robinshope | Christian Devotions | Daily Bible Devotions | 501c3

My New Boss – Robin Shope

Posted on June 16, 2010 by Editor Cindy

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight. ” Psalm 19:4

Susan had a lot of degrees in front of her name but her employees gave her words for the back of her name. They began with the suffix un—unfair—unreasonable—unfriendly.

At lunch my team grumbled about Susan’s new policy changes between bites of food. Of course, the new boss’s negativity was also a hot-button topic. She was divisive and cutthroat. To her, the end always justified the means. I didn’t contribute to the conversation by putting in my two cents worth of disgruntlement, but I didn’t do a thing to stop anyone from their freewheeling expression of frustration either. I knew we weren’t accomplishing a thing by complaining, but it felt good to commiserate.

After a week of this, I felt a nudge from the Lord to put a stop to it. Actually, it was a whole lot more than a nudge; it was practically an elbow in my consciousness. I made a suggestion. “Let’s pray and fast for three days for Susan. In the meantime, we cannot make a single negative comment or share a bad experience about her.” Mouths dropped open. Eyes grew larger. Minutes later the shock wore off as everyone realized the commitment to do this. It was obviously the right thing. Everyone agreed.

The first lunch, we looked from face to face, asking who wanted to pray. Most of my team members ducked their heads and ‘passed’. Finally, a hand went up and the transformation began. By the third day everyone wanted to lead the prayer. Prayers were presented as lovely offerings.

A wonderful change overtook us all. Our team became more positive; looked for the good in every situation. We prayed for one another. A God-consciousness permeated the air. Susan didn’t change. But we sure did. And that was what was really important.

For every problem we face, there is an answer. God walks us through challenges and as we draw closer to Him, we become changed. Let’s take our faith a step further and walk next to Him in thought, word, and deed so we can have victory regardless of the circumstance. As we get on our knees to empty ourselves before Him, our intercession is exactly the life changing force we need.

Robin Shope is the Special Education Coordinator for a county juvenile justice system for at-risk kids. She has authored a number of articles and six novels. She and her husband are former missionaries and have been married for 32 years, with two grown children.Robin Shope is the Special Education Coordinator for a county juvenile justice system for at-risk kids. She has authored a number of articles and six novels. She and her husband are former missionaries and have been married for 32 years, with two grown children. Read Robin’s devotions.

Blowing the Blessing – Robin Shope

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Editor Cindy

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18

Hello, my name is Robin and I’m a garage sale junkie.

Cold rain hammered my car, turning narrow streets into icy waterways. On my way to an indoor garage sale, I didn’t care. I parked in front of the house and then wandered through, searching for hidden gems. Under a pile of bedspreads I found a shiny saxophone, beautifully engraved with the figure of a woman. It was vintage, in pristine condition, and mine for only 20 dollars. I planned on selling it for quick cash.

An elderly man caught me by the arm. “I’ll give you 20 dollars more than what you paid for that sax if you’ll let me have it.”

Talk about quick cash. He took the sax and I pocketed the money. At home, I sat at the computer to look up the worth of the instrument I’d just sold. A sax like the one I had purchased was going for five hundred dollars on an online auction. When the final bid reached nearly 1,000 dollars, I shrieked! With a household budget stretched to the max, I’d given away God’s provision—blown the blessing.

I replayed the moment I sold the sax. Envious and consumed by greed—God was revealing a side of me I hadn’t known existed. I turned to verses on praising God, then thanked God for the lesson. My turmoil fled.

Months later, I spied my sax buyer hunched over a box, sifting through old sheet music. He spied me too. “I don’t know if you remember me but I bought a sax from you a while back. It rekindled my passion for playing and now, being retired, I volunteer to teach kids how to play.” He wiggled his fingers over the keys of an invisible sax. I noticed his frailty, his worn clothes, and his scuffed shoes.

The lesson was clear to me. It wasn’t my blessing that got away. I was only the middle man in delivering that man’s blessing to him. He, in turn, became a blessing to others. On earth God uses our feet of clay to deliver miracles. If I should lose everything tomorrow, I still have what matters, family, friends and God’s plan for me. And in that, I give thanks.

