Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Hello dear friends! Thanks Harlene and Love Roses for your posts on the last thread. Love Roses, so sorry you've been ill - hope you get over that really fast!! Tell you what, friends! This will be short - Darla is home and we had a very nice visit with her which is why this is so late - tomorrow we will go to Sprint and I'll get a new phone, but it won't be a smart phone, that costs ten extra dollars each month, so no, think I'll get a flip top, have a slider now, but don't like it. Wishing you all a good Friday with God's many blessings!

Instead of overreacting, try under reacting because this response
shows wisdom, patience and peace. Lord, help me respond to situations
in a manner that allows me to solve problems rather than create more.

Scripture for the day:

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the
things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set
their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh
is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."
~Romans 8:5-6

Meditation for the day:

We fail not so much when tragedy happens as we did before the
happening, by all the little things we may have done, but did not do.
I can prepare for the future by doing the right thing at the right
time now. If a thing should be done, I can deal with that thing today
and get it righted with God before I allow myself to undertake any new
duty. I can look upon myself as performing God's errands and then
coming back to God to tell God in quiet communion that the message has
been delivered or the task done.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may seek no credit for the results of what I do. I
pray that I may leave the outcome of my actions to God.

Grandpa's Hands

Grandpa, some ninety plus years, sat feebly on the patio bench. He didn't move, just sat with his head down staring at his hands. When I sat down beside him he didn't acknowledge my presence and the longer I
sat I wondered if he was OK. Finally, not really wanting to disturb him but wanting to check on him at the same time, I asked him if he was OK.
He raised his head and looked at me and smiled. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking," he said in a clear strong voice. "I didn't mean to disturb you, grandpa, but you were just sitting here staring at your hands and I wanted to make sure you were OK", I explained to him. "Have you ever looked at your hands," he asked. "I mean really looked at your hands?" I slowly opened my hands and stared down at them. I turned them over, palms up and then palms down. No, I guess I had never really looked at my hands as I tried to figure out the point he was making.

Grandpa smiled and related this story: Stop and think for a moment about the hands you have, how they have served you well throughout your years. These hands, though wrinkled, shriveled and weak have been the tools I have used all my life to reach out and grab and embrace life. They braced and caught my fall when as a toddler I crashed upon the floor. They put food in my mouth and clothes on my back. As a child my mother taught me to fold them in prayer. They tied my shoes and pulled on my boots. They held my rifle and wiped my tears when I went off to war.
They have been dirty, scraped and raw, swollen and bent. They were uneasy and clumsy when I tried to hold my wedding band they showed the world that I was married and loved someone special. They wrote the
letters home and trembled and shook when I buried my parents and spouse and walked my daughter down the aisle. Yet, they were strong and sure when I dug my buddy out of a foxhole and lifted a plow off of my best friends foot. They have held children, consoled neighbors, and shook in fists of anger when I didn't
understand. They have covered my face, combed my hair, and washed and cleansed the rest of my body. They have been sticky and wet, bent and broken, dried and raw. And to this day when not much of anything else of me works real well these hands hold me up, lay me down, and again continue to fold in prayer.
These hands are the mark of where I've been and the ruggedness of my life. But more importantly it will be these hands out and take when he leads me home. And with my hands He will lift me to
His side and there I will use these hands to touch the face of Christ. I will never look at my hands the same again.

But I remember God reached out and took my grandpa's hands and led him home. When my hands are hurt or sore or when I stroke the face of my children and wife I think of grandpa. I know he has been stroked and
caressed and held by the hands of God. I, too, want to touch the face of God and feel his hands upon my face.

When you receive this, say a prayer for the person who sent it to you and watch God's answer to prayer work in your life. Let's continue praying for one another.

27 INDICATIONS THAT WE NEED REVIVAL

1. When we do not love Him as we once did.

2. When earthly interests and occupations are more important to us than eternal ones.

3.When we would rather watch TV and read secular books and magazines than read the Bible and pray.

4. When we have little or no desire for prayer.

5. When we would rather make money than give money.

6. When our Christianity is joyless and passionless.

7. When we know truth in our heads that we are not practicing in our lives.

8. When we make little effort to witness to the lost.

9. When we have time for sports, recreation, and entertainment, but not for Bible study and prayer.

10. When we do not tremble at the Word of God.

11. When we seldom think thoughts of eternity.

12. When we are more concerned about our jobs and careers than about the Kingdom of Christ and the salvation of the lost.

13. When Christian husbands and wives are not praying together.

14. When our children are growing up to adopt worldly values, secular philosophies and ungodly lifestyles.

15. When we watch things on TV and movies that we would not show in church.

16. When our prayers lack fervency.

17. When our hearts are cold and our eyes are dry.

18. When our singing is half-hearted and our worship lifeless.

19. When we aren't seeing regular evidence of the supernatural power of God.

20. When we are bored with worship.

21. When we are more concerned about what others think about us than what God thinks about us.

22. When we are making little or no difference in the secular world around us.

23. When we are unmoved by the thought of our neighbors, business associates and acquaintances going to h ell.

24. When we have ceased to weep and mourn and grieve over our sin.

25. When we aren't exercising faith and believing God for the impossible.

26. When the fire has gone out in our hearts, our marriages and our church.

27. When we are blind to the extent of our need and don't think we need revival.

I Love You Anyway

The fear of rejection may be one of the most basic fears of the human experience. Dr. Joe Harding tells a heart-warming story of a man who finally decided to ask his boss for a raise in salary. It was Friday. He told his wife that morning what he was about to do, All day the man felt nervous and apprehensive. Late in the afternoon he summoned the courage to approach his employer. To his delight, the boss agreed to a raise.

The man arrived home to a beautiful table set with their best china. Candles were lighted. His wife had prepared a festive meal. Immediately he figured that someone from the office had tipped her off! Finding his wife in the kitchen, he told her the good news. They embraced and kissed, then sat down to a wonderful meal. Next to his plate the man found a beautiful lettered note. It read: "Congratulations, darling! I knew you'd get the raise! These things will tell you how much I love you."

While on his way to the kitchen to get dessert he noticed that a second card had fallen from her pocket. Picking it off the floor, he read: "Don't worry about not getting the raise! You deserve it anyway! These things will tell you how much I love you."

Total acceptance! Total love. Her love for him was not contingent upon his success at work. In fact, just the opposite. If he were to fail there, if he were to be rejected by his boss he'd be all the more accepted at home. She stood behind him no matter what; softening the blows, healing the wounds, believing in him, loving him. We can be rejected by almost anyone if we're loved by one.

That's the way families can be with each other. And I like to think that's the way God is with us, too! "We love because He first loved us."

Author Unknown