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Lessons Along The Way -- Book Spotlight

Linda Rondeau • Jun 26, 2023

Today I welcome author and blogger Linda Rondeau as she shares about her latest devotional book.


About Lessons Along the Way

Life is a school where God is our teacher.

These brief devotionals take us on a journey of discovery. God is indeed with every step of our journey, pruning, teaching, disciplining, and comforting us to transform us into his image.

From the cradle to the grave, he watches over us like a tender father.

Adapted from the author’s many years as a contributing columnist to the religious page of an upstate New York newspaper, each devotional contains a Scripture passage, a key verse, an anecdote and prayer.

Grab your morning coffee and learn of him who has loved you with an everlasting love.

 

About Linda:

God can change our worst past into our best future, a common theme in the author’s works inspired by her many years as a social worker. The author’s writing career has spanned beyond the printed page as a mentor, editor, teacher, and encourager. She and her husband currently reside in Hagerstown, Maryland. For more information go to the author’s website: www.lindarondeau.com.

Lessons Along the Way is available in print and ebook. Audio is in planning stages.

https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Along-Linda-Wood-Rondeau-ebook/dp/B0BYWNXX6P/

 

 

EXCERPT from LESSONS ALONG THE WAY VOLUME 1 BY LINDA WOOD RONDEAU

Success is to be measured

not so much by the position that one has reached in life

as by the obstacles which he has overcome.

Booker T. Washington

 

 

Bring Your Slingshot

Reading: 1 Samuel 1:20-50

And David said, “The Lord who saved me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, He will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.” 1 Samuel 17:37 NASB

In the original movie, The Karate Kid, Daniel, a teenage boy, finds himself pitted against a bully. After his move from New Jersey to Southern California, Daniel had joined a karate group to gain confidence in dealing with his opposition. As he prepares for a contest, he realizes his instructor favors Daniel’s nemesis. Daniel becomes acquainted with Miyagi, a karate master, who promises to teach him specialized skills to even the playing field against Daniel’s tormentor.

When Miyagi seems more interested in having Daniel paint fences and wax cars, he is confused. And the elderly man is particular about how these tasks are done. “Wax on, wax off.” Up, across, then down … up, across, then down.”

When tournament time nears, Daniel feels unprepared to compete from what he believes is a lack of proper training. Miyagi tells Daniel he has been training all along. The very moves he needed to complete his tasks were those needed to defeat his enemy.

While visiting his brothers on the battlefield, David discovered the Philistines and Israelites were at a stalemate. The Philistines sent out the biggest weapon, a giant named Goliath, to taunt the Israelites and offer a solution to the stalemate. Victory belonged to the army of the man left standing. This technique was not new to the ancient world. However, the kings would assign their strongest and most heroic proxy.

No one in the Israelite camp wanted to fight the giant. David, perhaps a teenager at the time, stepped up. The soldiers mocked him, as did the king, who offered David the use of his armor. As an armor-bearer, David knew the king’s arsenal would be cumbersome.

David had expertise none of the Israelites or Goliath could understand—a strength by which no one could compete. The power of a slingshot protected his father’s sheep from wild animals. He had gained agility, ingenuity, and physical stamina as a shepherd. In those long and solitary nights on the hillside, he’d sung praises to God and strengthened his faith. David believed the God who had delivered him from the lion and the bear would also deliver him from the Philistine (1 Samuel 17).

We know the rest of the story—the giant came tumbling down. David remembered what many of us forget when we face overwhelming odds. God had prepared him for this moment through the process of his everyday life. Skills he learned from boyhood would now be used to protect his nation.

Do you have giants in your life?

Like David, we have gained insight and confidence through everyday minutia. When a crisis hits, we draw upon resources we often fail to realize we have. God, who knows our future, prepares us for battle through what we learn on life’s hillsides and in our daily walk with him. These are our slingshots. God is saying, “You and I together can do this. I have readied you for this day.”

Child of God, you have been learning everything you need to conquer the obstacles in your life. God knows ahead of time what skills you’ll need, and he is already at work to prepare you for battle.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, I am facing what seems like insurmountable odds. Help me to draw upon those skills you have already taught me … most of all, help me remember your faithfulness in times past and your promise you’ll always be with me.

 

QUESTION FOR READERS:

How has God prepared you for your battles? Share in comments below.

 

 

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