A Fine Chicken Dinner – Robin Shope

Posted on February 23, 2010 by Editor Cindy

“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:31-33

Our family of four moved to Texas in the eighties searching for jobs as the state’s oil industry went bust. Thousands scrambled to find new jobs and so did we. My husband and I, along with our two children, settled into a rental home. I started my job as a teacher at a private school, making fifteen thousand dollars a year, while Rick grabbed the first job he could find as a pizza driver. We placed our children in daycare so we could work.

My monthly check was gone by the end of each third week and the fourth week was always difficult. We struggled to find money for gas and our food was often the left over pizza from the restaurant at the end of the night shift. Then, just like that, Rick became a laid off pizza driver.

Filled with faith that something wonderful waited around the next corner, we never complained. We learned to do without and worked creatively to make ends meet.

One evening before I received my paycheck, my daughter asked what was for dinner. There were two eggs left in the refrigerator.

“What would you like for dinner?” I asked.

“I want a fine chicken dinner!” she hummed with a carefree lilt in her voice.

Eggs were close but not close enough. For the first time since leaving our family and friends, I wondered if the move for a better life was a mistake. My babies were hungry.

“What about it Mom?” she asked. “Will you make us a fine chicken dinner?”

“Let’s pray about it.” I ran my hand over the empty purse on my lap.

We pulled up to the babysitter’s, the wind blowing so hard I could barely get out of the car. Leaves flew into my face and rolled over my feet. Then, as abruptly as it started, the wind stopped. I looked down. A wad of money rolled across the lawn and stopped on my feet. One five dollar bill and five ones.

I looked up and down the street for the owner but no one was in sight. The four of us went grocery shopping. We bought milk, frozen corn, rolls, potatoes and a whole chicken. I selected the fattest one in the case and that night we ate our fine chicken dinner.

Our hunger was satiated. Our faith replenished. The next morning we even had enough leftovers to eat with our two eggs. We still recount that chicken dinner as a miracle to remind ourselves that God doesn’t forget our needs. He hears our prayers.

Only Believe – Robin Shope & John Friedman

Posted on January 3, 2010 by Editor Cindy

“Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.” Matthew 21:21

It starts right after Christmas, our list of resolutions for the New Year. Here it is, New Years day and I didn’t make any resolutions this year because I can never keep them. Are you like me, or do you keep turning over new leaves until you look like Sherwood Forest? It’s the first week of 2010—a different day for me, because I am bypassing the websites and books that declare they know the mystery ingredients to be thin, youthful looking and prosperous.

My answer is found in the midst of the most popular book in the world, the Bible.

Some may wonder how a Biblical passage can make the difference between discarding a New Year’s resolution a few days into January and actually seeing change beginning in yourself during that same few days after the New Year. Remember, quite often the answers to our problems are right under our noses.

We become so obsessed with looking around for answers, asking friends or professionals for advice, and paying for outsiders to help, that we forget we have the power inside ourselves. When we finally get that hard to find answer, we smack our foreheads and remind ourselves we knew the answer all along; we just didn’t see it.

It’s found in Matthew—the story of Jesus and the fig tree. While in the presence of his disciples Jesus caused a fig tree to wither and die. His disciples asked about this power and Jesus told them they too had the power to make changes.

“Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea, it will be done. And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and believing, you will receive.”

The answer to making your resolutions happen is having faith, believing it will happen…and it will! Believing requires thoughtful prayer and hope that something will happen. Athletes would say this is like “having some skin in the game.” That means more than just thinking your resolution for the New Year, more than just speaking it to a friend. It means having the commitment of faith in the outcome. Prayer is the instrument of belief that your resolution will be victorious. Praying for it engages more than your tongue and your mind, it engages your being. It commits your whole self to making your resolution come to pass. Stay positive. Jesus said, “Do not doubt.”

There is a popular self-help book that talks about “seeing it and believing it.” However, God requires the opposite of us; He says to believe it and then you will see it. Jesus gave us this advice two millennia ago. Go ahead and make your resolution to accomplish something positive today, then start to work. Remember, faith and prayer go hand in hand. Join a partnership with the Heavenly Father. Believing makes it so. Remember Jesus’ words, “And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and believing, you will receive.”

