A picture really is worth a thousand words. I saw this infographic below and I felt its message is quite powerful.
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Problem Free? Or Peace Filled?
Busy, busy, busy. Everyone is busy. Deadlines and pressure at work… a mile-long to-do list at home… I need to start exercising… I need to spend more time reading my Bible… I need to find time with the kids. UGHH!!! I just have too much on my plate!
Sound familiar? These days I don’t know of single person who isn’t struggling to keep up with everything. Everyone has more than they can handle and it doesn’t seem like there’s an end in sight. Is there???
Somehow in the midst of all the chaos around us, we find the Word of God giving us a beautiful promise in Isaiah 26:3: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”
Peace? Where is that peace? How can I get it? And how can I make sure I keep it?
The Bible is clear that God has promised to give us His peace. But so many of us struggle to have peace. So clearly there's a disconnect here. There's something wrong with our view/expectation of "peace" and how to find it.
Read MoreTHE INVINCIBLE HAND OF GOD - Esther, Part 4
It's time for the maestro to walk onto the stage. And when He does, the INVISIBLE hand of God turns into the INVINCIBLE hand of God!
Don't miss the finale of the series, The Invisible Hand of God, and find out what God does when there's no solution in sight (hint: He solves it anyway).
Also, at the end of the message, there's a song that I reference called "Death Was Arrested". Definitely worth the 5 minutes to check it out.
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A “Whatever It Takes" Mentality
I know a guy who throws away the batteries in the TV remote control whenever he checks into a hotel.I know a guy who cut the internet service out of his home.I know a young lady who will hug everyone in the world except for her fiancé. She won’t even hold hands with him until they’re married.I know a man who refuses to look up when in line at the grocery store – he just stares at the ground and barely makes eye contact with the cashier because he wants to avoid seeing the trashy tabloids by the register.
Are these people insane? What’s wrong with them? I mean, I understand they’re trying to remain pure and avoid temptation, but it seems a bit extreme doesn’t it?
What they’re doing is what we’re all called to do in a sense. I’m not talking about what they did specifically, but rather the way they approached their problem. These people all have something that many of us lack today: a WHATEVER IT TAKES mentality.
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Watch Out for the Giant Mushrooms
Giant mushrooms! Yep, that’s right. That’s what you see. That’s a real photo that I took yesterday of three giant mushrooms that are currently growing in my front yard and scaring my neighbors’ kids from coming near my property.
The strange thing is that:
a) I’ve been in this house for more than 3 years now and I’ve never before had a problem with mushrooms
b) Those mushrooms weren’t there at all last week.
c) I saw a little baby mushroom start to come up 2 days ago, but I have no idea how they got so big so fast!
Just so you get some perspective on exactly how large those mushrooms are, I took a picture of one of the mushrooms next to a standard 16 oz bottle of water and another picture next to my size 11 running shoes. WOW!
There’s a lesson to be learned here. The lesson is about the inherent danger of sin and the way sin grows in our lives. If you’re not careful, you may wake up one day and find yourself with a giant problem on your hands that came out of nowhere.
But I have never had a problem with that kind of big sin before.
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Being Thankful for the Right Things
One of my favorite things to do is to look through my journal and read some of the entries that I wrote in the past. I’ve always found that practice to be extremely uplifting and encouraging. There’s nothing like seeing where you WERE to give you better perspective on where you ARE. Below is a journal excerpt from about 4-5 months ago – around Thanksgiving Day.
Everything I wrote about back then – especially the things that didn’t make sense at the time – now are crystal clear. They weren’t back then, but in looking back, truly I can say that “God makes all things work together for good to those who love who Him, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28).
Below is the excerpt (modified to fit blog post form of course). Enjoy!
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