Have you ever thought about a certain trial and said : “I could never do it! I don’t have what it takes,”? Deep down a fear weighs on our stomach and you think, “Oh, Lord, don’t let me ever face something like that!”

Then the thing happens, or something like it, and you find to your amazement that you go through the trial victoriously. “What happened? I didn’t think I had the strength. I didn’t think I could do it.”

You were right. You didn’t have the strength but when the trial came, God gave you what it took.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.” (2 Cor. 1:3-7, NIV)

But, notice. The strength He gave you in the trial doesn’t leave you when the trial is over. It continues to flow through you so that you can comfort other who are also facing trials. You’re stronger, more capable to heal others. You understand suffering better but you also understand his grace and comfort so much better.

So, before the trial we say, “I could never. I don’t have what it takes.” Then the trial comes and we call out to God and he give us what it takes. After the trial he doesn’t take it away. It’s still there to be used to help others.

Maybe when they face their trial, God will have put a storehouse in you, or really a river, so that you can be a part of the answer to their prayer, when they cry for help in their trial.

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Hmmm …
I’m fully persuaded that a sentence of praise is worth a book of prayer, and an hour of praise is worth a day of fasting and mourning.” John Livingston (1603-1672)

Everyone is worried about global warming, but I think it may be interesting.

Imagine for instance an Ocean in the Artic that thaws out. One day you’re peacefully looking over the melting body of water when suddenly, “flooooush!” the remains of a frozen wooly mammoth pop to the surface.

“Wow!” you think when you hear a, “flooosh!” and you look to see the rigid carcass of a saber-toothed tiger floating greeting the sun for the first time in thousands of years. Then all over the lake little, “pooosh” “pooosh” sounds break the silence and you’re aware that prehistoric penguins are popping up.

“Incredible!” you exclaim, when you hear a quick, “wheeep!” and there’s the frozen remains of a squirrel which has surfaced right in front of you. Continue reading →

Can you imagine a mother giving birth to a child who doesn’t know she’s giving birth to a child? She thinks she’s dying, but she’s bringing life into the world and prolonging life in the world.

Can you imagine Eve when Cain came into the world? Unless God had told her what was going on, she probably thought the Apocalypse had arrived. It had been coming for nine months.

“Getting a little chubby there aren’t you girl?” Adam may have remarked. I doubt if he repeated himself, though, because the first death came later and it wasn’t him. Continue reading →