Blog

Our Daily Devotional - “Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.” — Ecclesiastes 5:2Standing at the threshold of a new year, I’m carrying a simple resolution: Speak less and say more. Ecclesiastes reminds me that this isn’t just good communication—it’s proper posture. God is in heaven. I am on earth. That truth alone should slow my words and steady my heart.We live in a world that rewards quick opinions and constant noise, but Scripture calls us to something deeper. When I rush to speak—especially before God—I often reveal more impatience than faith. This verse isn’t a call to silence; it’s an invitation to intention. Fewer words, more weight. Less noise, more meaning.Speaking less means resisting the urge to fill every moment, defend every position, or perform for approval. Saying more means letting words rise from reflection, humility, and listening first. In God’s presence, silence is not empty—it is attentive. And words spoken from reverence carry far more than words spoken in haste.Let Us Pray - Dear Heavenly Father teach me to slow my words and quiet my heart in Your presence; help me listen more than I speak, choose my words with care, and trust that You are at work even in the silence. Shape my speech so that what I say is rooted in humility, guided by wisdom, and offered in obedience to You. In Jesus' name, Amen. Walk in faith, rest in grace, and trust the One who walks beside you.In His love and grace, ray mileur “Helping believers walk closer to Jesus, one day at a time.” www.raymileurministries.com &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

Daily Devotional - Speak Less and Say More

Our Daily Devotion - “Do everything in love.” — What would it look like if every task, conversation, and challenge today were filtered through this simple command?“Do everything in love.” - 1 Corinthians 16:14Four words that capture the essence of following Christ—not just in grand gestures of faith, not just when people deserve it, and not even when it feels natural—but in everything. Love is meant to infuse the ordinary and the overlooked, the difficult and the delightful.When Paul wrote these words, the church in Corinth was fracturing. Believers were choosing sides, flaunting spiritual gifts, and arguing over who was right. There was impressive knowledge, power, and spiritual ability among them—but Paul made it clear that without love as the foundation, it all became empty noise. Love is what gives weight and meaning to our faith, turning even the smallest act into something sacred.This command isn’t about manufacturing feelings or pretending everything is fine. Love doesn’t ask us to deny pain or sidestep real difficulties. Instead, it offers a deeper way through them. It invites God’s love to flow through us—especially when patience wears thin, when relationships strain us, and when our hearts feel dry or discouraged. Love is not merely something we practice; it is the very character of God, and it’s who He is shaping us to become, day by day.Today, as you move through ordinary moments—making breakfast, commuting, working, caring for others—look for opportunities to let love guide your choices. In the unseen acts of kindness and the moments where frustration threatens to take over, invite God to help you respond with grace. If a difficult conversation arises, pause and pray for a heart that listens before speaking. If you’re tempted to rush past someone in need, remember that love often looks like slowing down.We love not because it’s easy, but because we have been loved at our most unlovable. When that truth guides our words, our actions, and our responses, even the most ordinary parts of the day become sacred ground—quiet reflections of Christ’s love at work in us.

Our Daily Devotion - “Do everything in love.”

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” - James 4:10&nbsp; We all know the ache of striving—the relentless pursuit of dreams, the constant balancing of demands, and the weight of uncertainty that follows us through the day. The world insists our worth is measured by achievement, appearance, or control. God, however, offers a gentler and truer way: true greatness begins not when we climb higher, but when we kneel lower in humility before Him.Like an ancient oak, humility is not about shrinking your story; it is about rooting your life deeply in the One who holds all things together. Whether you are juggling responsibilities, caring for others, or walking through trials that leave you breathless, surrender is not weakness—it is wisdom. It is trust put into motion.When we loosen our grip on timelines and outcomes, God invites us into His steady and unshakable purpose. That dream that feels stalled. That relationship that seems immovable. That fear whispering failure. Place them in His hands. What looks like an ending to us, God sees as a seed—buried, yes, but planted with intention and promise.Here is the quiet miracle of humility: surrender is not loss, but gain. It is a sacred exchange where God shapes your obedience into shelter for others, your trials into testimony, and your whispered “yes” into a legacy only He could write. Rest in this truth—the Author of eternity is still at work in your story, and some of His most beautiful chapters begin on our knees.Walk in faith, rest in grace, and trust the One who walks beside you.In His love and grace, ray mileur “Helping believers walk closer to Jesus, one day at a time.” www.raymileurministries.com &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

Daily Devotional

"When You Don’t Know What You’re Doing"&nbsp; I know many of you have heard me say from time to time, "I don't know what I'm doing, but that has never stopped me before."This morning, in the midst of my frustration, struggling to write today's devotion, reflection and prayer, I found myself reminding me again, that I don't know what I'm doing, --- then it hit me'There’s a quiet truth most of us don’t like to admit: much of faithful living begins without clarity. More often than not, we step forward before we fully understand what God is doing or where He is leading. And yet, Scripture shows us again and again that this is not a flaw in faith—it is often the starting point of it.God has never required complete understanding before obedience. Abraham left home without a map. Moses doubted his ability to speak. Peter stepped out of the boat without knowing how the water would hold him. None of them moved forward because they felt confident. They moved forward because they trusted the One who called them. Waiting until everything makes sense can quietly become a form of delay. Faith rarely begins with certainty; it begins with willingness. God is not offended by our questions or our uncertainty. What He honors is a heart that says, “I don’t have all the answers, but I’m willing to follow.” Sometimes the clearest understanding only comes after we take the next step. Trust grows through movement, not perfection. And more often than we realize, God reveals Himself along the way—not ahead of time.If you find yourself unsure today, take heart. You may be closer to faithful obedience than you think.The Quiet Truth: I may not always know what I’m doing—but I know who I’m following.

