tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23135632525192952132024-02-01T23:09:28.463-08:00byHismercyinChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.comBlogger271125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-55468138706585576312020-06-14T11:07:00.000-07:002020-06-14T11:07:26.018-07:00Worn out in this World, But Welcome to Christ<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
"You have searched me and known me...</h3>
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You are aware of all my ways." Ps. 139: 1,3</h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our resident chickadee is small, but exerts a mighty influence on when we're allowed to sit on our back porch. He and his mate have a little nest in our birdbox. Just like that, they arrived one day in May and set up housekeeping.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yesterday my husband was taking a break, relaxing on the back porch, and the chickadee let him know, in no uncertain terms, his presence was not welcome. He kept chirping and making his "dee-dee" sound until my husband took the hint and came inside.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A tiny and exquisite creation, yet he has great influence. Eating on the backporch for us is off limits now when Mom and Dad Chickadee are bringing bugs to their babies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> How small and insignificant we are in comparison to Almighty God. Yet He knows us better than we know ourselves. And Job says we decay, and are wearing out like moth eaten garment in Job 13:28.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I guess our self importance isn't so significant, if we are iwearing out. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wrinkles, gray hair, aches and pains are daily reality. Don't forget old people aren't of much value in our society. I am wearing out, just like Job, just like all of us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> But what about what David said to God?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">"When I observe your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You set in place, what is man that You remember him, the son of man, that you look after him? You made him a little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor." Ps. 8: 3-5</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wearing out, yet He crowned us with glory and honor, He made us in His image. He gave us dominion over this earth, though we have squandered it and ruined it. He sent His very own Son to take on humanity, to know the same frailties we experience. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the book of Revelation, Jesus addresses seven churches during human history, the last one being Laodecia. It's where </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> we find ourselves, without a doubt. Though Revelation 3:20 is used as a salvation verse, it is meant for the individual believer. In the church of Laodecia, Jesus is somehow locked out of the church, that is why He says to each </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">individual </i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">member:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">"Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and He with Me."</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Jesus wants to have dinner with fallen, worn out people like you and me. He wants to be in all of our day, as we go about, walking, talking, cleaning or working. In every little detail, He wants to be there, taking our troubles and working them for the good in our lives. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The days are overwhelming, bad news is everywhere. Yet God is here, waiting to be invited into our everyday life, shouldering the burdens we carry and the worries we have for tomorrow. I'm so glad I'm important to Him. He wants the same for you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you feel burdened, you can go to Him now. You can tell Him that you don't know what the world is coming to, but trust Him that He does. He has a good plan for His ones that trust Him. Things may look bad right now, but there is a new day coming, when He will reign upon this earth once again. All that is broken will be made right.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The God that made the tiniest bird in intricacy and finesse cares for us. I am changing, wearing down, but He is constant. He has his eye on the sparrow, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> the chickadee, and He has His eye on me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">"Certainly, man walks about like a mere shadow. Indeed, they frantically rush around in vain, gathering possessions without knowing who will get them.<br />Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You." Ps. 39: 6-7</span></h3>
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inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-78272588897470238162018-10-11T12:24:00.002-07:002018-10-11T12:24:14.580-07:00Did You RSVP?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzTzgDVltW1I56p5GQkKhSH9RZ8FK1TNOkq8P-q8GMi4Bix8cq8X76XCkPXVPAWj69V13QOY5gsBDx_TWc7EJFL6rLQECZDSWvlzv6mbbKo5a5_6v1ZY3Gj7VrP5s81v8ZSnFofU1sKNI/s1600/100_0239.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzTzgDVltW1I56p5GQkKhSH9RZ8FK1TNOkq8P-q8GMi4Bix8cq8X76XCkPXVPAWj69V13QOY5gsBDx_TWc7EJFL6rLQECZDSWvlzv6mbbKo5a5_6v1ZY3Gj7VrP5s81v8ZSnFofU1sKNI/s320/100_0239.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There be many that say, Who will show us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. Ps. 4:6-7</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Did you ever see a big party going on and felt left out as you watched from afar? Maybe you felt you were missing out all the fun that others were having while life keeps passing you by?</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I remember going to parties, back in the day when I was trying to find out who I was. These parties that left me empty, hung over, and depressed. A young man (who came to check our furnace for the winter) today told me he was excited to party on his birthday tomorrow. I don't know why, but I felt prompted to share a gospel tract with him. He could have a second birthday, and really celebrate.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I watched a video the other day, where it showed how differently we might treat people if they walked around wearing a little sign on them that told what all they had endured in their life. I wondered what that young man was up against in his own little world, what he might wear on his "sign?" No matter what trouble he has seen, there is One who loves him, beckons him.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When he finished checking the furnace and handed me the bill, I gave him a small purple tract along with our payment. He rushed quickly to tell me he already went to a church, but I said it was about a relationship, one on one, with the One who made us. After he left I called my sister so we could both pray for him.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Ultimate Party is almost here. I wonder, have you sent in your RSVP? It will be called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, the one party no one will want to miss. Outside the party there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus our Savior will share more happiness at that party then any party here on earth where even the rarest wine is flowing. All of us, His children, will celebrate when this world has been cleansed from evil, and righteousness comes to reign on this earth. No more devil lying to us and tricking us. It will be a constant joy to be with the One who loves us and gave Himself for us.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Thou wilt shew me the path of life; in Thy presence if fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Ps.16:11</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Did you know you are invited to this party too? In fact, we all are. Some sadly will refuse, by their own stubbornness, to accept the invitation. It will be a "Come as you are" type of party. You don't have to pay to get in because that price has already been paid in full.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To gain entrance, you must simply believe that this Person, Jesus the Christ, came down to this earth. He was God but He took on our humanity and lived a perfect life, never once breaking any of God's laws or sinning even one time. He was crucified on a Roman cross where He bore every sin of every man so that we could live with Him forever. He physically died, and His Father was so pleased with His sacrifice that He caused Jesus to rise from the dead three days later. Then He was seen by many others before going back to heaven. But before He ascended, He promised that He would come back and take all who believe in Him to live with Him forever.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He told us things would be chaotic before He came back. (Have you noticed?) His appearuing will be sudden, a great surprise and shock to the rest of the world. But you can RSVP now by simply believing in His name.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Verily, verily, I say unto, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." John 5:24</span></blockquote>
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inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-23907029680888963752018-08-19T17:54:00.003-07:002018-08-19T17:57:44.638-07:00Choosing His Road to Love and Life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqKDPBk2JiFQlSCly0OJXqe1243axC0JHiuSPiCDXwcs_cKapF7jUIPfM6A32UbYL4HnsiRBMsYhVwbR0ZLuCUzB-IxLBeBwEF1KpC_TaT3WU2szGvBnWAdLAt3-EWuv8KoUepzoaUkXg/s1600/100_3341.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-size: x-large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqKDPBk2JiFQlSCly0OJXqe1243axC0JHiuSPiCDXwcs_cKapF7jUIPfM6A32UbYL4HnsiRBMsYhVwbR0ZLuCUzB-IxLBeBwEF1KpC_TaT3WU2szGvBnWAdLAt3-EWuv8KoUepzoaUkXg/s400/100_3341.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I hate the feeling of anger rising up inside me. Hate it, hate it, don't know what to do with it most of the time. How about you?</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tonight that opportunity presented itself to me, and in my own estimation it seemed "right" to me to be angry with someone who hurt my feelings. In a moment of haste, I put on my tennis shoes and since it was a nice evening, hoped to work off my angry feelings while I took a brisk walk.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Somewhat like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, my blessed Lord somehow spoke to my spirit, reasoning with a poor fool like me as I walked along...</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(Come, let us reason together, saith the LORD...) Isaiah 1:18</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I really didn't <i>want </i>to feel anger the whole time I walked and so I tried to think of the Lord and His goodness, how He bore my sins on the cross and also the sins of the one who hurt me. Then I realized if I did that I couldn't stay mad at the same time. Still the temptation of retaliate was there and I didn't know quite what to do with it. For a minute or two I actually believed that giving in to the anger would be more satisfying than obeying God.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In my heart I cried, "Lord, You said I was dead to sin, but it sure doesn't feel like it," In the smallest way, however, I took a tiny step of faith and believed what God said He'd done to that old person that wanted to retaliate and get even. </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Some wonderful truths from Romans came to mind.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" Rom. 6:1-2</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">From this teaching I remembered that: "There is NO advantage to sin." I <i>can</i> sin but there is no advantage to it. Ever. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Screaming, getting the last word in, "venting": all they really do is lead to carnal death. If I'm a believer, it </span><span style="font-size: large;">will only bring a huge harvest of corruption. It will never bring peace or satisfaction.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. " Rom. 6:6</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In my flesh, when I've been hurt I want the offending party to know they've hurt me and not just bear it silently. I think I might explode inside if I don't let them know how they've hurt me. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">How "right" that seems! Someone hurts you, you hurt them back. All this talk about being dead to sin seems ridiculous in the heat of the moment...</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But then another verse came in, Romans 8:35, </span><span style="font-size: large;">"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" I concluded that God's love for me </span><span style="font-size: large;">is greater than all the hurts ever done to me. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Suddenly, it was OK. God loves me, and will never stop loving me. </span><span style="font-size: large;">This might not seem like such a big revelation, but it freed me tonight from sin's tyranny.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now thanks be unto God, which <b>always</b> causeth us to triumph in Christ... II Cor. 2:14a</span></i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-72438760000046817712018-07-23T14:37:00.000-07:002018-07-23T14:37:48.423-07:00Faith Plus or Faith Alone?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: blue;">For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.</span><span style="color: blue;">Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.</span><span style="color: blue;">For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Gal. 5:3-5</span></span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">Maybe I am opening a can of worms here, so be it.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> Today someone posted on social media that the gift of salvation was faith plus repentance. And in one of the comments to this post, someone said they felt like a disgrace for still needing nicotine gum. I told that person if they had believed in Christ then they were not a disgrace, whether they needed nicotine gum or not. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;">How are we saved? Are we saved by walking an aisle, stop smoking and drinking, pledging to do better, turning over a new leaf? I'm afraid that that is what some are teaching today, and it is so subtle, it sounds so right. It is taught in so many churches. It is called "faith plus."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;">The Bible tells us to have "faith alone in Christ alone" to receive the free gift of salvation. It is good news, a message of hope. Jesus knew in eternity past that we could not be good enough, no matter how hard we tried, and so pledged Himself to be the spotless Lamb that would take away the sins of the world. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"> If salvation comes by my faith plus works, then why did Christ die on the cross? In every other religion of the world, man is somehow trying to make himself acceptable before God. Think about making pilgrimages to Mecca or bathing in the Ganges River in the Muslim and Hindu faiths, fasting or even whipping yourself on the back like the monks did in Martin Luther's time. These are all attempts to placate God somehow, as if the cross, and the cross alone, is not enough for our salvation. But even in the Christian camp we hear that subtle message of "faith plus." It is adding something to the work of Christ, and says His work was not enough.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">This makes Christianity into a religion and not based on faith. Religion means to bind, in one of the definitions. In making a promise to God, are we not binding ourselves to our own efforts to please Him rather than putting full stock in what He did that day on the cross for us?</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">The Finished Work of Christ is just that. It is a finished, completed work, done by Another. Nothing can be added to what He did for us in order to receive salvation. Over thirty years ago, thinking I had to add something to complete my salvation nearly drove me to being done with Christianity once and for all, because deep down, I knew I wasn't capable. I was on the edge of a nervous breakdown, hearing how I must really be sorry, or promising to never sin again. How sorry is enough?</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">In that moment of desperation, the word of God's pure grace came to me and I embraced it. Christ did the hard work of paying the sin debt for me and He is then pleased by my faith in what He alone has accomplished. </span><br />
