“For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD…” Jer. 30:17

I really love the way Jesus makes a point of healing people when He walked this earth. He came to set people free from bondages and heal their pain. He pointedly stated that in the Word repeatedly. It seems that in this world today there is a terrific amount of fear and emotional pain. If there was any doubt, we could check the amount of prescriptions given out for depression and emotional distress. He has open arms today to take our pain away if we will but let Him do it.

There is no sickness but there is a balm;

There is no storm but soon must come a calm;

No bitter wail but shall give way to a song;

No way so dark but light shall break e-er long.

Uncle Ben’s Quotebook (Harvest House c.1976) p.95

With the money market the way it is, everyone seems filled with fear. Jesus continually says for us not to be afraid. A man who was injured on the job just had surgery recently. He gave the entire thing totally to God before his surgery. He showed me the beautiful recovery of the surgery on his arm and said that since He gave everything to God, even the people’s attitude he is dealing with had changed. I believe that God would love to help us more if we would only let Him. He would certainly like us to give Him our fears.

INNOCENCE IS PRICELESS

One Sunday morning, the pastor noticed little Alex standing in the foyer of the church staring up at a large plaque. It was covered with names and small American flags mounted on either side of it. The six-year old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up, stood beside the little boy, and said quietly, ‘Good morning, Alex.’

‘Good morning Pastor,’ he replied, still focused on the plaque. ‘Pastor, what is this? ‘

The pastor said, ‘Well son, it’s a memorial to all the young men and women who died in the service.’

Soberly, they just stood together, staring at the large plaque. Finally, little Alex’s voice, barely audible and trembling with fear asked,

‘Which service, the 8:30 or the 10:30?’

-E-mail

Are we like this little boy who simply didn’t understand? Do we let life fill us with fear? How can we possibly get rid of such a problem? Sometimes the best way to get rid of fear is two-fold.

1. In prayer give your problem to Jesus and let Him take care of it.

2. Second, find something to laugh about!

I recently received an e-mail that had the funniest stories regarding one man’s effort to change the world.

“Everyone concentrates on the problems we’re having in this country lately: illegal immigration, hurricane recovery, alligators attacking people in Florida. Not me. I concentrate on solutions for the problems. It’s a win-win situation.

• Dig a moat the length of the Mexican border.

• Send the dirt to New Orleans to raise the level of the levies.

• Put the Florida alligators in the moat along the Mexican border.

“Any other problems you would like me to solve today? Yes! Think about this one: 1. Cows 2. The Constitution 3. The Ten Commandments.

COWS

“Is it just me or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow.

THE CONSTITUTION

“They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq … Why don’t we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years, and we’re not using it anymore.

THE 10 COMMANDMENTS

“The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this: You cannot post ‘Thou Shalt Not Steal,’ ‘Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery,‘ and ‘Thou shall Not Lie‘ in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment.”

End Quote

I was blessed by this e-mail because it shows that we still live in a free land where we can make fun of the government and not be in fear of jail. “Laughter is good like a medicine,” God says. Let’s find things to praise God for today and see if that won’t help to drive the fears away.

One of the things that causes us wounds is disappointment. The Bible says that hope that is not fulfilled makes you heart-sick. Many of us had big dreams as children and young people but life has dealt us blow after blow. Our dreams have been shattered and we are staggering under the load of life.

Broken Dreams

As children bring their broken toys

with tears for us to mend,

I brought my broken dreams to God

because He was my Friend.

But then instead of leaving Him

in peace to work alone,

I hung around and tried to help

with ways that were my own.

At last I snatched them back and cried,

“How can you be so slow?”

“My child,” He said,

“What could I do?

You never did let go.”

-Author Unknown

“Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. Amen.” Jude 24-25

How thrilling it is to hold your newborn baby in your arms. Wonder enters your heart and joy sweeps over your soul as you behold this tiny infant that God has entrusted to you. As the baby begins to grow, it isn’t long before the infant is lifting his or her head and making sweet cooing noises. Soon the baby is crawling. How proud we are when this little one takes his first step. When you cross a street or parking lot, you always hold his hand so he doesn’t get hurt. As you watch each step of natural growth, your heart swells with pride.

