WRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust, Power Surge
News Flash: The publisher and Amazon have arranged an early release. So the book is now available in all Amazon formats (paperback and Kindle) as of today. Check the links at the bottom of the page to order through your favorite bookseller. Remember: You’re not just buying a book but giving to the ministry Avis founded in Peru. She is keeping none of the proceeds for herself; all will go to support her work. We often feel bound by our physical limitations. In today’s devotional from our upcoming release, Out of the Dust, Avis Goodhart shares how to move beyond those barriers. #10: Power Surge Scripture Reading: Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Thought: When I walk in the Spirit, bodily limitations disappear. My spirit me is much bigger than my body me. Excerpt, Out of the Dust: At age fifty, I took my first international mission trip. I went to serve the people of Honduras and was amazed at the ways the Lord worked. I returned from Honduras a changed woman. Not just because of what God had done there, but because He chose me to do it. For years, my eyes bore the same sad expression I see on some of our children. Everywhere I went, a sense of shame and dirtiness accompanied me. Satan was doing his best to keep me on the sidelines. And that’s where I see so many believers today, put out of commission by a past event. Maybe they were abused. Maybe they feel inadequate. For them, fading into the pew is the safest route. It’s a lie. The deceiver uses our own memories to sidetrack us. But I learned to do what all believers must: Focus on my identity in Christ Jesus. Through Him, I can do anything (Philippians 4:13). We’re forgiven. The limits of our abilities no longer bind us. We are Jesus’ inheritance with new resources, new talents, and renewed spirits. Many years ago, God invited me to come out into my spirit, where bodily limitations disappear. Suddenly, I understood: my spirit me is so much bigger than my body me. Our spirit joined to His Holy Spirit opens limitless resources. God wants us to think outside the mental boundaries we set. We must learn to depend on His abilities in us to accomplish whatever He calls us to do. (Chapter 11) Prayer: Holy Spirit, lead me to a place of full surrender. Fill me and help me walk away from my bodily limitations into total dependence on you. Do you have a question, comment, or prayer request? Feel free to share it below or email me through the link at the top of the page. I’ll respond as soon as I can. Find a local Christian bookstore where you can order Out of the Dust. Purchase Out of the Dust on Amazon, at Barnes & Noble, or at ANEKO Press (the new Amazon release date: TODAY!). Download a free Kindle excerpt from Out of the Dust. Find Out of the Dust on Facebook. Read about Avis Goodhart and Go Ye...
read moreWRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust, Ready for Battle
As we’ve already read in these devotionals from our new book Out of the Dust, Avis Goodhart is no stranger to spiritual warfare. And it probably won’t surprise you to learn that she encountered many such battles within the public school system. #9: Ready for Battle Scripture Reading: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph. 6:10-17). Thought: As believers, we need to put (and keep) on the full armor of God. Excerpt, Out of the Dust: Because God led me to continue working with students even after my children were grown, I enrolled in college at age forty-two, graduated, and became a special education teacher. My time in the schools taught me more about how the enemy attacks God’s servants. At the high school, it didn’t take long for my faith to become a problem. Someone complained after I was seen carrying a Bible. “I thought this was America,” I responded. “Can’t I carry a Bible at any time?” In the six years I taught in that district, I was reported at least seven times for such suspicious activities as praying silently over my kids, putting up a “God’s in all of us” sign that one of my students had made, and displaying a manger scene. My students’ parents knew and approved of everything I did. It was those outside my classroom who wanted to cause problems. The battle became more and more obvious. God used this opposition to increase my dependence on Him. It took courage beyond my ability to walk into a classroom and teach reading when I couldn’t pronounce all the words or straighten out all the letters. At times, I froze. I had graduated with fancy papers and letters after my name, but I kept wondering if someone would take them away. About that time, I discovered a wonderful invention called the Franklin Speller. It allows you to type in a word the way you think it should be spelled, and a list pops up with spelling options. It also reads the word out loud when you click on it. I used the Speller to help me teach sixth grade reading. But God was teaching me to trust not in technology but in Him. Every morning on the way to school I put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-18). He was heightening my awareness of the battle to prepare me for the mission field and the...
read moreWRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust, Out of the Comfort Zone
Avis Goodhart had a special reason for asking me to write her story: she’s dyslexic. What looks like a straight line of script to you moves all over the page when she sees it. Today’s devotional shares a time—one of the many times—when God took her out of her comfort zone as she taught a youth Bible study. #8: Out of the Comfort Zone Scripture Reading: And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power (1 Corinthians 2:1-5). Thought: God’s not looking for ability, but availability. And sometimes availability involves revealing our weaknesses. Excerpt from Out of the Dust: During our time in Arkansas, I began working with the teens in our church. The more I learned, the more I taught. Probably because I had teenage children at the time, I found myself connecting with other teenagers too. I remember picking up the football players, including my son, Mark, from school on Wednesday nights for the twelve-mile drive out to our church. Mark and I had a great relationship, and on those drives he and his friends felt free to talk. They asked me questions about almost anything: sex, drugs, schooling, and life in general. So few of them had a trusted adult to talk to, and so much learning happened on Wednesday night drives in that old Cadillac. I wrote on a blackboard when I taught the youth Bible study, but at first, that scared me. I knew my dyslexia would show itself, and I expected no mercy from the kids. But my desire to teach them about Jesus helped me push past my concern. Whenever I taught, I held up the Bible and said, “God wants me to teach you what’s in this book. There are some big words in it, and I can’t pronounce them. But He’s given me a good understanding of what they mean, so when I write something on the board, I want Chad [the smartest boy in the class] to make sure I spell and pronounce it correctly.” About fifty kids attended the Bible study. Members took turns reading the Scripture passage aloud. Some of them could read well, but some of the big football players had trouble. When their turn came, instead of their usual response, “Pass,” these big football players read. They might stumble, but they were willing to try, and no one made fun of them. After all, if anyone laughed at the football players’ reading, they’d be laughing at me too. The teens and I had a relationship of mutual respect. We grew together as we studied the Bible. This is where I learned God’s not looking for ability, but availability. If we can risk stepping out of our comfort zone into the Spirit zone, God will provide the ability when we need it. He’ll use our weaknesses...
