Deidre Jones

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20 NLT)   Self care. People, particularly Christians, seem to have trouble deciding whether the self care movement is a good thing or not. Any mention of “self”…

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or trouble, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:35, 37 NASB) After the New Year, I read an article about copyrighted works moving into the public domain, and I started crying. Really, it was more like bawling;…

“Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures?” (Mark 10:12a NLT). The reading specialist at the middle school I work for recently took another job. I doubt her position will be filled soon because of the severe teacher shortage. I’ve never seriously considered working for a school long term. As a child, I never appreciated…

“And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful” (Titus 3:14 ESV). Part of my library assistant duties includes monitoring student library aides. Last year, one student in particular stood out. Once she learned the daily tasks, she would start them…

“Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days” (Ephesians 5:16 NLT). Thursday, I spent my evening shower time contemplating a problem. Earlier that day, I decided to go to the grocery store after work. This particular store does not have any self-checkout counters so even though I only had a few items, I…

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue …” (2 Peter 1:5a ESV). Have you ever heard someone say, “I hate drinking water?” Growing up, and even through my college years, I hardly ever drank water. I actually passed out a couple of times in middle school because of dehydration.…

“There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light” (Revelation 22:5a NKJV). Five days without power. This is the longest I’ve ever gone with the electricity off. A friend asked me what I had been doing all week. I replied, “Staring into…

“[F]or today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11 NASB). Even though department stores start decorating for Christmas around the end of October, (whatever happened to Thanksgiving?!), I’m often disappointed that worship services I attend generally doesn’t sing very many Christmas hymns…

“Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, since he was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her, planned to send her away…

“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22 ESV). “You don’t have to do that.” No matter what task I complained about, this proverbial phrase seemed to hover in my mind conflicting with my personal ideals. For example, how many times do you sweep or vacuum your…