Watch Your Mouth!

Apr8

The more I learn about fiery darts, the more my awareness of their deadly work increases.  In this post, I would like to point out how things we say can set up another to have a major struggle with fiery darts.  At this point I haven’t quite figured out how to resolve this dilemma but here’s what I have noticed.

As an example, let’s say someone says something to you of a critical nature.  You receive their words and  the floodgate is opened to a variety of fiery darts.  The struggle is on, while you try to thwart each attack with Isaiah 54:17,

“No weapon that is formed against you will prevail.”

 You try to not overreact and try to respond reasonably, yet you cannot deny that your feelings have been hurt. Obviously, their criticism is unjust and now your struggle is weighted down by trying to figured out how you can respond without accepting blame you do not deserve but at the same time be open to see their side of it.  The onslaught of attacks are only intensified at this point, for  your resolve to stand strong against the fiery darts and their critical words begins to wear on you.

But you keep going back to the Truth of the particular situation and with a great deal of help from God, you find your footing.

THEN

you find out they were only teasing and even though they know you didn’t ‘get it’, they remain insensitive to the pain inflicted by their negative teasing. So now, you’ve got a new phase of fiery darts to deal with, ugh!  It’s not as easy to laugh at yourself as it is for the person who criticized you in jest, but you try. What do you do with that real pain you struggled with?  Does it never end?

Well, you move on, determined to not allow this to negatively affect the relationship but wondering if you should have a frank conversation with this person about the carelessness and insensitivity of their little joke.  But wait, if you do, will they take you seriously or will they just say you’re making a mountain out of a molehill?  The last thing you want is to make an honest appeal to them concerning your feelings only to have them be lightly or casually dismissed.

In this example, can you see how we set each other up to be attacked by fiery darts?  I think situations like this can be remedied by making sure that our intentions or meanings to what we say are clearly received by others.  And if we aren’t sure about the intention of something said to us, then we should ask a simple question like, “Are you saying …….?”  Then too, keeping the following verse in mind, could help a lot–especially when we are in teasing mode:

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”  Ephesians 4:29

Just a thought.  What do you think?

Bad News vs Good News!

Mar17

You’d think that once a person had written a book about fiery darts (negative thinking) then those troublesome fiery darts wouldn’t be such a problem anymore.  N-O-T !  One thing I did conclude early on was that the fiery darts didn’t let up, if anything they increased! ugh!  The big difference was this:  They don’t rule my thinking like they use to!  And for me, that’s a really big deal.

My struggle of late is that the fiery darts are coming so fast, coming in such abundance, and are so unrelenting (bombarding my mind 24-7) that my spiritual strength is being sorely tested.

That’s the bad news!

But here’s the good news!

The simple truth (simple but HUGE) and one that I fall on my face before God in gratitude for is that because of what God has taught me about the attack of fiery darts, I DO NOT despair.  And I promise you, before God enrolled me in Fiery Darts 101, problems like I encounter today would have sent me spiraling into depression.  Let me share a scripture verse that puts it succinctly:

2 Corinthians 4: 8-9
‘We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.’

I know that sounds a little heavy but those of you who wrestle with negative thinking that takes over your thinking, influences your attitudes, and spawns negative behavior, KNOW that the above verse speaks a powerful truth.  You know–the kind of truth that sets you free!

John 8:32

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set your free.”

Yes, one does get weary.  Yes, Satan gets more cleaver with every attack.  Yes, the fiery darts can fuel thoughts of despair and hopelessness.  BUT ask yourself the following question,

“Do I want to spend the rest of my life successfully warding off fiery darts, or do I want to remain a victim of them?”(p. 45 from my book)

May I share the final paragraph in Section I of my book? For I do believe you will be challenged and encouraged by it.