John Friedman is a businessman living near Lake Michigan. His love of writing survived the legal writing classes taught in law school where they specialized in teaching him to write page-long sentences that made little sense except to other lawyers. John lives in Chicago running a rigid container distribution business, Northern Container.
Read John’s devotions Read Robin’s devotions

Voices in the Wind – Robin Lee Shope

Posted on November 30, 2009 by Editor Cindy

“The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” John 10:4-5

The other day there was a lively blog discussion about the ‘right’ way to be published. Some of it was hurtful and sure to cause division. All I could think was, ‘when we stand before God, is He really going to be concerned about who our publisher was?’ I can answer that question now; NO, but it will matter if we have followed Him.

On my drive to work the following day, God spoke to my heart about the many voices in the world. When my husband and I first married, a Christian organization turned him down for ministry because I had been divorced years earlier. No matter it was an abusive marriage, I was ‘tainted’ goods by them. It hurt. I felt as though I was a stumbling block for my new husband’s ministry. I wasn’t. God had a different plan and we followed His voice, which led us to a smaller organization. Through that, Rick has traveled to thirty nations during our thirty-two years together, ministering to large crowds, and in remote villages of the world to a handful of people.

Our desire for a family only grew when we found out we weren’t able to have children. God led us to an agency where we adopted a baby girl. When Kimberly turned four, an unwed mother in our church asked that we adopt her unborn son, whom we later named Matthew. These two remarkable children have filled us with unspeakable joy and love, and now are adults. I cannot imagine my life without them. And yet, at the time, some mothers told me I could not love my children as much as they loved their biological children. Not true at all. God’s plans are different for us all. Different—not lesser—not better—just different.

My husband and I continue to follow God’s voice. There is beauty and safety in that. Don’t let anyone make you feel unimportant, inferior. If you feel discouraged, it comes from the devil trying to throw you off from God’s best.

Publisher: Wild Rose Press
ISBN-10: 1601544871
ISBN-13: 978-1601544872

The Sunday School Teacher – Robin Shope

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Editor Cindy

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

She was at the end of her rope.

Miss Swan couldn’t stand being their Sunday school teacher. Not anymore. She looked into the faces of the rude teenagers and quit. Sixteen-year-old Rick laughed.

Betty Ray decided to give the class a whirl. She wore her outdated clothes proudly, had a fresh, bad bleach job, and didn’t care that her beauty had peaked a decade earlier. The students studied her appearance and decided she was easy pickings. Rick took bets on how long this one would last.

The middle aged woman unfolded a map of the world and hammered it to the wall. Tapping a finger, she pointed to an odd shaped continent. “I lived here until I was about your age.” She looked directly at Rick.

“Is that Texas?” he nervously squeaked out.

“Nope. India.” Her eyes twinkled with kindness. “My parents were missionaries and that is where I was born.”

“Cool!” was all Rick managed to say.

Betty passed a tin filled with freshly baked cookies around the room. They were good too. Then she handed the students a handful of old wrinkled pictures from all over the world. “I’ve had a good life.”

The teens ate and looked down at the well worn photographs that had been viewed hundreds of times. Faces stared mutely up at them, frozen in time. “Everyone can do something to make a difference in God’s kingdom.”

“What are you doing here?” Rick asked.

“Getting you ready for your God journey.”

Years passed. Betty Ray allowed her hair to grow out to a natural gray. Increasing wrinkles about her mouth and eyes added character to her cherub face. Her hands began to shake with age. Finally, she retired as a Sunday school teacher and went to work in the soup kitchen of an inner city.

A letter from a former student arrived. The foreign stamp in the upper right hand corner was familiar. A picture slid out onto her lap. A man stood outside a canvas tent surrounded by new converts. At the bottom was scrawled Delhi, India. My journey has led me here.”

“Cool,” she whispered.

Sometimes in the heat of the battle we want to give up, turn away, go in another direction. God tells us to follow Him. It may take years to see the harvest but if we are faithful it will come.

This year my husband, Rick, made his seventh missions trip to India.

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
ISBN-10: 1601544871
ISBN-13: 978-1601544872
$11.99

Mom’s Last Gift — Robin Shope

Posted on January 26, 2009 by Editor Cindy

“There is a time for everything, and a season for everything under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

Consumed by loss, I didn’t notice the hardness of the pew. I was at the funeral of my dearest friend—my mother. The grief was so intense; I found it hard to breathe.

