Such an on-time encouraging word for me. May God bless you for your ministry!
Dear friends,
I have been collaborating on and off with Karen Weber, of Chandler, Arizona, since the mid 1990s. Karen has had a series of rather serious illnesses. I believe it was cancer that really took Karen's regular lifestyle away from her. She was forced to make choices. She could either lay down, get discouraged and let her entire life come tumbling down or she could make the best out of what she had, appeal to God for strength, and find her strength in Him and move on.
Well, Karen couldn't continue what she had been doing, so she did some soul searching. She used the computer to find some resources. She started writing her own personal encouragement. At first, it was for her own benefit, then she decided to share them with others, then she decided to start a small home business, adding advertising and services to her messages of encouragement.
Today, Karen still has struggles, but she continues to live, she continues to choose life, she continues to encourage, and she continues to give thanks to God each day.
Karen often finds common ground in the things found in scripture and in quotations from various people from many different walks of life. It doesn't mean that we have to agree with everyone from all of those different places, but it does mean that we can be thankful for what we do have, and we can choose, no matter how difficult things may seem, to think about what is right, true, kind, encouraging, admirable, praiseworthy, and of good report, just as we read in scripture (see Philippians 4:1-9 if you're not yet familiar with it).
If any of you are suffering today, either from relationship problems, from loss of work, from loss of loved ones, or loss of health, take hope. None of these words are intended to minimize the pain that you feel. Pain is real; I know what pain feels like - both emotional and physical pain. I ache to even think about it! Please know that I care; I am not at all insensitive to such things. The words I offer to you today are words of hope - even in the darkest, most discouraging moments, there IS strength for today and a bright hope for tomorrow. Moreover, there is the blessed hope of an eternity with no more pain, no more sorrow, replaced with joy, laughter, peace, and contentment.
Much of that experience is available, even now. Much of that experience is a choice. The full realization of that experience comes when Christ returns to bring us Home to Him. Yet today, our minds can be purified by that hope, and we can choose to rejoice, even amidst life's difficult struggles. I pray that you will make that choice today.
Your Brother in Christ,
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2002 11:57 PM
Subject: 2/13/02
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Welcome to the Christian Thought for the Day
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Quote: A serene fortitude in the face of disappointment and chagrin should be our goal. If you have evaded all unhappiness in life your happiness is place in unstable equilibrium by the constant dread that some unavoidable disappointment is just around the corner. If you have faced pain and disappointment, you not only value your happiness more highly, but you are prepared for unpredictable exigencies. Just as we can immunize ourselves against certain bodily diseases by stimulating our reserves to overactivity by taking graduated doses of toxin into our bodies, so we can immunize ourselves against adversity by meeting and facing the unavoidable chagrins of life, as they occur. There may be happy human vegetables who have succeeded in avoiding unhappiness and pain, but they cannot call themselves men.
W. Beran Wolfe (1900-1935) edited and translated texts on psychology and wrote a book on how to be happy and successful.
Source: Light from Many Lamps edited and with commentary by Lillian Eichler Watson UK
Verse: As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
James 5:11
Prayer: Dear Lord, I thank you that you will turn my tears into shouts of joy. I accept the challenges you have allowed into my life as a way of drawing closer to you. Refine me, Lord, and make me yours. Amen.
Recommended Reading
A personal note: I am constantly amazed that people will choose to be unhappy. The simple truth is you can choose to be happy, to be joyful, no matter what kind of disaster is happening in your life. Click my name below to go to today's mystery link for an article about how you can choose to be happy right now.
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