Facts vs. Feelings

"We walk by faith, not by appearance" (2 Cor. 5:7, RV).

By faith, not appearance; God never wants us to look at our feelings. Self may want us to; and Satan may want us to. But God wants us to face facts, not feelings; the facts of Christ and of His finished and perfect work for us.

When we face these precious facts, and believe them because God says they are facts, God will take care of our feelings.

God never gives feeling to enable us to trust Him; God never gives feeling to encourage us to trust Him; God never gives feeling to show that we have already and utterly trusted Him.

God gives feeling only when He sees that we trust Him apart from all feeling, resting on His own Word, and on His own faithfulness to His promise.

Never until then can the feeling (which is from God) possibly come; and God will give the feeling in such a measure and at such a time as His love sees best for the individual case.

We must choose between facing toward our feelings and facing toward God's facts. Our feelings may be as uncertain as the sea or the shifting sands. God's facts are as certain as the Rock of Ages, even Christ Himself, who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

"When darkness veils His lovely face
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil."

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman taken from "Streams in the Desert"

Being Our Best

“But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them just as he wanted them to be.” I Corinthians 12:18

for most of life, i think we fight God. we keep trying to show him what we were made for. we keep giving him better ideas. we keep working for something bigger & greater than anything he seems to have in mind. for many of us, by the time we are in mid-life, we feel we somehow have missed out on some of the great things we were born for. we fight with God over this.

God made me with special ideas in mind, but i wish i could have been in on the planning. my skin would have been more olive-colored, & flawless. my hair more coarse, with some curl in it. my shoulders broader. my eyes wider-spaced. i would have completely removed the lazy part in me that i have to fight with all the time.

i come to you, however, knowing God made me not to impress you. not to be one book covers. not to be an authority. not to be perfect or a genius. not to make a million dollars!

God made me to be uncomplicated in my faith. to watch children & kites & sunsets & rainbows & enjoy them. to take your hand regardless of who you are or how you look. to listen to you. to accept you right where you are. to love you unconditionally.

God made me to be real. to be honest. to be open. to never compare myself to you, but to strive to become my own best person. to have character & dignity.

-- ann kiemel anderson

Additional Reading: Job 5:6-9; Psalm 8:4; Psalm 139: I Peter 1:22-25

Women’s Devotional Bible 1

Handwriting

God's Handwriting

What does God's handwriting look like?

The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. (Ex. 32:16)

Moses held in his hands the prescription for the spiritual and physical health of the whole nation. It was flawless. God himself engraved the front and back of the tablets of stone with detailed instructions for life. It was as if God the Father wrote a list to the baby sitter explaining how to care for his children. As Moses headed down the mountain he must have found strength in holding this tangible proof of God’s voice. Surely the miracle of God's own handwriting would hush the chaotic crowd.

When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. (Ex. 32:19) The broken pieces of stone, the broken promises of Israel and the broken heart of God, all paint the tragic scene. Why on earth would God go to such work and detail when he knew the tablets would be shattered? Why would God extend his hand again especially with something so personal and divine?

Consider Jesus, the most precious gift of all. One would think that with man’s history of rejection, God would begin to hold back from the world. But he does just the opposite. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. He continues to write his message of love and redemption upon human hearts all over the world. What has he written on your heart?

You show that you are a letter from Christ-- written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Cor. 3:3)

- How do you see God’s handwriting in your life?

- What message do you want your life to say to the world around you?

- What message do you want your life to say to God?

By Sherri Youngward

Hardships

No matter what suffering or hardship awaits us in this life, we are headed toward hilarity - another home where God has triumphed forever over darkness. Our response to Christ is to hold fast to his example of "for the joy set before him," that is, to eagerly look forward to that day. It is also glimpsing - and savoring - the tiny splinters of that glory in the now, even during our darkest moments.

By Joy Sawyer, Dancing to the Heartbeat of Redemption

There is the Lamb of God

"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29

Everyone knows that Jesus wasn't really a lamb. He was a man. For His whole life, He wasn't like a lamb at all. He was strong and bold until the end. Then He became like a lamb. The bible says that when Jesus died, "He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth."