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But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6</blockquote>
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Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Romans 3:3</blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">It is so simple we stumble over it. But God gave Abraham, the father of our faith, righteousness at the moment that he believed what God said.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">He (God) took him (Abram) outside and said, "Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then He said to him, "Your offspring will be that numerous."</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:5-6</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Paul repeats this account in Romans in one of my favorite passages in the Bible, in Romans 4. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">What can we say that Abraham, our physical ancestor, has found? If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about---but not before God. For what does the Scripture say?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Now to him who works, pay is not considered as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believes on Him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited as righteousness. Romans 4: 1-5</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Verse 3 says Abraham believed. In the Greek language, the word believed is in the aorist active 3rd person singular tense, which means that he believed at a point in time, and at that point God declared that he was righteous. After his faith, even though he failed later in life, God saw him only and always as righteous.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">And if we are Abraham's children through faith, that is the way God sees us too. He does not see our failures, but He sees us as righteous because of Who has come to live in us, by our simple faith at a point in time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-84258985382973279122018-06-30T15:20:00.002-07:002018-06-30T15:30:55.721-07:00In Him, No Need<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Hebrews 13:5 NKJV </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">What a precious promise from the Lord. Imagine if we really believed it, how much happier we would be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">How often lately I have caught myself coveting, wishing I had a little more money, for instance. It makes me sick to even say it. Compared with the rest of the world, I have so much, how could I ever want something someone else has in order to be happy? The fact is that if I got that thing, like a fancier house for instance, I still wouldn't be happy. If that made people happy, then why are the rich and famous committing suicide? The real fact is, this whole business of coveting is a big lie from the enemy, telling us that God is not enough.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Not only coveting material things, I find it easy to covet when I hear about other people's vacationing all over the world, as if seeing the world would take away the dissatisfaction in my soul. I remember hearing once from my old pastor, </span><span style="font-size: large;">"Wherever YOU go, you have to take YOU with you." So even if I jet-setted over all the place, I would still have to contend with the person I see in the mirror every morning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It has taken me a long time to realize this is just plain sin, and to be able to overcome it by realizing how very rich I am to be one of God's children, to be a part of His church and His very own body, even.<b> It is not about what I see all around me, but being part of an invisible Kingdom.</b> And that is enough to cause satisfaction that the world and all its tantalizing temptations cannot ever take away.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The whole world seems to scream at us to get more, want more, promising us happiness but never, ever delivering. "Grab the gusto," the world hollers. <b>But still we yearn for more.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe that is part of the reason why people are giving up. They realize it is all just a big lie but they don't know what the answer is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Just one verse from Psalm 23 is enough to quell this anxious stirring to have what others have, to do what others do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." Psalm 23:1</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">The most commonly quoted verse from the Bible tells us the answer if we just took the time in our busy lives to stop and think about it. We could spend the rest of our lives contemplating what that single verse promises to the child of God. We don't have to covet even one thing if we have the Lord. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Not wanting means I will always have what I need, not necessarily what I want, but what I need.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> The plain and simple fact is that we live for the promises of the next life, not this life. So we really can agree with Paul when he told Timothy in I Timothy:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. </span><span style="font-size: large;">I Tim. 6:6-8</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"<b>The LORD is my portion</b>," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!" Lamentations 3:8</span></blockquote>
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inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-60980548997956745852018-06-08T10:04:00.002-07:002018-06-08T10:04:41.651-07:00There is an Answer...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">Let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me. John 14:1</span> </span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matt. 28:20</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue;">Oh what a time to be alive. I see a headline in the Tribune Review online today. The rate of suicide in Pennsylvania has gone up by 34%.<a href="http://triblive.com/state/pennsylvania/13739159-74/suicides-increase-by-more-than-third-over-17-year-period-in-pennsylvania">http://triblive.com/state/pennsylvania/13739159-74/suicides-increase-by-more-than-third-over-17-year-period-in-pennsylvania</a> Also today, I open to another a major news story online, a famous chef has followed a famous fashion designer in ending his life. These two in just the last week. Suicide seemed to be their only answer...but was it really the answer? Where did they go, once their heart beat for that final time? Did they find relief, or just another nightmare, one without an end?</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Many people are running out of other options to the hopelessness and despair that they feel. Where is their relief? It is not in a bottle, it is not in a pill, it is not in food, it is not in money, it is not fulfilling the greatest dream of one's life. Those people tried those things, and they did not work. Still, deep down inside the emptiness remained and options ran out.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"> Most of my generation would agree that the Beatles <i>Let it Be </i>is a powerful song. Seems perfect for this age we live in, They sang that there would be an answer. But as much sway as that song held over me when it came on the radio, I found myself changing the words slightly as I sang along. Instead, I sang to myself, "JESUS is the answer..."</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Maybe that sounds too simplistic to most who read this? But I would be in the same boat with the fashion designer without my Rock, my Anchor, my answer in a world that is running out of answers, that actually ran out of them ages ago.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Jesus is the answer. Just try Him, really. Take Him at His word. He will not make all of your problems disappear. In fact, He promised our lives would be full of problems on this side of eternity.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">"What's the use in trusting Him if I will still have problems?" I can hear someone thinking that even as I write the words. No, the hard things do not stop when we believe in Christ. In many ways, our human life gets harder because Jesus is not welcome on this planet. His enemy has temporary control. Temporary, remember that.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">But the biggest problem of your life will be solved by your believing in Jesus. Now, instead of drifting in a world of uncertainty, you can be assured of an eternal home with the One who created you. You will not face separation from Him at the end of your time here. Your problems can be the very things God uses to bring you closer and closer in trusting Him, in advancing your faith. Give Him a chance, I beg you.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">In a devotional I love, <i>None but the Hungry Heart</i>, by Miles Stanford, for the day of June 5, I read these words:</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">"Not a hair of the child of God can fall without God's permission. Satan is but the unintentional instrument to accomplish God's will; he can do no more than he is allowed to do..."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue;">If this were not true, how could any of us keep on trusting God in the light of everything we see around us? Last night I was lured into feeling sorry for myself for certain hardships I face in my life. Then it hit me, <b>God</b> allowed them. He knew beforehand the tragedies I would face. All I need do is to believe that He really does have this, He will bring good. And all the stirred up anger and frustration just melted away.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">I now think of another song. This time, it is a Christian hymn, <i>Only Trust Him</i> by John Stockton. How simple the chorus is. So simple that the proud could pass it right by. But if any child of His will just believe, there is peace. Peace this world cannot ever give.</span><br />
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<i><span style="color: blue;">Only trust Him, only trust Him, only trust Him now. He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now.</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue;">I can let my heart be troubled by all I see and hear around me. Or I can trust the One who is unseen, and have peace in the storm. Jesus told us to do it, so we really can choose to not let our hearts be troubled. I give Him my problems, and He gives me peace, what an exchange. You can have it too.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Then Peter began to speak: Now I really understand that God does not show favoritism, but in every nation the person who fears Him and does righteousness (<i>ie, believe in Him, my comment</i>) is acceptable to Him. He sent the message to the Israelites, proclaiming the <b>good news of peace through Jesus Christ</b>-- He is Lord of all. Acts 10: 34-37 </span></blockquote>
inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-74937068646604975152018-04-28T08:22:00.000-07:002018-04-28T08:28:49.566-07:00Sense in a Senseless World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">John 7:17</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Many years ago, I came across the promise from John 7:17 and it was a balm for my troubled soul. For I wrestled with the fact that God could be <b>loving </b>yet there was so much <b>evil</b> in the world. I thought God was random and arbitrary, but the verse of John 7:17, proved otherwise. We need only be willing and God will get the gospel to us. It is as easy as saying "yes" to God, I do believe that Jesus is exactly who He claimed to be.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have an old booklet containing the message of salvation in John's gospel, written by a James Ely in 1924. Mr. Ely has a note for John 7:17 which reads: "Since Jesus was what He claimed to be-- God incarnate-- then if you will fulfill the requirements set forth in 7:17, God will <b>absolutely convince</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">you that the doctrine of Jesus Christ is true and He will do it in His own good time and way."</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I first read the words, "willing to do His will," I wondered what God was really asking. Was he asking something that really was too hard to do, something nebulous and ill defined? But I kept reading in John's gospel and found the answer to that question too in John 6: 28-29.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Then they said unto Him, <b>What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?</b>Jesus answered and said unto them, <b>This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent."</b> John 6:28-29</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The answer is simple, <i>believe on Him whom He (God) has sent.</i> Anyone can do that, it is so simple a child can do it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is the absolute beauty of our salvation. It is a free gift to us, because Jesus had to do the hard part. He had to take in His body the sins of all the world and provide Himself as the perfect sacrifice for them all.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It has taken me years and years, but I am just starting to realize that if it seems He asks us to do something and it seems hard, like saying no to yourself in order to be His disciple, it really is because He really does know what is best for us.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">He doesn't ask us to deny ourselves for the gift of salvation, only that we believe in the name of the Son of God. But if we want to know Him more and more, then we must say no to ourselves. Through hard circumstances, He allows us to try out our own way in contrast to His, realize it is utter vanity, and then trust Him with each day and find out how wonderful He is, how loving, patient and kind He is with His wayward and rebellious children.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Both the beauty of a simple flower or the millions of galaxies attest to the fact that we are not here by some random accident. I heard a famous atheist give the explanation for denying God.H</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">is reason for being one it was based on a total misunderstanding, that because there was evil there could not be a good God. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We are here by some random chance then? </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But I would say to him, yes there is evil. It is only intensifying more and more with each passing day. But that does not mean that there is not a God who doesn't care. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">All we need do is to gaze on the bloody cross upon which He died to realize that God loves us and wants the best for every one of His creatures.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In a senseless world, the simple truth of the gospel is the only thing that makes sense.</span><br />