read moreWrite: Devotionals, Out of the Dust, I Surrender All
Today’s Out of the Dust devotional tells about a turning point, a critical time in Avis’s life when her choice would affect eternity. Desperation can drive us to act in ways we never anticipated. But God can also use it to move us into surrender. #7 I Surrender All Scripture Reading: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:1-2). Thought: God wants more from us than a shallow faith. He calls us to surrender all. Excerpt from Out of the Dust: After my first marriage ended due to infidelity, I tried to make a new life with my second husband, Dean. But only a few months into the marriage, it looked as though I’d made another big mistake. Our plan to put our two families together just wasn’t working. On top of that, Dean was drinking, running around with other women, and drinking some more. He asked me to move out because “You make me feel guilty.” No kidding. At first, I took the kids and went back to my own trailer home. Then we moved to Arizona, closer to more of my family. That’s where I lay that night, ready for the dating game. I sat up, shimmied my shoulders, fluffed my hair, and unfastened my top button. What’s the point of being good, anyway? I’ve been good my whole life, and look where’s it’s gotten me. Time for a new plan. Mine. I looked in the mirror. I just want to have a good time. I continued my preparations when a voice interrupted. “Go ahead. Try to make yourself happy.” What? God must have known I needed more than a voice, because the scene played out like a movie on the screen of my mind. A woman, fixing up a house for her kids and a man. The house looked beautiful, but soon the man got bored, and another came. The same scene repeated itself with another man, another house, another man, and another house. At the end, I saw the woman. Old. Wrinkled. Used-up. Worn-out. I was the woman. I knew God was offering me a choice: His way or my way; life or death. No more playing around with Christianity while keeping my options open. No more one foot in, one foot out. I spoke to God as directly as He did to me. “With my children, without my children. With my husband, without a husband. Jesus, I’ll follow you ’til the day I die.” (Chapter 8) Prayer: Lord, I know you call each of us to a life of surrender. Help me recognize my weakness so I can offer myself as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to you. Do you have a question, comment, or prayer request? Feel free to share it below or email me through the link at the top of the page. I’ll respond as soon as I can. Find a local Christian bookstore where you can order Out of the Dust. Purchase Out of the Dust on Amazon, at Barnes &...
read moreWRITE: Devotionals, Out of the Dust, Unshaken
Physical illness has a way of draining our spiritual reserves. Today’s Out of the Dust devotional discusses a time when God met Avis in a time of deep physical need. #6 Unshaken Scripture Reading: I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure (Psalm 16:8). Thought: No matter what happens to us, God’s presence comforts and sustains us. Excerpt from Out of the Dust: As a young mother, I was still learning more about God. And once again, He used pain to send His message. The Lord was opening my eyes to the truth, but I still didn’t have a total commitment. I thought I could be a Christian under my own power – until something happened that took away my strength. At first, I didn’t realize I was ill. But soon I couldn’t get out of bed, and doctors diagnosed me with pernicious anemia. Vitamin B-12 shots helped, but only for a while. Tests showed I had many more white blood cells than red, and I stayed in bed for months, growing weaker and weaker. I felt so isolated. I itched all over and had unbearable pain. My eyebrows and much of my hair fell out. What’s happening? If I die, who will take care of my children? I couldn’t count on Wayne, although for now, he was trying to help. I started making deals with God, but I stayed sick. Very sick. What’s wrong? I’m a good girl. Bad things aren’t supposed to happen to me. I pleaded with God. “Lord, you know I don’t understand. And no matter what we do, I’m not getting any better.” I added my most serious words yet. “If you’re not going to heal me, take me. Tonight. Please. Just go ahead and take me. I’m ready.” At midnight, I waited. Nothing happened. When I didn’t die, I yelled. “I’m nothing,” I told the Lord. “I’m worthless! Why would you even want me? Live or die; it’s up to you.” Finally, I gave up. I couldn’t get out of bed, let alone fix my situation. In my mind, you had to do something to be worth something. And I could do nothing. That’s when the visions began. For about two weeks, every time the pain became unbearable, I saw a bubble at the foot of my bed with Jesus inside. When the pain came, so did Jesus and the powerful sense of His presence. I had felt so alone, but now, I understood: He is with me. I remembered the Bible said He has laid all our sickness, pain, sins, shame, and guilt upon Him. He knows. He feels my hurt and isolation. I now looked forward to the pain, because it meant Jesus would come. (Chapter 7) Prayer: Thank you, God, that you are always with me. Help me to become more aware of your presence, especially in times of pain or difficulty. Do you have a question, comment, or prayer request? Feel free to share it below or email me through the link at the top of the page. I’ll respond as soon as I can. Find a local Christian bookstore where you can order Out...
read moreWelcome
I've asked God to use my writing and speaking to count for eternity. I'm passionate about relationships and creativity.
