INSPIRATIONAL WORD: Blessings Come In Disguise

The only survivor of a shipwreck washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.

Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements and to store his few possessions.

But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stung with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me!" he cried.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him.

"How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw
your smoke signal," they replied.

Reflection:

Remember, blessings do come in disguise!!

SHARE YOUR TESTIMONY

"Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you." And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marvelled. 

Mark: 5:19-20

What a wonderful Lord we have. He takes lives that have been rendered useless by abuse and neglect and turns them into instruments of His grace.

• He frees us from the stigma of our past

• He makes us a witness of His grace

• He makes our lives useful and profitable.

He took a raving, self-destructive mad man who hid in tombs and turned him into a disciple and an ambassador. That is something to talk and shout about.

When we experience God's compassion and grace, we inherit a responsibility to tell others about what the Lord has done for us.

Sometimes we may be tempted to think that because of our past, those who know us will never take our testimony seriously.

The truth, however, is that there is no story as powerful as a 'before and after' story. It can be a simple statement such as, 'once I was blind but now I see' or 'I used to be depressed but now I'm joyful'.

What is your story? What has the Lord done in your life? If you have experienced Him, don't be silent with your testimony. Why don't you tell someone today about what the Lord has done for you?

Prayer: Lord, help me to make Your grace known through my testimony.

Scriptural Reading: Mark 5:1-20

Are You Struggling to Receive From God? Hmmm

There can be times in our daily workplace that take away our breath. I had such an encounter a few years ago.

 

I had been working the burn unit as a travel nurse when I was assigned to care for Doug, a 53-year-old man who looked 80. He suffered from a fatal bacterial flesh-eating disease called necrotizing fasciitis. Doug's condition had started as a painful pimple on his right inner thigh and progressed to his entire pubic area and left inner thigh. 

 I learned from veteran nurses that a patient diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis was not contagious but rarely survived this severe of an infection. Doug's unbearable discomfort caused him to tense up, scream in pain and speak harshly with whoever was trying to care for him. Morphine administered intravenously seemed to do little to ease his pain. Three times a day we performed extensive dressing changes. When I changed his dressing the first time, I felt as if I had stepped into an autopsy. I could see entire muscle groups, tendons, fascia and more. 

 

Doug tended to be a difficult patient, lashing out at nursing staff because of his pain. Despite his situation, however, Doug and I hit it off. Other unit staff noticed, so whenever I worked, I was assigned to care for Doug.

 

Doug and I had plenty of time to get to know each other. Throughout my 12-hour shifts, I checked on him often. During those visits, he talked about how he started using drugs when he was a young teen. He had joined a circle of friends in the drug world and began dealing on the streets. His prior drug use and poor self-care exacerbated his condition, making it even harder to fight off his severe infection. 

 

During those long dressing changes, we also talked about Doug's spiritual beliefs. He confided that it just didn't seem important to go to church, although he believed there was a God and that Jesus was real. 

 

Daily I would offer to pray for Doug. He always politely said, "No." 

 

Finally, one day I respectfully asked, "Doug, why do you resist prayer?"

 

"There's this man who bought drugs from me and never paid me my money. I want to settle the score before I think about church and God," he replied with a scowl.

 

I gently reminded him vengeance wasn't a worthy trade for his soul. Doug didn't seem to understand that he wasn't likely to survive. 

 

One day we received word that a severe burn patient was being flown in by helicopter. Because burn patients have priority, we moved Doug to a step-down unit to provide a critical care bed for the incoming patient. 

 

Before drifting off to sleep one night about a week after Doug was transferred from the burn unit, I silently prayed for Doug. Around 2:00 a.m., I was awakened from a disturbing dream. In it, I saw a barefooted Doug wearing his pale blue hospital gown. As he looked at me, I could hear his thoughts: "My pride kept me from letting you pray with me." 

 

I analyzed the dream and wondered if God had given me a message for Doug. I felt I should go to Doug and gently talk to him about pride. 

