Devoted to Devotionals - Gloria Guest

I have been a proliferator of devotionals for most of my adult life ; all helpful on a day to day basis in my walk with God and to encourage and inspire me. Some devotionals are more topic orientated and others follow various Bible passages. One I have always turned back to  has been My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers. In spite of the formal language it is a gem in the way it transcends time and it's depth of thought continuously uncovers more truths hidden in the author's words. 

As a past columnist I think that writing a devotional is very similar in that brief is best, every word counts, and being clear and concise is paramount. A good devotion can be turned to quickly and inspire your reader for a day, weeks, months or even a lifetime. I love the impact that just a few words can have. 

Following, I share an Easter Devotion 

An Easter Devotional

It was a winter of much needed Grace and Gods provision.

I spent a great deal of it looking forward to Spring.

Spring doesn't magically change circumstances, but with its cheery disposition, it does seem to make things feel a little easier.

In Spring I can throw open the windows, let the fresh air replace the stale, hear the birds chirp their freedom song.

In one sense there is no difference, yet in another, everything is different.

The Easter season and life in general, is much the same way.

One day it is Good Friday, where we mourn and shake with fear and hide ourselves away.

Then come the 'in between days,' where most of us often find ourselves living.

We need something new to happen, to deliver us from winter, something fresh and alive, yet yesterday mocks us with our sin and stains us with guilt.

On Easter morning, Jesus was not recognized at first by those who knew him most intimately.

We too don't always recognize Jesus when He arrives in our lives, during the earliest days of new growth and change.

I know I haven't.

Yet there He was, tending the garden of my unruly thoughts, pruning an overgrown plan and watering thirsty dreams.

He looks at me and says, "Why do you weep?"

And in my distress, I reply to my risen Saviour, who I've diminished to a mere gardener, 

"Where is Jesus?

Why has He left me?"

And then he gently speaks my name,

"Gloria," and I suddenly recognize Him.

Jesus.

*partially paraphrased from John 20: 11-18

Prairie Crocuses taken by Reg Guest

This topic has actually served to inspire me to perhaps continue to write more (I have a few saved up) and publish my own devotional sometime. It's always something that has been on my Bucket

List and since I missed the 'B' month, I'll just sneak this in here.;) 

Gloria writes and blogs from the small hamlet of Caron, Sk; where she lives with her husband Reg (when he's not on the road) and her cat Tigger. She especially enjoys the genres of memoir, creative non-fiction, poetry and perhaps you'll come across some devotionals in the future. She has written extensively for various newspapers as a reporter and has been a newspaper columnist and has published various pieces in anthologies. She has also studied creative writing from the U of T and editing from SFU.