Every Possible Hardship

By Elizabeth Bien

Just like my mom told me, all our struggles are because God loves us.

You know for a really long time, I was really angry about the hard times I have gone through.  I felt like every possible hardship that a person could have, got thrown right in front of me!  I was so mad and I hated my life.  I felt like it just wasn't fair!  Most people go through one big hardship in their lives, but I was getting hit with everything!

Then I started realizing that I was able to help others through their tough times because I had gone through it myself.  As well, I was noticing people came to me when they were struggling and I could help them.

It took me a long time to accept that I have absolutely no talent, until I saw that helping people is my talent.  I would much rather be able to make others feel better and help them find a reason to smile and be positive again, than some other things that I might have had.

I think that anytime a person can help someone through a tough time it heals the soul!  I feel blessed that I can understand and help a few extra people in my life!

Thank God We Have Jesus Waiting At The Other end

By Bary Bennett

When I was just a baby and life was all brand new
My mommy and my daddy were there to help me through
They knew when I was hungry, they knew when I was wet
Though too young to remember, I never will forget
They taught me about Jesus, and what He means to me
I knew He was a good man, because He gave me my family
I grew to be a young man, with the spoils this world gives
My decisions took their toll on me, then I remembered "Jesus lives"
All the wasted time I lived through, the times that I fell on my face
It was then I was reminded of "Gods amazing grace"
Now I stand before you, a little wiser than before
My Mom and Dad still love me, but Jesus loves me more
So now I say in closing, to you my special friend...
"I thank God that we have Jesus waiting at the other end."

Making Cheese

Jesus said that we can have what ever we want, if we have enough faith.  And it doesn't take a whole lot, just faith the size of a mustard seed is enough to move a mountain.  How do we get that faith?

Romans 10:17, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." NIV

The word of Christ is the Bible.  We read the Bible and we will receive, and build faith.

When I first became a believer, I was on fire for God!  I read the Bible every day, watched Christian shows, rented Christian movies, listened to Christian music and read all of the books I could get my hands on.  One day, our van broke down.  Now, we needed that van to get to our sign jobs and we relied on that van for our income.  We weren't making a lot of money so the van not running was a very bad thing.

The first thing we did after trying to start the van was to pray.  My husband, Mark, and I said a long powerful prayer.  The next thing we did was walk around the van seven times, still praying, like Joshua did around the walls of jericho.  We must have looked silly out in the back alley of our apartment complex, walking around our van, hands in the air, but we didn't care.  Yet to our dismay, the van didn't start.

The van did eventually get fixed but not in the supernatural way we had been hoping for.  I'm still not sure what we did wrong, or should I say, what we didn't do right.

A couple of months ago, Mark and I studied some articles on how to make Mozzarella cheese.  It sounded a bit complicated but we were up for a challenge.  We got the items that we needed to make the cheese, over a week.  Then we got a couple of gallons of milk the day we were going to make our cheese.  We mixed everything together, just as the recipe said to do, we brought the milk to the right temperature, we had bought a thermometer just for this occasion.  We used the right kind of pot, the right kind of milk, the right ingredients, we followed the instructions, every one of them.  we waited, we checked the milk and it still wasn't cheese, we failed!  We never did find out what we did wrong, but we haven't given up.  We are planning to try again after doing more studying.

You know, the same goes with faith.  Walking around the van seven times and praying wasn't enough to get our van running, and I'm certain there are people that have tried to move a mountain with their faith, fail or not, I don't know.  What I do know is that we should never stop trying.  And what I also know is there are people that make cheese every day, for them it might seem simple.  Mark and I just couldn't do it on our first try.  Whether it is faith or cheese, or getting our van running, learning should not stop until we reach the finish line and win our prize of everlasting life with our Lord.  

The New Job

Change can be exciting, it can also be difficult or frightening.  My friend, Lyn, was about to start a new job.  She was excited as she told me that the new job was going to pay more than her old job.  It was a desk job so she wouldn't have to be on her feet all day.  She also liked the idea of dressing up instead of wearing a uniform. 

I saw Lyn, a few weeks after she started her new job.  I asked her how it was going.  She was really down.  She said that the new job was a lot harder than she thought it would be.  She had made a few mistakes and she felt so bad about them, that she was ready to quit.  I asked her, "Didn't you make any mistakes when you started your old job?  "Oh yeah, lots of them."  She replied

It's easy to get comfortable with routine things.  Even if they aren't perfect, they are familiar.  Who knows what things will be like if we make a change.  Change can look like a wonderful thing.  But in the middle of a change, it's easy to feel uncomfortable, inadequate and alone.

When I was a kid, there was a popular show called, "Let's make a deal."  Toward the end of the show, the big winner of the day got a chance to keep the prize that they had already won during the show, or to trade the prize to win something even better.  They got a choice of three doors to pick from, behind the right door could be something wonderful.  But if you picked the wrong door, you would find out that you now own a pig or some joke prize.  Picking the right door would mean winning the grand prize always something wonderful.

Lyn, took a job that sounded better than the job that she already had.  Her mistakes made her feel like she picked the wrong door.  Becoming a Christian may feel like taking a hard new job at times, you may feel like won a joke prize.  But sticking with it is like winning the grand prize.

