We all need others. We all have times when we feel forsaken. We all have times in our lives when we feel weak in loneliness. We all have times in our lives when being alone is the worst time of all. What we fail to see during these times is how really strong we are. What we fail to see in times of hurt and loneliness is how God is with us no matter what our circumstances might be. God is in every moment of our hurt. God is in every moment of our trauma. God is every moment of our tragedy. Inevitably, we all ask why God does not stop or fix the lonely times. What we must remember is the lonely times are not brought on us by God but by Satan. For with God and with His love, all the lonely times, all the trauma, all the tragedy, all the hurt, all the tears, and all the grief will be washed away and be made as if they never were. We indeed need others in the dark and lonely times, but we need God even more.
Saturday, April 10, 2021
Friday, April 9, 2021
"MASK"
Don't be fooled by the face I wear, for I wear a thousand masks, and none of them are me. Don't be fooled, for goodness sake, don't be fooled. I give you the impression that I'm secure, that confidence is my name and coolness is my game, and that I need no one. But don't believe me. Beneath dwells the real me in confusion, in aloneness, in fear. That's why I create a mask to hide behind, to shield me from the glance that knows, but such a glance is precisely my salvation. That is if it's followed by acceptance if it's followed by love. It's the only thing that can liberate me from my self-built prison walls. I'm afraid that deep down I'm nothing and that I'm just no good, And that you will reject me. And so begins the parade of masks. I idly chatter to you. I tell you everything that's nothing and nothing of what's everything, of what's crying within me. Please listen carefully and try to hear what I'm not saying. I'd like to be genuine and spontaneous, and me. But you've got to help me. You've got to hold out your hand. Each time you're kind and gentle, and encouraging, each time you try to understand because you care, my heart begins to grow wings, feeble wings, but wings. With your sensitivity and sympathy, and your power of understanding, you alone can release me from my shallow world of uncertainty. It will not be easy for you. The nearer you approach me, the blinder I may strike back. But I'm told that Love is stronger than strong walls, and in this lies my only hope. Please try to beat down these walls with firm hands, but gentle hands, for a child is very sensitive. Who I am, you wonder. I am every man you meet, and also every woman that you meet, and I am you, also.
Author
Unknown
Thursday, April 8, 2021
Staying Focused On Christ
Each of us can think and focus our thinking on given subjects or ideas. As a Christian, one of your obligations to Christ is to hold Him as the centerpiece of your life. Every minute of every day for the rest of your life should be devoted to holding Him as your reason and purpose for living. Christ should be your focus when you wage the many battles of life. He should be your focus when trying to make decisions about your family, your job or career, your friends, your church, or any other matter. Yet, we know that in reality, we are distracted from holding Christ as the center of our life. Millions of thoughts, ideas, images, cares, worries, concerns, fears, anxieties, phobias, and doubts can assail you each day. Despite this attack upon you from outside your will, you can counter the distractions by willfully and purposely spending time in prayer and mediation each day. You can, every hour, pause for just a second to refocus your heart on Him.
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Following Christ
Does the will of God, or your will, drive you during the day? Most likely, it is your will. Each of us has a will. Our will has a power we naturally call "will power." Jesus also had a will. His will also had power. Just before Jesus went to the cross, His will wanted to run away from the terrible suffering He was about to endure for you. In the final hours before the cross, Jesus wanted to avoid the unfathomable pain and agony of dying for you. Yet, He did not run away. Jesus followed the will of His Father in Heaven. Jesus followed God's will to the cross so you could one day be born anew. Jesus followed God's will so you could become a new person in His kingdom. Jesus died on the cross for you so in the war between your will and His will, you would follow His will rather than your own.
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Not Blaming
God has never hurt you. Likely, you have mistakenly hurt yourself numerous times. It is a certainty Satan has hurt you. In Satan's clutches, so much of our pain and suffering comes upon us because we are blinded by Satan. In Satan's clutches, so much of our pain comes upon us because of our own sinful doing. However, God has never hurt you. It is a certainty you have defied the laws of God in all their forms and in your defiance you have felt the pain of the wrath of God. If the wrath of God hurts us, doesn't God then hurt us? No, although the wrath of God hurts us, the wrath of God is the absence of God caused by our defiance or by our turning away from Him. If you defy the laws of God, there will be a price to pay…the price called "wrath." If you obey the laws of God, instead of a price to pay, you receive God's free "coupons" of joy, peace, happiness, and love.