Psalm 103:8 (NIV) “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

My husband came down with the flu today. When he told me it was the flu, and the doctor said he needed to stay away from people until Saturday, my first thought was: “So I will be taking care of these kids all by myself for four days straight?”

Wow, what compassion! Shouldn’t my first thought have been “My poor husband, how miserable he must feel!”

It’s in our nature to be selfish; it’s in God’s nature to be compassionate.

Lord, I want my love to abound towards my family, as Your love abounds towards me!

-Kevi

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2 Timothy 3:14-15 (NASB) “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

My two year old loves to sing, and while he won’t always sing around other people, he sings to himself all day around the house. It thrills my heart to hear him sing things like “Jesus loves me, this I know” and “I believe God’s Word is true.” However, at this point, he doesn’t really understand what those words mean.

Timothy learned the scriptures from an early age, and it led to his salvation. The more he learned about God, the more convinced he became of his faith in Jesus Christ. I want the same for my son! I want to teach him the things of God now, so when he is old enough to understand for himself, he will “become convinced” that salvation comes through Jesus Christ!

-Kevi

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I Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV) “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”

Today we remember one of Heartland’s members, and celebrate her homecoming in Heaven. Sister Gladys was the type of Christian that if she said she would pray for you, you believed that she would. She never shied away from sharing her testimony: she gave God the glory for all the ways He blessed her, all the lessons He taught her, and all the times He healed her.

When I was pregnant with my first child, Gladys told me that when she was pregnant with each of her four children, she worked in her garden up until it was time to deliver. I marveled that she had the energy to do that, but I didn’t doubt her (considering she was working in her garden well into her eighties)! And when I was in those last few weeks of each of my pregnancies, when getting off the couch was a struggle, I would remember her words and think, “If she could do that, I can do this!”

Want to be an encourager? Sometimes it’s as simple as sharing your story.

-Kevi

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My mother passed away in November of 2016. She was born at home in 1934.   She reminded me of the verse in II Timothy 1:5 where it is speaking of the unfeigned faith of Timothy’s mother and grandmother.  I have been greatly blessed to have her Christian example in my life.  My mother taught me and showed me God’s love. 

My mom always insisted that we respect others.  She was old fashioned and had many quirky sayings like, “go fly a kite” and “you look like a rag-a-muffin.” 

There were many games like Skip-Bo and Wha-Hoo played with the grandkids and great grandkids.  She loved telling new jokes to the kids.

Most of all, my mother insisted by admonition and example that loving God and following the Lord are the most important duties in life. We, her family, are missing her, especially since this is our first Mother’s Day without her.

God is good to allow me to have had a wonderful up-bringing by a godly mother.

-Diana Cariker-

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Genesis 17:16 (NASB) “I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

Motherhood is a blessing. It was a blessing for Sarah, and it’s a blessing for me. I spent several years waiting for that blessing (not as many as Sarah!) so I don’t want to take it for granted. But I’m sure Sarah would agree with me that our biggest blessings can come hand in hand with our biggest challenges.

Every day, God uses motherhood to remind me how selfish I am, how impatient I am, how human I am. But every day, God also uses motherhood to remind me how gracious He is, how patient He is, and how holy He is.

Are you praying for blessings from God? Don’t be afraid of the challenges that may come with them. God will use them for His glory!

-Kevi

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This last week makes it two years since my mom got to meet Jesus face to face. I am sometimes tempted to dwell on how young she was (55), and how that doesn't seem like enough time. But then, I remember a verse my mom taught me... "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it." (Philippians 1:6).

She taught me how to love Jesus when I felt like it and when I didn't feel like it. She taught me how to set goals and pursue them with everything I had. She taught me how to laugh so hard I felt sick. She taught me that when life is unimaginably hard, God is still good...He is still faithful. So, when I think about it that way, she finished every good work God had for her...and she did it in just 55 years. I am proud to be her daughter, and because of her witness (and dad's), I am a child of the King, too.

-Mindy Cariker Wiggins

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Psalm 142:4 (KJV) I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.

A mom was cooking pancakes for her two young sons when the two brothers both began to argue over who would get the first pancake. 

Seeing an opportunity to teach them a moral lesson, she said, “If Jesus were here, he would say, ‘You can have the first one, I’ll wait.’” To which the older brother said to the younger brother, “You be Jesus!”

David and my Jesus both had the experience of Psalm 124 (no one cared for my soul), may it never be said by someone we know.

-Dennis

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“Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool,” John 5:7

“It is not for want of a good will, but of a good friend, that I am unhealed. I have done what I could to help myself, but in vain, for no one else will help me.”-Matthew Henry Commentary

When I was fifteen a lady I knew got me a job. I used the money I made (after tithes) to buy my first car.

My brother Connie co-signed a note for me so I could buy my second car when my first one played out on me.

My wife’s grandfather helped us get the down payment for our first house.

When I graduated Stigler High School I lived with one of my brothers and his wife until I got married (when I wasn’t at college).

Lord Jesus, this is Dennis, thank you for all the people who You have placed in my life to help me. Remind me of that the next time someone needs my help.

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John 5:1-9 Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

“The church exists to serve as the body of Christ, and it is through this commitment to serve that we are forced to engage our culture…The serving that we are called to requires direct contact. You cannot wash the feet of a dirty world if you refuse to touch it.”-Erwin McManus (An Unstoppable Force)

Lord Jesus, this is Dennis, open my eyes to see people the way You do.

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John 5:1-7 Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

I took a guy to the bus station today. He was headed to L.A. California, going back home, he said. I don’t have anyone here and I’m scared to death of tornadoes!

I can’t imagine not having family and friends nearby, can you?

The truth is that there are people everywhere that we either know or cross paths with that have no one to help them. While it may be true that some of them have used up family and friends, the stark reality of their lives is, they have “no one”.

I wonder what would happen if I ran into one of them?

Lord Jesus, this is Dennis, thank you for all my family and all my friends. I know that they are a gift from You.

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