A friend liked someone's instagram status today. It began "If you're secure in the one who holds you, you can sleep through the storms." Immediately I flashed on this photo which I took on Sunday morning in Brisbane up in Queensland. The little child was asleep in daddy's arms. The father was going up to the front of the church to receive communion. The babe was calm no matter what was going to happen.
I liked the moment. I took the photo. I hope you like it also.
And this idea of calm, no matter what, made me think today. What are the 'no matter what's' which come to you each day? Or today? My brother was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago and he's bearing well to some. I read another story today in Issues magazine about a woman in the US who has fought off cancer's dominance for years. And she's serving as a nurse!
http://www.jewsforjesus.org/publications/issues/v20-n01/rabbis-skeptics-and-the-suffering-messiah
Amazing stuff. Calm in the midst of lots of storms.
What else? Car crashes. Drought. Loss of a job. Loss of a wife. Loss itself, in whatever form.
Storms come and toss us to and fro. Or so they try to do. But calm in the midst...that's the life!
Tonight I read in the Bible John 16.33. That's at the end of a pretty lengthy sermon/ talk/ discourse by Yeshua. He has just warned his mates that in very short order he would be killed, would be 'going away' and they would be in anguish. Then he told them they would cop the same kind of treatment from others as he would endure.
They thought they understood. They didn't.
He ended his talk with “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
Wow, what courage himself. Chutzpah. Conquest? He was about to die on the Roman cross. Overcome? I don't think so. But He knew. And he could title it such.
In the world, you will have tsuris. You will have troubles and tribulations and bothers. Storms. But take courage. Be calm. I'm in the driver's seat. I'm in charge. You may not see it; I do. I have your life in my hands. Relax in my power to save.
Not that he would save them FROM trouble, but THROUGH trouble. Eternity is much longer than this life, no matter how many years we gain now and then.
Calm. Like a resting baby.
Are you wanting that today? Talk to the Almighty. He's listening...
I invite interested bloggers and enquirers to interact with the messages. Shalom!
29 August 2013
Calm
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We have been on the Breast Cancer journey this year. My wife had mastectomy, then 6 chemotherapy treatments and is about to start 5 weeks of radiation therapy. God has been good to us and praying supporting friends are like precious gold.
Blessings
Graham & Olwen
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