My Personal Dayenu

My Personal Dayenu

"Dayenu" (Hebrew for "it would have been enough") is a centerpiece of the Passover Seder that has been sung for over 1,000 years. It serves as a rhythmic, cumulative "thank you" to God, sequentially listing 15 specific miracles—from the Exodus out of Egypt to the building of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

Key Themes and Significance

Abundance vs. Sufficiency: The refrain "Dayenu" emphasizes that even if God had only performed one of these acts, it would have been sufficient for the people's survival. By declaring each step "enough," the song highlights how much God actually exceeded basic needs.

Spiritual Practice: Beyond the historical retelling, "Dayenu" is considered a spiritual exercise in mindfulness and gratitude, encouraging participants to recognize small redemptive moments in their own lives.

When I read the post, “A Personal Dayenu for Holy Week,” by my friend Maryleigh on her Blue Cotton Memory blog, it really resonated with me, and I was inspired to insert some of my gratitude into her Personal Dayenu phrases.

If Jesus had died on the cross for my sins, knit me together in my birthmother's womb, placed me in the arms of my loving Christian adoptive parents, but not called me to relationship with Him when I was ten, that would have been enough.

If He had revealed himself to me under the tree at the Young Life camp when I was eighteen, but not sent the Holy Spirit to guide me in the steps of my life, it would have been enough.

If Jesus had sent the Holy Spirit to strengthen me in my walk, but not placed a hedge of protection about me growing up, it would have been enough.

If Jesus had placed a hedge of protection about me growing up, but not met me in youth group conversations, it would have been enough.

If He had met me in youth group conversations, but not answered my request for Him to show me the right person to marry, it would have been enough.

If He had answered my prayer, showing me the right person to marry, but not given me children, it would have been enough.

When He gave us one daughter, and then a miscarriage, it would have been enough.

When He answered our prayers, and gave us a son, that would have been enough.

If He had rebuilt the broken places of my soul, spending my life making me healthy and whole, but not stood with me in the stormy challenges, it would have been enough.

If He had stood with me in the storms, but not given me a God-designed “all is well” outcome (2 Kings 4:26), that would have been enough.

If He had given His God-designed “all is well” outcomes, but not given me two grandsons, it would have been enough.

If He would have given me evidence for hope, but didn’t teach me how to live in the wait of a prayer sent out, it would have been enough.

If He taught me how to live in the wait of a prayer sent out, but didn’t give me the answer I was looking for, it would have been enough.

If He answered a prayer out of His experience, not mine, but didn’t give me the wisdom to recognize it, it would have been enough.

If He gave me wisdom to recognize the goodness of how He answers prayers His way, but not the gift of laughter in the living of it, it would have been enough.

If He had given me the gift of laughter in living in the goodness of how He answers His prayers, but not given me the love of writing, it would have been enough.

If he had given me the love of writing, but not given me the opportunity to share it, it would have been enough.

“I’ll make a list of God’s gracious dealings,
    all the things God has done that need praising,
All the generous bounties of God,
    his great goodness to the family of Israel—
Compassion lavished,
.    love extravagant.”
~ Isaiah 63:7, The Message

This personal Dayenu? It’s a work in progress. I am so very grateful for how God has taken challenges and turned them into blessings, how He has and is redeeming the lost, rejected, confused, broken, graceless, rebellious, selfish, prideful parts of myself day-by-day. Because of all He suffered for you and me, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Father are right beside us, wooing us, chasing us, comforting us, saving us, every day, every moment, no matter where we are!

Please share your personal Dayenu in the comments below!

Lord Jesus, I want to delight in You!

When I saw this beautiful artwork by Krista Hamrick, I felt led to share this devotional based on one of my favorite Scriptures--Psalm 37:4 . . . “Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart.” I discovered a great acrostic memory tool for the word, “delight,” which describes how I have come to apply this verse to my life:
Daily
Everything
Laid
Into
God’s
Hands
Totally