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<br />inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-1313757589497590312018-04-17T15:05:00.001-07:002018-04-17T15:05:11.060-07:00Missing Dad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkIBg2t_3iel9mIyN_80HlQOtItXyV1abM3BlWmC2QbHmWEqs_3Rs3t_CpmYHSoOGEMRDG-U6-O1XjcQewAk-EXSDm-VTs5hY4a9F2FubIHrCf1cCJUMsUMEVdDi0cMN2s5jMzFPyBKMg/s1600/100_0926.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkIBg2t_3iel9mIyN_80HlQOtItXyV1abM3BlWmC2QbHmWEqs_3Rs3t_CpmYHSoOGEMRDG-U6-O1XjcQewAk-EXSDm-VTs5hY4a9F2FubIHrCf1cCJUMsUMEVdDi0cMN2s5jMzFPyBKMg/s400/100_0926.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b>[As for] man, his days [are] like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b>For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b>But the mercy of the LORD [is] from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children's children...Ps. 103: 15-17</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am a bit melancholy today. Today would have been my Dad's 86th birthday, but he only made it to 84 1/2. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I miss talking with Dad. He could talk to you about anything, especially deep things about God. My Dad could do just about anything, but he never bragged about how smart he was.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">He was humble about his accomplishments and thought about those around him who didn't have the things he did. He volunteered with the food kitchen in town, served his church and prayed for the lost.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I don't know why I miss him so much today, but I do. Things are not the same since he left us, and sometimes I wonder what he would think of things if he were still here.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">My Mom did not seem to remember that today was his birthday and I did not remind her, it just would have made her cry. He was her life and she flounders without him.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I know that I will see Dad again, and I can still hear his voice in my mind. I miss him so much with all of his thoughtful care for his girls, but I know he wouldn't want to be back here if offered the chance.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Before Dad died, others I knew passed away and I was saddened to see them leave us, but with Dad gone I have a heartfelt wish to be reunited with him one day, hopefully soon.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dad had a windmill on his property that said "Praise Jesus." I am sure he agrees that was the perfect message to put on it. One day soon I will be joining Dad in bowing before Christ's throne doing exactly that.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Happy birthday to my dear father in heaven. Can't wait to see you again, Dad.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">==================================================</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">On this the day of my Dad's birth, I know nothing would make him happier if anyone who happens to read this without knowing Christ would put their simple faith in Him to save them from their sins. Our God is so gracious, all He asks is that we believe in Him, that He took the punishment we deserve when He died for us on the cross. You can have brand new life and look forward to heaven, just as I do today.</span></span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. John 5: 24</span></blockquote>
inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-22918802081075282242018-03-31T11:02:00.001-07:002018-03-31T11:02:50.213-07:00Useful to Him<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNp3bpcgMax_lPYMwE-QEs_mp1sW3baAtGKxbcbkxNx8FlfNCsmTuQNGnxmPI0t97uOrXo7_njluipJXk2QKE07uIl6JaEmynfYUmjbUQEBUAcx24SNfLZZvnQhUTOD4o45593XSi1gPM/s1600/100_2814.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNp3bpcgMax_lPYMwE-QEs_mp1sW3baAtGKxbcbkxNx8FlfNCsmTuQNGnxmPI0t97uOrXo7_njluipJXk2QKE07uIl6JaEmynfYUmjbUQEBUAcx24SNfLZZvnQhUTOD4o45593XSi1gPM/s400/100_2814.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And that its tender shoots will not cease.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Though its root may grow old in the earth, And its stump may die in the ground,</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yet at the scent of water it will bud And bring forth branches like a plant. Job 14: 7-9</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I took this picture last year, around this same time, when I was staying with my mother. I was fascinated to see the pussy willow trees bearing glorious golden buds, right on cue for the spring season, though it was still cold. Yet these little friends did not live to see spring. As we prepared to get the house ready to sell, a month or two later the lovely weeping willow trees were cut down, much to my chagrin, in order to give a better view of the fields below and the rolling hills behind them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I sometimes think about things that more logical minds might think are silly. Like those beautiful buds, even though they soon were cut down, were a wondrous creation by God that gave beauty and glorified Him. God knew the exact moment they would be cut down, and yet He let them bud. He wanted me to see them, and to praise Him for His glory displayed in His creation. It was almost as if I were a little child, beholding them for the first time that day. I never saw up close how pretty the buds were until I was a 55 year old woman. How many more wonders will await us in the New Jerusalem?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now Mom is in an assisted living facility, and despite our efforts to encourage her, she finds her life is short on joy and long on despair most days. My Dad has been gone about 1 1/2 years now, and she misses him so much. It is hard for her to find a reason to still be on this earth, even though we try to remind her that God's time for Him to take her home is perfect, and we just have to trust Him in spite of what we feel. I want her to believe that God has a use for her if only she will trust Him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I 've been reading the book: <i>Amma: The Life and Words of Amy Carmichael </i>by Elizabeth Skoglund. I wrote about Amy and her mission in Dohnavur, India in my own book, <i>Sure Mercies: Hope for the Suffering</i>. What a beautiful testimony of faith she bore.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Amy rescued hundreds of orphans from the temples in India, but in her old age, she had a severe back injury which left her an invalid for the last twenty years of her life. In much pain, Amy used this time to write many books and lovely poems. She did not give in to despair.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> In this book I found a quote about old age and how we can still flourish in it. Most beautifully, Amy wrote:</span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;">Dear Companions in the Patience, do some of you find it hard to be contented to grow old?... Perhaps your thoughts have said, O to feel well for just five minutes! Listen, and perhaps you will hear something like this: My child, you will feel well for all Eternity. Your thoughts have said, Nothing else would matter if only I could be of use to someone. Listen and you may hear the gentle rebuke, <b>My child, look out of the window. I find a use for the smallest leaf and bud on the tree, even the smallest drop of dew on the grass; can I not find a use for even you*?</b>..."</span></blockquote>
Amma: The Life and Words of Amy Carmichael by Elizabeth R. Skoglund, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1994, page 46. Quoted from Carmichael's book, <i>Though the Mountains Shake.</i><br />
emphasis mine<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">With the knowledge that every bud, every drop of rain is useful, so I want to make my life useful to Him. I fail constantly, but it is my prayer each day to present myself to Him a living sacrifice (Romans 12:2).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In this season of Easter, I think of how He was a dying sacrifice for the whole world. For any and all who will believe in Him He offers a purpose for each moment, even though at times it seems the sun hides its face and the gloom is palpable.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">All the promises of His first advent came true, so we can trust that His promises to us about His return will prove true as well. One day soon, there will be the sound of a trumpet, and all those who have died in Christ will rise...</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><blockquote class="tr_bq">
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed--in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. </blockquote>
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For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.</blockquote>
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So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."</blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?"</span></blockquote>
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The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.</blockquote>
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But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.</blockquote>
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I Corinthians 15: 51-57<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So hang on, dear friends. In the midst of the swirl of confusion, plant your hope in the One who cannot lie. Like the beautiful buds on the trees and flowers, we can have the wonderful privilege of revealing a tiny bit of His glory. One day soon, we will hear the trumpet sound.</span><br />
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inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-62451899725741216582018-03-15T12:41:00.002-07:002018-03-15T12:41:52.461-07:00Waking from Winter Slumber<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtRXA5jrW48jPwnDgfkdtivyIUhKgI8Zje9x6zq8scCWgbSQxhyipZ3JVAdza_7TGEXOv7Mg0HenxG107bH_SRDmbNpih9POpqPgHc9BWFHAR0h_MlQNroIK_8fTccGhyphenhyphenavVkwhUFZW4k/s1600/100_3423.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtRXA5jrW48jPwnDgfkdtivyIUhKgI8Zje9x6zq8scCWgbSQxhyipZ3JVAdza_7TGEXOv7Mg0HenxG107bH_SRDmbNpih9POpqPgHc9BWFHAR0h_MlQNroIK_8fTccGhyphenhyphenavVkwhUFZW4k/s400/100_3423.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">"Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.<br />"He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him.<br />"So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth." Hos. 6:1-3</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is a yearly ritual, when the warmth starts to tease us for a day or two but winter won't quite let go. I know they will be there...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"> I search for my tiny purple snow crocuses that faithfully return somewhere between winter and spring, even if only for a couple days. And there they were, waiting for me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The day I took this picture, I was awaiting a big operation, one I was not relishing. Just a day or two later I was under the knife for more than four hours as the surgeon fixed my hiatal hernia and took biopsies. You see, my breath had become shorter and shorter as of late. Even walking up a flight of steps was so tiring. I've been winded for years, but not like this. I had this funny bump on my forearm for over a year and finally went to the dermatologist. I thought it might have been precancerous or something but it came back as sarcoidosis.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Sarcoidosis, how come I had never heard of it before?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thought to be somewhat like an autoimmune condition, these non-caseating granulomas start to grow in your body. The main place they attack is the lungs. When I saw a CT scan filled with nodules, we wanted to find out for sure if this was sarcoidosis and not cancer. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now we have a diagnosis, and will try to treat it with the help of my pulmonologist. Hopefully medicines will calm the little buggers from growing anymore or invading any more organs.Yet having this</span><span style="font-size: large;"> diagnosis has not made me cry, not really.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> After many years of choosing worry over fear, this time I choose not to fear, but to live in the reality of God's unfailing love.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"> A couple of posts ago, I wrote about numbering my days. At the time, things hadn't flared up yet with my lungs. Now I see why I wrote it. The Lord really does want me to number them, because just like those little friends that popped up from the cold, barren ground to say hello to me for a day or two, human life is just as fragile.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil. Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain." Job 14: 1-2</blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The first couple of days home it was all I could do just to lie in the recliner most of the day. But it hit me, if my days are numbered (and they are) then what really matters?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There are too many choices and distractions, but One book and One Person whom my soul longs for. Every time I long for Him, He is there, faithful, while the things of the world seem so empty.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Outside my window today I hear the winds roaring, just like the March lion. My tiny friends are slumped over in the grass. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I face a tough road ahead to try and get this mystery disease under control. But I thank Him for it all, because He is using it to awaken me from my own winter slumber, to know what it means to abide in His love, to have that perfect love cast out all my fear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">His love has allowed this, I will not ask why. Just as those tiny crocus displays His glory, it is my prayer that I will too. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">If there is something big looming in your life right now, I know He will show Himself utterly faithful as you simply trust Him. He loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-70508923247998649412018-02-28T11:38:00.000-08:002018-02-28T11:38:35.203-08:00The Life-Saving Cross<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDXOjogJjeeq2gvFZVdd89zv5xGxP4JisJ6x8MxoTVRmxiS0SBxAffbC7doaVuCIiprUG1yFUFS_7F-VmNkJvmhdZQkv41tnXLtyuLBNM4ClOxrh7C1gMzivvuTgNpreRUkkyLldJtyPQ/s1600/100_1216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDXOjogJjeeq2gvFZVdd89zv5xGxP4JisJ6x8MxoTVRmxiS0SBxAffbC7doaVuCIiprUG1yFUFS_7F-VmNkJvmhdZQkv41tnXLtyuLBNM4ClOxrh7C1gMzivvuTgNpreRUkkyLldJtyPQ/s400/100_1216.