Daily Devotional For Monday, April 21, 2025

Today, I am writing this devotional for Monday because I made a terrible mistake. Usually I read through Kelly’s devotionals for typos and clarity because I want to help him. Unfortunately I did NOT help him with today’s devotional (and Tuesday’s)  because I deleted them. Why, you ask? It was an accident because I wasn’t paying attention. Kelly and I use “google docs” to share his devotionals and then after I read and edit it, he uploads it. 

When I sat down to check them, there wasn’t enough storage on the drive and I was asked to “clean it up” by deleting items in the drive. Kelly asked me to delete “OLD” devotionals. That’s when I rushed and didn’t realize that I had clicked on his Monday and Tuesday devotionals as well . Some of you “tech savvy” folks would tell me that I could have restored them but because I still could not access the documents to edit, I clicked delete forever and then my heart sank. I realized those two devotionals were gone and I had to confess to my husband what I had done.

So how can I make a spiritual connection to this awful mess I made? When we rush and don’t pay attention to our goal, we can get distracted and lose our way. Proverbs 4:25-27 says: “Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. (26) Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. (27) Do not turn to the right or the left;  keep your foot from evil” (NASB).

Another thought I had was that when we ask God to forgive our sins, He does and does not bring them up again. Jeremiah 31:34b says: “I will forgive their sins. I will remember their sins no more” (NASB). So, just like the “TRASH” in the google docs, when it is deleted forever, it cannot be recovered. So, that is like God, He doesn’t go back into our “TRASH” and try to “dig up” and recover our sins. 

We just celebrated Resurrection Sunday. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says: ”He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (NASB). So all we need to do is confess and repent of our sins and God will not bring them up again. Acts 3:19 says: “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the Presence of the Lord” (NASB).

As we journey with Jesus, we can get off the path if we take our eyes off of Him. This is what  I did as I rushed to complete a task I wanted to do. I also had to confess my mistake to Kelly. In my repentance, I wanted to show him I was sorry by writing the devotion for him since it was my fault. 

Assignment: I feel blessed to have a husband and daughter who let me “be real” with them. They also pray for me. Look at the verse below and think of a person in your life that you can “be real” with at any time. You don’t have to “dump your bucket” of sins but ask if you can meet with this person and share something on your heart that is holding you back in your relationship with Christ. Perhaps, you got distracted and need prayer to get back on that path with Jesus. I encourage you to try this please.

Scripture To Meditate On: James 5:16, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much” (NASB).

I love you Southside! -- Audrey Stanley