I recently heard this true story about Eddie Rickenbacker. He was a famous pilot and hero in World War II. Every Friday evening, almost without fail, when the sun resembled a giant orange and was starting to dip into the blue ocean, Eddie came strolling along the beach to his favorite pier. Clutched in his hand was a bucket of shrimp. Eddie walks out to the end of the pier, where it seems he almost has the world to himself. The glow of the sun is a golden bronze now. Everybody is gone, except for a few joggers on the beach. Standing out on the end of the pier, Eddie is alone with his thoughts...and his bucket of shrimp. Before long, however, he is no longer alone. Up in the sky a thousand white dots come screeching and squawking, winging their way toward that lanky frame standing there on the end of the pier. Before long, dozens of seagulls have enveloped him, their wings fluttering and flapping wildly. Eddie stands there tossing shrimp to the hungry birds. As he does, if you listen closely, you can hear him say with a smile, 'Thank you. Thank you.' In a few short minutes the bucket is empty. But Eddie doesn't leave. He stands there lost in thought, as though transported to another time and another place. When he finally turns around and begins to walk back toward the beach, a few of the birds hop along the pier with him until he gets to the stairs, and then they, too, fly away. Eddie quietly makes his way down to the end of the beach and on home. Eddie Rickenbacker was a famous pilot and hero in World War I, and then he was in WWII. On one of his flying missions across the Pacific, he and his seven-member crew went down. Miraculously, all of the men survived, crawled out of their plane, and climbed into a life raft. Captain Rickenbacker and his crew floated for days on the rough waters of the Pacific. They fought the sun. They fought sharks. Most of all, they fought hunger and thirst. By the eighth day their rations ran out. No food. No water. They were hundreds of miles from land and no one knew where they were or even if they were alive. Every day across America millions wondered and prayed that Eddie Rickenbacker might somehow be found alive. The men adrift needed a miracle. That afternoon they had a simple devotional service and prayed for a miracle. They tried to nap. Eddie leaned back and pulled his military cap over his nose. Time dragged on. All he could hear was the slap of the waves against the raft...suddenly Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap. It was a seagull! Eddie would later describe how they captured the bird and he and his starving crew made a meal of it - a very slight meal for eight men. Then they used the intestines for bait. With it, they caught fish, which gave them food and more bait...and the cycle continued. With that simple survival technique, they were able to endure the rigors of the sea until they were found and rescued after 24 days at sea. Eddie Rickenbacker lived many years beyond that ordeal, but he never forgot the sacrifice of that first life-saving seagull . . . And he never stopped saying, 'Thank you.' That's why almost every Friday night he would walk to the end of the pier with a bucket full of shrimp and a heart full of gratitude.


I have found over the years that many times my prayers center on what I want the Lord to do: I intercede for people who are critically ill battling disease. There’s a great need in a missionary family in Burkina Faso, West Africa, so I petition daily for God’s help on their behalf. On the home front, I may pray for my children to do better in school, a friend’s job situation or marriage to improve, relief from stress, or many other desires. All of these are valid requests, which if answered in the way we hope, would delight us. But I have learned that this verse calls us to a different prayer focus: to stop and center our heart on the Lord and make him our delight.


According to Psalm 37:4, if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts. To delight means to take great pleasure or to find joy and satisfaction in something. If it’s hard for us to find our greatest pleasure and delight in God, take heart. Though it’s impossible for us to find our greatest pleasure and delight in God through our own strength, our Heavenly Father has provided a way: His Spirit graciously reveals Jesus to us and causes us to fall more and more in love with Him. Then we find great delight in Him and in His presence.

Lord Jesus, I want to delight in You! Center my heart in knowing You more and loving You more day by day. Help me to discover that there is fullness of joy in your presence and to take great delight in my relationship with You. May my heart desire You above everything else. Give me a heart which yearns for Your Presence, a yearning for You that draws me over and over into Your Presence, a yearning that makes only a few days without time in prayer and Your Word seem like an eternity. Give me a heart which is motivated first and foremost by a desire for You, not for what You can do for me, but a yearning for Your Presence. Give me a heart that wants You more than anything else You could give, to love You and know You more than anything in life. Give me a heart that takes what You have made known to me and makes You re-known to everyone else, a heart that makes Your name and renown the desire of my heart. Give me a heart to feel Your Holy Spirit woo me once again to the place where I meet You. In the simplicity of my prayer time, give me a heart to be suddenly confronted by the majesty of my Redeemer—the One Who is responsible for any good in me. Lord, each morning, give me a heart that seeks Your forgiveness for past sins, and welcomes Your fresh mercies which fall like manna from Heaven, and once again move my heart. I surrender all. Morning after morning. In Your Precious Name Above All Names we pray, amen.


Look Up—meditate on Psalm 37:4 …pray to see what it reveals about the character of God.


Look In—as you meditate on Psalm 37:4 …pray to see how you might apply it to your life. Be propelled to ask galvanizing questions about your discoveries: "Because God is_________, I will_____________."