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God... For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified... I Cor.1:18-22a</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We all are given the gift of twenty four hours each day. How we spend them is up to us. In this busy world of multi-tasking it "seems" foolish to spend a chunk of time each morning reading the Bible and in prayer. </span><span style="font-size: large;">But in this time, I find daily rest for a soul that is so weary of this world.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">My sister is weary of this world too. Just yesterday I encouraged her to come away from it all and to take the time just to be with Him, just to hear His voice and find refreshment for her struggling soul.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The Word is the only protection we have against the lies ready to bombard us from the media and in the world in general. It is also our protection against our own efforts to be "good" in and of ourselves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And why can't we be good? The Bible tells us flat out that there is none good in Romans 3:12. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As I have been faithfully taught, we can't "do" right if we don't "think" right first. But how can we think right if we are fallen beings, prone to the constant lure of sin and doubt?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The answer is taking His cross.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The blessing of this is that I apply this cross to my own right to form my own opinions and judgments of others, or even to how I think God thinks of me. I may think I "know" how a person is (as if I'm omniscient) or how a certain situation may unfold. But the Word tells me, <i>not to be saved, but if I want to be a disciple</i>, that I must lose my own life and take up my cross daily to follow Him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">That sounds hard, right? Taking up a cross daily? But really it is grace, because it saves us from ourselves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">If we look at Matthew 11: 28-30 we see that cross is really our salvation from the tyranny of our old person who wants to stay on the throne and have his own way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11: 28-30</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Many years ago, I questioned if that statement was really truthful. Deep down, I believed the Lord was a hard taskmaster, demanding things just too hard for me, walking around in constant condemnation. I figured in my heart that this could not be true, but until I understood that it is grace from start to finish did I grow to love this passage.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>"Come</b>,"# 1204, deuro,...calling or encourageing and may be translated, "come," "come hither" as an exclamation or an imperative (command) </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">EW Bullinger in the Companion Bible says of "come" : "Here Christ refers, not to sins, but to service, not to guilt, but to labour; not to the conscience, but to the heart; not to repentance, but to learning; not to finding forgiveness, but to finding rest."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">of the word <b>all, </b>Bullinger continues that this word is limited to those seeking "rest"</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Heavy laden</b>: is the Greek word #5412 phortizo*, "to load up"...to overburden with ceremony (or spiritual anxiety): be heavy laden, load.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>rest </b>is the word anapauo, #373 "to repose... to refresh--... relax (give, take) rest. When used as a noun, it means "rest, quiet, from occupation, oppression, or torment."*</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Bullinger says of rest: "Ours must be found in His gift. We have none to give."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Take</b> is the Greek word airo "To take up and place on oneself, to take up and bear, meaning to bear, carry His yoke.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Learn </b>is #3129, manthano: "ask, learn, study, be taught...particularly: intellectually, from others or from study or observation." </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">A disciple is a disciplined learner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jesus said He was <b>gentle. </b>#4235, it is defined praios, or in the ESV, # 4239 praus, an adjective meaning meek, mild, gentle</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Creator of this universe is meek, mild and gentle toward us, and pities us in all our troubles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Humble </b>is #5011, tapeinos- primarily signifies low-lying. This same thought of Christ's humility is expounded in Philippians 2.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In verse 30 is where is where this passage really encourages me, for:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> His </span><b style="font-size: x-large;">yoke</b><span style="font-size: large;"> is #2218 zugos: serving to couple two things together is used 1) metaphorically, of submission to authority... not simply imparted by Him but shared with Him.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">This yoke is <b>easy</b>. This word is #5543, chrestos: easy, good, kind. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">In speaking of Christ's yoke, "as having nothing harsh or galling about it."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">and His burden is<b> light, </b>#1645, elaphros: light in weight, easy to bear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This Savior that I speak of longs for this intimate fellowship with every one of His dear children. When I find myself out of fellowship with Him, I simply can ask myself how I went off His path of an easy yoke and a light burden? I confess it, knowing it's already paid for, and again take up His gracious, life-saving cross.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law." Psalm 119:18-- consider in light of this wonderful passage. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I pray that God might bless anyone who reads this who may be worn down and burnt out, to find His yoke easy and burden light today. Amen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">References</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The Complete WordStudy Dictionary of the New Testament, Spiros Zodhiates</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Zodhiates, AMG's Annotated Strong's Greek Dictionary of the New Testament</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">https://www.blueletterbible.org/</span>inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-33449266002271487562018-02-12T14:24:00.000-08:002018-02-12T14:24:06.461-08:00Magnificent Monday<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirkKvCjyjpAzUCfQ5lcEU1IfEy-4s2BUnsycbrTReyasRaKt_RVXKAVbafZ_dMlIs2crAWMN5R_7qJKoj7Bp_pgXp6DqI_zC8DHzB9nbZsEr9Yocmv6PA7GAGir4J-mr2GYuCCLBV3EE0/s1600/100_3378.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirkKvCjyjpAzUCfQ5lcEU1IfEy-4s2BUnsycbrTReyasRaKt_RVXKAVbafZ_dMlIs2crAWMN5R_7qJKoj7Bp_pgXp6DqI_zC8DHzB9nbZsEr9Yocmv6PA7GAGir4J-mr2GYuCCLBV3EE0/s400/100_3378.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So happy with the beautiful colors on my first bed sized quilt.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As his divine power has given to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us by glory and virtue,through which he has given to us the greatest and precious promises, that through these ye may become partakers of [the] divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. II Peter 1: 3-4 (Darby)</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Monday, Monday,"goes the song by the Mamas and the Papas. How often I have dreaded the day called Monday. For it ended the recreation of the weekend, and time to go back to school-- (grroan! way back when!) or back to work. As if God would not be faithful in the challenges of the new week. To be honest, don't a lot of people hate Mondays?</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I thought about it: One seventh, or approximately 8 years of my life so far has been composed of Mondays. How many have I wasted in dread?</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Today I put on my bed the quilt I've made over the last six months or so. It is my first bigger one and there are many mistakes, if you look on the back. I mainly used scraps of fabrics I had on hand. Like on the quilt, I got to thinking about the many tints and colors of God's grace, bestowed upon me in this life. As the lovely pastel colors, the promises of God are variegated and beautiful, covering all the needs I have. In I Peter 4:10, we learn about this many tinted grace:</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As every man hath received the gift, [even so] minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The word for manifold is poikilos. It is #4164 in Strong's and is defined this way: </span></div>
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<span class="Gk" style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Gk" id="yui-gen59" style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">ποικίλος</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span class="strgtrans" id="yui-gen58" style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">poikílos,</span><span style="background-color: white;"> poy-kee'-los; of uncertain derivation; motley, i.e. various in character:—divers, manifold.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4164&t=KJV</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Getting back to Mondays ,this morning I realized instead of just asking God for things I wanted, I could instead give him thanks for things, and turn all my requests into thanksgiving. In this way, I could demonstrate that I knew ahead of time He would take care of all the things I was concerned about. So instead of making my usual requests, I would say, for example, "Thank you for how you are working in so and so's life, in spite of the fact that I don't see by sight any answers." More and more things to be thankful for came to mind.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I decided on Mondays it would be a good day to give him thanks for all His blessings in all of my life. Just thank Him for physical blessings, for who He is, for all the things I take for granted everyday. Just about every request I had could somehow be turned into a way of praising and thanking Him instead.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I need to tell you this was not my original thought, thanking instead of always asking. Long ago this was suggested to me by a dear friend who not only gave this advice, but lives it and demonstrates it before others. As a result, she radiates peace and tranquility even in the midst of storms.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Eureka! Mondays are a day to give Him thanks. Instead of groaning facing a new week, I can instead praise Him. When I look at it in this wonderful new way, I realized that Mondays are indeed magnificent.</span></div>
inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-17904155454461265822018-01-21T15:53:00.000-08:002018-01-21T15:54:34.251-08:00Really Loving Myself<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;">So shall they fear The name of the LORD from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him. Isaiah 59:19</span></span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Have you noticed the enemy raging against God's children in a present day tsunami? Have you sensed that something has changed, that life is not going on as usual? Especially around the time of the holidays I feel it in my bones: desperation as people search for happiness anywhere, everywhere, except the one place where they really could find it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">I used to think that loving myself was to indulge myself, to be a little selfish and to put myself first. That's the world's way, looking out for number one. But I find there is a different way to love myself spelled out in the Bible. In a simple Proverb, we learn that to love ourself is to allow our mind to be saturated with <b>His mind</b>.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; He who keeps understanding will find good. Proverbs 19:8 </span></blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;"> <span style="font-size: large;">If I love myself, I'll acquire wisdom. The only wisdom there really is comes from God and we are all given enough time to acquire it, that is, if we want it. But how easily we find other things that are more important. But the time is short. The accuser storms in like a flood. How can I ever resist him?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">I overcome him by taking time to feed myself in the Word of God. It is not just a good idea, it's our life, especially in these last days. Jude 1:3 tells us we must earnestly contend for our faith. Satan is pulling out all the stops, how can we ever resist his wiles? How did Jesus resist him?</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.</span></blockquote>
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And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.</blockquote>
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Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."</blockquote>
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But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' " Matt. 4:1-4</blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Every word of God is important. I have one life, one life only. I was thinking the other day, I am in my midfifties. Say I live another twenty years. Roughly, I have about 7500 days left. That isn't a whole lot of days after all, is it?</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Jesus mastered the Torah by the time He was twelve, so much so that all the teachers were amazed by His knowledge. One might object, "But He was the Son of God."</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">In Philippians 2:5-7 we are told that in His first appearing, Jesus laid aside His prerogative as Deity to fully identify with us as a man. If that is true, He did not use that Divine ability in learning the Torah, but His humanity learned it. And if He mastered it, then He wants me to do the same thing, as demonstrated in the story of Mary and Martha:</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.</span></blockquote>
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And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word.</blockquote>
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But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me."</blockquote>
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And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.</blockquote>