In the times of the Old Testament, people made sacrifices to God for their sins. These sacrifices were usually lambs. year after year, people made these sacrifices. Then Jesus came. He was the last sacrifice for sin. No one had to kill a little lamb again because of sin. Jesus is the Lamb of God whose death took away the sin off the world. "For God so loved the world that he gave hs only son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16).

By Daniel Partner taken from "Taken from Bible Devotions for Bedtime"

The Morning

“When I am afraid, I will trust in you.” Psalm 56:3

October 24, 2000 is a date written in my Bible next to the above verse. I was up rather late mulling over what the next day would bring. I was not looking forward to it and didn’t want it to come. I feared and resented it. It would bring to me something I didn’t want to do. Yet, without it I could possibly die. The morning would bring chemotherapy into my life. After years of taking care of myself I was being forced to put toxins into my body in order to rid myself of the cancer that chose to invade it. My body had betrayed me and I was angry at it. I didn’t want to be sick. I didn’t want to have to go through chemo. It just wasn’t fair. I was deeply afraid of the unknown that would be upon me as soon as the night faded away and the morning dawned.

As I flipped through my Bible I came across this simple verse that impacted my life that night. I was very much afraid to do what I had to do. I can only imagine what Jesus felt the night he was praying in the garden of Gethsemane. He knew what He had to face the next morning. He knew the painful road that lay ahead of Him and yet He had to face it. Did He fear the morning? Did He resent it? Did He think it wasn’t fair that He had to die? Did He want to run away and not face it? Maybe. Yet, the morning did come and He did face the cross. He had to be our sacrifice so that we would be free and He willingly endured it for us.

It’s been 6 years ago this day that I carried that verse with me throughout the night, into the morning, on my way to the treatment room and as I watched the red medicine drip into my vein. It was a small price to pay for my life. But Jesus paid an even bigger price to give us life.

If you are like I was that night and resisting the morning because of fear, loneliness, sadness, regret or any number of things, remember that you are not alone. Jesus faced the same things you face this very moment. He wants to carry your burdens because He understands what you're going through. You don’t have to face the morning alone. When you are afraid turn your eyes heavenward and call out to Jesus. He will hear you as He heard me that one lonely night when I was afraid to face the morning.

Krista Jones
10.24.06

"I Stand and Sing"

"I'm standing, Lord.
There is a mist that blinds my sight.
Steep jagged rocks, front, left and right,
Lower, dim, gigantic, in the night,.
Where is the way?

"I'm standing, Lord.
The black rock hems me in behind.
Above my head a moaning wind
Chills and oppresses heart and mind.
I am afraid!

"I'm standing , Lord.
The rock is hard beneath my feet.
I nearly slipped, Lord, on the sleet.
So weary, Lord, and where a seat?
Still must I stand?

He answered me, and on His face
A look ineffable of grace,
Of perfect, understanding love,
Which all my murmuring did remove.

"I'm standing, Lord.
Since Thou hast spoken, Lord, I see
Thou hast beset; these rocks are Thee;
And since Thy love encloses me,
I stand and sing!"

Betty Stam, Martyred in China

Love

"The greatest of these is love." I Corinthians 13:13

"I'll master it!" said the axe; and his blows fell heavily on the iron. And every blow made the edge more blunt till he ceased to strike.

"Leave it to me!" said the saw; and with his relentless teeth he worked backward and forward on its surface till his teeth were worn down and broken, and he fell aside.

"Ha, ha!" said the hammer. "I knew you wouldn't succeed! I'll show you the way!" But at the first fierce stroke off flew his head, and the iron remained as before.

"Shall I try?" asked the still, small flame.

They all despised the flame, but he curled gently around the iron and embraced it, and never left it till it melted under his irresistible influence.

Hard indeed is the heart that can resist love.

"And now abideth faith, hope, love...the greatest of these is love."

