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God reaching down

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 26, 2026 Respond

A day of God sightings! Simple “unimportant” things, but they show that God is intimately involved in my life (as He is in yours!)

First, the sprayer nozzle in our kitchen sink would get stuck, making it useless. Since the faucet was reasonably new, I didn’t want to buy a new one, so I went to several places and finally found one that looked right, but when I got home, it had no threads to screw it on. So today coming home from a doctor visit I stopped in at home Depot to see what they had. They had nothing, but the man told me  to go 3 miles back to a hardware store, “They may have something,” he said. I didn’t really want to go back 3 miles, but did anyway. And the clerk there had the answer: “just unscrew this, take off this C clamp and put this part  on with the new C clamp.” I went home and did that and it worked perfectly!
What was the God sighting? He steered me to the person who had the info I needed, and instead of selling me something, told me how to fix the one I had! A very small thing, but God is interested in small things as well as big.
Second, I came home, changed,  went out and shoveled snow, then came home for lunch. As we sat down I reached for my phone—but it wasn’t there in the holster!
So I called it on the house phone, but when it rang there was no sound from my phone. Then i realized: it was on bluetooth so the sound went to my hearing aids making it impossible to find where it was.
I used my apple “find your phone” and it showed it somewhere in the vicinity of the house, but where? It could be out in the snow. Then the Lord brought something to mind: I’d changed my pants, which had another phone holster. I looked, and there it was! Again, a very simple thing, but a touch from the Lord to help me..
These simple happenings were the experience of “knowing the love of Jesus that surpasses knowledge” as Ephesians 3:19 says, so that we might,  “be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” His desire, our privilege, if we discern those God sightings, which He gives us every day. 
 
picture: the repaired sprayer
No photo description available.
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(Untitled)

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 25, 2026 Respond

Today was an interesting one for conversations. Twice I used my parable to see where people are spiriutally.

The first was in a talk with a life insurance agent. Since life insurance is really “death insurance” it was easy
to bring up death. So I asked him my hypothetical question, “When you die (and we all will) and you get to the gate of Heaven,
where the angel on duty asks you, ‘Why should I let you in?’ what will you say?”
He paused briefly and said, “I did the best I could!
I continued, “And the angel will say, ‘That’s great, but it won’t get you into Heaven!’ Do know know why?
“No,” he replied.
“It’s because we are all sinners, so if God let us in, we would bring sin in and Heaven will become like earth, full of sin.
But God’s everyone to come to Heaven, so Jesus died for our sins and opened the way for us to go to Heaven. As it says in Romans 10:9,10, if we declare
Jesus as our Lord, surrendering to Him.and believe that God raised Him from the day, we will be saved!”
At this point the agent interrupted, “Yes, I know that. I am born again already!”
Interesting, he was a believer, but didn’t know the right answer! Amazing. But now he does and I encouraged him
to use that question in sharing his faith with others.
Then this afternoon I went see my favorite doctor. Although he grew up in the US, his father was from the Middle East,
as he was of the majority religion, taught him about that and taught him the language I know, so we had a good time chatting in that language.
We also talked about travel in the Middle East and about all the biblical sites there.
 He said he was sensitive to spiritual input, so I asked him ” the question.”  He looked off into space,
and then said, “My father told me that when i die an angel will take one hair from my head and stretch across hell. Then i will
have to walk over it; if the hair breaks because I haven’t done enough good works, I will fall into hell and stay there.”
“Well,” I said, “God wants everyone to to come to Heaven, but He can’t let us in as we are because we are all sinners.”
“So what’s the right answer to the angel?” the doctor asked. A perfect opening to share the gospel. He listened carefully
and accepted the Four Spiritual Laws booklet. As we parted he said, “Call me any time if you need anything!”
Who knows what will  come out of these times of sharing. I will pray that God will use it to bring many into the Kingdom,
including my doctor friend.

May be an image of hospital

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Ready!

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 25, 2026 Respond

“I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’”  Psalm 91:2,3

 

Praise be to you for your great promises, Lord Jesus, fastened at one end to your plans laid out before the foundation of the earth,

then stretched over time as a canopy of protection, and fastened at the other end in the conclusion of history

when all evil and sin will be swept away and confined to Hell and the lake of fire.

Your faithfulness is our shield and rampart, throwing back the attacks of the enemy.

We live every day under your powerful, pure, and persistent protection.