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"But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:38-42</blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">The part Mary chose, sitting at Jesus' feet and learning from Him, was the one thing that would not be taken away when she reached the end of her days on earth and faced eternity.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"> My mind is not quite as sharp as in my thirties and forties. Today, I was visiting Mom and stooped down to get something off the floor and I had to grab hold of something in order to pull myself back up. That wouldn't have happened ten years ago but each day a tiny bit of the physical vitality of the young me fades away. Yet God's Word gives me spiritual vitality in spite of increasing frailty.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">A complex time on Planet Earth requires God's Divine solution: humbling myself and my own preconceived notions and ideas and learning and leaning on His mind instead. That's what I'm here for, the one thing that will stand the test of time and eternity.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">"And this is eternal life, that they may <b>know</b> You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. John 17:3</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">He is the One I long for. To love me is to learn Him while I have my being.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dear Father, I ask that You would graciously incline our hearts to want to know You first and foremost in our remaining days. For the glory of Your name, Amen.</span> </span><br />
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inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-17481466806488138872018-01-06T18:23:00.001-08:002018-01-06T18:23:16.099-08:00Me... and a Key<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">For He says to the snow, 'Fall [on] the earth'; Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">He seals the hand of every man, That all men may know His work. Job 37:5-7</span><br />
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This is a story about losing a key twice, and how God is faithful and cares even about little trifles like losing keys, especially ones that are quite expensive to replace. You see, I have two keys for two cars on the same key ring. A couple months ago, somehow part of the chain that carried the key for the smaller car became separated from the main ring. That key was for the little car, but I was driving the big car that day and did not realize the little chain came off the big one. The next time I looked down, I realized part of the keychain was missing and with that the expensive car key for my little car. It was on a Sunday and I took my Mom to church that day.<br />
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I think it was a day or two later when I noticed it missing so I tried to backtrack in where all I had been since then, calling the diner where we had breakfast and the church. No one was at the church at the moment, but I did get hold of the pastor at his home number. I asked him if anyone had turned in some keys or if he had found some but he reported no. I told him thank you and told him not to make a special trip out there to look for it, as the weather was not the best that day.<br />
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I put a little note on my facebook with a small request that prayers could be made to find it, even saying it was a dumb request. Many wrote they were praying, and that it was not dumb at all to ask for prayer for such a tiny little thing as a lost key.<br />
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Though I thought the key was a goner, when my cell phone rang it looked like the number I called before. The pastor called, he kindly went out of his way to go over and look for the key and found that it had fallen off my keychain just where I parked the car on Sunday morning. It was just laying there in the gravel and had my husband's tag on it, so there was no question it was mine. He gave it to my son, making a special trip to their house to give him the key. I thanked him profusely when I saw him the next Sunday and breathed a big sigh of relief.<br />
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You would think I would have learned my lesson, then, when I got my oil changed the other day and had to take the key for the little car off the ring. Even though I could almost here a little voice saying, "You'd better put it back before you lose it," I put it off. I decided to ask my husband to do it because it is hard with small fingers to get that thick key back on the ring. I even put them out so he would see them, but forgot to ask him.<br />
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The next thing you know, I had to run an errand and needed to look for something in the little car before leaving in the big one. ] I looked for my item and then put the single key in my jacket pocket because I needed to leave. Little did I know but the key slipped right out of my pocket into the space between the driver's seat and the console.<br />
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Yesterday, when I realized it was gone, I went out into the bitter cold and looked everywhere in both cars for the key. It was so cold I could not stay out there long but finally my husband said to come in, that was enough looking though. I stewed and stewed over the loss of the key until finally I realized I should just commit it to God.<br />
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After I thawed out a bit, I again asked facebook friends to pray a second time, a few months later, for that same lost key. I was so touched that many people responded and told me they were praying. Indeed, a friend from a writer's conference wrote out a beautiful prayer to God right then and there asking God to directly lead me to the key so that I would be able to go and do the things He would have me to do. I was touched by her taking the time to write that out and her faith that God would answer.<br />
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This morning, my husband again encouraged me not to worry. I put on my clothes to face the elements to look a second time and I decided to pray the same prayer silently that my friend had written on facebook.<br />
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And then God came through, just like we asked Him. I climbed in the driver's seat, looked down in the little space between the chair and the console, and saw something black. I forced my hand down and the item moved, so I knew it was not part of the seat itself. I scrounged my hand around and picked up a very cold black car key.<br />
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I thought about it a bit. Here I put my dilemma out for so many to see on facebook. I thought that maybe when God answered, it would not only be for my sake but for the sake of others too. For my friend prayed specifically and God answered specifically. Not because I deserved or earned it, but because He is in control of all the details of our lives, even our stupid mistakes.<br />
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He showed me and my praying friends He is Immanuel, right there with us in all the little details of our lives. He not only answers the big requests but also the ones due to our own carelessness. After all, He is the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our distresses.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' Jer. 33:3</span></blockquote>
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<br />inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-82235083473267468232017-12-31T18:24:00.000-08:002017-12-31T18:24:01.016-08:00Skip the Regrets and Forge Forward in Faith in 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">"What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous? Job 15:14</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">I am but a silly sheep in the great<i> I AM </i>'s overflowing pasture, and I lose my way all the time. He rescues me daily from my own bad decisions and keeps me in life. (Psalm 66:9) Yet the Bible says I am pure if I am washed in the blood of the Lamb. I am without spot and blameless. I share in Christ's very righteousness.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">"Yes, <i>but</i>....!" I've said in my heart a million times. My own heart wants to readily condemn me. The voice in my heart demands to be heard. Yet God is far greater than that voice...</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. I John 3:21</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue;"> At certain times, like at night when I toss and turn, the thoughts of what I should have done and could have done come back to nip at my conscience. Finally, I am able to put the day into the wastebasket and He gives me rest.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">The trouble is<i> I know</i> what is in my heart. I know that I fall short of God's righteous requirements. And Jesus does too.He knows I can never clean up the mess within my own heart. But somehow He still loves me, not because of anything desirable in me, but because of who and what He is. There is nothing in Him less than absolute love and perfection. He knows that if I spent the next billion years trying in my flesh to be like Him I would never produce even one good thing.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">So He waits. He wants only for me to trust Him. He alone will produce anything good that comes from me by His grace. After all these years of walking with the Lord, I only see more of my failures. That's a good thing, though. It's good to be weakened, to be reminded that I am only made of dust, so that I look only to my Perfect Savior. He too was made of dust, but now is in an incorruptible body that has triumphed for once and all over sins and failures and death.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Thank God, this Perfect Savior does not see me the way I see myself. I say in my heart, "But Lord, remember the time I did this, or though that, or didn't do what I thought You wanted me to?"</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">But that's ridiculous to entertain that, for He tells us:</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Heb. 8: 12</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue;">If I believe the Bible, I must cast these thoughts off as vain imaginations. These feelings of guilt and regret do not make me more valuable or pious to God. They only serve to prove that my eyes are on myself and not on the Finished Work sacrifice that He made, once for all.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">If He said it was finished, it was finished. No matter how bad I botch things, my sins, past, present and future have all been a part of what we could call Job's bag and thrown on Christ, once for all.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">"My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And You wrap up my iniquity." Job 14:15</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue;">In the updated 1992 version of<i> Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest</i> today, it gently and kindly reminded me, when once again I was ready to beat myself up for falling short that it is about looking ahead, not looking behind, as we reach this last day of the year 2017.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"> "It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return...Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ. Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him." </span></blockquote>
inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-30109613180858864452017-12-21T13:57:00.000-08:002017-12-21T13:59:09.385-08:00Make a Little Bright<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: blue;">For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">II Corinthians 13:4</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue;">Our adversary is slick. He studies our countenance to see what kinds of thoughts he can throw at us to try to knock us out of God's plan. But he makes the thought seem like it is our thought, so we don't realize it is an attack upon our mind, an effort to deride any good thing that the Lord might be working in us.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">I saw this so clearly today. I go on Thursdays to the assisted living place where my Mom is now and each week I share a chapter of my book <i>Sure Mercies: Hope for the Suffering</i>, with any who want to come in the back dining room at 10 am. But today, I planned on staying on even after that.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">About 6 weeks ago, I started thinking about something small I could do for the residents. I deliberated and looked on Pinterest, googling ideas back and forth when finally I came up with something. I like to sew and I have lots of materials from the years. I found a pattern on Pinterest for a little sheep. I could make one for each of them. I copied the pattern onto parchment paper and set to cutting out some 60 sheep bodies, heads, arms and legs. I just wanted to give the residents something to let them know that God cared about them, that Jesus died for them, and to try to spread God's Good News of salvation through a little poem I wrote and attached to a ribbon and tied around each one.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">A couple of days ago I felt this sense of dread about the whole thing. I felt that everyone there would despise them and the staff people would laugh at me for being a "do-gooder." But it wasn't like I was working to "try" and please God in making them, I enjoyed the whole process of sewing them together and even wrapping them. It's hard to explain but I felt this oppression. I even cried a couple times yesterday.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">I woke up still feeling heavy inside. But as I began reading my Bible this morning, God blessed me so much in His Word and I just felt that burden lift off my shoulders. </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">God, You are my God, I eagerly seek You. I thirst for You; my body faints for You; in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water. So I gaze on You in the sanctuary to see Your strength and Your glory. My lips will glorify You because Your faithful love is better than life. </span>Psalm 63: 1-3 </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue;">I took a couple minutes to pray to the Father and I asked my little sister and my husband and son and daughter in law also to pray for me today when I handed them out.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">All I can say is I was so deceived by the enemy in feeling intimidated in sharing my gifts with the old folks there. Some of them were so surprised that I had a gift for them and their faces lit with joy. Seeing that joy on their faces was more than enough to fill my soul with blessings.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">It can be gloomy in my corner of the country, and often the darkness really can get to some of us. But today, there was just a little brightness added to my day and to their day, and to think that I thought of chucking the whole idea. Like I said, the enemy must have seen my needless worry on my countenance and tried to win a victory on this the shortest and darkest day of the year.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">But once again, our adversary was defeated by the Word of God.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." </span>Revelation 12:11</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue;">When God is glorified, people are blessed, plain and simple. God's glory is for man's good. So let us lift Him up, unashamed, in this dark world. I remembered suddenly this lovely quote by Edward Everett Hale, and realized how it can apply to small, tiny efforts to spread the love of Christ: <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span> </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">When I hear and see of all the terrible things in the world today, sometimes I feel like I can't do anything, it's hopeless. But seeing the light in the residents faces reminded me that is just not true. When I am weak, then He is strong. Praise be to His name.</span><br />
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<br />inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-3009363239922120752017-12-13T14:21:00.001-08:002017-12-13T14:21:55.189-08:00Hope from Christ in the Winter of Life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Acts 14:17</h3>
