at some wild birds. Let God speak to you through their life. Notice the things of beauty in your natural surroundings. Let God’s nature be revealed to you today as you consider Him through their lens.

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Devotion Day 6

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White flowers

by Pastor Karen Runjo


We have a joke in my house that white flowers don’t belong. I just don’t understand having such beauty and no colour! Conversely, I have 2 friends who pretty much only have white flowers in their garden 😊

There are some exceptions I have – a frangipani with its stunning scent and bold yellow centre, a chrysanthemum for its Mother’s Day memories, snowdrops perhaps because they are so dainty and decorative but in general I don’t enjoy white flowers.

Sometimes we have white flower moments in our lives. The moments we are going through that might seem mundane and colourless and we might feel like we are just going through the motions. Ecclesiastes 2:11 says God has made everything beautiful in its time. So if we have white flower moments in this time, there is some beauty they are meant to be adding to our lives but sometimes we need eyes to see beyond the bright colours of other moments.


Prayer Thought:

Let’s pray today and ask God to help us see the beauty in the white flower moments of our lives – either present or past.

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Devotion Day 3

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Elephant

by Pastor Karen Runjo


As kids, we loved visiting the “Rocketship Park” as a special treat with a metal structure consisting of 3 layers to climb until reaching the nose of the rocket. Also in this park, though, was a metal elephant, with its bones forming the climbing frame. Right up the top, was a wooden seat. The imaginary lands this metal elephant would take us to!

When I got the chance to ride a real elephant, I was more than a little bit excited. The tuk-tuks looked like matchbox cars from their lofty height as they lumbered along, and I felt on top of a mountain but it was something deep within that had me yelling “I’m on top of an elephant!!!” I think, in that moment, all the dreams and imaginings of a small girl living in a dusty country town were living her wildest dreams, yet I had no conscious thought of it to that point.

‘Deep calls to deep’ the bible says in Psalm 42. The deepest parts of us long for connection with our Maker. He knows us and wants to be known by us. Jesus, right now, is aware of each one of us “Even now, my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend” Job 16:19-21. We have an advocate and friend in heaven. His name is Jesus.



Prayer thought:

READ Psalm 42 & Job 16:19-21

Spend time today with God in honest and heartfelt prayer. Answer God’s call to go deeper in your relationship with Him. What, also, would you have your throne intercessor pray for you about? Make a list to take to Jesus daily during this time of prayer and fasting.