And you give us a part in this process, equipping us with the ever-present protection of the spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:10-18).

I praise you especially for the shield of faith, which we can choose to raise at any time

to quench all the fiery arrows of lies and accusations the enemy shoots at us.

And attacks come everyday: subtle, or direct, or full speed on–the urge to complain, be  impatient, selfish, lazy, proud or fearful.

And in each case we can put on the belt of truth (“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”)

and get up the shield of faith (“Thank you, Lord, for this difficulty because you’ve got it in hand, you’ve got a plan here!”)

With that we can press on in His peace and wisdom, making our way to the conclusion He has for us.

Faith is the key, faith based on Truth, and we’ve got plenty of that in Jesus!

Picture:In full armor, ready for the everyday battle!

May be an image of the Arno River

 

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Freezing Cold

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 23, 2026 Respond
Today we had a big snowstorm, actually classified as a blizzard, with high winds and heavy snow.
The total is now over two feet, with lots of deeper drifts. And lots of shoveling!
Before the arrival of this storm, we had a very wonderful God sighting.
Friday evening the thought came, “I should check my LP gas tank.”  There’s no reason to do this since we are on automatic fill.
But when i checked, I found it only had 5% left! Since this is our main heat source,  if it ran out in this storm we’d be in trouble.
Saturday morning I called the gas company, no answer. Tried several times more and finally in the late afternoon got an answer.
The person was helpful, and after checking said, “A delivery man will be there tomorrow morning.” That is on Sunday.
Sure enough, he showed up at 8 am and said the take was almost totally empty—just enough left to keep the pilot lights on.
Sunday night and Monday morning the blizzard raged with strong winds and heavy snowfall—
and then the electricity went off–but our little LP gas stove kept us warm.
In fact, I could cook scramble eggs on it and heated water for our drinks.
If the Lord hadn’t prompted me to  check the tank on Friday, we and the others who live in our house would have had some cold hours!
Picture: cooking breakfast without electricity
May be an image of waffle iron
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Weak?

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 22, 2026 Respond

“…the Spirit helps us in our weakness.” Romans 8:26

 

It is actually good to be weak, at least to realize that we are weak, so we can say,

“O Lord our God…we do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you” (2 Chron. 20:12b).

It is in this weakness that we begin to really see that His ways are far above our ways, and His thoughts much better than ours.

Often when I see a need, my first inclination is to jump in and meet that need with my own ideas, strength and resources.

However, as I am slowly learning, that is not always the best thing,

for I can inadvertently remove a pressure the Lord wanted to use in that person’s life.

Fortunately, most of the time the problems we faced in the Middle East were so large and complex

that there is no way my feeble efforts could begin to solve them.

The only recourse open to me was and is prayer, as well as asking others so pray with us:

“Lord, help me to see my weakness and inabilities as opportunities

to pray more and thereby join you in the great things you are doing,

rather than complaining and feeling sorry for myself. Amen.”

May be an image of cloud, twilight and horizon

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Risen for Us

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 20, 2026 Respond

More on what Jesus endured for us.

“Your wrath swept over me, your terrors destroyed me…the darkness is my closest friend.” (Psalm 88:7)

You, Lord Jesus, endured this wrath, moved through it, drinking every last drop of the bitter pain—

you not only endured the jeers of the Jews,

but also all the aggressive attacks of the absolutely evil demonic forces.

And You waited until the right second to rise up

to defeat Satan and death, shattering the strength of the foe

who had enslaved all mankind with the fear of death.

You triumphed in a dazzling blaze of glory,

defeating, dethroning, destroying death

and the devil with all his diabolic plans.

 

Only you, only you, Lord Jesus, could have done this,

and you did it at the right time and in the right way!

You accomplished it perfectly!

Your work is finished, opening a doorway

between the dominion of darkness and the Kingdom of Light,

calling all the prisoners of the devil

to come out into the warmth of your love and forgiveness.

You, Lord Jesus Christ, are worthy of all Praise and Honor, all Exaltation and Magnification.

You are the Great and Humble Lord,

the Mighty and Meek Savior,

the Most High and the Most Holy.

To you be glory, both now and forever more!

Picture: Jesus opened the way out of  the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of Light

May be an image of text that says '10+ Inspiring Images of the Risen Jesus'

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Crushed for us

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 19, 2026 Respond

“O LORD, the God who saves me, day and night, I cry out before you.” Psalm 88:1

May your name be exalted, Lord Jesus, for your willingness to be the Suffering Servant.

