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RE: Shifting Gears with Kimberly - 10/23/2008 8:19:56 PM
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BlessedAngel1983
Posts: 11800
Joined: 6/8/2007
From: South Carolina
Status: online
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I actually went to the grocery without my hair done and no make-up on. I think I had more people talk to me today than I have in a while.
_____________________________
Reflecting with Terri
If you're worried and you can't sleep
Just count your blessings instead of sheep
And you'll fall asleep counting your blessings
AKA AngelInWaiting1983
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RE: Shifting Gears with Kimberly - 10/23/2008 8:39:38 PM
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kj88il
Posts: 2167
Joined: 3/3/2008
From: IL (NW Central)
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: AngelInWaiting1983
I actually went to the grocery without my hair done and no make-up on. I think I had more people talk to me today than I have in a while.
honey......that may be taking 'approachable' too far! (giggle)
_____________________________
Kimberly (aka KJ)
Shifing Gears w/ Kimberly
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RE: Shifting Gears with Kimberly - 10/23/2008 8:50:59 PM
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BlessedAngel1983
Posts: 11800
Joined: 6/8/2007
From: South Carolina
Status: online
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It was mainly women though. Maybe they felt sorry for me...lol
_____________________________
Reflecting with Terri
If you're worried and you can't sleep
Just count your blessings instead of sheep
And you'll fall asleep counting your blessings
AKA AngelInWaiting1983
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RE: Shifting Gears with Kimberly - 10/24/2008 7:57:25 AM
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kj88il
Posts: 2167
Joined: 3/3/2008
From: IL (NW Central)
Status: offline
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today's devotion...
No Small AFfair
1 Cor 13:6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
A few years ago, I sat with a beautiful young woman and watched the tears stream down her face. Six months before our meeting, her world was filled with so much – a loving husband, a healthy toddler, and fun friends. Life was full.
But some part of her heart still felt restless, unsettled, and a little empty. She started to feel detached from her husband and disappointed in their relationship. Why couldn't he make her feel loved? Wasn’t he supposed to right her wrongs, fill up her insecurities, and give her a lasting feeling of love?
Then one day she met a man who said things she'd longed to hear her husband say. He made her feel pretty and witty. Soon, she rationalized that she'd never really loved her husband in the first place. A web of lies was spun. She fell into the arms of the other man.
She had not wanted to come to the women's retreat. She knew it might make her feel guilty and she was past having any guilty feelings. She was just waiting for the right time to leave her husband and start over with the new love of her life. But her friends had started to grow suspicious of her pulling back from so many church activities. So, to appease them, she went.
Over the course of the weekend, the walls she'd so carefully constructed to keep everyone at a distance and her secret safe started to crumble. By Saturday night, she sat down with me and confessed her affair. She desperately wanted to know how I felt so full of God's love. She was now convinced it wasn't the love of another man her heart craved; it was the love of God.
Chasing love outside the will of God invites the exact opposite of love into our lives. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 is picture of God's perfect love. It is patient. It is kind. It does not envy... it is not self-seeking... it does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth... it always protects... it always perseveres. Love never fails. The things we chase in this world are opposite from God's love. False attempts at love will make us impatient, unkind, envious, self-seeking, resistant to the truth, reckless and temporary.
1 Corinthians 13 is not a description of what is inherently ours when we fall in love with another person. It is a description of God's love. This kind of love can be ours as we become more Christ-like. It is never focused inwardly. It is never about what I'm going to get from another person. It is deciding that this is the kind of love I will give away.
I am challenged by this. Because our souls were designed for God's fulfilling love, if we aren't staying closely connected to Him everyday, our hearts will start to feel empty. Restless. Unfulfilled.
Let us never get to the place where we think we are strong enough to not be tempted in this way. If we are all completely honest, we are only a few bad decisions away from the same kind of mess my sweet friend is now trying to untangle herself from. While I have complete hope in God's ability to restore her, the consequences of her chase for love will be severe on many levels.
