Mended Vessels

"Take heart; I have overcome the world." — April 5, 2020, began a Holy Week like no other in our lifetime. Palm Sunday was celebrated, not with children singing “Hosanna” and waving palm branches in unison, but with families watching preachers via the Internet. Some families found branches of greenery and brought them inside, but many others, I […]

A Week Like No Other

6 Apr, 2020 in Coronavirus / Easter / Faith / Holidays / Hope / Marie Wells Coutu / Mended Vessels / Such a Moment by mcoutu

Do not fear. The Lord is with you. — Weird. This seems to be the buzzword for this period of social distancing, self-quarantining, and isolation due to the disease known as COVID-19. Companies allowing and encouraging working from home, restaurants with no eating in but offering to-go (and some with FREE delivery!), beaches closed during spring break, and schools […]

Faith in a Time of Fear

23 Mar, 2020 in Coronavirus / Devotionals / Faith / Hope / Life / Marie Wells Coutu / Mended Vessels / Such a Moment / Trust tagged COVID-19 / Deuteronomy 31:6 / Faith / Fear / For Such a Moment / God / Jesus / Marie Wells Coutu / Pandemic / Trust by mcoutu

Exodus 36:2 — Why doesn’t anyone name their son “Bezalel”? Names like Caleb, Joshua, and Aaron abound. Their importance in the Bible is well-known. They were leaders and whole-hearted followers of God. But Bezalel and Oholiab were important, too. Of course, their names are harder to spell and pronounce. But they are worthy […]

Builders Are Important, Too

10 Feb, 2020 in Devotionals / Faith / Growth / Life / Marie Wells Coutu / Mended Vessels / Such a Moment / Work by mcoutu

"The Lion from the tribe of Judah has won the victory." — We visited the zoo on Saturday. My brain kept going back to a Simon and Garfunkel song from college days, “At the Zoo.” “It’s all happening at the zoo,” the lyrics say. “The monkeys stand for honesty. Giraffes are insincere. And the elephants are kindly but they’re dumb.” The numbers […]

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!

18 Nov, 2019 in animals / Death / Devotionals / Faith / Lion / Marie Wells Coutu / Mended Vessels / Such a Moment / Zoo tagged Christ / creation / Faith / For Such a Moment / God / Jesus / life / Marie Wells Coutu / Mended Vessels / trials / Trust by mcoutu

Make lemon pie out of life's lemons — Sometimes you’re late and sometimes you’re early. Being early can be an advantage. Several weeks ago, I hurried to a meeting, thinking I was late. I arrived about 10 minutes after the announced meeting time, but no one was around. Finally, it occurred to me to check the meeting notice. […]

Making lemon pie when you get lemons

28 Oct, 2019 in Devotionals / Faith / Life / Marie Wells Coutu / Mended Vessels / Such a Moment / Trust tagged Christ / Faith / Faithfulness / God / Jesus / life / Marie Wells Coutu / Mended Vessels / trials / Trust by mcoutu

The Lord...heals the brokenhearted. — My husband recently had an opportunity to work construction with a group of wounded veterans for a week. I met some of these former soldiers who served our country and are now serving people in need. Knowing they’d all been wounded while serving overseas, I wasn’t sure what to expect. […]

Hidden Wounds

26 Aug, 2019 in Devotionals / Faith / Hope / Life / Marie Wells Coutu / Mended Vessels / Ministry / Persistence / Such a Moment by mcoutu

I am the Light of the World — The Easter concert we attended Palm Sunday included five lit candles as symbols of Christ’s life. At key points during the program, the narrator extinguished one of the candles. When he snuffed out the last candle, it wouldn’t go out. He tried several times, but the candle stayed lit, before […]

Light That Won’t Go Out

15 Apr, 2019 in Billy Graham / Devotionals / Easter / Holidays / Marie Wells Coutu / Mended Vessels / Such a Moment tagged Christ / Easter / Faith / For Such a Moment / God / Jesus / Light / Marie Wells Coutu / Mended Vessels by mcoutu

Those who are not outsiders... — Once again, the world has been shocked and saddened by a mass killing–this time in New Zealand at a mosque by a man apparently filled with hate toward immigrants. Hate toward those unlike himself. Hate of those who are different. The “others.” Meanwhile, in the United States, incidents of rudeness, […]

Whose Truth is True? Let’s Silence the Hate

18 Mar, 2019 in Deafness / Devotionals / Faith / Life / Listening / Love / Marie Wells Coutu / Mended Vessels / Such a Moment / Truth / Words by mcoutu

Disappointments, but God... — The cruise ship was scheduled to stop in two ports: one city (Nassau, Bahamas) and one beach (Coco Cay, Bahamas). But the weather predicted for the second day would make the Coco Cay stop too dangerous, as passengers had to be tendered to shore, and the wind was expected to […]

Change of Port: Handling Disappointments

25 Feb, 2019 in Devotionals / Disappointments / Faith / Forgiveness / Marie Wells Coutu / Mended Vessels / Such a Moment / Waiting tagged cruise / Disappointment / Faith / For Such a Moment / forgiveness / God / Joseph / life / Marie Wells Coutu / Mended Vessels / trials / Trust by mcoutu

My sheep hear my voice — My current novel-in-progress features a main character who is deaf, so I’ve been researching hearing loss and how deaf people communicate. I’ve always enjoyed watching an interpreter use American Sign Language, especially during songs at church. The fluid movement of their hands is like a visual dance, rising and falling in tune […]

Learning About Hearing Loss: Life Lessons

11 Feb, 2019 in Devotionals / Faith / Gratitude / Hearing / Listening / Marie Wells Coutu / Mended Vessels / Such a Moment tagged Christ / Christian fiction / Deaf / Faith / For Such a Moment / God / Hearing / Jesus / Marie Wells Coutu / Mended Vessels / trials / Writing by mcoutu