He Comes To Us – In Spite Of Us
God is always doing something good in our lives. He answers our prayers. He bails us out, again and again. Then the next time a problem comes up, we act like God’s miracle never happened. How quickly we forget! When we can’t remember past blessings, we start fearing the future. We stop thinking that God can do it again, because we forget that He did it the first time. Spiritual vision is essential in the life of a Christian. Without clear vision, you lose hope. When you can’t see your way clearly it means you’ve lost your vision. We can hope back by seeing our lives from God’s eternal perspective.
This is the Gospel – that God doesn’t stand on the shoreline telling us what to do. He comes out to meet us where we are – in our pain – in our fears – in our discouragement. In spite of us – He comes to us!
“Then he saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea and would have passed them by.” – Matthew 6:48 NKJV
Submitted by Deaconess Irene Gardon
Christ Jesus: Our Moral Compass
Submitted by Deaconess Irene Gardon
This Feels Like Home
My conversion story is probably not unlike yours. I went to Church all throughout my youth. Participated in Easter Programs. Went to Sunday School. Learned Bible Verses. My father was a Deacon. My mother sang in the Gospel Choir and served a Nurse on the Nurses’ Ministry. We children would prepare for Sunday on Saturday night. That meant getting our hair done, laying out our best clothes, studying the Sunday School lessons, then getting to bed early, to be up on time for Sunday School and Church on Sunday Morning. There was no such thing as getting to Church late. Sunday School started at 9:30 am and we had to be there until afternoon service was over, and then would often go back for the evening worship. Baptized, I gave my life to Christ at an early age, and for years my Church-Life was the center of my life. But one day, and I don’t remember exactly when, going to church became less of a priority. My Sundays were crowded out by other seemingly more important things. It became the day to do my laundry; or clean the house; or just to rest. It became the day to recoup from the partying the night before. And at one point in my married life, it became the day that we spent on the ball field, where my husband was a star-pitcher. I don’t think I ever forgot what my Church-Life had been, it just didn’t seem important enough to fit it in. The time came in my early adult life when I had spent more time out of Church than I had spent in.
Submitted by Deaconess Irene Gardon