Me: We can rest and I will share this to encourage you.
This is from the book Praying Through Life’s Problems featuring Stormie Omartian
Regardless of your present situation, know that God has an abundance of blessings for you. He is working powerfully in your life right where you are, so don’t stop praying. Close your eyes, call His name, and sense His presence. He wants you to trust that when you are afraid, you can turn to Him and find His peace. When you are weary, you will find His strength. When you are empty, you will find His fullness. When you are sad, you will find His joy. And when you are in the middle of a raging storm, you will find His shelter and provision. Don’t let yourself be blinded by circumstances, afraid of what’s happening, easily discouraged, drawn toward bitterness, or quick to complain. Instead, look for God in the midst of your circumstances.
But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea: for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalms 136:15 (KJV)
Me: Makes your face look distorted, but I know what you really look like.
This is from Philip Yancey
Jesus corrects my foggy conceptions of God. Jesus reveals a God who comes in search of us, a God who makes room for our freedom even when it costs the Son’s life, a God who is vulnerable. Above all, Jesus reveals a God who is love.
There’s no music in a “rest,” but there’s the making of music in it. And people are always missing that part of the life melody, always talking of perseverance and courage and fortitude, but patience is the finest and worthiest part of fortitude, and the rarest, too.
This is from the book The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart by Charles Swindoll
True sports fans have an amazing ability to remember details, statistics, a little technicality of a rule….you know, stuff nobody really cares to hear about except another sports fan. Another characteristic of a fan is an indomitable sense of commitment or determination. Against incredible odds, sound logic, and even medical advice, sports fans will persevere to the dying end!
I’ve often wondered what would happen if people were as intense and committed and determined about church as they are about sports–or a number of other pastimes. This was reinforced some years back in a Moody Monthly piece which illustrated twelve excuses a fella might use for “quitting sports.” The analogy isn’t hard to figure out.
Every time I went, they asked me for money.
The people with whom I had to sit didn’t seem very friendly.
The seats were too hard and uncomfortable.
The coach never came to see me.
The referee made a decision with which I could not agree.
I was sitting with some hypocrites–they only came to see what others were wearing.
Some games went into overtime, and I was late getting home.
The band played numbers I had never heard before.
The games are scheduled when I want to do other things.
My parents took me to too many games when I was growing up.
Since I read a book on sports, I feel that I know more than the coaches any how.
I don’t want to take my children, because I want them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Psalm 8:9 (KJV)
