Yes, cling. Your faith shall be rewarded. Do you not know what it means to feel a little trusting hand in yours, to know a child’s confidence?

   Does that not draw out your Love and desire to protect, to care? Think what My Heart feels, when in your helplessness you turn to Me, clinging, desiring My Love and Protection.

   Would you fail that child, faulty and weak as you are? Could I fail you? Just know it is not possible. Know all is well. You must not doubt. You must be sure. There is no miracle I cannot perform, nothing I cannot do. No eleventh hour rescue I cannot accomplish.


><//>--------------------Prayer for the Day

Father, we pray that we may believe that You can change us. We pray that we may be always willing to be changed for the better. Amen.


A Disciple's Reflections:  He Restores My Soul

Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out to the field." And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"

He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" And the LORD said, "What have you done? Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me." 

Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden." Genesis 4:8-16

Beloved, many of our fellow believers ask, "How do I pick up the pieces after a loss or some sin in my life and move on?"

Sometimes lives are shattered by tragedy and other times by plain old undisguised sin or poor decisions, such as a marriage entered into apart from God ending in divorce – either way, on the other side of the heartaches of life there is the question, "Where do I go from here and how am I going to get there?"

It’s an important question. Even the Bible recognizes that not everyone is able to answer it. When Saul saw his kingdom slipping away, his last battle a loss, he fell on his own sword. When Judas realized the enormity of his sin in betraying Jesus he too ended his own life.

Suicide, unfortunately, is a choice that some people make when they are overwhelmed by the anger that comes when they can only see bad choices ahead. Surely there must be another way! And there is!

Cain killed his brother in a jealous rage. Maybe we haven't gone that far but who among us hasn't experienced the lifelong consequences of broken family relationships? Love and pain aren't all that far from one another when we realize that those closest to us can also inflict the most damage on us. Ask any police officer and they will tell you that domestic disputes are their most dangerous calls. The first suspects in most murders are often relatives or others once close to the victims.

Cain killed his brother and quickly realized that his own life was shattered as well. He could immediately see the danger in front of him and he moved out into the world as a marked man. And yet, what was God's response?

Cain was punished. He was cast out. Yet God didn't abandon him altogether. He placed his mark on Cain – a mark of identity, a mark of protection. Even Cain, a cold-blooded murderer, was not beyond the reach of God's mercy.

Around the world people are baptized. People, acting on God's commanding invitation have a mark placed on each of them. It is the sign of the cross – a mark of identity and protection. It is imprinted with indelible ink visible only to the eyes of faith. This baptismal mark says that God will never abandon us, and He will never forget us; He will never cast us adrift unprotected.

How do we pick up the pieces of a shattered life? We begin by claiming our identity as baptized children of God, washed in the Blood, and trusting that God hasn't let go of us – even if we might have strayed away from Him.

As for myself, beloved, I have done just about everything we could possible do wrong in the Lord.  I have broken vows, sinned, been unfaithful, and have exhibited horrible behaviors that are one day at a time coming under control. 

The important gift I'm trying to impart, beloved, is that through it all we keep the Lord in the forefront of our minds.  When we do well, the Lord is with us and we praise Him and give Him all the glory, when we do badly, the Lord is still with us and we can seek His constant mercy, help, power, and Love.  

So, for believers like me who have gone through failures in relationships, including divorce, we can simply turn to the Lord and say, "Lord, I've blown it.  Lord, I pray for your forgiveness, for You to forgive and bless those whom I have harmed, and do a work in me that I may do rightly from this point on."  This is the freedom and blessing we have under grace.

There should be no room in a believer's heart for guilt, or thoughts that we are now abandoned on account of our poor behavior.  We all have to do poorly before we can do rightly.  This is God's way, and some of us, like myself, have had to go a longer distance to get better results in our actions, but they always come when we are honest with God refusing the temptation to blame others, and trust God for our Salvation, not just for later, but for right here and now. 

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, the brokenness of our lives takes many forms. Our lives are fragile and often shatter in the face of tragedy, death, betrayal and rebellion. Yet You never let us go! We pray today for anyone seeking to find their way back to You, that they might have a sense of Your endless Mercy, Your transforming Love and Your caring presence. In Jesus' name. Amen.


Time Most Precious

"For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them." 
 – Ecclesiastes 9:12 (NKJV)

Haven't we all said or thought to ourselves, "If there were just 26 hours in every day, then I would have time to do some things that really matter; things that I am too busy for now." 

The problem with time is that it is finite; when it is gone it is gone! And the truth is, no one knows exactly what measure of time God has allotted to each and every individual. Sadly, many (myself included) spend their "time" in worthless vain pursuits (of happiness I presume). It is true that there is a time for every purpose under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3), but balancing ALL of our time is the key.

How many have spent so much time working their jobs that they missed their children's first steps, or an entire season of little league baseball, or the awards ceremony in elementary school, or every father/son/daughter or mother/daughter/son outing, or a recital or school play, or a friend's special occasion, or a family reunion, or a volume of other important events (including those who are not married or do not have kids)? For man also does not know his time...

Our very lives are a gift from God. And a life well spent is one that blesses many; one that makes the most of opportunities that are given by God Himself. Of course, I'm not suggesting that we quit their jobs and spend time in more "noble" pursuits, but rather, that we take a look at the priorities in their lives and diligently seek God's will for balancing the time in their lives. 

Let us try to imagine the things we would do differently if we knew that we had only two weeks to live. We would find that most of the things that we currently find extremely important are actually quite trivial. Today, let us be encouraged to live our lives as though each day is our last; not through a dramatic change in our activities, but through a radical adjustment to our perspective. For man also does not know his time... 

"…whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away." – James 4:14 (NKJV)

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Please have a blessed day, be hopeful, be encouraged, and know you are not alone.

“God Calling” compiled by A. J. Russell.
"Twenty-Four Hours A Day" Hazelton – adapted.
Kerry and Barry write He Restores My Soul
Greg Candelaria writes Time Most Precious.
Barry Gray writes A Disciple’s Reflections.