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman taken from "Springs in the Valley"

The Wind

"For he spoke and stirred up a tempest and lifted high the waves." Psalm 107:25

Stormy wind fulfilling His word. By the time the wind blows upon us it is His wind for us. We have nothing to do with what first of all stirred up that wind. It could not ruffle a leaf on the smallest tree in the forest had He not opened the way for it to blow through the fields of air. He commandeth even the winds, and they obey Him. The the winds as to His servants He saith to one, "Go," and it goeth; and to another, "Come," and it cometh; and to another, "Do this," and it doeth it. So, whatever wind blows on us it is His wind for us, His wind fulfilling His word.

God's winds do effectual work. They shake loose from us the things that can be shaken, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain, those eternal things which belong to the Kingdom which cannot be moved. They have their part to play in stripping us and strengthening us so that we may be the more ready for the uses of Eternal Love, Then can we refuse to welcome them?

Art thou indeed willing for any wind at any time? - Gold by Moonlight

Be like the pine on the hill-top,
Alone in the wind for God.

There is a curious comfort in remembering that the Father depends upon HIs child not to give way. It is inspiring to be trusted with a hard thing. You never asked for summer breezes to blow upon your tree. It is enough that you are not alone upon the hill.

"And let the storm that does Thy work
Deal with me as it may"

By Mrs. Charles E Cowman taken from "Springs in the Valley"

In Me

"In me . . . peace" (John 16:33).

There is a vast difference between happiness and blessedness. Paul had imprisonments and pains, sacrifice and suffering up to the very limit; but in the midst of it all, he was blessed. All the beatitudes came into his heart and life in the midst of those very conditions.

Paganini, the great violinist, came out before his audience one day and made the discovery just as they ended their applause that there was something wrong with his violin. He looked at it a second and then saw that it was not his famous and valuable one.

He felt paralyzed for a moment, then turned to his audience and told them there had been some mistake and he did not have his own violin. He stepped back behind the curtain thinking that it was still where he had left it, but discovered that some one had stolen his and left that old second-hand one in its place. He remained back of the curtain a moment, then came out before his audience and said:

"Ladies and Gentlemen: I will show you that the music is not in the instrument, but in the soul." And he played as he had never played before; and out of that second-hand instrument, the music poured forth until the audience was enraptured with enthusiasm and the applause almost lifted the ceiling of the building, because the man had revealed to them that music was not in the machine but in his own soul.

It is your mission, tested and tried one, to walk out on the stage of this world and reveal to all earth and Heaven that the music is not in conditions, not in the things, not in externals, but the music of life is in your own soul.

If peace be in the heart,
The wildest winter storm is full of solemn beauty,
The midnight flash but shows the path of duty,
Each living creature tells some new and joyous story,
The very trees and stones all catch a ray of glory,
If peace be in the heart.
--Charles Francis Richardson

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman taken from "Streams in the Desert"

Long Hours

"I will give myself unto prayer" (Ps. 109:4).

We are often in a religious hurry in our devotions. How much time do we spend in them daily? Can it not be easily reckoned in minutes? Who ever knew an eminently holy man who did not spend much of his time in prayer? Did ever a man exhibit much of the spirit of prayer, who did not devote much time in his closet?

Whitefield says, "Whole days and weeks have I spent prostrate on the ground, in silent or vocal prayer." "Fall upon your knees and grow there," is the language of another, who knew whereof he affirmed.

It has been said that no great work in literature or science was ever wrought by a man who did not love solitude. We may lay it down as an elemental principle of religion, that no large growth in holiness was ever gained by one who did not take time to be often, and long, alone with God.
--The Still Hour

"'Come, come,' He saith, 'O soul oppressed and weary,
Come to the shadows of my desert rest;
Come walk with Me far from life's babbling discords,
And peace shall breathe like music in thy breast.'"

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman taken from "Streams in the Desert"

Alone In The Desert

"And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place" (Luke 9:10).

