2020 Daily Devotion - Day 164

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Wayne Hilliker tells a true story about the Jewish women in concentration camps during the Second World War. Having to work to build roads, their wheelbarrows were their aprons; their shovels were their fingernails. On cardboard shoes, they went out on frozen ground and worked all day; only diluted soup to eat; and then back again at night, on frozen ground to their dormitory.

When one of the women who survived was asked later, “How did you manage day after day after day? What kept you going?” She replied, “I don’t know what all it was. But I do know one thing. When we would go out in the morning to work on those cold muddy roads, we passed a house that had a flowerbox in the window, and in one there was a tulip blooming. And I would say to myself all day when we worked… if I make it through the day, going back home, I’ll get to see the tulip again.”

“Just a tulip?” “Yes, just a tulip”

For her the tulip was a sign of hope – a sign of hope that God would be with her and see her through her ordeal. As we wait on the Lord during this period, what are the tulips you can look for? Start looking around for the evidence that He will see you through, too, because God is going to keep His promise to you.

Psalm 130:5-6 ESV
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

Pray with me:
Heavenly Father, we are in this period of waiting. We can grow weary and tired as we wait. Help us to see the signs of Your hands in the midst of all we see. Show us some tulips and remind us that You are going to keep Your promises. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Yours because of Him,
Pastor John R. Steward
Senior Pastor
Mount of Olives Church
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