Starts With Sadness Ends With Joy!

 

Holy Week, in the Christian church, the week between Palm Sunday and Easter, observed with special solemnity as a time of devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ. In the Greek and Roman liturgical books, it is called the Great Week because great deeds were done by God during this week. The name Holy Week was used in the 4th century by St. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, and St. Epiphanius of Constantia. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Holy-Week)

Holy Week consist of Palm Sunday, Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and leads us to Easter Sunday!

Billy Graham said, “When Jesus hung on the cross, a great unseen cosmic battle raged in the heavens—and in the end, Christ triumphed over all the forces of evil and death and hell.”

This week is not only sad, but is joyful. We can praise God that Christ Is Risen!

Blessings

The Lord Is Waiting ~ Come and Accept His Mercy

“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.”Isaiah 30:18

All this time, the Lord is waiting on us to come to Him so He can be gracious and show us mercy. Most of us were waiting on Him to come to us. That is the beauty of our Lord. He never pushes His gifts on to us. He waits for us to come to Him and ask for them.

Today, let us immediately go to Him asking for His grace and mercy. He is patiently waiting for you and me.

Blessings!

Your Strength Comes From Him

"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2Corinthians 12:9

There are times we feel overwhelmed in our day to day lives. We notice our strength is low both physically, mentally, and spiritually.


During these times, we have two choices. We can sit down and feel sorry for ourselves or we can grab our Bibles and start reading God's words.


Psalm 73:26 says, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

Nehemiah 8:10 says, "Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."


You can find numerous scriptures on God giving us strength in our lives. By reading His word and reminding ourselves that we can do all things through Him that strengthens us, it will build us up and we won't continue feeling bad because His strength is sufficient.


Blessings!

Even When We Are Sick!

 

My health fails; my spirits droop, yet God remains! He is the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. Psalm 73:26

This past two weeks has been muddled with sickness for my husband and myself. We both were diagnosesd with COVID. His situation was such they carried him to the hospital; I was able to remain at home.

Sometimes when you are sick, you just don't feel like doing anything, including reading your Bible. But thank God you can pray. Everything else was put on hold.

But through it all, God's grace did sustain me. I knew God would be with my husband and take care of him. I also knew the Lord would take care of me. Fortunately. I realized it was imperative that I rest and take care of myself.

Sometimes, we are so busy with our lives we forget to take care of ourselves and get the rest our bodies require to continue to operate. We also forget to find the time to eat properly to sustain our healthy bodies.

Then when sickness comes along and upsets our schedules we soon have to shut down and recuperate and take care of ourselves. Building back a healthy body.

I found God's grace was sufficient for me even in this time.



Blessings!

Worry and Anxiety!

“Now faith is the substances of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

We get anxious – we worry – we fret. Why? Because we look at the circumstances.

We probably do not recognize it, but we live in a natural state most of the time which means we are focusing on what is going on around us. In other words what is happening in our lives, our families, our friends, our community, and country and yes, even in the world.

God, however, sees all this that is going on. While we are focusing on all this, we forget God can do anything if we put our focus on him and not the problems. He can change the outcome. He is all powerful and all faithful.

Faith is believing God’s word; doubt is not believing God’s word. 

Blessings to You!

Strength In Him

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

My friend of forty-seven years, used to get up and walk every morning before going to work. We lived next door to each other then. And we both memorized this verse and repeated it every morning as we walked. It gave us a focus on where our strength would come from for the day that was ahead, regardless of what might come. Very comforting to both of us.

Paul is saying, that we can do all things through Christ, not that we could do all things in ourselves. It is only Christ in us that we can come through any situation we are in. You know Paul said he was content in whatever situation he found himself in.  Christ did this in him. It wasn't Paul's doing. But Paul being in Christ and Christ in Paul, was able to go through the trials and circumstances he found himself in.

Our hope is in the Lord. He came to earth and dealt with many circumstances, and I believe to show us how to deal with them. He was the example.

Our victory, like Paul's victory, doesn't come through our strength, but through Christ's strength. If we belong to the Lord, then we have this same union with Christ which empowers us to be victorious.

Praise God!

Blessings,

Can We Extend Grace?

 

This is considered one of the great scriptures about Grace.

Through God's grace, which is a gift that cannot be earned, we are given a new life. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

The cross made this possible.

The question is can we extend grace to someone who does not deserve it?

Blessings!