This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 1 Timothy 1:15
RECOMMENDED READING ACTS 26:4-11 “4 My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews;5 Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God, unto our fathers:7 Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?9 I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.10 Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.11 And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.”
COMMENTS: Have you ever really looked at yourself in the mirror? Men likely will only look at their hair or their face as shave, but seldom look at the expression on their face. To look at our face and reflect deep into our souls is a very rare experience for most. But consider the depth in which God looks at each and every one of us. He knows us more personally than we even know ourselves. So many hate themselves. Children and teens most commonly have deep feelings of inferiority for the way they look due to being underweight or overweight or due to any number of other physical flaws they may have with their body. I was extremely thin as a teen and young adult and dreamed of achieving a 155-pound body weight. But then as we notice those with severe physical handicaps that prevent them from walking or even talking, we soon realize we have so much to be thankful for.
Joni Eareckson Tada has enduring a severe physical handicap of paralysis and cancer for over 50 years. She has to fully depend on our devout husband and caregiver to live. But her physical condition has drawn her much deeper into a personal relationship with Christ which equipped her for a remarkable ministry. Her joy and level of integrity and insight is contagious and has propelled her to worldwide influence in ministry. Countless millions have been impacted by her programs and interviews and books. Her relationship with her husband is also remarkable. She is a wonderful example of how God calls and equips the needy to do great things instead of those who already have many talents and abilities. There are many reasons beyond our understanding, but the obvious reason for this is the needy are already so dependent on God and relying on Him for basic human needs. God’s greatest desire is for us to be in close relationship with Him and fully trust Him. He wants us to yield to His Will because He knows our wills only bring us suffering and pain while His brings joy and lasting life. His desire for us to be like Him is not selfish ego but because He truly is perfect and loves us enough to want us to be perfect. HE has the right and authority to implement His will. We should be glad because His Will is always best for us and others. The alternative is ours or someone else’s, which is clouded by sin and selfishness and foolish motivations and error. Even worse, motivated by satan, who is passionate about hurting God and destroying us. Satan is committed to destroying and God is committed to creating. We live in a society where those who destroy carry more power and respect than those who build and create. Movies and television glamorize war and destruction and killing over those who build and heal and minister. But which does God honor? Which do you? Time to have heroes worthy of our affection instead of those selected for us. The more we personally know Christ, “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), the more accurate a picture we have of the Father but also of ourselves. We will see our sins and shortcomings more clearly but also see ourselves as being deeply loved by God as well. “We are transformed into the image of the Lord by beholding it, not by reflecting it.” Charles Hodge
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 147 blog posts i have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
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/Don1951
My hope and prayer is, they will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
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 