A Game Plan For Suffering?

Snow and More snow! 

And it seems to stretch forever!

     In the study The Hand Of God by Alistair Begg, he talks about a game plan for suffering. He says, "But if, indeed, trouble in the form of unjust suffering is sure to come our way-and Jesus says it will (John 16:33)-then we needn't be taken aback by it., Instead, we need to know how to handle it when it comes."

     He continues by saying, "How did we arrive at the conclusion that following Christ is a walk in the park? Certainly not from Jesus, because he guarantees just the opposite. John 16:33, "In this world you will have troubles." Someone has said that Christians are going to be the Jews of the twenty-first century-mistreated, persecuted, and not tolerated. It is not difficult to envisage how that might happen.

     I was able to relate to Alistair Begg when he says, "Don't quit when you suffer".  The last four years with turning sixty, surgeries, being car-jacked and dealing with post traumatic stress.  There have been so many times I wanted to throw in the towel and quit trying to work with Sunday School, or continue on with dreams and not shut completely off from family. I haven't been able to put into words 

in dealing with this struggle, but Alistair Begg emphasized it well, "You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood", Heb 12:4, the way Jesus did. You haven't died yet.  The write of Hebrews says, "So don't give up."

     Out of this study I learned, have a game plan and stick with it. Wherever God plants me, that's where I need to "do the right thing". Act like the glass is half full, do the right thing joyfully and with praise. Wonder if it would help to sit down at the end of each day and list all the "good" that happened to me that day?

Angels in Disguise!

TinkTink

     You wouldn't think it would be difficult to help strangers, and it's not hard to want to help them, but in today's society the question arises, should you get involved.  If they come knocking on my door, I regretfully think "are they casing my house or will they keep their word and do a good job". It's so sad that I have to be leary of helping strangers. 

     Due to several surgeries the last couple of years, I find that keeping up with housework, yard work and doing a full time job outside the home can be overwhelming.  Which is what was happening this past weekend. I couldn't seem to accomplish anything.  About three thirty, this small black Ford truck pulls up and stops out front of my house.  A man and woman in their thirties knock on my door.  They wanted to mow my yard; and to build up their clientele, they would do it for $20.00, but it would have to be cash.  Well, I don't keep cash on me because I have a tendency to spend it and by the end of the month, I'm not sure where my cash went. But I so needed my yard cut.  It had been over a week and rain had encouraged the grass to shoot up! My quandary was, should I leave them there to cut my grass while I drove to the grocery store and picked up two items I needed, plus get the cash?

     Their personalities are such that you instantly liked both of them. They are clean cut, she is outgoing and he is quiet and polite. She is from around where I live, he is from California. I decided to take a chance, I armed the alarm and drove to the grocery store, with a dread at the back of my mind that my phone would ring to inform me my security alarm had gone off. When I arrived back home, they were there and my alarm hadn't gone off. So I breathed a sign of relief.  

     I'm glad to say, even though she can talk a mile a minute, she works hard! So did the young man, they did as good a job as someone I had to pay $50.00 to three weeks back. In addition, they're going to do some handywork I need as well. So, it worked out okay, but that's not the end of the story.

     I viewed them as angels in disguise for me, while a few minutes ago, they were knocking on my door, she was desperate, almost in tears, would it be possible for her to go ahead and borrow $17.00 of the money I intended to pay her for tomorrow's work they're going to do, so she could buy her mother's medicine that her Mom desperately needs. Okay, you're probably thinking the same thought I had. If I give it to her, will I ever see them again. Fortunately, my neighbor was out in her yard and K went over to her and scheduled a time when he could come back to cut her yard.  Now, as I said, I don't usually keep money on me, so I decided maybe the best thing to do was find out which pharmacy she wanted to use and just pay for the medicine with my credit card. In order to do this K wanted to use my phone to call her Mom for that information. On my way into the house, I had second thoughts about giving out my card number, even to CVS pharmacy.  Y'all aren't going to believe what happened, when I reached into my purse side pocket for my phone, I felt money, and when I pulled it out, there was a $20.00 bill! I don't know where it came from, as I had used my phone several times today, plus I had to use my card to pay for Sunday lunch that I took over to my Mom's. 

     It is a pleasant ending to a Sunday.  I'm still going to be careful, but I honestly feel that God had a hand in my weekend, and in S and K's! 

Photo taken by Judy Harper

Sunday-Lessons from Stepping Up by Beth Moore

This Sunday begins our study of Beth Moore's Stepping up-A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent.

You can find out about Beth Moore on her blog Here

On the first study day she listed some of the following facts about the Psalms, some I didn't know:

There are 150 psalms, of this number, please note the following designations of authors: 

*73 bear the name of David 

*12 are attributed to Asaph, a Levite musician David appointed to lead worship with singers

*10 are attributed to the sons of Korah, temple singers

*2 are believed to have been written by Solomon

*1 was written by Moses

*1 was written by another singer named Heman

*1 was written by an additional singer named Ethan 

*The remainder are Anonymous.

The first study is from Psalm 120 & 121. In Psalm 121:5,in Hebrew version, the phrase "The Lord protects you" is preceded by fifty-eight syllables and 58 syllables follow it, per Beth, "That's one example of how carefully constructed many of the psalms are".

It seems like a good study, but I do find one fault. the person who wrote the teaching plans, which include discussion questions, seems to have pulled the questions out of left field.  They don't seem to relate to the material being presented!   I mean Beth Moore is doing a study of Psalms, with the title of the 5th day being The Lord Is Your Shelter, the question is "What does Jude 24 say Christ is able to do for us on our pilgrimage? Name a way He does that?"

After Sunday School I'm headed to the Harper Reunion.  I've had contact from some of the relatives interested in doing a group blog, so hopefully we'll have a lot of discussion today!

M. C. and Deida Harper: M.C. Born May 3, 1827 and Died Aug 19, 1895.

Deida Born Oct 27, 1828, Died Oct 26, 1901

Sunday and Encountering Landmines!

Shelby and Max

In Sunday School we've been studying Charles Stanley's "Landmines In The Path Of The Believer".

This week, Day Four is titled Encountering Landmines, where Charles Stanley talks about two ways we encounter landmines. The first is by taking a route that God does not want us to travel without knowing the consequences. He goes on to say, "Many times we makes mistakes, even though we may sense God warning us to be careful and not take a wrong step, but we do it anyway, thinking that maybe we will be okay".

The second way, per Charles Stanley, we encounter landmines is by making a choice without any consideration of God. Our passion and desire to reach our own goals supersede what we know is right, despite the consequences. 

The Sunday School book then asks the question, "Which of the two ways we encounter landmines is most problematic for you?"

I think, me personally, that making a choice without considering God is how I most encounter landmines.

One of the insights I gained from this lesson concerns feelings of depression, anxiety and fear. "If I forgo praying, reading my Bible and having a quiet time with God, I won't have the spiritual tools to fight the feelings of being "Is that all there is" or "No one cares" and my worst "I don't need others". Because the truth of God's word will set me free! If I know in my heart that there is more to life, that my daughter cares, my sister cares, a friend from work cares, I will know the truth and won't be sucked into depression and fear.

Which brings to the final point of Charles Stanley's encountering landmines, "You can go to church every Sunday and still end up hitting a landmine if your life is not submitted to God. Living for Christ involves a heart commitment and not just a personal performance".

Another question brought out in this lesson and I'm not sure how to answer is "What do you believe is God's purpose for your life? Do any of you have an answer?