The kind of love our souls crave will never be found in the things of this world. Lasting and perfectly satisfying love will only be found when we stop chasing the wrong kind of love and start living out the truths of God.
Deut 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
Prov 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Lord, help me rest in the security of Your love. Make me wise in how I guard my heart. May I never get lured into any kind of worldly, fake love. But if I ever start to get drawn away, God surround me with people who are bold enough to speak truth into my life. All these things I pray...in Jesus' name...amen.
_____________________________
Kimberly (aka KJ)
Shifing Gears w/ Kimberly
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RE: Shifting Gears with Kimberly - 10/27/2008 7:48:23 AM
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kj88il
Posts: 2167
Joined: 3/3/2008
From: IL (NW Central)
Status: offline
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today's devotion...
Walking Wisely
Prob 13:20 He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.”
Do you have an important decision to make today? Rehoboam’s story in I Kings 12:1-19 has a lesson for each of us in the midst of making hard choices. Rehoboam had a dilemma. He had an important decision to make, and he didn’t know what to do.
Following Solomon’s death, the people of Israel gathered to make Rehoboam king. About that time, Jeroboam (I know these names are doozies, but hang in there!) came to speak to Rehoboam on behalf of the people. He said, “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.” The people were worn out. Solomon had been a great king, but he had worked the people into exhaustion with all of his building projects. They were pleading for rest during Rehoboam’s reign in exchange for their undying loyalty, but Rehoboam wasn’t sure of the kingly response. He asked for three days to come to a decision. Great idea, right? He started well with a request for time to seek counsel.
The first group that he asked for advice was a group of elders who had served under his father. These were men of experience both from years lived and from the places where they had served. They advised Rehoboam to answer the people affirmatively. The elders encouraged him that the people would follow him faithfully if only Rehoboam would humble himself to be a servant leader.
Rehoboam didn’t like their answer, so he sought out a different group to ask. This time he decided to ask “the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him.” Are warning bells going off for you, too? Not only were these men young and inexperienced, they also were on Rehoboam’s payroll and stood to lose or gain by their answer. Here was their advice: “Tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions’” (I Kings 12:10b-11 NIV). Rehoboam foolishly listened to his friends.
If we want to make wise decisions, we need to seek wise counsel. Proverbs 12:15 says, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.” (NAS) How can we make sure that we pick the right people to seek advice from?
Choose a godly person. Proverbs 2:6 tells us, “For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding” (NIV). When I choose to seek advice from someone who knows scripture and seeks God in personal quiet time, I can be assured their advice is based on a foundation of truth.
Choose a person with experience. It’s always been helpful to me to learn from other women who have walked before me. I’ve sought out other teachers, wives, and mothers who are purposeful about building godly relationships and behaving righteously to give me counsel as I live life. It’s the principal of the older believers teaching the younger believers that’s found in Titus 2.
Choose someone who will tell the truth in love. Ecclesiastes 7:5 explains, “It is better to heed a wise man’s rebuke than to listen to the song of fools” (NIV). So many around me would rather “sing me a song” than tell me what I need to hear. I have several friends that I trust to tell me the unvarnished truth when I ask for advice. They love me, but they fear God!
Rehoboam’s decision changed history. He reaped a rebellion that ripped the country in two. He lost his following, his potential for enormous power, and the favor of God. We don’t have to make those mistakes. We can head the warning taught by Rehoboam’s story and follow God by seeking wise counsel.
Job 12:13 To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are His.
Prov 20:18 Make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance.
Again, what an applicable devotion, Lord. Thank You for Christian friends who I can trust to cousel me...in big things and small. Thank You for getting me through this past weekend...and continue to guide me through the next few weeks...as it seems I will have even more decisions to make. Show me Your will through Your Word. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit...be the little voice in my head leading me down Your chosen path. And help me to heed the wise counsel of my friends through these times of change...and not lean just on my own understanding.
