Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Milestone

One often sees a call only in retrospect. This too is God's design. God often reinforces our faith after we trust him, not before.  Ravi Zacharias

God is the shaper of your heart. God does not display his work in abstract terms. He prefers the concrete, and this means that at the end of your life one of three things will happen to your heart: it will grow hard, it will be broken, or it will be tender. Nobody escapes.  Ravi Zacharias

I thought I would share a little tidbit of trivia with you.  Today marks the 365th devotional I’ve written with God’s help.  It only took me 1 year and 8 months to reach this major milestone.  I know about now you are thinking “she’s not really that good at this is she?”  Well it is a major milestone for me because I never thought I would write anything, much less blog it.   I was thinking it was kind of momentous that it landed on Christmas Eve.  What better day to remind me of what the purpose of the devotional is in the first place and in and for Whose glory it is intended?

You now know more about me than you probably ever wanted to but you have stuck with me through all the stories of everyday life.  To recap some of the highlights of this journey, you were with me when I rebuilt Gladys Knight and the Pips condo, caught Lou the lizard red-handed taking a bite out of my tomatoes and then there was fishing and catching poison ivy.  We talked about aging gracefully, mayhaws & chainsaws and Pepe Le Pew.  We discussed deregulation, how exclusions apply and fine print. You were there when I took a tumble off my front porch and also when I fell in the parking lot.
  
You’ve taken a trip down memory lane and visited Green Acres, the Blue Light Special and a trip to the Diamond Mines.  We’ve talked about squirrels, horses, pandas, pigs and a car driving dog.  You were with me through a chair snafu, a blowout and trading cars. You were there when boxes got stuck to the front of my car and again when I asked the guy to mow my grass. 
  
I have had more people tell me I’m funny and they love my perspective on things and life in general, but I just don’t see it.  When I was growing up I was quiet, shy and reserved and no one laughed much at anything I said.  My grandfather used to sit with us around a campfire and tell stories.  Maybe I got my story telling ability from him. 

Over the past year and a half I have learned some things too.  Each one of you is special because you have a thirst for God. Some of you are at the beginning of your journey, others in the middle and many near the end. It doesn’t matter where in your journey you are; the most important thing is you are not alone.  I thank God for each of you because it reinforces my faith in humanity.  There are good people in the world who love and care about each other.  We are part of the family of God and no one can take that from us. 

I will close with this.  God can and does use anyone for His purposes if we let Him.  It took a great leap of faith for me to stick my neck out and write something that others could read. Many times my fear of rejection would almost stop me from writing.  During those times I would pray to the Father for strength and courage.  Many of you have encouraged me and continued to follow me daily just to see what I will say next. I thank each of you for continuing to read and I pray that God will bless you in your journey.

P.S.  I have more stories where these came from so stay tuned.  Until God tells me to stop, I will continue to throw out thoughts to ponder.  
         
Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, without You I wouldn’t have reached this milestone.  I praise You for my brothers and sisters in Christ.  In a world where violence, cruelty and hate have become the norm; there are still Christians who thirst for Your Word and who love and care for each other.  You are an amazing God who offered an amazing Son as a sacrifice to save us.  Thank you for this unbelievable gift.   
            

Scripture: Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.  What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?  If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38

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