II CORINTHIANS 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. ” HEBREWS 7:25 “25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” COMMENTS : The Bible is full of stories of men and women and even children doing impossible things because they obeyed when God asked or called them into action. There are also stories of those who refused and regrets that followed. GOD ENABLES THOSE HE CALLS “And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.” Exodus 4:10-12 Moses is one of many examples in scripture of God’s call to go and accomplish an impossible task without the skills to do so. God gave Moses the skills and help and guidance but most of all the courage and faith he needed. God even enabled him to do miracles when needed but only when needed. God doesn’t pick the most talented nor the strongest nor the wisest nor the most handsome. Saul was the most handsome and strongest king but failed. Solomon was the wisest and fell to sin. Samson was the strongest but fell due to sin. Ruth was a pagan but became the great grandmother of King David and ancestor to Christ. Mary was a poor young girl but became Christ’s mother. Noah was the most unpopular and most ridiculed man of his time but saved his family and the world’s animals from extinction. Yes, God picks the most unlikely and least prepared to do His work but instead picks those who will listen to and accept His call to service. He picks those who will listen to Him and obey Him. HE picks those who will trust Him and have faith in Him. He picks those who can not do the task by their own abilities so they must lean on Him to succeed but also to survive. Those who are unwilling, like Jonah, God may use some drastic means to get their attention and persuade them. For Paul it was an encounter with the risen Christ on the Damascus Road. For Peter it was walking on water but also denying Christ 3 times. Yet for all the disciples, for Paul, and all Christians starting with the first church the transformation was the indwelling Holy Spirit in their lives than gave each the power and inspiration and direction but also the new life needed for obedience. It was God’s Grace and indwelling Spirit that made the difference. “The sinner, apart from grace, is unable to be willing and unwilling to be able.” W.E.Best So what is God calling you and me to do and how does He want to prepare us for this mission? Sometimes God gives us a call requiring preparation and life change, like He did for Paul and the disciples or for Mary and Joseph or Moses. Other times, and most often I believe, is calling us to give someone a call or a visit or a letter who lost hope and need encouragement. Those kind of calls come more often and usually along our path or maybe a slight detour. They require a willingness to accept distractions and interruptions in our schedule. God’s interruptions may be difficult but I have found He has a wonderful way of enabling us to still accomplish what all needed done each day in addition to meeting the need from each distraction. I have also found resisting doing those distractions tends to raise other obstacles that hinder accomplishing the goals for the day. Just like the detour inside a whale or large fish delayed but didn’t stop God’s call to Jonah to evangelize his enemy and the enemy of his people, the Assyrians in Nineveh. Jonah was willing to go anywhere or do anything but what God wanted. Have there been times you and I have been so stubborn too? If we are honest, we would have to say yes because what God is asking is so unappealing and so far outside our comfort zone. There was a time not too many years ago writing this journal and keeping a Blog and corresponding to pastors around the world would have been so intimidating and outside my comfort zone, I would like Jonah have run as fast as I could in the opposite direction. I have to say it is still intimidating and I feel so unprepared and unworthy for the task but am so amazed how He helps and sustains and walks with and blesses me in this journey. I know He will continue to do so for me and will for you too!
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
donsdevotions 
Excellent, Don. My Pastor in TX always said “God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary jobs”. Your devotions are always an inspiration. Many thanks.
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So powerful so great am reading and following the teaching from kenya we need such powerful servants of God welcome Africa Kenya
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