Hi.  My name is Heather, and I'm a couponer and grocery gamer.  Some might call it a sickness.  The way I clip my little coupons and organize them in my handy dandy coupon binder.  But, lest you get the wrong impression, let me assure you that I would never qualify for that show Extreme Couponers on TLC.  Oh, I'm intrigued by them, and I think I've got most of their little tricks figured out.  But, I'm a realist.  I have these three kids and sweet husband to tend to, after all, and therefore, cannot spend 40 hours a week clipping coupons.  And, no way I could decide which child to kick out of their room so that it could become my stock pile room.  

But, I do love me a good bargain.  And nothing annoys me like walking out of the grocery store or a restaurant and realizing that I forgot to use a coupon.  GRRRR.  The frustration of knowing that I could have saved some money but instead, I forgot to claim my coupon.   This is proven true by the fact that I went back to Hobby Lobby TWICE in the same day last week just to claim the 40% off of the items I had bought the week prior at full price.  I hate to leave money on the table.

However, I do this every day.  In fact, many times a day.  I leave treasures unclaimed.  Like a lotto winner who never claims their winning ticket, every day of my life, I leave incredible wealth untouched.

Because I don't cash in on the promises of His Word.  That's right.  God's word is chock full of promises that we can take to the bank.  Promises that would save us worry and angst and emotional upheaval.   But, like a couponer who forgets their coupon binder, we leave these promises sitting on a shelf.   We pay the price, alright.  Full price.  And then some.  Because God's word gives us hope and encouragement and peace and joy and a multitude of promises to claim.  But, we have to claim them.  We have to read them, write them on our hearts, commit them to our memories, and pray them fervently in order to redeem these promises.   And, we don't.

This occurred to me the other morning as I did my usual morning swoop through my kids' rooms, placing their verse for the day on their pillows.  I write these out on index cards, and they read them just before they climb into bed.  But, in two of the three rooms, I found the card from the night before shoved to the side, untouched.  And, I thought about how the kids missed the blessing of God's word--the promises--that I felt he had for them.  Because they were too busy or too tired to read them the night before. 

Glimpse of GRACE:  How like my children am I!  I rush through my morning and my day, ignoring the very Word that would speak to my troubles.  I leave the promises untouched, like unclaimed treasure, because I'm lazy or busy or whatever the excuse of the day is.  And, shame on me.  Because I'm the one who pays full price with my living in the flesh when God has promise after promise that speaks to my struggles.  The savings He wishes to grant me!  By exchanging my concerns for His written words that I can take to the bank every single time.    

No matter what troubles you today, I assure you that God speaks to it.  Do a word search at www.biblegateway.com and see what promise of Scripture pops up.  Or look in your Bible concordance to find promises that address worry, finances, being wronged, fear for the future, weakness, sickness, and every other concern of this world.    Read through them.  When one hits a nerve, write it out on an index card.  Tattoo it on your face.  Whatever!  Just put that promise in font of you and start to memorize it.  Pray that verse out loud.  Stand on that verse and claim its promises.  They never expire.  And these promises more than double and triple in value.  They grow exponentially as you root out your concerns and replace them with God's word within your mind and your heart.   

Yesterday, I found myself reading about the man whose son was dying in John 4.  And this one little verse stood out.  This man was distraught and seeking the Savior to heal his son.   He was at the end of his rope, desperate in his grief.  Jesus told him to go and promised that his son would live.  May we be like that anguished father as we come to Jesus through the written Word.