I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4.
Do not talk of the faults of others. Take care of your own garden. See that your own heart is cleansed by the power of God. When trouble comes, instead of getting out of patience, instead of fretting and worrying, go to the Lord, and tell Him all about it…. Do not go to human friends, for they have all the burdens they can bear….
Do not think that by placing your burdens on others, you can find relief. Come right to the Burden-bearer, and tell Him about them. Believe that He is able and willing to meet the circumstances of your case. When in contrition you come to the foot of the cross, when you have faith in the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, you will receive power through Him. As you cast your helpless soul upon Him, He gives you peace and joy and strength and courage. Then you are able to tell someone else how precious Christ is to you. You can say, “I sought Him, and found Him precious to my soul.”
“Ye shall find rest.” How? By living experience—because Christ’s yoke is a yoke of patience and gentleness and long-suffering. Those who learn His meekness and lowliness learn also how to love one another as He has loved them. They reach the place where they refuse to criticize and condemn others. They learn that there is committed to them a work that no one else can do for them—the work of learning of Christ. When we place ourselves in His hands, He shows us the possibilities and probabilities before us, and bids us go for help to One infinitely higher than erring human beings.
Christ is our efficiency. How do I know this? I know it by experience. For a while, many many years ago, I was in despair. Then I cast myself on the mercy and love of the Saviour, and His power came upon me. At one time those who were working [in the publishing office] thought me dead. But all at once I raised my voice in prayer. The power of God was upon me all night long, and henceforth I understood that I must trust in Christ. I had been praying and praying for help, and all the time my Saviour was standing close by my side, waiting for me to recognize Him as my sufficiency, my strength, my grace. I learned the lesson, and after that, when I kneeled down to pray, I believed that I would receive an answer, whether I felt as if I would or not….
Oh, how I wish that we would honor Christ by realizing what He wants to do for us, and taking Him at His word. If we would do this, we should be sunshiny Christians. By beholding Christ, we would be changed into His likeness.—Manuscript 118, December 11, 1904, “Union With Christ.”
The Upward Look p. 359
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Prayer Requests
—-Phillip is having open heart surgery Monday to replace a valve that is a birth defect. They have been watching it and just recently it became an emergency situation. He is healthy other than that so not excepting any problems. Just the recovery we are not looking forward too. Lisa
—-Please continue to pray for Esther. Rose
—-Please pray that God will heal David spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. Buck
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Dear Friends,
Ronnie Jay and I used to enjoy collecting rocks when we lived in an area that had interesting rocks. Whenever we went on a hike, we would fill our pockets with them. We also have enjoyed in the past going to rock shops and perusing shelves and shelves of all sorts of rocks and minerals.
One of the rocks that we have kept on display over the years, is a thunder egg. On the outside there is nothing attractive about the round, knobby ball of rock, but if cut in half, there is a pretty agate on the inside.
Some even are filled with opal or quartz crystals. Some people think that these thunder eggs are formed when mineral deposits fill in gas bubbles in lava. When we went to a rock shop a few years ago, they had geodes for sale. We picked one and they split it for us. Inside was black and sparkly.
Some months ago, I used it as an illustration for children’s story. I told them that people often are like geodes or thunder eggs. There is nothing on the outside that is attractive. We look at their actions, judge their motives, listen to their words, and consider them worthless, not worthy of our time. How many times we turn valuable gems away, because of our attitude. We do not see what is in their heart. We do not understand the trials and heartaches that they have endured. How often they are the very ones who feel their need of something better. It is only by taking time to look beneath the surface, that we find the valuable person inside, a precious soul, looking wistfully toward Heaven, longing to be delivered from the chains that bind them.
Our Great Redeemer reminds us, “the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” 1 Sam 16:7 When He was upon this earth, our Loving Saviour attracted publicans and sinners to Himself. He did not to join them in their lifestyle; instead, He “drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love” and lead them to His Father in Heaven, Who “so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Hosea 11:4, John 3:16,17 They were as unattractive on the surface as a geode, but He saw the value in each one of them. He saw what they could become if they followed Him. Many of those publicans and sinners left their old lifestyle and followed Him. They did not stay in their sins, but came to Him for cleansing.
May we see others as our Great Creator sees them, looking past the rough exterior and seeing the tender heart beneath. May we, through the guidance from the Holy Spirit, help those we meet to accept our Dear Saviour’s great gift of salvation. May we be willing to consecrate all of our actions, all of our words, all of our thoughts, all of our attitudes this day unto the LORD.
Rose