Have you ever thought of God’s feelings toward us? He feels joy that one of His new creations has entered the world. As a loving parent, He tells us to trust Him and let Him take our hand. He will keep us from falling. He protects us, loves us, provides for us and helps us not to fall. What an incredible God. It is a comfort to know that what our Heavenly Father teaches us is always good even if we do not understand. Sometimes, God teaches us through our children.

TODAY’S LAUGH

He’s An Aggressive Driver

“For years my husband denied he was an aggressive driver. That changed one day when we were out for a drive with our three-year old son, Matthew. Seeing a teaching opportunity, I asked Matthew about traffic lights.

“’What does a red light mean?’ I asked.

“’Stop.’

“’Good. How about green?’

“’Go.’

“’And yellow?’ I continued.

In his best deep-voice impression of Daddy, Matthew bellowed…’Hang On!’”

-From crosswalk.com

A number of years ago, I tried to teach a little girl some of the fundamentals of piano playing. I am not an accomplished pianist and they knew that but wanted me to teach her what I knew. She didn’t want to learn, however, to read notes by the alphabet. She wanted to learn by numbers since the beginner books had numbers and it was reasonable to her little mind. I was simply unable to make her understand that to read notes you have to do it with the alphabet since the numbers give what finger you use and the alphabet is the name of the notes.

How like that little girl we are. God created us and knows what is best for us. However, we all seem to want to do things our own way instead of just letting God hold our hand and show us the way.

Dancing With God

“When I meditated on the word Guidance, I kept seeing ‘dance’ at the end of the word.  I remember reading that doing God’s will is a lot like dancing.

“When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.  The movement doesn’t flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.

“When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music.   One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another.   It’s as if two become one body, moving beautifully.
“The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.
“My eyes drew back to the word Guidance.  When I saw ‘G’: I thought of God, followed by ‘u’ and ‘i’.
“’God, ‘u’ and ‘i’ dance.’
“God, you, and I dance.
“As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life.  Once again, I became willing to let God lead.
“My prayer for you today is that God’s blessings and mercies are upon you on this day and everyday.   May you abide in God, as God abides in you.   Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and to guide you through each season of your life.”

-Author Unknown E-mail

One of the things I like about Jude 24 and 25 is that Jesus is going to present us to His Father one day ‘with exceeding joy.’ How awesome it is that God will feel prideful joy in us even though we sometimes fail Him. When we do wrong and we tell Him how sorry we are, He always forgives us and we are instantly reinstated into full fellowship with Him. I like the verse that says He holds our hands and will not let us be ‘utterly cast down.” When temptation comes our way, He says “I have your hand. Let’s go this way” and He takes us away from the temptation. When we feel discouraged, He says, “I’m here. I’ll never leave you nor forsake you.” What an incredible God we serve.

“The road is too rough,” I said;

“It is uphill all the way;

No flowers, but thorns instead;

And the skies over head are grey.”

But One took my hand at the entrance dim,

And sweet is the road that I walk with Him.

“The cross is too great,” I cried –

“More than the back can bear,

So rough and heavy and wide,

And nobody by to care.”

And One stooped softly and touched my hand:

“I know. I care. And I understand.”

Then why do we fret and sigh;

Cross-bearers all we go;

But the road ends by-and-by

In the dearest place we know,

And every step in the journey we

May take in the Lord’s own company.

-Mrs. Chas. Cowman, Streams in the Desert (Oriental Missionary Society, c.1925)p.140-141

“…You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 19:19b HNV

Do we ever really think about these words of our Lord? Many people in our land do not even know their neighbors. This may not apply as much to our rural areas but even here it is true to a degree. Do we ever try to do kind things for others without any expectation of reward?

GOOD TURN

Retold by Nola Bertelson

Eleven-year-old Jeff, along with the rest of of the boy scout troop, did a “good turn” in order to complete a project for their next service badge. The boys gathered at Mr. And Mrs. Meyers’ house and spent some time cleaning the snow and ice off the older couple’s sidewalks and porch.