 

Two days later, when I returned to work, I headed for Doug's room. I walked in hoping that maybe now Doug would accept God's free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. To my surprise, his room was empty. My heart sank.

 

On the way back to my unit, I hopefully thought maybe Doug had been released, although that seemed impossible because of the extensive care he needed. But I also knew Doug didn't have insurance and might have been released if care could be provided at home.

 

I walked to our unit break room and sat down. Tina, a certified nurse assistant, was on break. Though we chatted a bit, I couldn't get Doug off my mind. I asked Tina if she knew what might have happened to him. 

 

Tina replied, "A couple of nights ago, Doug's condition got worse. They brought him back to the burn unit. Doug asked me to call the hospital chaplain. He wanted to make things right with God."

 

With compassion in her eyes, Tina said, "He died later that night." 

 

I was thrilled! God broke through Doug's pride and defenses. It would seem Doug made peace with God before he died.  

 

As Christians, we have the unique opportunity to listen to others' circumstances past and present. Doug was a difficult person whose intense physical care was complicated by his anger and challenging personality. Based on his past drug history, it would have been easy to avoid Doug or think he was reaping what he had sown. But Jesus tells us to be careful with our attitudes toward others, to not be scornful or think less of anyone, remembering He shows mercy to all people. 

 

By Liz Gwyn

FASHION: UNIQUE & CLASSY ASO EBI STYLES!!

When it comes two gorgeous wearing traditional attires, some people know the nitty gritty of how well to go
about it, how to combine the colors, gorgeous accessories that will complement the amazing attire and especially how to tie the 'Gele'. Enjoy and have fun ....
See photos below ----

4 exercises when you are nervous, depressed or tired.

Try these four exercises when you are nervous, depressed or tired, so let get started:

1 Plough Pose: Lie on your back. Lift your feet up and let down their head. Keep your legs straight with your heels together and drag socks on the floor. Pull both hands to toes. Hold this position for 5 minutes. Then slowly lower your spine back to the floor, vertebra by vertebra. Slowly lay your feet on the floor, arms at your sides.

2 Camel Pose: Sit on your heels. Clutching at the heels and lift your pelvis up and forward, zaprokinte head, pull the pelvis forward. Stay in this position for 3 minutes at a slow deep breath. Then gently lower the pelvis back on his heels. This exercise regulates the activity of the reproductive organs.

3 Luke Pose: Lie on your stomach. Clutching at the ankles. Dish up so that your spine looked like a bow. Lift the hips and head as high as possible. Hold the pose with deep slow breathing.

4 Stand on the shoulders: From a prone position on the back lift your legs to 90 °, then lift the torso and picked the lower back hands, leaning on his elbows. Keep your torso perpendicular to the floor and spread your body weight on the neck and shoulders. Chin rests on the chest. Deep slow breathing. This exercise creates pressure on all the organs and stimulates the thyroid gland.

End of The Wicked

TEXT: JOB 27:11-23

Key verse: “This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty” (Job 27:13).

Thomas Carlyle had a bitter experience with his manuscript. For months, he had, with all his resources, busied himself with the manuscript, which he hoped to turn into a book entitled, ‘The French Revolution.’ When he got satisfied with the level of efforts he put into it, Carlyle sent the manuscript to his friend, John Stuart Mill, for critical evaluation. Mill passed the manuscript on to Mrs. Chapman, who he thought would be able to make a fair comment.

Unfortunately, the lady, after reading it by the fireplace on the evening of March 5, 1834, before she went to bed, dropped the manuscript on the mantel. Her maid, who came the following day to clean the room and to start the fire in the fireplace, thought the manuscript was a waste paper and used it as fuel to kindle the fire. That was how the work of many months got burned up in a matter of seconds.

The catastrophe, which befell Carlyle, will certainly be a child’s play when compared to the punishment, which God will mete upon sinners, if they fail to repent. This is the fact Job laboured to expound to his friends. Job’s friends had voiced a similar opinion but had mistaken Job for a wicked man, simply because he was in great affliction. Job tried to set the matter in true light by teaching what he knew to be the mind of God and not mere human opinion.