I praise You, Lord for the blessings and protection You provided this weekend. Give me wisdom and clarity. All these things I pray...in Jesus' name...amen.
_____________________________
Kimberly (aka KJ)
Shifing Gears w/ Kimberly
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RE: Shifting Gears with Kimberly - 10/27/2008 8:28:30 AM
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JustJeannie
Posts: 5125
Joined: 6/14/2007
From: the state of confusion
Status: online
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I'm here for ya!!!! I got your text the other night after I was in bed and asleep. Woke up in middle of the night and saw it...........PRAYING
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Jeannie
Mah brain...it hurts...
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RE: Shifting Gears with Kimberly - 10/28/2008 7:50:58 AM
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kj88il
Posts: 2167
Joined: 3/3/2008
From: IL (NW Central)
Status: offline
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today's devotion...
Rejected Again?
This is the same Moses whom they had rejected with the words, 'Who made you ruler and judge?'
Acts 7:35 He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
Rejection is never fun. Most of us avoid situations where we know we’ll be rejected, and sometimes we give up too soon. Parents, worn down by the defiance of children, give in rather than discipline in love. Friends avoid giving biblical advice when it’s rebuffed repeatedly. Many of us just stop sharing the good news of the Gospel when someone seems uninterested. We may know God asked us to do something, but trying repeatedly is just too hard when we’ve been rejected before.
There is wisdom in knowing when to press on and when to back up. Only the Holy Spirit can give us direction on what to do when we meet resistance. But many times, I wonder if fear, insecurity or exhaustion drives our decision to stop obeying God’s requests. Unless God specifically tells us to stop, we should consider our past marching orders as standing orders and face that possible rejection again.
Moses is an example of someone God called to help people who had already rejected him. In Acts, chapter 7, we read Stephen’s final sermon. It included the story of Moses, an Israelite, who was raised in the Egyptian Pharaoh’s house, full of wealth and privilege. At the age of 40, Moses visited his fellow Israelites who were enslaved by the Egyptians, and in his anger he killed one of them. When other Israelites discovered the murder, Moses fled to the wilderness for 40 years. That was when God asked Moses to return to Egypt to free His people.
Moses was an unwilling servant in the beginning, full of excuses. In Exodus, chapter 3, Moses begins the list of reasons why he shouldn’t go back to Egypt : That he was nobody, that he wouldn’t know the name of Who sent him, the Israelites wouldn’t believe him anyway, and that he wasn’t eloquent. Quite an inventory of excuses, wasn’t it? Stephen, over 1,500 years later, cuts to the heart of the matter when he said Moses was sent to the people who had rejected him.
Moses was just like you and me. I think he loved God, but he didn’t want to open himself up to criticism and rejection. And so he quickly identified the list of reasons why he couldn’t do what God had asked. But God had important plans for Moses. Moses was the one God chose to bring freedom to the Israelites. God saw value and worth in Moses, and God sees that same worth in you.
With God’s help and power, Moses returned to the Israelites and led them to freedom. Obedience wasn’t easy, but the end result brought God glory, and freedom from slavery to a million people. Sometimes God may send us back to speak truth and freedom to someone who has rejected us before. When that happens, we can trust that God sees our potential and that pressing through rejection will be worth it in the end.
Gal 1:10 Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.
Luke 10:16 He who listens to you listens to Me; he who rejects you rejects Me; but he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.
Ps 66:20 Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me!
Lord, thank You for including stories in the Bible of people who faced rejection. Obeying Your will isn’t always easy. Thank You for being with me always, for being my courage and for working miracles every day around me.
Once again...there is change in the air. Show me what You want me to do. I know You will bring the right people and opportunities into my life to make that happen. But Lord, I'll need You to give me patience and confidence so I don't give up too soon. Thank You in advance for the abundance and blessings You will bring into my life. May Your will be done, Lord. All these things I pray...in Jesus’ name...amen.
