🌾 Devotional: “The Office Upstairs”
💛 Here’s a cozy devotional story inspired by your dream — one wrapped in the warmth of small-town kindness, fresh-baked comfort, and the steady love of God quietly working all things for good:
🌾 Devotional: “The Office Upstairs”
Morning sunlight spilled across the town of Maple Hollow, glinting off the bakery windows and warming the air with the smell of butter and brown sugar. Tuesday was Scone Day at Grace’s Kitchen, and the regulars were already finding their way inside — grandmothers in cardigans, young moms with babies on hips, and the retired postman who never missed a cinnamon muffin.
Tori Rae sat by the window with her tea, watching the hum of life around her. She’d had a restless night — a strange dream of working in a busy place where a beautiful woman with a false smile had filled her with anger. It had left her uneasy, like she’d brushed against something that wasn’t right.
Now, as she stirred her tea, she whispered a prayer.
“Lord, what are You showing me?”
Just then, the bell over the door jingled, and old Mrs. Maple — who everyone said was part angel, part pie-maker — came bustling in with a tray of lemon cookies. “Brought extras!” she sang. “You never know who’ll need a little sugar and kindness today.”
She handed Tori one and sat down across from her. “You look like a soul with a heavy dream,” she said gently. “Want to tell me?”
Tori shared what she remembered — the chaos, the false calm of that woman, the feeling of fury that had chased her awake.
Mrs. Maple nodded slowly. “Dreams like that don’t come to scare us,” she said, “but to remind us. The enemy’s favorite disguise is ‘almost right.’ He’ll wear beauty, calm, or importance, hoping we’ll trade our peace for his deception. But you didn’t. You knew who you were, and Whose you were. That’s why you woke up angry — your spirit recognized a counterfeit.”
She smiled kindly. “But now you get to hand that fury back to God and let Him turn it into peace.”
Just then, Pastor Finn strolled in for his usual coffee, waving hello. “Morning, ladies! The verse of the day’s a good one,” he said, pulling a little card from his pocket. “Psalm 97:10 — ‘Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for He guards the lives of His faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.’”
Mrs. Maple chuckled. “See? God sends His reminders in all shapes and sizes — even through our coffee stops.”
Tori laughed softly. The verse settled in her heart like warm sunlight after rain. She realized she didn’t have to fight every false thing — she only had to stay rooted in truth, and God would do the guarding.
Outside, the church bells began to ring. Inside, someone turned on the radio, and “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” filled the air.
Tori looked around at the simple beauty of it all — the friends, the laughter, the smell of baking and the soft hum of life continuing. Her dream had shown her what she didn’t want to carry — fury and fear — so she could return to what she did: peace, purpose, and the quiet trust that God was already at work, even in unseen offices upstairs.
She took a bite of her lemon cookie, smiled, and whispered, “Thank You, Lord. For truth that steadies me — and love that keeps me.”
Reflection Verse:
“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You.” — Isaiah 26:3
Prayer:
Lord, when I feel surrounded by confusion or false light, anchor me in Your truth.
Teach me to let go of fury and hold onto peace.
Remind me that Your goodness cannot be pretended — it’s real, it’s gentle, and it never leaves.
Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment