Always Late

by Caryl Havasy


I woke up late again this morning! Of course, then I am late for everything! It’s days like today when it seems like even the smallest and simplest of tasks turn into a huge ordeal. Irritations and interruptions turn into major crises. Now, all of a sudden, I am arguing with my husband, fussing at my children and just being plain rude – because I can’t get anything done!

Does that ever happen to you?

Did you know that it never happened to Jesus? He never was hurried or running late, and every interruption received his full attention and affection. Even when He had ministered to others all day, teaching in the synagogue and taking care of their needs, He still made time to minister with gentleness and love in the home where He was staying. (Mark 1:29-34)

Oh, how I long for my own life to reflect Jesus’ example. I don’t want to be hurried or running late to the point that I am rude and argumentative. After working all day I want to be able to come home and minister to those in my own home with my full attention and affection, to be gentle and tenderhearted, putting my family’s needs before my own.

How did Jesus accomplish such a life?

He never tried to do it alone! He sought the Father and the Father’s help. “In the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up…and went to a secluded place, and was praying there.” (Mark 1:35)

As for me and you, He calls us to “Come to Him when we are weary and heavy-laden” (Matthew 11:28) and to “Cast all our cares on Him because He cares for us” (1 Peter 5:7). He wants us to stop trying to do it on our own, but to abide in Him and let Him accomplish our ‘to-do’ lists – because apart from Him we cannot do anything! But with God all things are possible!

Loving Your Family: Celebrate the Differences

by Vicki D. Balkcum


As we look in the Bible, we can discover stories of family relationships. One of the most memorable is the story of Joseph and his relationship with his brothers in Genesis.

In that story, we can glean three important and useful points in our own familial relationships:

1. Discover the differences in temperaments.

“Someone has said of the four (basic) temperaments that the creative melancholy invents things, the choleric manufactures them, the sanguine sells them, and the phlegmatic enjoys them.”

Family members have different temperaments. “With at least six people contributing to their makeup through the gene pool, most people tend to be a combination of temperaments rather than a single temperament.” (Quotes from Beverly La Haye in The New Spirit-Controlled Woman.)

2. Discern your role in your family as God sees it.

God wants to use you to minister to your family members — immediate and extended — through prayer and service.

Prayer is our first and most important role of ministry to our family. Ephesians 6:18 tells us to “pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” God desires honesty in our prayers, and sometimes we just need to vent!

The second way God uses us to minister to family members is service. This means to make a decisive aim and habit to reach out to family members in small but kind and loving ways, such as greeting cards, phone calls, emails, written notes, lunches/dinners, kids’ play dates, driving to doctors’ appointments and numerous other ways of helping and/or fellowship.

3. Desire holy love.

II Timothy 1:9 says (God) ”has saved us and called us to a holy life…because of his own purpose and grace.”

A huge part of being called to a principle of holiness and Christ-like love is putting on the virtues of Christ, or what I call “living results of the Christian life.”
We find these virtues listed in Colossians 3:12-14 — compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13) “and over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:14

We will all, at some time, hurt or disappoint someone close to us. And we will all, at some time, be hurt or disappointed by someone close to us. It is very important to forgive easily and readily if you are on the receiving end!

Always remember to focus on God, His will and His purpose. In this way we demonstrate the kind of love that Jesus Christ displayed where our family is concerned, and His love is unselfish and unconditional.

May God use each of us in our family relationships to produce eternal fruit. May you enjoy authentic family relationships.

Weight Training

by Caryl Havasy

“…let us lay aside every weight…that so easily entangles us…” ~ Hebrews 12:1


Every day my purse becomes heavier. I never realized how much I could cram into one little bag! There are so many things that are essential – my wallet, my keys, hand sanitizer, lipstick, checkbook and calendar. Yet there are so many things that are just dead weight – the Matchbox cars, used tissues, chewed gum in the wrapper and the rock my little boy couldn’t leave the playground without. If I didn’t examine the contents of my purse and empty these unessential items every day, I would very soon have a horrible backache from all the weight.

Yet, as a woman, there is another weight that I have often carried around spiritually – one that left unchecked has produced tremendous heartache and destruction in my life. That weight is guilt. Guilt attacks me every time I fall short as a wife, mother, friend or witness for Christ. I hear the words: “You’ll never get it right!” “How could God use you after what you’ve done?” “There is something wrong with you; you just don’t have it together like so-and-so!” So I accept my guilt as from God because I failed. And in view of that guilt, I just either try harder to keep from failing again, or I stop trying so there is no chance I will fail again. Either way, guilt pulls on me like a weight, producing a life of regret which devours my joy and destroys my hope!

My dear sister, do you also carry this weight of guilt? Do you want to be set free from this hopeless weight? Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32). The truth is that guilt is not God’s work in your life. Do we still sin and fall short of His glory? Yes! As His children, will He let us continue in our sin? Absolutely not! But God does not use guilt. God uses the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

So how can we know the difference?

In 2 Corinthians 7:10, God reveals the difference between guilt and conviction: “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God (conviction) produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world (guilt) produces death.”

According to God’s Word, the difference between conviction and guilt can only be seen in the outworking or result. God’s conviction of sin and righteousness and judgment in our lives (John 16:8) produces the hope of change through repentance – our sanctification, which then produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11) and the restored joy of our salvation (Psalm 51:12). There is no regret!

Guilt produces death, hopelessness and regret, and it is from our enemy, the devil. He has come to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10a) – and guilt is his tool! BUT Jesus has come that we may have life and have life more abundantly (John 10:10b). In Jesus, there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1) because He has already carried our weight of sin, guilt and sorrows to Calvary (Isaiah 53:4-6).

Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Would you be free of guilt and condemnation? Then come … come to Jesus. He will carry your burden. He will give you rest!

Living and Leaving a Legacy

by Vicki D. Balkcum


Recently my 7-year old granddaughter, Ruthie, began asking me questions about my family. She wanted to hear stories about my parents, who are deceased. She also wanted to know what I did when I was her age, who my playmates were and what some of the games we played were.

I recalled when I was growing up in the ‘50s that we played outdoors more than indoors. And we played all kinds of fun games like Hide ‘N Seek, Mother May I, Sling the Statue and many others. We loved skating in the street, riding bikes and jumping rope. We came inside to eat our meals, usually in our own homes, then met up outside again. In the summer, we played outside at night under the street lights while our parents sat on the front porch.

Revisiting those childhood memories also caused me to remember how my mother always let us know when not to disturb her – during her time spent in prayer.

Down through the years, when it came to raising their children, many parents have demonstrated a strong faith in God through prayer, worshiping God, singing about God’s love and reading God’s Word in the home. And what a blessing to have the privilege of passing the torch of faith in God to the next generation!

What a legacy we can leave as a parent or grandparent. After all, being a godly example to the children in our sphere of influence as a way of life is what Moses taught the Hebrew people.

And these words which I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (ESV)

What was the important truth Moses taught them? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Deuteronomy 6:5

May God use each of us to lead the children in our sphere of influence to a faith in Him – as a way of life.