Wednesday Words of Wisdom

Challenges Are Blessings in Disguise

God sometimes sends us challenges as blessings in disguise
To make us stop and think along the way.
To make us search our hearts and souls and take time to discover
A little more about ourselves each day.
To lovingly remind us just to reach for Him in prayer
For any answers that we long to know.
God sometimes sends us challenges as blessings in disguise
To guide us and inspire us as we grow.

*** Amanda Bradley ***

A lady I worked with many years ago, who became a dear friend of mine, gave me a card and the above poem is on the front of it. (if you're reading this, thanks Jo...I told you I saved lots of the things you gave me!!!) I framed it and it has sat on a shelf in my bathroom for years. It's one of those deals where you know it's there, but you have a tendency to just overlook it...know what I mean? Well, I was cleaning out the vanity in that bath on Saturday and I took the time to re-read the card. I even took it out of the frame so that I could read the inside verse, which goes like this:

May God, who watches over us and blesses us each day,
Help you find the strength to meet what life may send your way --
May He guide your footsteps and hear your every prayer,
And in the days to follow keep you always in His care.

So often, we don't look at things that we consider "bad" that happen to us as being blessings, do we? I look at my own life, and there are certain things that have happened that weren't pleasant to have to endure...but, they better equipped me in the long run to help others, or served to strengthen my relationship with my Heavenly Father, because I had to totally rely on Him to get me thru.

So...if you are faced with a struggle, and you are questioning why you're having to deal with such a problem....go back and re-read the poem above.

Plus....remember Paul...the greatest preacher of all time???
Look at what he endured....and he was still able to find peace and comfort:

2 Corinthians 11:23-30 (NLT)

Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.

Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger?

If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am.

WOW...please, dear Lord, make my attitude be more like Paul's!!! Let me take the struggles of life and let me be able to say, like he did, "If I'm gonna brag about myself about anything at all, let me boast about how weak I am...without YOU"!!!

I hope each of you have a wonderful day in the Lord!!!

In His Love....and with mine!!!