  When I am engaged in fighting off these fiery darts it’s not Satan who determines the outcome of the battle.  Remember Isaiah 54:17, “No weapon formed against us will prevail.”(NIV)   The Enemy has already been defeated, and though we may struggle in the battle, the final word from Micah 7:8 is that “we will rise.” I would encourage you to remember that you choose victory or defeat.  And know that refusing to choose is a choice to fall and suffer defeat.  Victory is yours as Deuteronomy 20:4 reminds us, “For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” (NIV)  It is your choice! We know that Satan’s plans are to destroy us, but take heart for God has plans for us as well.  Jeremiah 29:11, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”(NIV)   (p. 45, Fiery Darts: Satan’s Weapon of Choice)

Know, my dear readers, while those fiery darts are a powerful force, we have someone fighting for us that can turn the tide in our favor.

1 John 4:4

“…greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”

Yes, the attacks are fierce, and at times almost overwhelming.  But hang in there.  Fight back with the Greater Power.  Hide behind your Shield of Faith.  Don’t give up.  Even though you have thoughts that God has looked the other way and your hope is daily dwindling that God is going to intervene, remember–expose those thoughts for the fiery darts they are.  That simple exercise will keep you hanging on and eventually you will see God move.  And when that happens (and IT WILL HAPPEN), I would love for you to share your story with me.

So that God can be glorified and others will be encouraged!

Misunderstanding Freedom!

Mar10

As I listen to people who proclaim they have thrown off the shackles that have kept them in bondage, and are delirious with the joy their new found freedom has afforded them, because of what I’m learning about fiery darts, I see people who have succumbed to a dangerous deception.  The sad thing is they don’t even realize it.  Why is this?  Because their resources for defining Truth are anything BUT the Scriptures, the Holy Word of God, the Bible!

How can anyone misunderstand freedom, you might ask?  Well, in order to misunderstand freedom, freedom has to be redefined. But before freedom can be redefined you must first redefine wrong. For example, if you are doing something wrong and you desire the freedom to keep doing that wrong but you don’t want to have to feel guilty about doing it then you must redefine wrong!  Obviously, the first thing that must be done is to be selective about the sources  that are chosen in selecting the definition desired.  So, throw out the Bible!  You won’t have to go far to find people who are willing to choose any philosophy available that will condone behavior that the Bible condemns.  Once that is accomplished then you can easily redefine freedom.  And guess what?  This definition has always been around!   I’ll leave out the word and you see if you can fill in the blank!

_________ –  sometimes denotes deliberate deviation from normally applicable rules or practices to achieve a desired effect.

Did you guess it?  I bet you did.  Yep it’s license!  You see people who want to “achieve the desired effect” of doing wrong without having to feel guilty about it are in reality desiring license.  But no one would be foolish enough to demand license because they wouldn’t be taken seriously.  Therefore, call it freedom and when you start demanding your freedom then you’ll be taken seriously!

But unless you have a formidable number of people in agreement with you, you still might not succeed.  So then what do you do?  Simple! You begin a campaign where people are influenced to reject the source of truth that opposes you.  That’s right, the Bible.  Bombard the airwaves, via television, movies, radio with cleverly written scenarios of people who live their lives in direct opposition to God’s Truth without suffering any adverse effects long enough and soon people will be as easily deceived as you have been.  Then you’ll have the freedom to live anyway you want and no one will mind.  Well, maybe not everyone but enough to where you will achieve the desired effect.

And don’t be naive and lay all the blame for this at the feet of those who have rejected God’s Truth so they can have the “freedom to live without guilt“.  Yes, some of the blame should be laid at their feet but not all.  The culprit is threefold:

Satan (James 4:7)

the World (John 16:33)

and the Flesh (Ephesians 2:3)

These individuals, in not seeking genuine Truth, have sucuumbed to the flesh and are unwittingly cooperating and being influenced, by Satan and the World.  As a result they are being deceived and manipulated into thinking they have finally achieved freedom.  That sentence in a nutshell defines the work of fiery darts.

1 Tim 4:2 (GW)2 These people will speak lies disguised as truth. Their consciences have been scarred as if branded by a red-hot iron.

“What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.  Isaiah 5:20, New Living Translation

New places to find my book locally!

Mar3

For those of you in the area,

You are cordially invited to my book signing.

April 14, 12-2 pm

at Applegarth Book Store

Millington.

(my book is on sale there now, so you don’t have to wait till the book signing to get one!)