_____________________________
Kimberly (aka KJ)
Shifing Gears w/ Kimberly
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RE: Shifting Gears with Kimberly - 10/29/2008 7:58:42 AM
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kj88il
Posts: 2167
Joined: 3/3/2008
From: IL (NW Central)
Status: offline
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today's devotion...
The Power of Encouraging Words
Josh 1:9 Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go
I hate open heights. I can’t stand balconies and when driving across a bridge, you’ll find me hugging the rail along the inside lane.
Some friends tried to help me conquer my fear of heights by inviting our family to an indoor rock-climbing center. My heart stopped as we entered the doors and I scanned the highest peak at 25 feet! The instructors assured me that a web of ropes and harnesses would hold me tight. Before I could say “no thank you,” I was strapped in and signing an injury waiver.
Towards the end of the day, our friends John and Laura encouraged their eight-year-old son Steven to climb to the highest peak – promising tokens and ice cream if he did it. Steven was afraid of heights, too, but he loved a dare. The promise of reward, mixed with the challenge and faith of his father evoked courage in him.
I watched with admiration as Steven started the climb with confidence. He made it to 10 feet, then 15, then 20. But as he inched past the next face of the wall, he saw how far he still had to go. In fear, he looked down with tears and claimed he couldn’t do it. Then he cried out for his daddy’s help.
By this time, Steven’s dad was holding their very tired 3-year-old and his mom was feeding their hungry baby girl. I don’t know where my brave husband was, but I quickly realized I was the only one standing there who could do something.
Suddenly courage and strength surged through my body and I called out, “Don’t give up buddy. You can do it. I’ll help you!”
In record time, I reached the 20-foot marker, crossed over the peak and up beside Steven to encourage him, reminding him of how far he’d come. I told him he could do it with God’s strength and that it would be worth it if he’d persevere. With my words and my confidence in him, I helped Steven turn his thoughts towards a higher goal, an inner peak, a reward much greater than ice cream and game tokens – the reward of getting to a place he had stopped believing he could reach.
Funny how I stopped thinking about my fears when I was focused on helping someone else overcome theirs. I realized that the same promises I had claimed for Steven were true for me, too. I could do it with God’s strength and I did!
Each day we have the same opportunity. Like God did with Joshua in today’s key verse and like He does with us, we can come alongside each other in some of life’s hardest challenges and highest peaks and say, “Don’t give up, you can do it. I’ll be with you and help you.”
When we take our eyes off our fears, our doubts, our struggles and focus on someone else's needs, we somehow forget our own, for a little while. In believing the power of God’s promises for others, our confidence in His promises for us seems to grow as well. And that my friend is the power of encouraging words!
Ps 69:32 The humble will see their God at work and be glad. Let all who seek God’s help be encouraged.
Deut 3:28 But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.
Ps 10:17 You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry.
Lord, thank you for the power of Your Words that give me courage to become who You’ve created me to be...to go to places You’re calling me to go...and to climb spiritual heights that are out of my reach without Your help. Give me Your encouragement today, and use me as Your tool to encourage someone else, too. I know You have great things in store for me. May Your will be done, Lord. All these things I pray...in Jesus' name...amen.
_____________________________
Kimberly (aka KJ)
Shifing Gears w/ Kimberly
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RE: Shifting Gears with Kimberly - 10/29/2008 3:29:24 PM
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BlessedAngel1983
Posts: 11800
Joined: 6/8/2007
From: South Carolina
Status: online
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Thanks Kimberly! I really needed that devotion today. *hugs*
_____________________________
Reflecting with Terri
If you're worried and you can't sleep
Just count your blessings instead of sheep
And you'll fall asleep counting your blessings
AKA AngelInWaiting1983
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RE: Shifting Gears with Kimberly - 10/30/2008 8:01:04 AM
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kj88il
Posts: 2167
Joined: 3/3/2008
From: IL (NW Central)
Status: offline
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today's devotion...