When You Don't Know What You Are Doing

There were many moments when anger at God would have made sense.Scripture tells us there is “a time to weep and a time to mourn” (Ecclesiastes 3:4), and my life has known those seasons well. Miscarriages — hopes carried quietly and then entrusted back to God in silence. Deaths in my family that reshaped love and left absence where presence once lived. Chronic illness that arrived not as a single moment, but as a slow reordering of my body, my energy, and my expectations.There have been seasons of marital strain, when love required perseverance more than feeling. There has been the reality of parenting a medically complex child — the vigilance, the fear, the grief of letting go of the life you imagined while fighting fiercely for the one entrusted to you. There has been family division and misunderstanding — wounds that come not from enemies, but from those closest to the heart.There have been times when my heart has been deeply broken. And yet, I did not turn my anger toward God.That does not mean I did not question. The Psalms are full of lament, and I found my own voice there: “How long, O Lord?” (Psalm 13:1). But even in the asking, I did not believe God was cruel. I did not believe suffering meant abandonment. I believed, somehow, that God was still good — even when life was not.Like Peter, I did not always understand what the Lord was doing — but I knew where else would I go? “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). I did not cling to the idea that faith would spare me suffering. I learned instead that faith anchors you within it.As I have come to understand the Catholic faith, I have seen that it does not promise an easy life. It promises a God who enters into suffering with us. “He was despised and rejected… a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). Christ does not explain suffering away — He redeems it.I have learned that God is not the author of death or brokenness. “God did not make death” (Wisdom 1:13). Sin fractures the world, and suffering follows — but God meets us there. In hospital rooms. In quiet grief. In marriages that must be rebuilt slowly. In the long nights of fear for a child you love more than your own life.There were moments when prayers were not answered as I begged them to be. But I came to understand that unanswered prayer is not unheard prayer. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18). Not distant. Not indifferent. Close.Even now, as I prepare to be received fully into the Church, I do not come because life has been gentle. I come because I have learned to trust that God is who He says He is. That love has the final word. That suffering, united to Christ, is never meaningless. That the Cross is not the end of the story.“We know that in all things God works for good for those who love Him” (Romans 8:28). Not that all things are good — but that God is always good, even when life is not.My faith has not been loud or triumphant. It has been quiet, steady, sometimes weary — but faithful. A trust formed not by comfort, but by endurance. And now, standing at the threshold of full communion with the Church, I choose to place that trust where it has always been leading: at the feet of Christ — crucified, risen, and present. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

Even in Suffering, I Chose Faith

When was the last time you said, “I love you,” to God? Not as part of a memorized prayer or a familiar song lyric, but from that quiet, vulnerable place where the heart speaks honestly. David did exactly that. A man who knew the splendor of palace halls and the loneliness of desert caves, the thrill of victory and the ache of betrayal, stripped away every title and every triumph to offer these simple words.“I love you, Lord, my strength.” Psalm 18:1Psalm 18 is not written from comfort—it rises from survival. David is looking back on years of running, fighting, and hiding, a long wilderness marked by midnight prayers and desperate hope. He has seen God shake mountains, tear open the heavens, and rescue him from enemies stronger than himself. Yet the psalm does not begin with a list of miracles or victories. It opens like a love song: “I love you.” Then, almost in the same breath, David adds, “my strength.” After a lifetime of striving, he finally names the true source of every victory, every ounce of courage, every step taken when quitting would have been easier. His strength was never in the sword, the strategy, or the crown—it was rooted in love for the Lord.Perhaps David uncovered a truth we often overlook: loving God is not merely an act of devotion; it is the foundation of real strength. When love for God becomes our first response—before fear, before plans, before self-reliance—we draw from a power that circumstances cannot weaken. This kind of love anchors us in storms, gives us a song in the midnight hours, and provides the courage to keep moving forward.David didn’t just survive his battles; he turned them into worship. His pain became praise. His hardship became testimony. And his first confession was not about what God had done—but about who God was to him.Walk in faith, rest in grace, and trust the One who walks beside you.In His love and grace, ray mileur

Blog

Daily Devotional - Speak Less and Say More

Our Daily Devotion - “Do everything in love.”

Daily Devotional

When You Don't Know What You Are Doing

Even in Suffering, I Chose Faith

Daily Devotional - Psalm 18:1