Much as he shared his friends’ idea that as a mark of God’s judgment, afflictions must trail the wicked, he knew that they did not always come the way they thought. The wicked may multiply children and “heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay,” yet, he cannot escape divine wrath even though it takes longer coming.

All he trusted on earth - wealth and social connection - will be unable to save him from the storm of God’s wrath even as he dies miserably. The question is: what is your relationship with God?

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY No one ever gets away with wickedness; retributive justice is sure.

Finding Satisfaction When You Feel Invisible, Moms

Sometimes, it seems as if motherhood is about settling for less. 

We want to stay in shape, but we don't have time, so we settle for buying an aerobics video and working out with it three times before we consign it to obscurity in the DVD cabinet.

We'd like to travel the world, but we settle for going to the grocery store by ourselves.

We want to develop our intellectual abilities, but we wouldn't be able to get to a class, much less fit study time into our schedule or pay tuition. So we settle for memorizing the drive-thru orders for four different children at each of three different restaurants.

We're frustrated, particularly when we feel we have a gift or ability in a certain area but no opportunity to develop that talent. We chafe under the limitations imposed on us by our circumstances.

I understand that feeling. I've been there too, wishing I could further develop the area of my gifting. I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes when I've done well and performed at a high level. But right now, furthering this interest is simply not possible due to, well, life.

I was thinking about this the other day. I felt frustrated that I wasn't able to progress to the level of which I am capable. Sure, I'm working on the subject at a lesser level now, and I'm doing my best at it, but it's not as good as my "real" best. At least, that's how I saw it at the time.

I was wrong.

What God taught me when I was longing for what it's not possible to have right now is this: there are two kinds of best. The first kind involves doing the best of which I am capable, considering my God-given abilities and interests. The second means doing the best of which I'm capable, considering the circumstances God has placed in my life.

The first kind is what I had wanted, what I had thought would excite me. The second kind, I learned, is what will satisfy me.

I know it can be disappointing not to be able to pursue an interest or skill. Sometimes, it's extremely disappointing. But we make a terrible mistake if we assume that doing what God has said is not possible right now would be more satisfying than what He has said is possible.

We're wrong if we think that doing our best at what we want to be called to would be more satisfying than doing our best at what we are called to.

How can I say this? How can I claim that pursuing distinction at a once-a-week class is more satisfying than excelling at full-time study? Or that making an awesome PBJ sandwich can be more fulfilling than going to culinary arts school?

Because if God's design for your life right now is sandwiches made to the specifications of a two-year-old, you will experience His presence more fully when you get out the peanut butter than you would by going beyond His boundaries and enrolling in school. And that's what satisfaction is: God Himself. Not better skills, increased knowledge, or more excitement. God Himself.

It's not wrong to want to learn more or pursue a favorite interest. Not at all! The problem comes when we assume that God has given us the less-satisfying portion and denied us what would really make us happy. If that's what we think, we're finding happiness in our circumstances rather than in God's presence.

Where do you find your happiness? In participating in things you enjoy? Or in being in God's presence? If it's the former, you'll be disappointed every time things don't work out or God says no. If it's the latter, you'll never be disappointed. Ever. Because His presence is always available to you, regardless of the circumstances.

This is what Jesus was talking about when He told the Samaritan woman that she should be asking for living water, not just the regular stuff in the well. He was making the point that earthly things do not ultimately satisfy, but that God's presence does.

Do you want certain circumstances, or do you want God Himself? Do you spend more time praying that He will give you certain things so that you can be satisfied? Or do you spend more time praying that He will give you Himself?

For me, it's often the "circumstances" option. But I don't want that to be the case. I want God's presence to be more important to me than anything else in life. I want to draw my satisfaction from a well that will never run dry. I want to experience true fulfillment, not just temporary excitement.

I pray this is what you want too.

Hebrews 13:5 Be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Psalm 142:5 I cry to you, O LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."

John 4:10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

Adapted from Megan Breedlove