GENERATION AFTER GENERATION

Today's Upper Room devotional (printed below) touched me very deeply because I grew up seeing my mother reading the Upper Room, and when I asked her about it, she told me that she read it because her mother, our Grandma Donna, had always read it. It was part of our father's upbringing, too, because his father was a Methodist minister ordained in England and he grew up in a household of faith-filled, devout parents and older siblings.

So we were surrounded by people of faith and when our little sister almost died when she was four and the doctors had no logical explanation for why she survived, it was said in our family that it was because our grandmothers had prayed for her.

The example that our parents modeled for us by taking us to church and through the witness of their love for us and for everyone in our family and through the example of our grandparents and other family members--and the love of all of our friends--still under girds my faith and my life. No matter what has happened, is happening, or will happen, God loves us and is faithful to us.

We know His love and faithfulness through the people who love us and because when we come to trust Him, His Holy Spirit reveals to us that our blessings come from the Lord Who Is Love, not because we have worked for them . . . not because we are lucky . . . not because we deserve them, but because we are loved by the Creator of the Universe in Whom we live and move and have our being. The Divine is a mystery, but He has given us a way to know Him in the midst of the mysteriousness. Only the eyes of faith and the knowledge of our hearts can see and know, however. Who we are n spirit is the most important part of us.

So many people deny who they are in spirit, preferring only to take notice of what they can touch and understand logically. Sometimes it is because they have been hurt. Sometimes it is because they have been taught to doubt. Sometimes it is because they would rather keep control of their lives and not open their hearts to trust what they cannot see and understand logically.

But God IS. And when we are able to be still and know that God IS, opening our hearts and spirits to Him, then we begin to truly live and not just exist. As ever, Beloved, my prayer for you is that you will be able to do that. No matter how long it takes for you to do that and no matter what circumstances have to come into your life for you to be able to be ready to do that, the Lord Who IS Love knows and understands. And He is waiting, hoping and completely loving you whether you are ever able to believe that or not.

GENERATION AFTER GENERATION -- The Upper Room Devotional

"Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. [Psalm 78:1-4(NRSV)]

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"Paul wrote, “' am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.'” [2 Timothy 1:5 (NIV)]

* * *

I asked my sister if she knew how long our mother had read

no Cenáculo

(the Portuguese edition of The Upper Room).

Her answer was, “Always.” She remembered that when we were children we always had home worship right before going to bed. One family member read the scripture; the prayer and thought for the day were read by someone else and repeated by all of us together. Then one of us led our prayer time. I miss that time and remember it with joy. Proverbs 22:6 was taken seriously by my parents: “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”

My mother worked as a distributor for this magazine for many decades. With the struggles of aging, she passed the responsibility to a niece, who was honored to take over the task. My family has delivered this devotional guide one generation after another. I have a habit of cutting out some pages and handing them out to people: gas station attendants, toll collectors, and cooks at my school. When I don't take any pages with me, people ask, “Where is that little paper?”

I enjoy sharing my faith and spreading the joy that

no Cenáculo

has brought my family for many generations.

Joeli Grimbos Marques Souza (Paraná, Brazil)

Thought for the Day:

With whom will I share my faith story today?

Prayer: Loving God, I thank you for the opportunity to know you. Bless all those who contribute to The Upper Room and those who will read it. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Prayer Focus: DISTRIBUTORS OF THE UPPER ROOM