From: "Dwayne Savaya" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Gods Work Ministry Inspirational and Encouragement E-Mail
Dear Friend, When life gets overwhelming as it sometimes does, it is important that we come before the Lord asking for His strength and sustenance to take over where ours has been spent. God in His infinite grace and mercy is ready and willing to lift us up when we are feeling low and strengthen us when we have no strength left. The Lord knows our frame and remembers that we are mere dust formed by His perfect molding hands. It is OK for us to recognize our weakness and confess that we need His intervention. The Bible says that God resists the proud, but He gives Grace to the humble. We are all in need of His grace and when difficult times come before us, we can rest knowing that God's infinite grace isn't far away. Remember that He loves you and died for you and wishes for your Joy to be full. Rest in the Lord and know that He has perfect strength to sustain you and keep you all the days of your life. (Isaiah 26:3-4) (Psalm 103:13-14) (1 Peter 5:5) I hope you are encouraged by today's message to rest in God's strength and know that He will be there for you in the good times as well as the hard times. ALONE IN THE DARK Alone in the wheel of light at the dining room table, surrounded by an otherwise darkened house, I sat in tears. Finally, I'd succeeded in getting both kids to bed. A relatively new single parent, I had to be both Mommy and Daddy to my two little children. I got them both washed, accompanied by shrieks of delight, crazy running around, laughing and throwing things. More or less calmed down; they lay in their beds as I gave each the prescribed five minutes of back rubs. Then I took up my guitar and began the nighttime ritual of folk songs, ending with "All the Pretty Little Horses," both kids' favorite. I sang it over and over, gradually reducing the tempo and the volume until they seemed fully engaged in sleep. A recently divorced man with full custody of his children, I was determined to give them as normal and stable a home life as possible. I put on a happy face for them. I kept their activities as close to how they had always been as I could. This nightly ritual was just as it had always been with the exception that their mother was now missing. There, I had done it again; another night successfully concluded. I had risen slowly, gingerly, trying to avoid making even the least sound which might start them up again, asking for more songs and more stories. I tiptoed out of their room, closed the door part way, and went downstairs. Sitting at the dining room table, I slumped in my chair, aware that this was the first time since I came home from work that I'd been able to just sit down. I had cooked and served and encouraged two little ones to eat. I had done the dishes while responding to their many requests for attention. I helped my oldest with her second grade homework and appreciated my youngest's drawings and oohed over his elaborate construction of Lego blocks. The bath, the stories, the backrubs, the singing and now, at long last, a brief moment for myself. The silence was a relief, for the moment. Then it all crowded in on me: the fatigue, the weight of the responsibility and the worry about bills I wasn't sure I could pay that month. The endless details of running a house. Only a short time before, I'd been married and had a partner to share these chores, these bills, these worries. And loneliness. I felt as though I were at the bottom of a great sea of loneliness. It all came together and I was at once lost, overwhelmed. Unexpected, convulsive sobs overtook me. I sat there, silently sobbing. Just then, a pair of little arms went around my middle and a little face peered up at me. I looked down into my five-year-old son's sympathetic face. I was embarrassed to be seen crying by my son. "I'm sorry, Ethan, I didn't know you were still awake." I don't know why it is, but so many people apologize when they cry and I was no exception. "I didn't mean to cry. I'm sorry. I'm just a little sad tonight." "It's okay, Daddy. It's okay to cry, you're just a person." I can't express how happy he made me, this little boy, who in the wisdom of innocence, gave me permission to cry. He seemed to be saying that I didn't have to always be strong, that it was occasionally possible to allow myself to feel weak and let out my feelings. He crept into my lap and we hugged and talked for a while, and I took him back up to his bed and tucked him in. Somehow, it was possible for me to get to sleep that night, too. Thank you, my son. By Hanoch McCarty Read and meditate on these scriptures: 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 "For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." Psalm 34:17-19 "The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all." Psalm 118:4-6 "Let them now that fear the LORD say, that His mercy endureth for ever. I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place. The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?" Psalm 146:5-9 "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever: Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners: The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous: The LORD preserveth the strangers; He relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked He turneth upside down." All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible. Today's Selected Poem: I REFUSE TO BE DISCOURAGED Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/inpoem25.htm Today's Selected Testimony: THE LORD ALWAYS PROVIDES Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony184.htm In Christ's Service, Dwayne Savaya Gods Work Ministry Please feel free to visit the Website to read more Encouraging and Inspirational stories, poems and testimonies. Our E-mail Archives are available as well to read the messages that have been sent in the past. You can also send Free E-cards to friends and loved ones with the many choices available. You are also welcome to post your prayer requests in our Prayer Forum. All this and more available at --- http://www.Godswork.org You can also send prayer requests to --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Add your E-mail address if you'd like correspondence with the prayer partners. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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