ALSO

if you visit the gift shop at

Wisteria Team Room

in

Arlington

you’ll find and be able to purchase my book there as well!

The Fiery Darts of Voting!

Feb27

Betcha’ never realized there were fiery darts concerning voting.  Maybe you did but just didn’t realize those thoughts could be categorized as fiery darts.  Anyway, here are some thoughts concerning voting that I would definitely categorize as fiery darts.

My one vote doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t make any difference if I vote or not.

I just didn’t get a chance to vote.

I’ve never gotten around to registering.

I’m too disgusted with the way government is doing its job, so I’m not voting.

Things are so corrupt that it does no good to vote.

I don’t care for anyone that’s running for office!

Read over each and every one of these and consider the final outcome of such thinking then you’ll understand why I call them fiery darts.  If any of these fiery darts rules our thinking, then we will begin to devalue the importance of voting.  And if enough good people (especially Christians) stay away from the polls, over a (short) period of time  then evil will begin to prevail and rule!  How do you suppose our country got into such a corrupt state anyway?

What if those in the military who we depend upon to protect and preserve our way of life, considered that responsibility as casually as we consider our responsibility to vote?  If you are thinking these two things are vastly removed from each other then be aware your thinking might be influenced by another fiery dart.  Namely,

Voting and fighting for our country aren’t the same thing.

I agree they aren’t the same thing and therein is the grain of truth that tempts one to embrace such thinking.  If we don’t see voting as crucial to the well being of our country as fighting to protect and preserve our country is, then voting won’t be a priority with us.

And let me address the fiery dart about corruptness.  I am ashamed of our government right now because many of our key leaders have forgotten and forsaken the foundations on which our beloved country was founded.  Praying for them consistently isn’t the whole of my responsibility though!  God has ordained a plan whereby those who are not leading as they should can be removed from office and replaced with those who will lead as they should.  If we (especially Christians) don’t get out there and vote, then things won’t improve and America will be doomed.  And don’t think we can totally blame that on poor leadership!  Isn’t there a phrase that addresses this issue:

Evil prevails when good men keep silent or in this case when good people don’t vote!

Haven’t we had enough of evil prevailing?  Are we yet ready to make some changes?

 We can you know, if we’ll just go vote!

As Christians, let us ponder these words from Scripture.

Romans 13:1-2 ESV

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

Deuteronomy 1:13 ESV

Choose for your tribes wise, understanding, and experienced men, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ (I think it’s worth noting here that we are to do the selecting [in our case, the voting] and God does the appointing [assigning the job].  Please notice the qualities we are to look for when we are choosing!)

Found this prayer on the internet and recommend it as we prepare for the upcoming elections.

O God, You are actively involved in every part of Your creation at every moment. Grant to all Americans a willingness to get involved in the upcoming elections, resisting complacency and passivity. Let each one know the value of his or her vote, and let each one exercise their privilege with diligence and faith.
–Amos 6:1   (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1963941/posts)

How do you spell love?

Feb4

Because Valentine’s Day is coming up, I think it is the appropriate time to address a relevant issue covered in my book, Fiery Darts: Satan’s Weapon of Choice, concerning the definition of love.

      When a marriage lacks “love” as defined by society, that is romantic feelings, it becomes inconceivable to those subscribing to society’s definition to remain in the relationship.  When it is romance that fuels our relationship then our focus is on the performance or lack thereof of our spouse.  (p.72)

         In defining love, could it be that we have succumbed to another fiery dart?  When we define love according to 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, we find that, “Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs;love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.” (NIV)  This is the kind of love Jesus has for us.  It is a God-centered view of love.  This kind of love will preserve marriage because it brings glory to God and points a sinful world to the reconciling love of its Creator.9  Do we think that we could love like this if we never encountered the situations that had the potential to teach us how to love in this manner?  This love is not performance based; it does not require that our earthly comforts, desires, and expectations must be met; it is not self-seeking, which unfortunately defines, for too many us, the basis of our love for others.  This type of love can only be found by sitting at the feet of Jesus and allowing Him to teach us how to love as He loves. (pp.72-73)

