IF

If you know what you are able to accomplish
Yet realize the things you cannot do
If you can find a goal that you believe in
And understand what God expects of you
If you can always use your talents wisely
Remaining calm when everything goes wrong
And seek your goal with persevering courage
Relying on your faith to make you strong

If you can see the beauty that surrounds you
And wonder at the wisdom of God's love
If you can be a child for just a moment
While gazing at the stars that shine above
If you can be aware of human weakness
Yet criticize the thoughtlessness you've shown
And when your heart is breaking keep believing
That other hearts are sadder than your own

If you can disregard the faults of others
And love them for the good that they have done
If you can overlook your needs and troubles
And always try to help the other one
If you can light the way by your example
And offer understanding sympathy
Then you will have the joy that comes from knowing
You're the person God intended you to be!

- by Carolyn A. Herrmann

Quiet Lives of Profound Consequence - Wayne Jacobsen

They are all over the world. I've met them everywhere--men and women who have been seasoned with the joy of living loved and are capable in the simplest of conversations to encourage others along that journey as well.

You can sit in their homes and be at rest, knowing you are cared for--not because of what they want out of you, but simply because you are one of God's kids. They live quiet lives, neither pressed by their responsibilities. nor engaged in self-promotion or the advancement of their personal agenda. They do not manipulate others to get what they want. You never have to guess what they are thinking. They are honest with others, but gently so, and patient with those who struggle.

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The arrow of the Lord - Christine Beadsworth

 Isaiah 49:2

‘In the shadow of His hand has He hid me, and made me a polished arrow; in His quiver has He kept me close and concealed me’

There is a time of being hidden and polished and refined as an arrow for the Lord’s purpose and then there is a time when He takes the arrow out of His quiver and puts it in the bow. The time has come for the sending forth to the target. This is the purpose for which the arrow was made and makes worthwhile all the time of rubbing and scraping and hammering, polishing and sharpening. The preparation was with a goal in mind. This sense of destiny is what has given the arrow strength and endurance to endure the refining.

What a sense of exhilaration as, at last the arrow is removed from the darkness of the quiver and into the sunlight, held firmly in the Master’s grip; and oh, the excitement at finally being fit into the bow! All the prophesies and whisperings of the Lord in the night season seem at last to make sense in the light and the target is clearly in view.

Then suddenly the arrow experiences something strange. Instead of being moved forward in the direction of the target, it is pulled back in the opposite direction to its destiny. It seems as if everything is reversing, although it is still facing in the same direction. Questions and doubts begin to assail this polished arrow and the tension of the bow string behind it becomes almost unbearable. The arrow feels almost backed against a wall. It can feel the tight grip of God’s strong right hand but the direction things are taking make no sense at all. The target is still in sight but growing further away by the second. What the arrow doesn’t realize is that the incredible tension in the string has stored up a large amount of potential or stored energy. The reversal is absolutely necessary to put into place behind the arrow, the power to propel it at lightening speed to the center of its target; and while it feels itself going backwards, the eye of the Archer is adjusting His focus on the target and making minute adjustments, which will make an enormous difference to the position and depth the arrow penetrates. God is taking aim because He doesn’t intend to just graze the enemy’s cheek. He is striking a death-blow and accuracy is very important.

During this process, the arrow is not required to do anything but lie at rest in the position the archer’s hand has placed it.  The pressure within and without seems to be rising to almost unbearable intensity and still the arrow lies still facing the target. Then suddenly, when the string of the bow is a full extension and the arrow has been equipped with maximum power and accuracy of flight path, the archer lets go! And that arrow flies at incredible speed and sinks right into the center of its target. And the mission is accomplished!

So, to every arrow out there who has been through a long and painful preparation process – rest and trust as you feel everything going in the opposite direction to what God has promised. This is a vital part of your journey. Going backwards does not mean you have failed the Lord somehow and are headed for yet another season of refining and purifying. If you can see the target, you are in the bow and the archer has deemed you fit for flight. You have been made ready internally, shaped and formed by the Master’s hand. The time of the refiner’s fire making a weapon fit for its purpose is indeed over. However, without this time of reversal, increasing pressure from behind and the seemingly increasing distance from your target, you would not be equipped with the supernatural power necessary to cause you to fly straight and true to your destiny. The time of release is about to come.  When you are at the point of maximum pressure and furthest distance from the target, do not misinterpret what God is doing! The moment of the fulfillment of His promise is at hand – you lie on the threshold of experiencing all that the Archer whispered to you during the days of painful polishing and sharpening. You have not misunderstood your purpose or God’s intention – once placed in that bow, you are on your way and the process has indeed begun, whichever direction everything seems to be going in!! The moment of release is known only to the archer. No-one watching has any clue exactly when it will occur – but occur it will - with devastating precision and effect! And know this too - from the point of release, everything will happen at lightening speed! God is about to do a quick work, a grand finale if you will, a masterful blow that displays the wisdom behind the length of time and minute detail applied to the preparation of a straight sharp arrow to accomplish His purposes.

Be greatly encouraged and be at peace with the external tension and pressure! God is about to triumph gloriously.

Bitter Waters Made Sweet

 Exodus 15 : 22 - 26 ( New King James Version)

²² So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. ²³ Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah.^{[a] 24} And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” ²⁵ So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.

There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, ²⁶ and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.” 

This past two months, God has taken me on a trip down memory lane. Together we have  revisited important milestones in my past, stopping at altars I had built along the way as I journeyed with Him, inspecting stones of  remembrance I had put up to commemorate His promises to me. Promises He gave me 10 years ago so vivid as if just spoken yesterday! I am amazed at how He has kept His Word from falling to the ground, guiding me, reassuring me, directing me so that today I am exactly where He wants me to be. 

This scripture came to me in a prayer meeting one Friday in 2000. I remember clearly as God explained  to  me how that tree Moses cut down changed the destiny of a people who were weary and thirsty from their journey to the Land of Promise. Bitter waters that spelt death and curse transformed into life and blessing because of one solitary tree. It was the first time, I realized that God was calling me to leave the familiarity of a  beaten path to tread the unknown with Him. My life was not meant to be one where I would grow tall and strong  to provide shade to many travellers passing by but one where I had to be uprooted and tossed into an unfamiliar environment in which my identity ceased and became one with it. I didn't  fullly understand it then and I am not sure I fully understand it now. All I know is that God's Way is perfect and all I need to do is trust Him completely for the journey that lies ahead.        

Create in me a clean heart , O God

<sup>Psalm 52

10</sup> Create in me a pure heart, O God,
   and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
   or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
   and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

- David's prayer

Hunger

Sometimes, our hunger for human love and affection can be greater than our hunger for a slice of bread.