Thinking Devotionally

I am excited to have my dear friend and author, Harriet E. Michael, as a guest blogger today.

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“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’”  Isaiah 52:7 (NIV)

“You have beautiful hands.” The compliment came from a lady working at Wal-Mart’s Money Center. I was there to wire money to a pastor friend in Africa.

The recipient of the money was a native pastor who lived and worked amid adversity the likes of which I have never experienced. The money I was wiring was a gift from my mother’s women’s mission group. My role was nothing more than errand-girl. I wired the money simply to help my mother. But as I handed the money across the counter, this woman paid me this compliment.

I looked down at my hands. They used to be pretty—long slender fingers with long, strong nails. But that was many years ago. In the past few years, I have developed arthritis in my fingers. And though I still try to make my hands attractive by painting the nails, my joints are swollen and two of the fingers bend quite noticeably.

I held my hands up such that my bent fingers were more easily seen and commented on my arthritis as I thanked the lady just the same. She said she had not even noticed until I pointed it out to her.

Then I remembered God’s word, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”

I smiled as I left Wal-Mart, because I knew the reason my hands looked pretty that day.

This is a devotion I wrote based on the true occurrence that I tell of in the devotion. When it happened, that verse about beautiful feet popped into my mind and I went right home, wrote up this devotion and submitted it to a magazine. Some months later, I received a check from them and a notice that they would be using this devotion in an upcoming issue.

This is not an isolated incident with me. I do this all the time. I call it thinking devotionally. I see Biblical lessons and insights in everyday life. A few years ago, to my delight, I discovered that my life-long friend, Shirley does this too. I made this discovery about Shirley from her Facebook posts one Christmas. That year she posted several times about occurrences that had happened in her life and always added a Biblical insight from it.

After discovering this commonality, we started writing devotions together … and the rest, as they say, is history. At the time of this post, we are feverishly working on edits for books one and two of a five devotional book contract as well as the content of book three. Whew! That’s a lot to juggle but we are loving it!

Click to Tweet: I see Biblical lessons and insights in everyday life.

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Harriet E. Michael

Harriet E. Michael was born in Joinkrama, Nigeria, deep in the African Jungle in the Niger River Delta, where her father served as the only missionary doctor at that station. A few years later, the mission moved the family to a larger hospital in Ogbomoso. Co-author, Shirley Crowder and her family lived right across the dirt road. The two children became constant playmates. Today they continue to enjoy their lifelong friendship.

Harriet is a multi-published, award-winning writer and speaker. She has authored or co-authored five books (four nonfiction and one novel) with several more under contract for future release. She is also a prolific freelance writer having penned over 200 articles, devotions, and stories. Her work has appeared in publications by Focus on the Family, David C. Cook, Lifeway, Standard Publishing, Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Upper Room, Judson Press, Bethany House, and more. When not writing, she loves speaking to women’s groups and teaching workshops on freelance writing.

She and her husband of over 38 years have four children and two grandchildren. When not writing, she enjoys substituting at a Christian school near her home, gardening, cooking, and traveling.

Follow Harriet at:
Blog: www.harrietemichael.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/harrietmichaelauthor/
Amazon: amazon.com/author/harrietemichael