Keeping Our Joy
John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
She waited until I had spoken to every woman in line. Once the room was empty, the woman timidly made her way toward me. Before she spoke a word, I could see and sense her grief. Her face was marked with depression and her shoulders hung low from the burden that she carried. With quivering lips and tear-filled eyes, she spoke words no mother wants to hear coming from her own lips.
“Please pray for my fifteen-year-old daughter. She’s pregnant.”
This godly woman has loved and served God in her home, church, and community for years. Now, she does nothing. Ashamed, she blames herself for her child’s choices, and because of them, considers herself unworthy to serve. Not only has this woman allowed her situation to steal her peace and joy, but her service too.
Many Christians fall into this same trap. They allow the enemy to rob them of their peace, steal their joy, and kill their witness over situations beyond their control.
It’s true. Satan has always been a tempter, but where he catches us off guard is by thinking he tempts us to do bad things. Our flesh mostly takes care of that job. The fact is Satan tempts us in order to lose what God has given us.
If Satan can rob our joy and steal our witness, then he makes us useless in the kingdom of God . Just like this mother, we become unproductive when our faith is stripped by unexpected heartbreak. Nevertheless, you and I must not let Satan use our circumstances to steal our joy.
That sounds good, but how do we find true joy in midst of heartache? We find it by depending on the Lord. David reminds us, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song” (Ps 28:7).
First, David believed God heard his cries. Second, he relied on God’s provision and strength. Third, David trusted in God’s help with all of his heart. This kept him from growing weak, losing heart, and giving up. Finally, because David believed God was for him, in him, with him, and behind him one hundred percent, David was able to give thanks with a joyful heart.
Like David and this mother I spoke with, we will experience situations that can steal our joy and leave us feeling unworthy to serve. To think this way is to see ourselves outside of God’s grace. You and I don’t serve God because we are good enough. We serve God because He’s good enough. It’s His perfection working through our imperfections.
By the same token, our joy is not defined by our circumstances. It’s based on our relationship with God who, in due time, will bring us out of our present situation.
Exercising faith in God - not circumstances - aids the discouraged heart so that Satan cannot steal our joy or our purpose.
Lord, today help me refuse to let Satan steal my joy. I had a horrible blow last night. I feel completely empty and hopeless. But I long for the fullness of life that You have promised me. Maybe I had to be stripped of everything I wanted...so that I am an empty vessel for You to fill with Your joy. I don't understand it. I can't see ever being happy again. But it's not about what I can see, is it? It's about what You can do. And all I can do is trust You in my present situation...trust You to restore my peace and joy.
My faith is small and weak and tired, Father. I surrender all that left of my pitiful shell of a life. I may not feel like I will ever have joy in my life again...but it's not about what I feel...it's about having faith. And I have faith in Your promises...may Your will be done, Lord. All these things I pray..in Jesus' name...amen.
_____________________________
Kimberly (aka KJ)
Shifing Gears w/ Kimberly
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RE: Shifting Gears with Kimberly - 10/30/2008 11:18:03 AM
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ShallbeRebuilt
Posts: 2214
Joined: 11/8/2007
Status: online
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Thanks for posting the verse, Kimberly: I'm going to share it with GP1 as she is extremely discouraged today, too. But I would also like to share the following verses with you to encourage YOU...
uMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy,
zenthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
10 On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Be not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.
12 Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13 they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my uheart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
17 I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
19 But you, O Lord, do not be far off!
O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
20 Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog!
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
22 I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise in the great ocongregation;
my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
26 The afflicted shall seat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord!
May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
28 For kingship belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not keep himself alive.
30 Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.
The Holy Bible : English Standard Version., Ps 22:1-31 (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001).
I find this Psalm particularly comforting when I am afraid I will be crushed by the weight of the pain and suffering in my heart.
shallbe
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SHALLBE’S BATTY BELFRY
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