         A clear understanding of the love we should have, as described in the Love Chapter (1 Corinthians 13), expands our definition of love.  As Christians we were taught to define love by Christ’s example.  I suspect the only way we can love like this is to become more like Christ as we handle the problems we face in our marriages. (p. 73)

         So why do I insert this section from my book?  Because I believe that Society is out of balance in defining love.  We have put way too much emphasis on the romantic aspect of love.  It might even be said of Society’s definition of love that if you’re not experiencing romance, then you’re not experiencing love!  And to that, I say, “Society! You are way off on your definition!”  If we go by Society’s definition then all those married couples who for one reason or another have stayed together in spite of the fact that the romance has gone out of their relationship are fools.   Well, maybe that’s a bit strong!  How about ‘crazy’?

I would like to encourage all those ‘crazy’ married couples out there who are hanging in there without the benefit of the glue of romantic feelings!  First of all, God bless you!  Thank you for showing by your example that ‘love’ is spelled ‘c-o-m-m-i-t-m-e-n-t’.  By your example, you are redefining ‘love’ and getting closer to its truer meaning. So keep on keeping on! God has some pretty awesome plans for you. Remember Jeremiah 29:11?

“‘For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,’

To be sure, romance is desirable in a marriage.  For those of you who are blessed to still have that, how wonderful!  But do not despair if your marriage doesn’t.  Learn how to fight the fiery darts that have disheartened and discouraged your marriage.  Hold on to the hope that once you have acknowledged and learned how to wage war on the fiery darts attacking your marriage, then the healing of your marriage can begin.

Remember:  Romance is a by-product of love but it does not define love!  Yep, if you’ve got commitment, then you’ve got a lot of love in your marriage–you are just learning to spell it differently!

Fiery Darts that would prevent surrender!

Jan7

This morning I sent off my only son and his sweet wife to work and make their home in a foreign land.  Today they loosed the ties that bound them to the land of their birth to plant their lives in an unfamiliar land in order to be obedient to the call of God upon their lives.

The thought that it would be 4 years before they would be home again was overwhelming.  To make it worse, my grandchildren would likely be born during that time.  This thought and the thought of such a great distance separating me from my son tore at my heart.

The fiery darts were volatile.  Thoughts such as:  

You won’t ever have a relationship with your son’s children like you do with your daughter’s children. You need time to make memories with them and you simply won’t have that opportunity.

Your grandchildren won’t even know their American relatives or that they are Americans.

You’d better snap out of your grief soon or you’ll blow your testimony.

 Your son has never been this far away before. This is more than you can bear.

Your grief will drive others away from wanting to totally surrender their children to God.

That’s the bad news.  The good news is that I KNOW the nature of these thoughts.  They are prime examples of fiery dart thinking.  You know, just being able to label those thoughts as fiery darts spared me the misery of the affect they would have had on me.  Because my lessons on fiery darts have spared me from the bondage of such thinking, I am free to process the pain of being separated by a mighty big ocean from my son and am able to work through my grief in a healthy and healing manner.

Am I free of the pain of my grief?  No, not yet!  But as you will read in my new blog, I am dealing with it in an honest dialog with God.  God is being faithful as is always the case with Him and day by day I am growing stronger.

I would invite my readers to check out my new blog:

http://missionarysmom.wordpress.com

Merry Christmas from Bob & Janet

Dec25

Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, worldwide!  That boggles my mind!  Christ is the greatest of gifts ever given to mankind; the greatest gift that ever will be given to mankind.  There is nor will there ever be a greater gift than Him.

While Christmas is a holiday celebrated all over the world, the Christian faith it reflects is not.  The plan to conceal the truth regarding God’s plan to save the world by sending Christ to die for us competes with numerous man-centered and/or created ideologies all over this globe.  The reason there is even a competition is because fiery darts have played their part in penetrating the minds of people blinding them to God’s plan.  When this happens, then they are vulnerable and become gullible to accept all sorts of contrary thinking.

If you are not a Christian, then consider John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Enough said, “Merry Christmas” and may 2012 be the year the world comes to Christ!

But I don’t feel like celebrating Christmas!