In Philippians 3:12,  Paul said, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

The Tongue

By Mark Cameron

"The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit."  Proverbs 18:21

Here in lies wisdom, the ability to control the tongue.  How brutal, or how lovely the words can be that are formed and set into motion via one small muscular organ.  Sometimes I think, then I realize my tongue has already spoken.  And as my brain realizes what I've said, I find, though less often having learned some degree of control, that the damage has already been done.  My wife can attest to the fact that I have frequently suffered from, "foot in mouth disease."

Although I don't consider myself a religious man, I do feel close to God.  What I have learned in my life is the tongue has great power.  A passage in the Bible compares it to the rudder of a great ship; such a small thing can steer the course of a huge vessel.  What we say can steer the course of our lives.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that one should be aware that the tongue releases the contents of the speaker, and has the capability to do great harm, or great good, it is something to be mastered.

In The Desert

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil."  Matthew 4:1.

God was pleased when Jesus was baptized.  Matthew 3:16, "As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up and out of the water.  At that moment Heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him.  And a voice from Heaven said, 'this is my son whom I love; with Him I am well pleased."  But right after He was baptized, God sent Him into the wilderness to be tested.

I don't understand why this happens, but it does.  We do something good, in Gods eyes, then we are taken into an emptiness, or depression.  Maybe it's so we don't get pridful, I'm not sure, but I do know that it does happen.  Some of the best things that I have done have been followed by depression, or by testing, and if I don't remember this, the testing is very hard to get through.

In Matthew 4:2, the Bible says that Jesus was hungry from fasting for 40 days and 40 nights.  And when He was weak, Satan came to tempt Him.  Satan offered Jesus several ways out of His chosen path, but Jesus fought back with scripture, with the word of God.

It is so important to learn scripture, and the Holy Spirit will bring that scripture to mind when we are in need of it, but first we have to get it into our minds, study, memorize and be ready for the ambush.

Tips for getting ready to battle:

1. Pick out scriptures that mean something to you.

2. On paper, print out several scriptures then cut each scripture out.

3. Tape the scriptures up anywhere you spend a lot of time.

4. Every time a scripture is in front of you, repeat it, and repeat it often

Then:

Pray and refocus

Also:

Learn songs, it's easier for a melody to come in to your head.

The adversary is waiting to attack.  We have to be ready for conflict, so yes, study but also memorize scriptures.

With These Hands

By Bary Bennett

With these hands I've offered comfort
With these hands I've given pain
With these hands I've helped my neighbor
With these hands I've eased their strain
With these hands I've fought your battles
With these hands I've fought through mine
With these hands I've fed the hungry
With these hands I've helped light shine
With these hands I've healed divisions
With these hands I say my grace
With these hands I reach toward heaven
With these hands I touch Gods face
With these hands I offer friendship
With these hands I draw your gaze
With these hands I keep my distance
With these hands I give God praise

Elijah And The Toothbrush

My husband Mark and I wanted our little boy, Elijah, to start brushing his teeth.  He didn't like the idea.  He didn't want to do it himself and he wouldn't let me do it for him.  So his teeth were going un-brushed.  Elijah's doctor said that he was getting some build up and that he needed to start brushing.  Mark and I decided to hold on to Elijah and brush them for him, big mistake.  After that there was no possible way he was going to brush his teeth by himself.  He ended up hating something that only would be good for him.  After a week of hearing Elijah scream every time we would show him a toothbrush, we gave up for a while.

Then, we tried something new.  Elijah loves juice.  First thing every morning, he wants his juice.  This particular morning, we said, "sorry baby, no juice until you take the toothbrush and touch it to your teeth."  He took the toothbrush, and he threw the tooth brush.  I gave it to him again, and he threw it again.  I gave it back to him and he took it and hid it.  He was so stuborn, he went most of the day drinking only water.  He would ask for juice and I would say, "Yes, you can have juice, as soon as you touch the toothbrush to your teeth."  And the last thing he did was, he cried for his juice.

Then it happened, having that juice meant more to Elijah than having his own way.  He found his toothbrush where he hid it earlier, in the living room.  He brought it to me, and he said, "Brush teeth?"  Then he did it, he touched that toothbrush to his teeth.  I clapped and hugged him.  Then I gave Elijah the juice, that I had ready and waiting for him.  All he had to do was get what he wanted in line with what I wanted for him.  The next morning he fought brushing his teeth again, but he did end up brushing his teeth too.

This taught me something about prayer.  I used to think that I needed to talk God into things with my prayers.  I realized that I was wrong.  1 Samuel, is the story of Hanna.  She wanted a child.  The longer she prayed and didn't get one, the more desperate she got for a child.  She finally got down and cried before God.  She said, "God if you just give me a son, I will give him to you."  That was it, that was what God wanted all along.  He was ready and waiting to give her that baby.  He just wanted Hanna to do one thing, promise that baby to Him.  She didn't persuade God to do anything, God gently persuaded her to give Him something that they both wanted.  When her heart was ready, He gave her what He had planned for her from the beginning of time.

I love Elijah.  I want the best for him, but forcing him to do what would be good for him, only made him hate it.  Bringing him to to a place where he would change his feelings about something he didn't want, so that he could have something he did want, worked.  Now on his own, Elijah brushes his teeth. 

God sets it up so that we get to a place that we desire what He already wants for us.  Then we cry out to God, "Please give us what we desire."  And when our desires and our hearts are in line with his will and His desire for us, He says, "Yes."

Psalm 145:19, "He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him, He also hears their cry and saves them."