Leslie's Little Devotional

            As a mother of five, I’ve dealt with my fair share of sprains over the years. I’ve even suffered a few of my own. Long ago, I learned a little acronym for treatment of sprains. R.I.C.E. stands for rest, ice, compression, and elevation. After the injury, these steps help speed recovery.             The other day I was chatting with a friend who was hurting spiritually and emotionally. I was led to encourage her to take the time she needed to heal. My encouragement to her was to treat her spiritual injury in a manner similar to a physical one: with rest and elevation. As our conversation continued, she encouraged me to come up with a R.I.C.E. acronym for spiritual and emotional sprains.             After our conversation ended, I put my assignment on the back burner and forgot about it. However, this morning the Lord reminded me of it. Here are my thoughts.               R          Rest in the Lord.             I            Immobilize. Be still.         

            Several years ago a friend of mine was vacationing in the Caribbean. One afternoon after snorkeling, she and her husband were walking along the beach. As my friend gently brushed her bare feet over the soft sand she felt something hard beneath. Bending down, she expected to pick up a shell but found instead, what appeared to be a diamond ring.   My friend showed it to her husband who laughed and totally discounted the idea that the ring could be real. In fact, he almost chucked it into the ocean. At her insistence, he gave her the ring and she slipped it in her pocket. They looked around the deserted beach in hopes of trying to find the owner. Eventually they made their way back to their hotel and forgot about the ring in her pocket.             When my friend returned home and began unpacking, she found the ring. A few days later she took it to a jeweler, just out of curiosity. It turned out that the ring was very old and very real. The largest diamond was well over