Dear Friends: This will be my final devotional post for a while. We are in the process of packing up and moving from California to Wisconsin, where we are joining family. It has been my pleasure and privilege to present these small homilies to you, and I am so grateful for your support and encouragement. I pray our God and Savior will watch over you and your dear ones. Your sister in the faith, Judith

Scripture

Proverbs 15:28 NLT

The heart of the godly thinks carefully before speaking; the mouth of the wicked overflows with evil words.

Consider

In this season of self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us find ourselves overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of being confined with family members 24-7. Deprived of our normal routine, perhaps under the pressure of job loss and financial uncertainty, we can lose our sense of identity and grounding. Little irritations take hold like an itchy rash screaming for relief. As anxiety mounts, tempers flare. Anger and frustration we feel over our circumstances spill over into words and actions that hurt the people we love best.

Times like these expose our spiritual edges if we are willing to look. With God’s help we see the gaps in our faith and the self-preserving nature of our attitudes and actions. We recognize the precise juncture of our fleshly self with the perfect nature of Christ to which we aspire. Such awareness is a gift because it readies us to take our next step into maturity of character and godliness. No one asks for crisis, but God is faithful to use a crisis for our good if we will consent to the Spirit’s work in us.

Just as the Spirit works in us as individuals, the Spirit also works in families. This season exposes the family’s spiritual edges—those places where God wants to correct and heal family patterns of interaction—and the Spirit invites us to join in this holy work already in progress. God will use our obedience in small things to effect positive change in the emotional climate of our homes. Like weathervanes, family members pick up on each other’s emotions and attitudes and reflect them. When we surrender ourselves to the Spirit in those edgy moments of choice between the fleshly and the divine, we will begin to see the fruits of God’s goodness reflected in our families. Under the Spirit’s discipline, we can replace our selfish habits with intentional acts of grace, which will in turn bear wholesome fruit even in our confined circumstances.

Pray

Spirit of Grace, open my eyes to see where You are working in my heart and my life to correct and heal. Make me an instrument of peace and goodness in my family. Speak to me in those edgy moments when I would indulge in harsh words or punishing silences and give me the attitude and words I need to soothe and encourage rather than hurt and alienate. Thank you for my family and for my unique privilege of ministering to them in your Name.

Reflect

Genesis 50:19-21; Proverbs 11:29; 16:24

Ponder

Of the Spirit’s fruits listed in Galatians 5:22-23—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control—which is most needed in my family right now?