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Last night I went to a Christmas party at the assisted living center where my Mom now lives. I am there pretty frequently these days and am getting to know the residents. How is it that there are so many people living in assisted living and nursing homes and I can relate to them better now than any other time in my life? </div>
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When I was young, every summer we drove halfway across the country to visit my Dad's mother who lived in a nursing home in a small town in Iowa. When we went there, I didn't take time to talk to the other residents, I was just there to see her. I did not view it particularly as a sad place, but for me saying goodbye was always tough. The reality is that people go to these places to die. It is their last stop after a long life.</div>
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Some of them are happy and lively, some are not. "Life is hard," my Mom reminded me last night.</div>
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"Yes, life is hard, Mom. I see it now," I could have said to her.</div>
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We joined all the others for the party in the dining hall as people scrambled to find a place to sit. Some were struggling with Alzheimers, one was blind, others had dementia. They all were there because they needed to be there for one reason or another.</div>
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As we came in, we were going to sit at the table where she eats, but one of her table mates snapped that what, were we planning on coming at midnight? Now it was too late for us to sit there, the seats were gone. She scowled at us for not being there earlier, but I didn't want her mood to get Mom down. I remained cheerful and eventually we were seated in the middle of the room, facing the beverage table and with a good view of the musicians there to sing to us all.</div>
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People who have a hard time remembering what they did a few hours ago remember the lyrics to the Christmas songs, like "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindoor" and Jingle Bells. But we also sang songs that reflected the true meaning of Christmas like Silent Night. A real treat was listening to singers perform the Christmas version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. I closed my eyes and though there was lots of room noise, I focused on the lyrics and the incredulity that God Incarnate came down to dwell with broken people like us.</div>
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Then, "Santa" and "Mrs. Claus" arrived to wish all the residents a Merry Christmas and hand out little bags with small gifts and candy inside. I thought to myself, "This is the first Christmas where my Mom is a resident at a home." Just like a little child getting candy, she eagerly took her gift bag from Santa.</div>
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Before the party, I attended a ladies Bible study across town. I hadn't been there for a while. It was a bit treacherous getting there with snow coming down but I had a 4 wheel drive and was OK, even going through the Fort Pitt tunnel. The day before, I really felt the seasonal affective blahs. I knew the day would be long and dark if I didn't brave the weather and go meet with likeminded ladies.</div>
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Though I drove 45 minutes to get there, I was reminded of why shortly after my arrival. I needed the encouragement that God's plan is grace. It is not based on merit that I can stand before God but on what the Son did for me that made me acceptable to God. How is it that we so easily forget that?</div>
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And so, when I reached the assisted living last night for the party on a bitter December night, that love and grace was still sustaining me and filling me. I realize I am starting to get attached to some of my Mom's companions and enjoy being in their company. It won't be long 'til I am in their shoes.</div>
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There are some there who are believers and some who are not interested in faith. It makes a difference, I think, as their end draws near. For the believers, they are confident that soon they will make an exit to a "better resurrection," that they will not be stuck with their limitations forever. I can see joy in their faces when we talk about Christ at our little devotions on Thursdays. Sadly, those who have said "No" to God all their lives seem unable to change their minds at this point in life. I am sure there are those who do, but they are the exception.</div>
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Looking at the residents there last night, I was overwhelmed with the fact that God loves us and wants a relationship with each one of us. He still honors our free choice, though, even when we are old and frail. Yet any time, any day, any person can simply take the free gift of salvation God so generously offers us. Then we truly can have a Merry Christmas, no matter what we are going through. For we possess the greatest gift of all: Christ living inside of us and sharing with us His gift of eternal life.</div>
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And so I will continue to share the good news, for "now" is the appointed time, now is the season. It is always a good time to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and Christmas is a time when we can truly think about why we are celebrating anyway.</div>
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It's about Christ. God with us, Immanuel. He will be with His children always, even to the end of their lives.</div>
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inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-75166318891728275972017-11-28T12:07:00.000-08:002017-11-28T12:07:00.081-08:00Looking for Truth in a world of lies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."</span><span style="font-size: large;">Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Pilate was looking at the Truth, and still he asked what Truth was. In the world today, many people ask the same question, and even though they are not Pilate, they too are judging whether or not they concur with the claims Jesus made about Himself are true or just a lie.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis talked about the claims Jesus made of Himself. Lewis said we cannot say that Jesus, after all the things He said and did while on earth, was merely a great moral teacher. He continues:</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thank God I decided many years ago to believe the claims Jesus made about Himself. I hope you, my dear reader have made that same choice too.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I look at this world. It grows more confusing every day. The lies become bolder and bolder, and Christianity becomes more and more foreign to this world. Only God's Word speaks the truth to us, but as time goes on, it gets more and more difficult to see the Truth in the midst of a haze of lies. And the lies seep into the church so subtly when we are not careful.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I get discouraged, or feel let down by the way of the world, I have only one choice. Turn back to the mirror of the Word of God and find out who God says, not what the world says, I am. Look to the only Source in this universe that has not been tainted with the lies of the devil: the pure and holyWord of God. Jesus is the Word of God, and He is the Truth. He will not lie to me, He will not lie period.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is an old Larry Norman song that says: "Why Not Look into Jesus? He's got the answer." And we will find the answers when we look into His Word.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The world lies to us all the time. In fact, we've been hearing lies since the day we were born. I remember hearing a quote once that said something like this: "If you don't think you can be deceived, you're deceived already." </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But we have one thing in this world that will not lie to us, it is the Book that God gave us to learn of Him. We each have so much time left this in this world, and the best way to use that time is to learn of a Person in the Book He lovingly left to us.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the end, that will be the only thing that matters.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you are not in the habit of reading the Bible, may I suggest to you to start reading it today? You don't have to read for hours, just start simple. The Gospel of John is a great place to start. I remember reading this gospel in college, although I'd been acquainted with the Bible for years, and it was like Christmas to me, finding such nuggets and promises in that lovely book. John 7:17 suddenly showed me that God was waiting for any person, anywhere who wanted Him to find Him. All of a sudden I saw His love and grace in a new way. But I never would have seen it if I had not found it for myself that day.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you are facing some difficulty, I plead with you, why not look into the Word of God and see what it has to say about the problem you are facing? If you have read this far, thank you so much. Find the Person of Truth in His precious book today.</span><br />
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inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-10916431075621630942017-11-23T08:38:00.000-08:002017-11-23T08:38:21.239-08:00Saved in Time by Giving Thanks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqLUcOl6jsnlmaGo_O6Kxq8eGZn70IDVk805Y5upX4R3UE_maZcLeNlguc7uRre-cZxL1bp6DLda5e1WPIzPkcyKNFruxj4VyYXcWbTYWuAG1HaxabEpB9OWNISOAjk8sDHtfEn-rxsi0/s1600/Buffalo+grazing+Custer+Nat%2527l+Pk+74+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="700" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqLUcOl6jsnlmaGo_O6Kxq8eGZn70IDVk805Y5upX4R3UE_maZcLeNlguc7uRre-cZxL1bp6DLda5e1WPIzPkcyKNFruxj4VyYXcWbTYWuAG1HaxabEpB9OWNISOAjk8sDHtfEn-rxsi0/s400/Buffalo+grazing+Custer+Nat%2527l+Pk+74+001.jpg" width="396" /></a></div>
<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">"For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">"I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">"If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">"Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats?</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High; </span><span style="font-size: large;">Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me." Psalm 50: 10-15</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Give thanks in everything, the Word of God tells us in I Thessalonians 5:18. One day, a few years ago, I wondered if that included wrecking my car watching as my airbag suddenly deployed and smoke arose from the front end of my car. Only one minute before, everything had been just fine, I had safely driven 300 miles then within a couple miles of my intended destination, a totalled car, and worse yet, hitting another car too.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">But the first thing that came into my mind was, "I guess I should give thanks." So I did. I know, it sounds crazy, doesn't it? </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">The only way I could give thanks in that situation was to believe that God was sovereign over every detail in my life. When I called my husband, being 300 miles from home, he reassured me that it was me he cared about, not the car. Every detail from that situation worked itself out.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">But that example, drastic as it may be, proves that God is not suggesting for us to give thanks, He is commanding us. How easily I forget this very thing when one of life's daily little annoyances happens, like when I drop freshly laundered clothing onto the basement floor, or spill food in the kitchen? Or when the cat throws up on the carpet? Everything in me shouts to not give thanks at that moment but to instead curse. But God wants me, wants us all, to give thanks in all things, and not just on Thanksgiving Day either.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Perhaps the very reason He asks that of His children is so that once again, we will be reminded that He is sovereign over every detail of our lives. He wants us to grow into a relationship of MORE, not less dependence, on Him. It is the opposite of how we raise our children. We want them to grow into independence from us, but God wants us to become like children, to depend on Him more and more for everything, just like Jesus His Son did when He walked upon this earth. He never acted independently from His Father, even when He face the ordeal of the cross.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">But I can think of another good reason to give thanks as well. It comes in the form of a warning that we read in the first chapter of the book of Romans.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue;">For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue;">Ingratitude can cause a slippery slope downhill. It is the first sin that can eventually end with a darkened heart. On the other hand, when we give thanks, it lightens our perplexed hearts, for in spite of what we see swirling around us, it reminds us that God is in control of not just some things, but all things. If He took care of us by paying for every single one of our sins before we were even born, then He can control the things that "seem" to be out of control in our fleeting lives on this earth.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">I came across this verse today from King Hezekiah as he discussed his recovery from what would have been a fatal illness in Isaiah 38:17. It encapsulates why we really can give thanks in all things:</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Indeed, it was for my own welfare that I had such great bitterness; <b><i>but Your love has delivered me from the Pit of destruction</i></b>, <b><i>for You have thrown all my sins behind Your back.</i></b></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;">Beside that, an attitude of gratitude helps our mental health. Think of the Exodus generation. They mumbled, grumbled, murmured and complained while God upheld the very sandals on their feet for 40 years as they wandered in the wilderness. Because they grumbled, they all ended up face down in the desert and it was their children who got to enter the Promised Land.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">They wandered for 40 years. 40 years! When I think back on my life, much of it has been like theirs, wandering in the wilderness even though Christ died for me and provided everything I needed for the spiritual life and godliness before I was even born. I want to give thanks every day for everything He either ordains or allows in my life. Only by His Spirit can I do so. But no worries...</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><b>For it is God who is working in you</b></i>, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose. Philippians 2: 13</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;">The Word then commands:</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world. Philippians 2: 14-15</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;"> I am still learning this simple lesson of the Christian life. When I give thanks, it makes life bearable. I am not only saved eternally, but also in time. Let us be saved from our own wretchedness by giving thanks not just on Thanksgiving, but every day. