Take heart! There can be miracles...

For the past few days this song has constantly been on my heart. Yes, it has encouraged me, but if anyone else needs to hear this today, I pray that you will be right here clicking the play button. May you find the hope that you are so in need of today! Be encouraged. In Jesus' Name.

Mark 10:27 But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible." Ephesians 3:20 Now glory be to God who by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of - infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes. Hebrews 13:5 ...for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]

Do you believe Him?

 

What will it be? Fear of man or leap of faith?

When I think back on my life I can recall a few defining moments on my journey of discovering myself through facing my fears.  

I remember when I was just 20 and someone attempted to steal my car one evening. They didn’t succeed but they did make off with my sunglasses. I’ve only had them maybe a few days. It was the most expensive (and most stylish) pair I’ve ever owned – expensive because of the polarized lenses. When you have blue eyes that are quite sensitive to bright sunlight, then a pair of sunglasses becomes a necessity rather than a fashion statement.

Someone gave me another pair but it was nothing compared to what I had lost. You know the saying Beggars can’t be choosers; I could barely drive without sunglasses, so I accepted. They turned out to be surprisingly effective. The only problem I had with it was that it resembled something from the era of pink hair and pink Cadillac’s back in the 50’s – cat-eyes they’re called – and for those of you who don’t know what that is, this should explain it sufficiently:

Cat-eye sunglasses (Source of picture: Vintage Fashion Club)

These glasses were on. my. face. people! You couldn’t look at me and miss it! I battled so badly with being self conscious back then; I remember struggling to walk away from people - men or woman, young or old,

You fill up my senses; my first, my last, my everything

For some reason I have never really felt comfortable to make declarations of undying love to people in romantic relationships. I would hear some of the lyrics of love songs and they rather describe my relationship with the Lord, instead of with a person of flesh and blood. I struggled to find a good example at first – Murphy’s law: you find it when you’re not looking for it, right? Finally I found Barry White’s My first, my last, my everything.

I couldn’t sing these words to a man. No person is my first, my last or my everything. That is what God is to me, and I just don’t feel comfortable sharing that with anyone else. Neither do I desire to be that to

...And the Lord takes away - A divine exchange!

How many of the problems that we have in our lives are brought about by things that we as Christians believe as if it’s the truth but it is not? And the reason that we believe them - these half truths or even downright lies – is simply because we don’t fully know who God really is? We know about him but we don’t fully know Him. This lack of knowing influence the way we see and experience life and it can bring about much pain and disillusionment.

Getting to know a person happens when we spend lots of time together over a long period of time. In most cases we never fully get to know every little thing. There is always something more to discover. If that is the case with people then imagine how long it would take getting to know the God of the universe. I can confidently say that we will never get to the end of Him. Maybe today, in reading this, you will discover something new about Him that will change the way you think and affect your life in a good way.

When we read the newspaper, the internet or watch television and even listen to the neighbours in our communities our senses are flooded with all kinds of tragedy, disaster, and circumstances of loss: The loss of loved ones, loss of possessions and money, the loss of relationships, etc. It is mostly at those

The winds of adversity

“How was your ride, honey?” he wanted to know.

Well, it was good: I’ve ridden further today than I have this year and I made good time. I was happy with that but it was a tough ride into a head wind all the way back. Forget the fact that it is harder to ride into the wind (resistance). What bothered me was the wind howling in my ears and causing me to be unable to hear much else of what was going on around me.

Considering the fairly narrow road with no shoulder, a speed limit of 55mph (roughly 90km/hr) and both cars