Author Archives: Nannette

About Nannette

Wife to The Sweetheart, Mom to the Fantastic Six, Nana to six of the cutest littles on the planet, Author, The Daniel Fast, A Devotional. UPCI ministers.

Hanging on His every Word…

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Continuing with Holy Week Remembrances today! I would love to hear YOUR memories of Easter. Feel free to share! You can read Palm Sunday’s post here. Be blessed.

I can remember so many Easter Sunday mornings when I was a little girl. My sister and I loved to dress up! My mother or aunt always did our hair in long banana curls the night before. (Think Shirley Temple…or Nellie Olsen). We were all decked out in our little 1960’s white hats, white knee socks and white patent leather shoes. We were adorable. (Unfortunately I couldn’t get my hands on an actual Easter picture for this post. Boo.)

When I was very young, I was privileged to go to church with my cousins. Four sisters. Yes, four! They had one each in similar age as my sister and me, and two more for good measure. I loved them so! I can remember hunting for Easter eggs at the church and my grandmother’s house.

We would sit in church and listen to their father preach, everyone was hanging on his every word…some because they knew he was the only thing that was standing between them and a great Sunday dinner. Others were anticipating the big Easter egg hunt and as much candy as they could stuff in their mouths at one time.

Yet, we all knew Easter was about so much more than bunnies, colored eggs, candy and Easter baskets.

It was about Someone Else whose Words were so impactful that men dropped everything they were doing to sit at His feet.

It was about Someone Else whose Words were so powerful that He emptied a temple.

Jesus had just entered Jerusalem where the crowds shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

The next day He saw the money changers and sellers in the temple, desecrating the house of God.

“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” Matthew 21:12, 13 ESV.

He emptied the house. But it didn’t stay empty.

“And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.” Luke 19:45-48 ESV.

Here are those that wanted to destroy Jesus, the Teacher. But they cannot do anything about it because the people were hanging on His words! They wouldn’t leave, they were at His feet, waiting to hear the Good News.

The King James Version says it this way, “And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.”

Are we listening for His voice today? Do we cherish the Word of God? Do we look forward to being with Him, sitting quietly in His presence and soaking up the Bread of Life?

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” John 10:27, 28.

Come Resurrection Morning, no matter whether you are wearing your white hat and patent leather shoes or your best jeans and t-shirt, listen for His voice.

And may you find yourself hanging on His every Word.

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What a Friend We Have in Jesus; The Story behind the Hymn

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I have written several “story-behind-the-hymn” posts over the years and somehow missed this one! Surely, What a Friend We Have in Jesus is a song we have all related to at some point in our lives. If we grew up around church or gospel music, we can probably at least sing the chorus.


Joseph Scriven was born in Ireland in 1819. He was educated and received a degree from Trinity College in Dublin and became a teacher. With plans to settle down and soon to marry, life was good for Joseph. Unfortunately, the day before his wedding, his future wife drowned. 

The grief was more than he could bear, so Joseph moved to Canada to start over. There, he met and fell in love again, with Eliza Rice, and planned to be married, again. It is unthinkable that you could lose so much in one young lifetime but weeks before they were to be wed, Eliza became sick and died from her illness. Joseph was only 25.

From this heartache, and through faith in his God, a mission was born. Joseph took a vow of poverty and began to help the poor and the handicapped in any way he could. For ten years he made himself available to come alongside those that were in need and he found comfort and purpose in serving.

Then, unbelievably, heartache would strike again! His mother, still in Ireland and Scriven in Canada, became very ill and he did not have the funds to help her or to go and be with her. He penned the words to this poem for her and it has since comforted, encouraged and uplifted generations!

What a friend we have in Jesus

All our sins and griefs to bear

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer

Oh what peace we often forfeit!

Oh, what needless pain we bear

All because we do not carry 

Everything to God in prayer

Have we trials and temptations

Is there trouble anywhere

We should never be discouraged

Take it to the Lord in prayer

Can we find a friend so faithful

Who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness

Take it to the Lord in prayer

Are we weak and heavy-laden,

Cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Savior, still our refuge

Take it to the Lord in prayer

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?

Take it to the Lord in prayer

In His arms He’ll take and shield thee

Thou wilt find a solace there

Today, we find America in a crisis like none we have ever seen. Yet, people are coming together around the world to remind each other and to reach out to those who have not heard that Jesus is still near. Prayer still works! He has not forsaken us; He never will. 

Let us, as The Church, not let this opportunity be wasted! There is so much hope in our God, so much hope for our eternal future and so much hope right this very minute that we will see Jesus intervene on our behalf and answer unbelievable prayers. We can see thousands upon thousands come to know the Peace Speaker by Name, Jesus, if we talk positive, think positive and pray like we have never prayed before. 