In order to grow in grace, we must be much alone. It is not in society that the soul grows most vigorously. In one single quiet hour of prayer it will often make more progress than in days of company with others. It is in the desert that the dew falls freshest and the air is purest.--Andrew Bonar

"Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile,
Weary, I know it, of the press and throng,
Wipe from your brow the sweat and dust of toil,
And in My quiet strength again be strong.

"Come ye aside from all the world holds dear,
For converse which the world has never known,
Alone with Me, and with My Father here,
With Me and with My Father not alone.

"Come, tell Me all that ye have said and done,
Your victories and failures, hopes and fears.
I know how hardly souls are wooed and won:
My choicest wreaths are always wet with tears.

"Come ye and rest; the journey is too great,
And ye will faint beside the way and sink;
The bread of life is here for you to eat,
And here for you the wine of love to drink.

"Then fresh from converse with your Lord return,
And work till, daylight softens into even:
The brief hours are not lost in which ye learn
More of your Master and His rest in Heaven."

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman taken from "Streams in the Desert"

Through the Fire

"So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning" (Job 42:12).

Through his griefs Job came to his heritage. He was tried that his godliness might be confirmed. Are not my troubles intended to deepen my character and to robe me in graces I had little of before? I come to my glory through eclipses, tears, death. My ripest fruit grows against the roughest wall. Job's afflictions left him with higher conceptions of God and lowlier thoughts of himself. "Now," he cried, "mine eye seeth thee.

And if, through pain and loss, I feel God so near in His majesty that I bend low before Him and pray, "Thy will be done," I gain very much. God gave Job glimpses of the future glory. In those wearisome days and nights, he penetrated within the veil, and could say, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." Surely the latter end of Job was more blessed than the beginning.--In the Hour of Silence

"Trouble never comes to a man unless she brings a nugget of gold in her hand."

Apparent adversity will finally turn out to be the advantage of the right if we are only willing to keep on working and to wait patiently. How steadfastly the great victor souls have kept at their work, dauntless and unafraid! There are blessings which we cannot obtain if we cannot accept and endure suffering. There are joys that can come to us only through sorrow. There are revealings of Divine truth which we can get only when earth's lights have gone out. There are harvests which can grow only after the plowshare has done its work.--Selected

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seamed with scars; martyrs have put on their coronation robes glittering with fire, and through their tears have the sorrowful first seen the gates of Heaven. --Chapin

I shall know by the gleam and glitter
Of the golden chain you wear,
By your heart's calm strength in loving,
Of the fire you have had to bear.
Beat on, true heart, forever;
Shine bright, strong golden chain;
And bless the cleansing fire
And the furnace of living pain!
--Adelaide Proctor

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman taken from "Streams in the Desert"

Moonless Trust

Some of you are perhaps feeling that you are voyaging just now on a moonless sea. Uncertainty surrounds you. There seem to be no signs to follow. Perhaps you feel about to be engulfed by loneliness. There is no one to whom you can speak of your need.

Amy Carmichael wrote of such a feeling when, as a missionary of twenty-six, she had to leave Japan because of poor health, then travel to China for recuperation, but then realized God was telling her to go to Ceylon. (All this preceded her going to India, where she stayed for fifty-three years.) I have on my desk her original handwritten letter of August 25, 1894, as she was en route to Colombo. "All along, let us remember, we are not asked to understand, but simply to obey.... On July 28, Saturday, I sailed. We had to come on board on Friday night, and just as the tender (a small boat) where were the dear friends who had come to say goodbye was moving off, and the chill of loneliness shivered through me, like a warm love-clasp came the long-loved lines--'And only Heaven is better than to walk with Christ at midnight, over moonless seas.' I couldn't feel frightened then. Praise Him for the moonless seas--all the better the opportunity for proving Him to be indeed the El Shaddai, 'the God who is Enough."'

Let me add my own word of witness to hers and to that of the tens of thousands who have learned that He is indeed Enough. He is not all we would ask for (if we were honest), but it is precisely when we do not have what we would ask for, and only then, that we can clearly perceive His all-sufficiency. It is when the sea is moonless that the Lord has become my Light.