You are glorious in your desire to suffer for your enemies.

As Psalm 88 prophetically says about you, “You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths.

Your wrath lies heavily on me.

You have overwhelmed me with all your waves. I am confined and cannot escape.”

So you were, Lord Jesus, overwhelmed, struck down, trapped under wrath and totally crushed.

You placed yourself directly in the path of God’s anger and were unescapably confined to it.

“Why do you reject me and hide your face from me?”

When you became sin, the Father turned from you, leaving you utterly alone under His wrath.

“I was taken from my closest friends; you made me repulsive to them.” You took upon yourself the sin of the whole world.

Yes, You became sin for us: ugly, repulsive, and despicable. And because of this, the fabric of the Trinity was torn—

those eternal, rich, beautiful, warm and perfect relationships were ripped apart as you,

Lord Jesus, became sin for us and as you, heavenly Father, crushed the Son to save your enemies.

We must bow down before such love, such grace, such goodness, exalting the Holy God of Goodness.

Picture: Jesus was under the dark wrath of God

No photo description available.

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Counterfits

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 18, 2026 Respond

The bank teller looked up, “Where did you get this?” he asked the man standing before him.

“I sold my lawnmower,” he said. “Why do you ask?”

“Because this $100 bill is a counterfeit!”

“Really?!! How do you  know that?”

“Well I  have seen so many legitimate $100 bills  that I can  instantly spot a fake. See here, this line is too thin. Look at this regular bill, see the difference?”

“Yes, I do,” the customer reluctantly admitted. “So what do we do now?”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to confiscate this and you are out $100. If I didn’t know you, you could be arrested, but I’ll let you go.”

How about us? When we are presented with a teaching, a perspective, a spiritual idea,  are we able to quickly spot an error?

To be able to do that, we must immerse ourselves in Scripture, to know it so well that we can quickly discern an aberration,

and there many out there.

Many people listen to pod casts, read things on line, follow a certain preache–but don’t get into the Word  themselves,

they are at the mercy of whatever they come across, like health and wealth, or Jehovah Witness doctrine, or liberal ideas.

But if you know the Word for yourself, your will spot the lies quickly, protecting yourself and others.

How are you doing with this? Reading in the Word every day? Reading in an orderly fashion, going through books, a chapter at a time?

And then memorizing striking passages, like Psalm 23? And learning to pray Scripture, like Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 4?

“The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous.  They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” Psalm 19:9-11

Picture: taking God’s Word very seriously

No photo description available.

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Always Give Thanks

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 16, 2026 Respond
By an unknown author: the Wonder of Jesus our Lord, our Savior, our Shepherd, our Brother.
You, Lord Jesus are perfect in every way—
pure goodness,
flawless love,
complete justice,
and unfailing grace.
There is nothing dark or corrupt in You;
You are light itself.
You are more than our hearts could ever imagine,
You are exactly what they were created to seek.
In You we find
true meaning,
deep joy,
lasting peace,
and secure hope.
Walking with You,
belonging to You,
and living daily in Your presence is a priceless gift.
We praise You for who You are,
for calling us Your children,
and for the privilege of knowing You and following You every day.
Help us to follow you well and wholeheartedly. Amen
May be an image of text that says 'GIVING THANKS. ...ALWAYS'
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Feelings or Truth

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 15, 2026 Respond

From  my journal.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1

 

Praise you, Lord God, for you bless your children with your continual presence.

Today I feel far from you, without much positive emotion and for this I thank you—

it is an opportunity to live in faith, to trust your Word, to live by Truth, not sight or sense.

You, O Lord, have proclaimed yourself as the God who saves us—you are there, despite all the negatives.

And in the midst of the woes of  this world, you are at work, guiding, protecting, carrying, teaching.

You are giving faith-opportunities to offer the sacrifice of praise—times when

there is no visible reason to trust you, but plenty of reason from your Word to rejoice in you.

Thank you that our feelings are not the measure of truth,

that although our view is so limited,

yours is high and wide,

full and complete,

total and eternal.

We can trust you to act in power and wisdom out of your understanding.

So I praise you now for whatever will come today, whether I like it or not!

Picture taken from our porch: A Glorious start to a new day

May be an image of tree, horizon, twilight and nature

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