But somehow, Jeff didn’t feel satisfied. To him, it felt sort of phony. He talked it over with his scoutmaster. “I don’t think it really helped them much. It seems like we did it more to earn points for ourselves.”

“You could go back on your own to see what you can do to help them,” the discerning scoutmaster suggested. “And, if you don’t tell anyone about it, you won’t be earning ‘points’ in any way.”

To Jeff, that sounded like the perfect solution. Several days passed before Jeff worked up enough courage to return to the house. When he finally knocked on the door, he was nervous, but he was determined to follow through with his good turn.

It was Mrs. Meyers who opened the door. She listened carefully, and then politely declined Jeff’s offer of help. Mr. Meyers, however, overheard the conversation.

“I know something you can help with,” he said cheerfully, and he motioned Jeff to follow him into the kitchen. Mr. Meyers had several projects there needing the aid of sturdy arms and legs. Jeff was kept busy carrying items up and down from the basement, and climbing a stepladder to reach high shelves and corners. That evening when he climbed into bed, Jeff felt very tired, but he felt more satisfied with his work than he had after shoveling snow.

After school the next day, Jeff returned to the Meyers’ home. This time they were both willing to accept his help with several tasks.

He stopped by a third time a few days later.

“No work today,” Mrs. Meyers said. For a moment Jeff felt offended, but then he saw the twinkle in Mr. Meyers’ eyes. “Today we have a surprise for you.” With that they ushered him into the small dining room.

A charming table-setting for three sat waiting, complete with lace cloth, flowers, and a silver plate filled with diamond-shaped cookies. Jeff was quite surprised but he remembered his manners and held a chair for Mrs. Meyers as she sat down.

“These are poor man’s cookies,” Mrs. Meyers said as she passed the silver plate to Jeff.

“Why are they called that?” he asked, thinking it an odd name for cookies.

Mr. Meyers answered, “After you buy all the ingredients, you’re a poor man!” Thus began an hour or so of laughter and conversation. As the couple shared pictures and told stories about their family that now lived far away, Jeff’s heart was softened as he realized how lonely they were. He decided to stop by often and “help out.”

All during the years of junior and senior high, Jeff continued to find reasons to stop by. There was always some way he could pitch in. Between mowing lawns, raking leaves, clearing snow, weeding gardens, and all kinds of indoor projects, the three talked and laughed and grew to be very important in each other’s lives.

All too soon the time came when Jeff entered the Army to serve his country. Letters had to replace the face-to-face talks. Every holiday season Jeff looked forward to receiving a package from the Meyerses – always a batch of poor man’s cookies.

Mr. Meyers died while Jeff was in the service, and Jeff felt his loss immensely. When he returned home, he picked up his old habit of stopping in “just to help out a bit.” He knew Mrs. Meyers was lonelier than ever without Mr. Meyers. And she continued to serve poor man’s cookies on the silver platter in the dining room. It was so touching to see her continue to set three places at the table for their special tea times.

Then, Jeff was getting married. Mrs. Meyers would not have missed his wedding for anything. She left her house the day of the ceremony carrying her gift – a “rag” rug that she wove by hand, and a double batch of poor man’s cookies. Tucked inside the package was her special cookie recipe. As it turned out, that was the last batch of cookies she made; Mrs. Meyers died a few months later.

For many years, Jeff kept his promise to himself that he would never tell anyone about the “special project” helping the Meyerses. He thought that drawing the attention to himself would spoil the “good turn.”

-More Stories From the Heart (Billy Graham Assoc. c.1997) p.98-100

It has been said, “We’re the only Bible that some people ever read.” What is the message that is being read from my life? I love the following poem.

My Neighbor’s Bible

-Author Unknown

I am my neighbor’s Bible,

He reads me when we meet;

Today he reads me in my home,

Tomorrow in the street.

He may be relative or friend,

Or slight acquaintance be;

He may not even know my name,

Yet he is reading me.

-Poems for Sunshine and Shadow (Back to the Bible c.1962) p.7