Good morning and happy Thursday, I pray your day is off to a great start and that it gets better and better as it goes along. Today is going to be a great day...how do I know? I choose for it to be! We are faced with this decision each morning that we open our eyes and realize God has given us another one. Before we ever get out of bed in the morning we should choose if the day is going to be a good one or a bad one...Once we make the decision, it will stay with us the whole of the day. Will yours be a good day or a bad day??
In prayer his morning I was sitting out in the cold of the morning, bundled up! I asked God to take the gloom that has been with me the last few days and let the sun shine down on me. I hate that I have allowed myself to be pulled into the yuck and muck. I hate that I have let my lonliness for my child get the best of me. This morning as I was meditating...I realized how selfish I have been. I realized that I get to talk to her via phone or text each day and so many do not have that blessing. I, today, have made up my mind that I will no longer let the longing for her get the best of me and I will thank God a bit louder for the privilege of her voice or her print each day! I bowed my head and ask God for special blessings for each of you, that you might feel his power and his love in every move that you make today. I thanked him for allowing so many of you to be such inspiration to me each day, I thanked him for all of the kind things that were said about me..to me...on facebook. I felt humbled and so very blessed. I asked God to take sicknesses that he could and bring bodies to full health, I asked God to comfort the ones that he would not take the sickness, to give them peace, calm and comfort in their frail bodies. I asked God to watch over you and yours this day that he may shield you from any harm. I asked him for these blessings and mercies in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
I watched "secretariat" for the first time last evening and was so overjoyed that another of God's valuable lessons was right there in the movie. Imagine... it only took one person to really believe in this horse, one person to take a stand, to have faith and know that he could be a winner. We have "THE ONE PERSON" in our corner, He believes in us, He has faith in us and He promises us everlasting life if only we honor Him the way He honors us. God is good all of the time my friends...let Him be for you!!
The story I selected today is another one in learning about God's love.
Bruised Apples
A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner. Well, as such things go, one thing led to another. The sales meeting lasted longer than anticipated.
Their flights were scheduled to leave out of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, and they had to race to the airport. With tickets in hand, they barged through the terminal to catch their flight back home. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table, which held a display of baskets of apples. Apples flew everywhere.
Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding, all but one. He paused, took a deep breath and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him and told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight.
Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the floor. He was glad he did. The 16-year-old girl at the apple stand was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping or to care for her plight.
The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them into the baskets, and helped set the display up once more. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, “Here, please take this $20 for the damage we did. Are you okay?” She nodded through her tears.
He continued on with, “I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.”
As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, “Mister….” He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, “Are you Jesus?”
He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: “Are you Jesus?”
Do people mistake you for Jesus? That’s our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace. If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It’s actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.
You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by the fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.
Author Unknown