Are we cumbered with a load of care? Sure, we are uncertain of what tomorrow will bring but Precious Savior, still our refuge!! We take it to Him in prayer, bind together to encourage and pray for one another and continue our wonderful online opportunities of worship, which have been such a blessing to so many. 

Oh, what peace we often forfeit, what needless pain we bear when we neglect to turn over our fears and worries to the One who holds our future in His hands. But when we take it to Him in prayer, He will meet us in our despair and we will find solace, or comfort in His presence. 

God sent YOU, not the disciples, not the Apostle Paul or even John the Baptist to share this Good News in these difficult days. This tells me that if we have His Spirit,  we have all we need to be salt and light right now and bring hope to those around us.

Be encouraged!

You can read previous posts of hymns and their origins here!

Jesus, Lover of my Soul, Everywhere He Leads Me I will Follow On, Stand Up for Jesus, America the Beautiful, Pray for Peace, People Everywhere, O Little Town of Bethlehem, O Holy Night,


Frozen to the Sword

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Frozen to the Sword! Today begins a series on David’s Mighty Men. I will highlight one each day and tell you their story of bravery and heroism; against all odds! I hope you will join me and see what we can glean from these Mighty Men and apply to our own lives.

David Livingstone was a missionary in Africa when some friends wrote him and asked: “We would like to send other men to help you. Have you found a good road into your area yet?”

Livingstone wrote back: “If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.”

Brave.

Fearless.

Courageous.

Heroes. 

We have all heard of heroic acts and examples of extreme bravery. We have read about them, seen them on television and social media and maybe even have a real-live hero in our family.

They were in the Bible too. David, a man after God’s own heart, didn’t defeat every enemy that came his way all alone. Yes, he killed a lion, a bear and even Goliath with his own hands but he found out quickly that he needed to surround himself with those that were fearless if he was going to win the entire battle, not just a fight.

Enter David’s Mighty Men. There were The Thirty and also The Three. In the group of thirty, there were actually 37 that we can count which could mean that they weren’t all on the team at the same time. (For instance, Uriah was killed in battle and he was one of The Thirty.) These were David’s toughest warriors, his trusted companions and faithful few. There were three men listed separately as The Three, even more set apart possibly because of their bravery or accomplishments. Josheb-basshebeth, Shammah and Eleazar made up The Three.

We are going to learn about some of them over the next several days and find out why a Mighty Man such as King David chose these fearless leaders to stand by his side in battle.

The son of Dodai the Ahohite, Eleazar was one of David’s Three Mighty Men. Eleazar means the Lord is my helper in Hebrew. The Lord did not disappoint Eleazar! David was engaged in battle with the Philistines at Pas Dammim but the men of Israel pulled back; they actually retreated and abandoned David to fight alone!

Here I come to save the day! Mighty Man is on his way! (or Mighty Mouse as the ancient cartoon was noted for…most of you are way too young to remember Mighty Mouse.)

Back to scripture:

“Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty men, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammim for battle. Then the men of Israel retreated, but he stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead.” 2 Samuel 23:9–10 NIV

So they were surrounded, defeat seemed imminent, yet there was no way Eleazar was going to leave David. He stood his ground, struck down every single one that came at him and refused to retreat.

The 3 and the 30 Til his hand grew tired and froze to the sword

Have you ever stayed with something so long that your hand was in a locked position and you had to pry it off? Probably not, but Eleazar did. The Bible says his hand was frozen to the sword. I don’t think it meant it was below zero outside, I believe it was describing the death grip he had on his weapon. No way was he going to quit, no way was he backing down and no way was he letting go of the sword.

The Bible tells us that the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, according to Ephesians 6:17. It is our ultimate weapon! This powerful sword is all we need to defeat whatever the enemy wants to bring against us.

Just as the Philistines were taunting David and Eleazar, Satan came and taunted Jesus in the wilderness. What did Jesus do? He used the sword, his weapon of choice, to counter-attack! “It is written…”

If we are going to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, against the evil forces that are coming upon this world (and are already here), we must speak the Word, claim the Word and USE the Word to fight our battles.

Do you know that the more time you spend immersed in the Word of God the more you will be able to defend your faith? You will become “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might…” when you actually take the time to learn the Word and hide it in your heart. Then, when you need it, the Word will come alive to you and God will bring to your memory passages of scripture that you might not even remember reading, or memorizing. It will BE THERE because God is faithful to His Word.

As the quote at the beginning expresses:

Are we of the few that will GO, will STAND, will ACT even if there is no ROAD ahead of us?

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Even if no one else will stand, no one else steps forward?

Are you spending time in prayer and reading of the Word every day? It is vital to your Christian health. Persecution of The Church of the Living God comes in many forms and our weapon of choice should be the same one that Jesus our Lord chose as His own: the Word of God! Immerse yourself in it, love it, consume it, let it take over your thoughts and actions as you become more like Christ. Stay tuned as we discover another one of The Mighty Men tomorrow.
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