Dr. Jeannine Brabon recently left Columbia at 4 a.m. to travel to the States. Because of a storm their plane was delayed, and she finally arrived in Miami at 3 p.m. She was exhausted but looked forward to spending time with her brothers. Unfortunately, her sister would be unable to join them.

Our guest, Wesley Duewel, arose from the kitchen table and stretching out his hands he began to quote Isa 65: “Ready was I to answer men who never asked me, ready to be found by men who never sought me. I cried out, ‘Here am I’ to folk who never called to me. I have stretched my hands all day to unruly rebels, who lead a corrupt life pleasing themselves, a people who provoke me to my face continually” (vss. 1,2 Moffat).

Six months after Mari was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, her life came to a screeching halt. Just a few weeks earlier, busyness filled her life. She loved being involved in ministry and gave herself totally to it. But now, months later, others’ lives had moved on, while hers hadn’t.

Joe Smalley, director of Athletes in Action in Europe, developed a brain tumor and faced suffering, pain, and death.

During his illness, he said, “I have come to see that this is God’s plan for me. It is not His punishment; it is His beautiful plan for me. A difficult one, but a good one. I have even come to praise Him for it. This may seem difficult for some people to understand. People say, ‘What about your children?’ How sad for my children, but they are God’s children first and foremost. God cares for His children.”

One of my children asked me to pray about something. We prayed together, but I didn’t have an assurance that I had believed.

One morning as we sat at the breakfast table, my husband Daniel asked, “Do you know what Psalm 37:23 says?” He read it to me from the New Living Translation: “The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives.”

Dr. Marvin Powers told in our Bible study that before their first child was born, he and his wife were both certain they would have a boy. It was before the days of sonograms, but neither of them had any doubt so they thought a lot about what they would name their boy.

After Hattie Damon read yesterday’s devotional about God’s humorous response to Dr. Marvin Powers, she sent the following incident that you will enjoy.