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Colossians 3:17</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-53323559485612636412017-11-12T16:02:00.000-08:002017-11-12T16:02:09.158-08:00Boxes of Blessings<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXxMBdZXEdKuytg6Ljt_JAw5Gf_OCIFW8gf2IHxg7LIZymWUkGq7xhia0NeS5kW7qi87GPCdkSOHCIcZnVv7lYaBr1b4SaUgtsV75FfXDV-o7pKJxpnAr-ic-Bf4ls6RAtK-RBM3iUaVA/s1600/101_3131.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXxMBdZXEdKuytg6Ljt_JAw5Gf_OCIFW8gf2IHxg7LIZymWUkGq7xhia0NeS5kW7qi87GPCdkSOHCIcZnVv7lYaBr1b4SaUgtsV75FfXDV-o7pKJxpnAr-ic-Bf4ls6RAtK-RBM3iUaVA/s400/101_3131.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Volunteers gather one rainy October afternoon to assemble 90 shoeboxes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For the needy shall </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. Psalm 9: 18</span></span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Ever been to a shoebox packing party? I attended my first a few weeks ago. My generous friend Donna collected hundreds of small items all year to place in shoeboxes sent overseas with Samaritan's Purse for Operation Christmas Child. She transformed her garage into a bright and cheerful place where believers from different churches throughout the community worked side by side to prepare boxes of blessings for children on the other side of the world, children who struggle just to survive.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Operation Christmas Child has a mission: to send gifts to poor children and take an opportunity to evangelize them with the <b>good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ</b>. Included in the boxes are things like small toys, toothbrushes, soap, a washcloth, toothpaste, pencils, crayons, notebooks, and other hygiene items. These things that may not mean much here, but to them mean everything, for they demonstrate in a small way the love and grace of Jesus toward the poor and needy.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: justify;">How could it be that life for these children is so radically different than our life in affluent America?One</span> shoebox goes to one child in any number of impoverished nations around the world. The results have been miraculous, even as my OCC volunteer friend told me that around 7 poor people are effected when just one child in their family receives a box. Parents and relatives also can come to learn about Jesus when their child receives a box.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Not necessary, but Donna provided us with delicious refreshments while we packed, and together we prayed over the boxes, that each box would go to its perfect recipient. We joined hands together and laid our hands on those boxes when we prayed. It was a distraction from the worries and cares of our affluent lifestyle here, and a way for parents to teach their kids about sharing too.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Families can fill boxes together and young children can learn about sharing during the season of "Gimme."</td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">One little shoebox represents the love of Christ. Lives have been changed, hundreds have come to a saving relationship with Christ through this ministry that is an offshoot of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association and run by Franklin Graham.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">I first learned about OCC seven years ago when I went to a Christian concert and benefit for OCC with my sister in Parkersburg WV. I got an empty box to take home to fill. When I came home, I looked on the computer to find a church nearby that collected shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse. I found a Methodist church not far from my home and took the filled box there. I met some kind volunteers who are now friends, they have volunteered countless hours for the sake of this Christmas project for children that we will never see, yet will experience joy in receiving a simple gift. We even enclosed our photo and wrote the little child a note. (Not necessary, but optional.)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">It is not hard to fill a box. If you go to the website for Samaritan's Purse you can find out where to take the box, what to pack, what not to pack, and many other questions you might have. You can also find other ways to share with the needy of this world through Samaritan's Purse.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b>Please copy and paste into your browser to visit their site: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">Last year at the same Methodist church I heard the testimony of a boy whose life was radically changed by receiving one of these boxes. This young man was from Eastern Europe and lived in a care home, starving for love and attention. He shared one towel to wash his face with about ten other boys. This boy did not know that God loved him, or what God's Son had done to save him by dying on the cross. He was despondent, almost suicidal. One day in the orphanage he heard a commotion: people had come and were handing out boxes. He hurried to join the group before the boxes were all delivered. When he received his, he was amazed to find that his box contained his very own washcloth. How that simple gift gave him hope that maybe there could be a God. He went on to learn about God's Son, and was one day adopted by a loving Christian family. Last year he travelled with Samaritan's Purse and told audiences that the simple gift helped open his cold and desperate heart to the love of Jesus. One person in the audience asked him what gift in the box meant the most and it was the washcloth. Something we take for granted, a clean towel, meant so much to someone who had almost nothing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b>This week is "Collection Week," where all across the country people will be bringing packed boxes to collection centers. </b>For each box you pack, you pay a $9 fee for the shipping and distribution costs. If you pay this online, you receive a number and a label that you can print off your computer to attach to your box. </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"> When the box is distributed you will receive an email from Samaritan's Purse that reveals what country your box was delivered to. If you prefer not to do it that way, you can also donate at the collection center to receive your label. </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">At the website, You can optionally also donate an additional amount to provide a small book called The Greatest Journey that teaches newly saved children how to grow in their relationship with Jesus.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">It is not hard to do this. It's a small way to show love to someone, someone we won't probably ever meet on this side of eternity. But just imagine, someday we could meet that child in heaven, one who had next to nothing, who received a box of blessing, and had their eternal destiny changed forever.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3YT0yGNGn-tPFAub2GAO0TU5759OMjhsq9chDWr9rWqvsJT3ez-PjL7BfkXbh28cXowZ-yZqHdiOJwMB8hEKaB979HvzPyvEBNRNkyugjwVkISj5Ip8tabcDkh5TtLpVx02o73GFNek/s1600/20171028_153226.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: blue;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3YT0yGNGn-tPFAub2GAO0TU5759OMjhsq9chDWr9rWqvsJT3ez-PjL7BfkXbh28cXowZ-yZqHdiOJwMB8hEKaB979HvzPyvEBNRNkyugjwVkISj5Ip8tabcDkh5TtLpVx02o73GFNek/s320/20171028_153226.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">Here is little ole me with one of the shoeboxes I packed.</span></td></tr>
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inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-19460819313426564602017-10-31T16:24:00.000-07:002017-10-31T16:24:01.117-07:00When Men's Words Fail us<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv-p11N5X26mf7s6MiSBnEijqdfnNP4TwrFcpP80xBh8vSa2OwqVzPh3iJNEeFCGkZT6pm3QmnYihIelM3Dr_S54wKfMqFDrelxXEOvy-K9QahZowm3EAsETw-1mySgnUq9sTZ_8qIFzI/s1600/100_2973.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv-p11N5X26mf7s6MiSBnEijqdfnNP4TwrFcpP80xBh8vSa2OwqVzPh3iJNEeFCGkZT6pm3QmnYihIelM3Dr_S54wKfMqFDrelxXEOvy-K9QahZowm3EAsETw-1mySgnUq9sTZ_8qIFzI/s400/100_2973.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">from The Expositor's Study Bible, commentary on Exodus 28:26, page 162</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Psalm 130:5</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Have you ever gone through something and people tried to say things to comfort you but it didn't help? Maybe you faced the loss of a loved one, or the loss of a marriage, were fired from a job or in some other way had your heart ripped out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have, and I also have been one trying to offer support to someone going through this very thing. In so many ways, I was told that talk of doctrines or even the imminence of the Rapture was not really being helpful at that particular time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">What does help when everything is stripped away, when all our hopes and dreams are torn out from under us?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is in these times that the simple comforts of Scripture helps pierce the thick darkness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Words like:</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as <i>gold. </i>Job 23:10</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">..for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Heb. 13:6</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Psalm 23:1</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Not words from the philosophies of men that make you feel like you have to <i>live up to something </i></span><span style="font-size: large;">but only to live unto Someone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Words that do not help you to put confidence in your own flesh or in the flesh of any person on earth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Words that remind you that when everything is swirling in a mass of confusion all around you, you can be sure of this ...</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">GOD does not lie.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">God does not change.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">His promises are true.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Therefore we cling to them even in the darkest night of our soul.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We think on Jesus, who went through the darkest night of all souls, faced hell and came back triumphant because His Father raised Him from the dead, <i>never to die again, death has no power over Him.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We can remind ourself, even when we are in the thick of battle, that Jesus Christ won and no power of hell, no, not even on Halloween night can steal that victory back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? I Cor. 15:57</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. II Cor. 5:17</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That is how God sees us, even when we only see our wretchedness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-79152603857135045942017-10-24T16:53:00.000-07:002017-10-24T17:08:23.400-07:00What I Wished I'd Said<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq6AEYCEwlull1wNG8POLjarTGllIjwSrW0fZFTm5TDvWpSnmPqqUoRn6EspDqB736paP9GG8DfejaSK_LHMbQIoKYs9NeNTBH_EbbrfAWaVrMwsXCNsUnrniIZY3YRZKVGTAR0CebqR8/s1600/101_3121.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq6AEYCEwlull1wNG8POLjarTGllIjwSrW0fZFTm5TDvWpSnmPqqUoRn6EspDqB736paP9GG8DfejaSK_LHMbQIoKYs9NeNTBH_EbbrfAWaVrMwsXCNsUnrniIZY3YRZKVGTAR0CebqR8/s400/101_3121.JPG" width="400" /></a></h3>
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;"><br /></span>
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<br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, Or the golden bowl is broken, Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, Or the wheel broken at the well.<br /> Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:6-7</span><div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /> My high school alumni page on facebook contained sad news yesterday. A classmate of mine, aged 55, succumbed to cancer. Regret washed over me as the news took me back to fourth grade, out on the playground of my elementary school.</span><div>
<span style="background-color: #9fc5e8; color: blue; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">One bright sunny day felt more like a thunderstorm gushing over my head as some boys were making me the laughingstock of the day. It was probably due to the fact that I was not well coordinated. My whole year wasn't going well. I was having trouble making friends. How I wished I could disappear. School felt like prison. (That same year my gymteacher told me I gave him a heart attack when I tried to jump the hurdles.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But one girl from my class courageously stood up for me, told the bullies to stop bothering me, and chased them away. I felt so ashamed, but there was one person willing to do what was right, who helped me out when I needed a friend. I felt so grateful to her for sticking up for me. I still see it play out in my mind.</span><div>
<span style="background-color: #9fc5e8; color: blue; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">At the time we lived in the same neighborhood. I remember her being in classes with me in fifth and sixth grade and we were friendly with each other, not best friends but friendly. When middle school rolled around, the population of the seventh grade was at least three times higher than it had been in elementary school and we simply lost touch. It pretty much stayed that way for the rest of high school. I didn't even know many of the close to 800 people I graduated with back in 1980. </span><div>
<span style="background-color: #9fc5e8; color: blue; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">How I wish that I had reconnected with her, and told her how much I appreciated her for standing up for me when no one else would. Seeing news that she'd passed from a brave, brief battle with cancer hit me with its finality. When I read her obituary I saw that she also had stayed local and even went to the same university I did, though our paths never crossed there. The chance to ever say thanks now is gone. Maybe someone reading this might understand how hard it is to be a victim of bullying. Now, it seems it is more pervasive as there are increased ways to bully: social media, texting as well as on the playground, on the bus, or any other myriad of ways kids find to make the lives of others a living hell.</span><div>
<span style="background-color: #9fc5e8; color: blue; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">To others who also were bullied, if anyone stood up for you, you might want to say thank you, tell them how much you appreciated their act of kindness.</span><div>
<span style="background-color: #9fc5e8; color: blue; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Our life is so brief. Tomorrow's not guaranteed. If there's something you have been meaning to say, by all means say it before it's too late. And if you can stick up for someone who's the underdog, you might just save their life. <br /><br /><br />Thank you Kim, for sticking up for me. I hope we will meet again on the other side.</span></div>
inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-3409191978843959392017-10-15T12:53:00.003-07:002017-10-15T12:53:50.856-07:00Letting Go<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: </span></h2>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away... Eccles. 3:1,6</span></span></h2>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It's come down to this: a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away. Saying goodbye to Mom and Dad's home hasn't been easy. Many trips with the Blazer filled, sometimes to Goodwill and sometimes to my kids, and many times to my house. My sisters and I have had days filled with backaches and dusty, dirty clothes after bringing long forgotten memories from the attic in Dad's barn. I now have plenty of extra plates and dishes, toy tractors and an extra sweeper to boot. More pictures, more books and more memorabilia that made up the life of my parents. All just stuff, though, and will not bring back the man we called Dad or the times we spent there in the past.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The house is nearly empty, all the tractors hauled away and it's been almost one year since Dad fell in a hunting accident. So much work in one year's time, coming to the tough decision to move Mom to the home and breaking down the house took an emotional toll on all three of us.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">There was something painfully beautiful about it, a place where you could sit and meditate on the wonders of God's creation. And yet the "time" has come...to let it go now.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Last night we had a bonfire and cookout with Mom's wonderful neighbors. We retired the flag from the flagpole and said our goodbyes to a tiny piece of heaven on earth. It hurt to look at the beauty of the country as I drove around up there and observe the rolling hills, the patches of farmland and hearing the sweet birdsong. But....but, this is still a fallen world. One look at the headlines and I know this is not Paradise, not yet. We have a better place to look forward to. Rocky Ridge in all its glory still had nasty invaders like stinkbugs, mice and spiders. It's time to move forward from a season of casting away and look to eternity.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"If only we could keep it in the family somehow," I still mused last night while gazing heavenward. But life does not promise us a piece of land or even ending the way we think it will.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">That's OK, we have something so much better to look forward to.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. Hebrews 11:13-16</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We're pilgrims passing through. We belong to a better country. A place where no corruption, no decay, no death and no more night will ever make us sigh again. We're headed for Eternal day and no need of the sun there for the Lamb of God will light the universe.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Ps. 37:25</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As we say goodbye to memories, I realize I'm next. My kids will be deliberating on how to care for me, how to keep me safe. And yes, they will have to sort through my "stuff." I hope I can pare it down somehow, make their job a little easier.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I thought about the lyrics in the song "Hurt" by Trent Reznor, made famous in Johnny Cash's swansong video.</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> It says "you can have it all, my empire of dirt..." I worked in the attic, and attempted to sweep over twenty years worth of the accumulation of dust. My fingernails became coated black with debris as we cleared out the last of the leftovers: tractor parts, tools, pictures and slides from the 50s and 60s. </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Life is brief. All that's left is our "empire of dirt." That's what it comes down to. The only stuff I'll keep when it's time to pack my suitcase is God's Word</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> inside. Everything else will be cast away.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Help me God. Let my daily prayer simply be:</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Ps. 90: 12</span></h3>
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inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-13399540686161788322017-10-05T14:44:00.000-07:002017-10-05T14:46:41.409-07:00Hope for the Suffering<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: blue;">But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;<br />and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,<br />that no flesh should glory in His presence. I Cor. 1: 27-29</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Just when I needed a gentle touch from the Lord, He blessed me beyond my dreams today. I drove this gloomy morning to the assisted living center where Mom lives, feeling nervous and unsure of myself. Today was the first day I was to lead a small devotion time with some of the residents. It's to be once a week, but at the time I didn't know how it all would turn out. When I walked into Mom's room, she looked glum herself and said she didn't think anyone would come. But I didn't have time to stew over it, I needed to start knocking on some doors and inviting people.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The first door I knocked on was a couple doors down from Mom's. "Stan" was laying on his bed but when I asked him if he would like to come he got up right away and thought it would be a good idea. I knocked on another door, and thought at first he hesitated, "Jeff" said he would come along too.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Not too bad," I thought, "At least there will be two others." I led them down to the room behind the big dining hall and started pouring coffees for people. An aide asked me if there were others. I thought of a couple more people and soon there were three ladies and two men, plus Mom and I.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For our meetings I will use my book, <i>Sure Mercies: Hope for the Suffering</i> for our time together. Each of the forty chapters shares about a believer who suffered in some way, but overcame through God's promises.Today we naturally did Chapter 1 which concerned George Mueller, a true prayer warrior, orphanage founder, and preacher of the Word of God. I found myself not just reading the chapter word for word, but interacting with the sweet residents as we all sat around the table together. Smiles and bright eyes encouraged me that somehow God could use something small like this to help spread a little joy, a little hope.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I could tell the residents enjoyed hearing about Mueller, who is a true hero of the faith. One of the Scripture references from the chapter was from John 3 where Jesus talked to Nicodemus about being born again. I read the passage and the Holy Spirit prompted me to discuss what it meant to be born again, to look away from yourself trying to be good and to believe in the Finished Work of our perfect Savior, receiving His gracious gift of salvation.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I said that we could not be good enough I looked over and there was Stan with tears in his eyes. He then stated that he was going to "try hard" to keep himself in the faith. I said that if he believed, then God the Father would hold him in His hands and no one could ever snatch him away.I had a feelling of joy telling about the gospel really being good news, that Jesus Christ came down here and lived a perfect life on our behalf and took all our sins on His body on the tree. To have the residents listen and respond was icing on the cake.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When we closed our time, Stan started humming Amazing Grace. He was a music teacher and plays the piano beautifully. Outside our room there is a piano where he plays regularly so I asked him if he would play it for us. Without any hesitation, he wheeled over in his wheelchair and played it. We sang together and hearing the voices singing was among the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I felt so blessed that God gave me this small opportunity to share the Word with precious people who might sometimes feel forgotten. I'm not famous, but God opened a door for me to write my book and to share its message of hope. Three weeks today will be the first anniversary of my father passing from this life into eternity. If he hadn't encouraged me and pushed me, Sure Mercies might not have beenbready to share with others. How often he told me that it needed to come out because people needed to hear it. All we see around us reveals just how desperate we are. Without Christ, there are no answers for the chaos in this world. But with Him, there is hope.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you are born into this world at one time or another you will suffer, but with God's provision there is always <b> hope for the suffering.</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> God 's promises affected forty people's lives, helping them not just to survive but to be overcomers. I think Dad would have been happy about today. Even if I am only one small person, I am helping to share the best news with people who long to hear it. A colaborer in the Kingdom of God.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you happen to read this blog today and are not sure if you have believed in Jesus, you can be right now, wherever you are. Crazy times are upon us, but God's promises are sure and every one of them will be fulfilled. Jesus' promise to Nicodemus can also be His promise to you:</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,</span></blockquote>
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.</span></b></blockquote>
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.</span></b></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3: 14-17</span></blockquote>
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inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2313563252519295213.post-6552462497572931212017-09-21T10:45:00.001-07:002017-09-21T10:45:18.632-07:00Surreal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed --</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.</span></h3>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> I Corinthians 15: 51-52</span></h4>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Surreal, the times we live in are surreal. The definition of surreal, according to Webster's 7th New Collegiate Dictionary, is: "having the intense irrational reality of a dream."</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Doesn't the thought of the rapture of believers in Jesus Christ seem surreal? Like a dream that it even could happen? The fact that we will hear a trumpet, the dead in Christ will rise from their graves and we will be changed in the smallest amount of time, doesn't it sound "preposterous"? (As Chuck Missler states when talking about the rapture.)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But that is the "blessed hope" of the Church, and as my pastor says, "Don't mess with my blessed hope!" Churches that teach there is no rapture, or that we must go through the tribulation are in fact doing that, messing with our hope. I just read in Titus about the blessed hope:</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,</span></b></blockquote>
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,</span></b></blockquote>
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">looking for the <i>blessed hope</i> and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,</span></b></blockquote>
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself [His] own special people, zealous for good works." Titus 2: 11-14</span></b></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Jesus told us that we would not know the day or the hour, but He did say we can know the times and the seasons.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Many might say that people thought they were in the times and seasons throughout the Church Age. Like during World War II, people thought surely that Hitler was the antichrist, especially when the Jews were being eradicated in the ovens of the concentration camp in Germany.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or in the year 1666, I read that many people thought that was the end of the world, being that it was the year of triple sixes. Even many people thought in 1988 that we would be caught up then.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now many believers are talking (and arguing!) about the Revelation 12 sign in the constellation of Virgo. This Saturday, September 23, on the Feast of Trumpets the planet Jupiter will exit the womb of the constellaton Virgo. All the features of Revelation 12: 1-2 will be in place in this particular sign from the heavens.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Revelation 12: 1-5</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So many, many in the Body of Christ believe that possibly this might be the day that the Church, whom they say is the Child, (not the male Child, who is Christ) will be <i>caught up</i> to meet the Lord. Even the word for "caught up" is harpazo, the same Greek word used in I Thessalonians 4:17:</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Then we who are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The point of this blog is not to argue that this is going to happen this weekend. But the surrealities among us with hurricanes, monsoons, people losing their minds, artificial intelligence, Israel being back in the land and so forth sure sounds like the end of the end times. In Luke 21: 25, Jesus described these end times and they sound just like today's headlines:</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Oh, and by the way, today, September 21, 2017 just happens to be the UN's International Day of Peace. No matter that it says I Thessalonians 5:2-3:</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Though there have been many arguments about this Revelation 12 sign, and what it means, it seems the Body of Christ has become polarized over this very issue. I have not wanted to say much about it, for fear of others scoffing at me, if the truth were known. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With all that, I believe that the catching up could happen this weekend. Or it could happen later this fall. Maybe even later than that. God Himself knows the perfect time, and that is enough for me.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I am not going to stake my claim on a particular day, but I do want to be ready. For even though this seemingly absurd event called the Rapture is scoffed at by the world, it <i>is</i> going to happen. My greatest test is overcoming the lukewarm test, being <i>blase </i>or consumed with arguing with others about the whole thing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The only way I can do this is to keep looking to my gracious Lord and Savior. Though there are millions of distractions: books, movies, tweets, facebook posts and snapchats, He calls me simply to bear His yoke daily. Bearing it is the most wonderful and gracious thing I ever get privileged to do. The yoke that Christ asks me to wear is, in the Greek, <i>chrestos</i> (5543 Strong's). </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Christ's yoke is <i>chrestos</i>, as having nothing harsh or galling about it."</span> (page 2327, Hebrew Greek Key Word Study Bible, ESV, 2013)</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Let's just work on being ready for that Day.</span><br />
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inChristalone~Megan Vancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11595781095268450449noreply@blogger.com0