Look Out—as you meditate on Psalm 37:4 ...pray to see how you might apply it to your relationship with others. Let the nature of God impact on every relationship, for your good, and for His glory.


* If you liked this post, you’ll love this book – Name Above All Names Devotional: Focusing on 26 Alphabetical Names of Christ

it's all about the heart

artwork by Krista Hamrick

I pondered this beautiful work of art by Krista Hamrick while listening to Bethel Music's anointed hymn, No Longer Slaves … You unravel me, with a melody, You surround me with a song of deliverance, from my enemies ‘till all my fears are gone. I’m no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God. From my mother’s womb You have chosen me, Love has called my name. I’ve been born again, into Your family, Your blood flows through my veins. You split the sea, so I could walk right through it, All my fears were drowned in perfect love. You rescued me, so I could stand and sing. I am a child of God…this drew my heart to a word study of the word heart from 1 Samuel 16:7…

Amplified:  "For the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Heart, kardia, does not refer to the physical organ, but is always used figuratively in Scripture to refer to the seat and center of human life. The heart is the center of the personality, and it controls the intellect, emotions, and will.

Kardia gives us medical terms such as cardiac, cardiovascular, etc. Just as the integrity of our physical heart is vital to our physical life, in a similar and even more important way the integrity of our spiritual heart is vital to our spiritual life, for our spiritual life impacts not just our enjoyment of time, but of eternity.

While kardia does represent the inner person, the seat of motives and attitudes, the center of personality, in Scripture it represents much more than emotion, feelings. It also includes the thinking process and particularly the will. For example, in Proverbs we are told, “As (a man) thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). Jesus asked a group of scribes, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4). The heart is the control center of mind and will, as well as emotion.

The Scottish writer John Eadie writes, “The “heart” belongs to the “inner man,” is the organ of perception as well as of emotion; the centre of spiritual as it is physically of animal life.”

Biblical scholar W.E. Vine writes that kardia “came to denote man’s entire mental and moral activities, and to stand figuratively for the hidden springs of the personal life, and so here signifies the seat of thought and feeling.”

Pastor John MacArthur commenting on kardia writes, “While we often relate heart to the emotions (e.g., “He has a broken heart”), the Bible relates it primarily to the intellect (e.g., “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders,” Matt 15:19). That’s why you must “watch over your heart with all diligence”  (Proverbs 4:23). In a secondary way, however, heart relates to the will and emotions because they are influenced by the intellect. If you are committed to something, it will affect your will, which in turn will affect your emotions.”

Pastor Marvin R. Vincent writes, “Kardia is the central seat and organ of the personal life of man regarded in and by himself, Hence it is commonly accompanied with the possessive pronouns, my, his, thy, etc.”

Pastor Robert Haldane states, “Christian obedience is obedience from the heart in opposition to an obedience which is by constraint. Any attempt at obedience by an unconverted man, is an obedience produced by some motive of fear, self–interest, or constraint, and not from the heart. Nothing can be more convincing evidence of the truth of the Gospel than the change which it produces on the mind of the believer. Nothing but almighty power could at once transform a man from the love of sin to the love of holiness.”

Heavenly Father, I am so grateful that when You look at me, You see my heart covered by the blood of Jesus...You give me a heart which yearns for Your Presence, a yearning for You that draws me over and over into Your Presence, a yearning that makes only a few days without time in prayer and Your Word seem like an eternity. You give me a heart which is motivated first and foremost by a desire for You, not for what You can do for me, but a yearning for Your Presence. You give me a heart that wants You more than anything else You could give, to love You and know You more than anything in life. You give me a heart that takes what You have made known to me and makes You re-known to everyone else, a heart that makes Your name and renown the desire of my heart. You give me a heart to feel Your Holy Spirit woo me once again to the place where I meet You. In the simplicity of my prayer time, You give me a heart to be suddenly confronted by the majesty of my Redeemer—the One Who is responsible for any good in me. Lord, each morning, You give me a heart that welcomes Your fresh mercies which fall like manna from Heaven, and once again move my heart. I gratefully surrender all. Morning after morning.

Look Up—meditate on 1 Samuel 16:7

Look In—as you meditate on 1 Samuel 16:7 pray to see how you might apply it to your life.

Look Out—as you meditate on 1 Samuel 16:7 pray to see how you might apply it to your relationships with others.

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