Dec23

It makes me sad to think about how Christmas for some is a sad and/or lonely time.  And it makes me mad to think how those very people are being victimized by fiery darts!!!!  The Christmas message that holds the promise of deliverance from such sadness and loneliness gets blocked by fiery darts and is kept from bringing the hope and healing its victims sorely need.

How about you my dear reader?  Are you dreading Christmas?  Have you reached a point in your pain where you are numb to every emotion?  Does the future look so bleak that you see no reason to rejoice or make merry?  Have you recently suffered the devastating loss of a loved one?  Are you dealing with problems that seem hopeless? Have you finally relented and given up on that troubled relationship? Because if you are caught up in all the suffering that accompanies these heart breaking moments of life, be assured almost every thought that pops into your head will be to foster your misery.  For some of you, your thoughts grow more hopeless, thus more dangerous by the hour.

PLEASE, PLEASE KNOW THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO KEEP THINKING THOSE NEGATIVE THOUGHTS.  YOU REALLY DON’T!

BELIEVE ME WHEN I TELL YOU, YOU CAN FEEL BETTER!

First of all, I want to give you a little writing assignment. On page 21-22 in my book you will find what I call a “journal assignment.”  Here’s how it reads:

1.  Record some of the negative emotions you have dealt with this past week or ones that plague you often.

2.  Now, make a list of some of the negative thoughts that quickened those negative emotions.

3.  In describing the negative emotion(s) produced by the negative thought(s) you mentioned, identify the attitude and/or actions that resulted.

Please be open to the idea that the negative thoughts in your head are designed for your destruction.  If you continue to allow them free reign, they will destroy you.  Unless you bring them under control, they will prevent you from hearing or knowing how God plans to rescue you.  AND NEVER DOUBT FOR A MOMENT, GOD HAS A PLAN FOR YOUR RESCUE!  His rescue plan starts very simply:

IF YOU WANT TO FEEL DIFFERENTLY, THEN YOU MUST THINK DIFFERENTLY!

Trust me dear reader, this writing assignment will help you take on a different perspective with all that you are dealing with and result in your being able to feel better!  How do I know that?  Something crazy happens when you put those negative thoughts, emotions, attitudes and/or actions in black and white on a piece of paper.  They become identifiable, less intimidating, less powerful to rule you and you begin to see them as the fiery darts they really are.  I guess until you put them where you can identify them you can’t feel you have any control over them.  This exercise enables us to stand back and get a different perspective on those manipulating thoughts. Being able to read them in black and white, you will finally can see them for what they are–tools for our destruction.

The next thing I offer to you is to read the following. This is the part where your thinking will be influenced to take a different course.

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”Luke 2:10-14 (NKJV)

Now, after reading the above account of the birth of Christ, pay close attention to the words that are in bold type and underlined.  Jesus’s birth heralds great joy, peace, and goodwill to ALL men.  That good news isn’t something to be afraid of either.  Would you like to feel joy, peace, and goodwill during this Christmas season, instead of all the negative feelings with which  you are wrestling?

You know, you can!  And added to joy, peace, and goodwill you’ll get a bonus–hope!  Because if you are a Christian you have accepted Christ as your personal Savior and you can take all your cares and burdens and lay them at His feet.  He will not only help you deal with these hopeless situations, but He will make your life richer because of them.  For you see, as you follow His plan in dealing with your struggles, you’ll find yourself becoming stronger in your faith,and developing a greater trust in God.  And all because you had been tried by these trials!  Hey, and if you’re not a Christian, then it just could be that these very trials will be what will bring you to Christ and turn your heartache into rejoicing. Now that will give you cause to celebrate!

Well, I think I’ve said what I wanted to say!  I pray you were able to read the whole wordy post and follow through with the writing assignment AND that you are able to break free of the bondage of fiery dart thinking.  I’m praying the Christmas message will bring healing and restoration for all of you who are going through difficulty and pain. You have to make a choice though: To reject the destructiveness of your fiery dart thinking and seek instead the  joy, peace, and hope of Christmas–just like the Wisemen!  Then,

YOU CAN HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Dealing with problems that won’t go away!