By Elisabeth Elliot taken from "Keep A Quiet Heart"

The Silversmith

"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." Malachi 3:3

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it"

Comfort in the Depths

"Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee. . .who passing through the valley of weeping, make it a well" (Ps. 84:5, 6).

Comfort does not come to the light-hearted and merry. We must go down into "depths" if we would experience this most precious of God's gifts--comfort, and thus be prepared to be co-workers together with Him.

When night--needful night--gathers over the garden of our souls, when the leaves close up, and the flowers no longer hold any sunlight within their folded petals, there shall never be wanting, even in the thickest darkness, drops of heavenly dew--dew which falls only when the sun has gone.

"I have been through the valley of weeping, The valley of sorrow and pain;
But the 'God of all comfort' was with me, At hand to uphold and sustain.

"As the earth needs the clouds and sunshine, Our souls need both sorrow and joy;
So He places us oft in the furnace, The dross from the gold to destroy.

"When he leads thro' some valley of trouble His omnipotent hand we trace;
For the trials and sorrows He sends us, Are part of His lessons in grace.

"Oft we shrink from the purging and pruning, Forgetting the Husbandman knows
That the deeper the cutting and paring, The richer the cluster that grows.

"Well He knows that affliction is needed; He has a wise purpose in view,
And in the dark valley He whispers, 'Hereafter Thou'lt know what I do.'

"As we travel thro' life's shadow'd valley, Fresh springs of His love ever rise;
And we learn that our sorrows and losses, Are blessings just sent in disguise.

"So we'll follow wherever He leadeth, Let the path be dreary or bright;
For we've proved that our God can give comfort; Our God can give songs in the night."

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman taken from "Streams in the Desert"

The Twenty-Third Psalm

"The Lord is my Shepherd." Psalm 23:1

The great Father above is a Shepherd Chief. I am his and with him. I want not. He throws out to me a rope, and the name of the rope is love, and he draws me to where the grass is green and the water is not dangerous.

Sometimes my heart is very weak, and falls down, but he lifts it up again and draws me into a good road.

Sometimes, it may be very soon, it may be longer, it may be a long, long time, he will draw me into a place between mountains. It is dark there, but I'll draw back not. I'll be afraid not, for it is in there between the mountains that the Shepherd Chief will meet me, and the hunger I have felt in my heart all through this life will be satisfied. Sometimes he makes the love rope into a whip, but afterwards he gives me a staff to lean on.

He spreads a table before me with all kinds of food. He puts his hands upon my head, and all the "tired" is gone.

My cup he fills, till it runs over.

What I tell you is true, I lie not. The roads that are "away ahead" will stay with me through this life, and afterward I will go to live in the "Big Tepee" and sit down with the Shepherd Chief forever. - An American Indian's Version of the Twenty-third Psalm.

Fear not, little flock, He goeth ahead,
Your Shepherd selecteth the path you must tread;
The waters of Marah He'll sweeten for thee,
He drank all the bitter in Gethsemane.
Fear not, little flock, whatever your lot,
He enters all rooms, "the doors being shut;"
He never forsakes; He never is gone,
So count on His presence in darkness and dawn.

Paul Rader

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman taken from "Springs in the Valley"

Deep Roots

"He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in the year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." Jeremiah 17:8

The Lord provides deep roots when there are to be wide spreading branches.

Forgiveness Week

"Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." Colossians 3:13

A custom way out in the African bush which has no equivalent in this part of the world is "Forgiveness Week." Fixed in the dry season, when the weather itself is smiling, this is a week when every man and woman pledges himself or herself to forgive any neighbor any wrong real or fancied, that may be a cause for misunderstanding, coldness or quarrel between the parities.

It is, of course, a part of our religion that a man should forgive his brother. But among recent converts, and even older brethren, this great tenet is, perhaps naturally, apt to be forgotten or overlooked in the heat and burden of work. "Forgiveness Week' brings it forcibly to mind. The week itself terminates with a festival of happiness and rejoicing among the native Christians.

It is too much to suggest that in this supposedly more civilized portion of the world a similar week might be instituted?

