"Brightly colored sunsets and starry heavens, majestic mountains and shining seas, and fragrant field and fresh-cut flowers are not even half as beautiful as a soul who is serving Jesus out of love, through the wear and tear of an ordinary, unpoetic life."

-Frederick William Faber

 

 

The Living God

I was thinking about the titles of the people of today and in the bible that people have called the Lord. To name a few, He is called {God of sight, Almighty God, Everlasting God, our Peace, shepherd, our healer, hiding place, shield, Rock of my strength, redeemer, deliverer, the Living God, faithful...}
 
 
In the book of Job, God allows satan to wreak havoc on Job's life to try and prove that Job praised God only because his life was Good and abundant. God allowed satan to take everything of Job's away. God allowed this because he knew Job's heart and he knew that in the end He would be glorified and indeed Job did praise God until the end of his days.
 At the end of Job, it says,

^"12 The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. ¹³ And he also had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴ The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. ¹⁵ Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

¹⁶ After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. ¹⁷ And so Job died, an old man and full of years."
 

All around me are hearts going through things i couldn't even imagine. As human beings and followers of the Lord we will go through trials. There is no doubt that things will happen out of our control in this life. But we are called to trust his path for us, to follow and have faith in Him. Just like God allowing that to happen to Job, I believe everything that happens to us passes through God's loving hands first. I do believe these things happen so He may be glorified in us and in the end everyone can proclaim, "May the name of the Lord be praised." As I was thinking about the names of God...[ Healer. Deliverer. Faithful. Shield. Hiding place. Our peace] ... I thought about what it must have taken first for Him to be called that. To be healed you must first me broken and hurt. To be delivered someone must first be in chains in body or soul. To be shielded, a person must first been put on the enemy lines in need of a protector. A miracle wouldn't exist unless there was a situation so utterly impossible to be solved or fixed that it was something only God could do.  He could not be called the latter without the prior happening. I've realized all of these trails are meant to build us up for him and for us to be able to call him faithful and glorify him. I am learning that trials aren't simply a burden that we have to get through, but hidden blessings that we must TRUST GOD THROUGH (and pray like mad through), that he is working out ALL things, and trust Him until He gets the victory (and he will) and we get to call him HEALER, REDEEMER, and THE GOD OF MIRACLES.

“But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

- Job 23:10

 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been  called
according to his purpose."   -Romans 8:28

 

 

 “As for me, I know that amy 1Redeemer lives, And 2at the last He will take His stand on the 3earth.

-Job 19:25

 

But I trust in your unfailing love;

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord,

for he has been good to me.

 

May the name of the Lord be Praised.

ARE YOU JESUS?

From my Grandmother


A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago . They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly-missed boarding.

ALL BUT ONE!!! He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.

He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.

He was glad he did.

The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her; no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.

When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?"

She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly."

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him,
"Mister...." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes.

She continued, "Are you Jesus?"

He stopped in mid-stride ... and he wondered.

He gently went back and said, "No, I am nothing like Jesus - He is good, kind, caring, loving, and would never have bumped into your display in the first place."

The girl gently nodded: "I only asked because I prayed for Jesus to help me gather the apples. He sent you to help me, so you are like Him - only He knows who will do His will. Thank you for hearing His call, Mister."

Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul:"Are you Jesus?"

Do people mistake you for Jesus?

That's our destiny, is it not?

To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace.

If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and actasHe would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting scripture and going to church. It'sactually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.

You are theapple of His eyeeven though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked up you and me on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

from my Grandmother...

GROCERY LIST

 Louise Redden, a poorly dressed lady with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a grocery store..

She approached the owner of the store in a most humble manner and asked if he would let her charge a few groceries..

She softly explained that her husband was very ill and unable to work, they had seven children and they needed food.

John Longhouse, the grocer, scoffed at her and requested that she leave his store at once.

Visualizing the family needs, she said: 'Please, sir! I will bring you the money just as soon as I can.'

John told her he could not give her credit, since she did not have a charge account at his store.

Standing beside the counter was a customer who overheard the conversation between the two The customer walked forward and told the grocer that he would stand good for whatever she needed for her family. The grocer said in a very reluctant voice, 'Do you have a grocery list?'

Louise replied, 'Yes sir.' 'O..K' he said, 'put your grocery list on the scales and whatever your grocery list weighs, I will give you that amount in groceries.'

Louise hesitated a moment with a bowed head, then she reached into her purse and took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She then laid the piece of paper on the scale carefully with her head still bowed.

The eyes of the grocer and the customer showed amazement when the scales went down and stayed down..

The grocer, staring at the scales, turned slowly to the customer and said begrudgingly, 'I can't believe it.'

The customer smiled and the grocer started putting the groceries on the other side of the scales. The scale did not balance so he continued to put more and more groceries on them until the scales would hold no more.

The grocer stood there in utter disgust. Finally, he grabbed the piece of paper from the scales and looked at it with greater amazement.

It was not a grocery list, it was a prayer, which said:

'Dear Lord, you know my needs and I am leaving this in your hands.'

The grocer gave her the groceries that he had
gathered and stood in stunned silence.

Louise thanked him and left the store. The other customer handed a fifty-dollar bill to the grocer and said; 'It was worth every penny of it.

Only God Knows how to

handle your needs but He can. He see's you.. He Loves you