A Look Backward and a Look Forward
“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14 (NIV)
In his letters to the early Church, the Apostle Paul often looked back and remembered where he had been, examined where he currently was in his ministry, and always kept reaching forward to whatever God had in store for him. Paul never forgot what he once was: a religious terrorist and persecutor of Christians (Philippians 3:6). Paul acknowledges his past, but he doesn’t dwell on it. He also recognizes his current condition as a prisoner of the Lord. (Philippians 1:13) But Paul’s primary focus is always on pressing forward to what lies ahead. “Forgetting what is behind, I press on.” (Philippians 3:14) This in spite of the fact that Paul’s future was full of suffering, danger, uncertainty, and ultimately death. There’s a time for both looking back and moving forward. Now is that time for me with Bible Bits.
In 2004 before CaringBridge or iPhones existed, Bible Bits began as a communication tool to help me manage information requests for a beloved friend who was suffering with terminal cancer. After six weeks there were only so many ways to say he’s sick and dying apart from a miracle. The daily updates, for the most part, were so discouraging that I began to pray that God would take my quiet time verses and use small bits of scripture to provide big doses of encouragement. Nineteen months later when our friend died, a number of folks asked me to keep writing the devotionals. Sixteen years, multiple distribution lists, and 700 posts later, it is time to move forward. Bible Bits is moving August 1 to the Bible Bits Blog at donna-evans.com. You can subscribe to the blog on my web site and Bible Bits devotionals will be delivered to your inbox.
Some of you may wonder why I haven’t done this before now and I would give you any number of reasons with the biggest one being “control.” I am a control freak and a Mama bear when it comes to trying to protect James Bruce, our 36-year old adult son with special needs. But the truth is, once the Bible Bits emails left my computer, the devotionals and our lives with James Bruce were already out of my control. The second reason is probably just as important as the first: fear. The fear of not enough, fear of rejection, fear of criticism, fear of cultural opposition among the current “cancel culture.” But for years I have taught other women that we can choose faith or we can choose fear, but we can’t choose them both at the same time! So, by faith, I’m looking and moving forward knowing that I will never be enough on my own, but God is always more than enough.
Like Peter, I am getting out of my comfortable boat, launching into the deep, hoping and praying to keep my eyes up and not look down at the wind and the waves. I am also praying, asking God to help us to continue to gather our broken pieces, and begging God to multiply and use our fish burgers in ways far beyond what I could imagine. My granddaughter, 8-year old Julia, thinks we’re going to be famous. (She likes being in the pictures!!) My prayer is that we will always be faithful. If nothing else comes from this, hopefully my children and grandchildren will know my heart, life, and our stories a little bit better. More importantly, I pray that we will all better know God as a good and faithful Father. This summer as I’ve read, titled, cataloged, and selected pictures for each post, the one constant that stands out most to me is God’s faithfulness.
Please sign up, subscribe, and spread the word, but most of all, please pray for boldness, clarity, faithfulness, and an opportunity to share the gospel (Colossians 4:2-6). My prayer is that my words will go to places that I may never go and that I will steward this life season well.
A couple of other items to note: Bible Bits devotionals are located on the Bible Bits tab located on the front page of donna-evans.com. Some of the topics available include eldercare, special needs, suffering, joy, encouragement, hospitality, teaching discipleship, and Christian living to name a few. Not all of the old Bible Bits are currently available on the web site, but we hope to continue loading old content as well as writing new.
There are also several printable resources also available for free download. These include a 31 day prayer calendar to help you pray for your children and/or grandchildren; the Wise Woman’s Bucket List (takeaways from our study of Proverbs); and the Woven, how to live a seamless life bookmarks.
Many thanks to the incredible Holly Hollon for designing my website and the Bible Bits logo. Thanks also to photographers Mary Margaret Smith, Meredith Evans Hamblen and Olivia Milroy Evans for providing many of the website photos. Most of all, thank you to each of you for your friendship and encouragement for reading what I write. I am truly blessed and I pray God’s blessing for each of you as we together “gather up the pieces that nothing will be lost.” (John 6:12)
Blessings,
Donna