"Nothing between, Lord - nothing between;
Shine with unclouded ray,
Chasing each mist away,
O'er my whole heart hold sway -
Nothing between."

Let grudges die "like cloudspots in the dawn!" When God forgives, He forgets!

By Mrs. Charles E Cowman taken from "Springs in the Valley"

What do you seek?

"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." Philippians 3:8

The Swedish Nightingale, Jennie Lind, won great success as an operatic singer, and money poured into her purse. Yet she left the stage while she was singing her best, and never returned to it. She must have missed the money, the fame, and the applause of thousands, but she was content to live in privacy.

Once an English friend found her sitting on the steps of a bathing machine on the sea sands with a Bible on her knee, looking out into the glory of a sunset. They talked, and the conversation drew near to the inevitable question: "Oh, Madame Goldschmidt, how is it that you come to abandon the stage at the very height of your success?"

"When every day," was the quiet answer, "it made me think less of this (laying a finger on the Bible) and nothing at all of that (pointing to the sunset), what else could I do?"

May I not covet the wold's greatness! It will cost me the crown of life!

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman taken from "Springs in the Valley"

Take the Chance

Last month my husband’s fellow officer was killed in the line of duty. It wasn’t by a bullet but a senseless struggle with someone that need not have happened.

I know the chance my husband takes every time he puts on a uniform. We both know that being a police officer is not the safest job. They deal with many people who just don’t get it. These people can’t seem to make their way out of the mess they’ve allowed themselves to be in. I hear stories and wonder why they continue to live like they do. Then I think about how my husband goes to work and protects these people from themselves. He’s putting his life on the line for people who don’t get it. Am I truly willing to sacrifice my husband for them?

As I think of these things, I am reminded of the sacrifice Jesus made for me. And I’m reminded of the many times I don’t get it and yet Jesus still loves me. How often have I hurt Him to the point of grieving? How often have my actions hurt His Kingdom? Am I truly any better then those my husband has taken an oath to serve and protect? No, I’m not. I am in the same boat as they are. Yet my high almighty attitude is allowing them to jump overboard thinking they’re going for a fun swim. But in all reality, they are swimming in shark-infested water while I’m sitting comfortably on a cushion unwilling to throw them a life preserver.

Just as my husband puts his life on the line for those in the city where he works, Jesus put His life on the line and was willing to die for EVERYONE. Jesus loves us no matter how good or bad we are. If you think that you can get to heaven on the merit of your goodness you are missing the boat all together. I know by saying this I’m going against the warm fuzzy religions of today and will cause some waves. But the truth is, Jesus is the only way. If I don’t tell you straight up then I’m still sitting in the boat watching you take a joy ride with sharks thinking to yourselves that you can’t get hurt. But I know how deadly the next bite can be. The life preserver is being thrown out..........

Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). Please understand this and think hard about what Jesus did for us all. Christ's death on the cross and his resurrection changed the course of history. We can’t pretend it didn’t happen and we need to make a choice. We can choose to live without Him and continue to not get it. Or we can turn to Him and see the beauty behind the painful death He endured for us. Take the chance and grasp onto the life preserver He’s throwing at you right now. Ask Him to be a part of your life today.

Krista Jones
10.1.06

Sacrifice

"Having loved his own . . . he loved them unto the end." John 13:1

Sadhu Sundar Singh passed a crowd of people putting out a jungle fire at the foot of the Himalayas. Several men, however, were standing gazing at a tree, the branches of which were already alight.

"What are you looking at?" he asked. They pointed to a nest of young birds in the tree. Above it a bird was flying wildly to and fro in great distress. The men said, 'We wish we could save that tree, but the fire prevents us from getting near to it."

A few minutes later the nest caught fire. The Sadhu thought the mother bird would fly way. But no! she flew down, spread her wings over the young ones, and in a few minutes was burned to ashes with them.

"Such love, such wondrous love,
Such love, such wondrous love,
That God should love a sinner such as I,
How wonderful is love like this!"

Let us have love heated to the point of sacrifice.

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman taken from "Springs in the Valley"