Dec17

Note:  If this post helps, would you please leave me a comment to that effect?  God bless, 

For the past year now I’ve been reading a devotional book called Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. This devotional book is all about enjoying peace in the presence of God.  If you don’t have this book, then I highly recommend you get it. It will enrich your devotion time and your life!

In the devotion for tomorrow actually, Ms. Young writes about problems that we encounter in our lives that are ongoing!  You know, those problems that don’t ever seem to have a solution. Problems that just won’t go away so we try to find a way to live with them.  Have any of those?

Because these ongoing problems are ongoing, we seem to over-focus on them and that only adds to the problem. As Christians, we know that we should focus on Christ during times like these.  After all, look what happened to Peter when he took his focus off Jesus and began focusing on the storm.  You know the account:

29 “Come,” said Jesus. Then Peter got down from the boat and walked on the water to go to Jesus.30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and as he began to sink, he cried out, “Master, save me!” 31 At once Jesus stretched out his hand and caught hold of him, saying to him. “O little faith! What made you doubt?”  Matt 14:29-31 (MontgomeryNT)

It’s pretty obvious what went wrong with Peter–He took his eyes off Jesus!  Now the application we are to make here is pretty obvious as well–when we encounter those ongoing problems we need to keep our focus on Jesus.  AND I’m sure that most of us have every intention to follow such helpful and scriptural advice.  Why wouldn’t we! We know exactly what’s going to happen if we don’t. (Some of us know this through painful experience.) Yep, we start sinking; just like Peter did!

This is where fiery darts come in.  FD number one:  We will be tempted to take our eyes off Jesus and place them where?  You guessed it–right smack dab on that problem.  As soon as that happens then we will become vulnerable to an onslaught of fd’s with doubt at the top of the list.  Then it’s a downward spiral after that.  As we spiral downwards so goes our faith, joy, peace, hope (that’s a big one) etc.  We become absorbed with the problem which results in our spiritual senses being deadened.  Those fd’s have done their deadly work!

NOW, that’s the bad news!  Want to hear some good news?

Of course you do! That’s why your still reading, right?  The following is beautiful and I have Ms. Young’s obedience to the Holy Spirit’s promptings in writing her devotional book to thank for the following advice.  I’ll just quote from her book:

When you are plagued by a persistent problem–one that goes on and on–view it as a rich opportunity. An ongoing problem is like a tutor who is always by your side. The learning possibilities are limited only by your willingness to be teachable. In faith, thank Me for your problem. Ask Me to open your eyes and your heart to all that I am accomplishing through this difficulty. Once you have become grateful for a problem, it loses its power to drag you down. On the contrary, your thankful attitude will lift you up into heavenly places with Me.

Ah, doesn’t that just lift your spirits and encourage your heart?  So how do we accomplish this spiritual feat?  We must acknowledge the fiery darts that are messing with our minds.  Understand the primary fiery dart will be to take your focus off Jesus.  The Enemy can’t throw the accompanying fd’s with success until we loose sight of Jesus. By being alert to the Enemy’s plan then we’ll be able to recognize the fd’s that are being sent against us.

Ok, we are resisting the temptation to take our focus off Jesus (quoting Isaiah 54:17 works well here), so be prepared for the following to happen. As we fix our gaze upon Jesus then He will give us the ability to see things hidden from us by the fd’s.  Things like Ms. Young shared with us: seeing our ongoing problem as a tutor, having our eyes and heart opened to all that God is accomplishing in our lives via this problem, developing an attitude of gratefulness which will cause the problem to loose its power in dragging us down.

How about trying this the next time that ongoing problem rears it’s ugly head.  Thank God that because of Jesus this ongoing problem has lost its power to drag us down.  Focusing on the thought that this ongoing problem is like a tutor will be liberating, because we will realize that our relationship with our LORD has been strengthened and has grown out of the adversity that we have encountered.

Feel better? I thought you would.  That’s God’s plan!  Allow me to leave you with this thought, “The learning possibilities are limited only by your willingness to be teachable.”  The more willing you are to be teachable the less downward pull you will feel from that ongoing problem and the greater will be your freedom from it!  You will be lifted up into heavenly places, and that is a SWEET place to be!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!