My brother sat stoically while clutching his wife’s hand. My sister slumped against her husband’s shoulder as she cradled their child. Not one noticed I sat alone.

My place had been with our mother, preparing her meals, taking her to the doctor, seeing to her medication, reading the Bible together. Now she was with the Lord.

My work was finished, and I was alone. “What now, Lord?”

I heard a door open and slam shut. Quick footsteps hurried along the carpeted floor. An exasperated young man looked around briefly and then sat next to me. He folded his hands and placed them on his lap. His eyes were brimming with tears. He began to sniffle.

“I’m late,” he explained, though no explanation was necessary.

After several eulogies, he asked, “Why do they keep calling her Margaret?”

“Because that’s her name, Margaret.” I whispered, wondering why this person couldn’t have sat on the other side of the church. He interrupted my grieving with his sniffles and fidgeting. Who was this stranger anyway?

“No,” he insisted, as people stared. “Her name is Mary, Mary Peters.”

“That’s not right.”

“Isn’t this the Lamb of God Church?”

“No, that’s across the street.”

“Oh.”

“I believe you’re at the wrong funeral, sir.”

The gravity of the situation, mixed with the realization of the man’s mistake, bubbled up inside me and came out as laughter. I cupped my hands over my face, hoping it would be interpreted as sobs. It wasn’t. The creaking pew gave me away. Sharp looks from other mourners only made the situation seem more hilarious. I peeked at the bewildered man beside me. He was laughing too. Embarrassed, we darted into the parking lot where he asked me out for a cup of coffee.

That afternoon began a lifelong journey with this man who attended the wrong funeral, but was in the right place. A year later, we were married at a country church. This time we both arrived at the same church, right on time.

In my sorrow, God gave me laughter. In place of loneliness, He gave me love. God never leaves us comfortless. He sends His spirit to be with us during difficult times, and brings true love when we have given up.

The Valentine Edition

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
ISBN-10: 1601544847

His Eye is on the Sparrow — Robin Shope

Posted on January 10, 2009 by Editor Cindy

“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.” Luke 12:6

Has God overlooked me?

That was the feeling I struggled with that morning when I sat next to the window to read my devotional. Glancing outside at the birds in my garden, I saw a river of colors. The cardinals, brilliant in their red jackets, teetered at the edge of the birdbath. A family of blue jays pecked at seeds in the feeder. Hummingbirds beat the air with dainty, transparent wings. Round, yellow chickadees hopped about on the ground as a robin tugged a worm from the ground. Perched on a branch was a woodpecker, tipping his head from side to side, observing the backyard activities.

I rejoiced over the lovely variety of birds in my garden, the birds that God designed and created. Then I noticed a single sparrow standing on the patio peeking through the window at me. So tiny, so nondescript, so ordinary. Perhaps shying from its plain reflection, it suddenly turned and flew away, vanishing behind the fullness of the tress. Too often, I felt like that sparrow intimidated in a flock of gifted and clever people. My mirror told me I didn’t have model looks or star qualities. Instead a woman with graying hair stared back; an ordinary sparrow who at times stuttered from nerves.

Yet, if God’s eye and His great love felt concern about such a commonplace creature as a sparrow, then His eye and great love holds infinitely more concern for me. God knows me best. And He still loves me. He even knows how many gray hairs I have on my head. It’ll be a different count tomorrow and He knows that too because He is concerned about me. Suddenly I was enough. More than enough. I no longer cared that others may overlook me.

The scripture does not mention a cardinal, blue jay, a hummingbird, a robin or a woodpecker. Jesus spoke about the extreme value of a sparrow. He was speaking to all of us who feel plain and inadequate at times. “Not forgotten by God.” Translation, remembered by God!

Just as a garden of birds in incomplete without sparrows, God’s kingdom is incomplete without me. It is incomplete without you. Now when I enjoy the view of birds from my window, I find myself looking for sparrows. They remind me of the way The Lord sees us, wrapped in His glory, and loved a whole lot. His eye is on the sparrow so I know he spends His time watching me. You too.

Robin Shop is the Special Education Coordinator for a county juvenile justice system for at-risk kids. She has authored a number articles and six novels. She and her husband are former missionaries and have been married for 32 years, with two adult children.

A devotion may be someone's only Bible for the day

Tag Archives: robinshope