Do you find, like Paul, there’s a trait or flaw,  that you just can’t pray away? 

Though in full belief , you have pled for relief, still the thorn won’t budge or sway.

Others treat you wrong, and you don’t belong… Turn to God. He knows your story!

Trust in Him above! He, in knowing Love, can redeem it for His glory.

If your life’s gone wrong, and you’ve lost your song and your perseverance too.

Call on Him who hears! Seek him while he’s near… for His words to us are true:

“My ways are not yours, mine’s a sacred course, and our thoughts are not the same.

But My words will do what I will them to, for the glory of my Name.

The rain and snow don’t just come and go; but by watering the land, 

Bring the sowers seed, and the hungry bread, all exactly as I’ve planned. 

So it is with pain, just like snow and rain,  It’s all part of a master plan.

He who made you knows, of the thorn that grows. You can’t pluck it, but He can. 

But the thorn could be in the plan, you see, for some purpose in His will.

If the thorn’s still there, trust His loving care; He’s the God of comfort still. 

As you struggle on, in His strength be strong, and you may inspire your brother,

Someone struggling too, may in turn bless you, as you comfort one another. 

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I don’t know if anyone needed to hear this but maybe someone out there is looking for some hope… it was inspired by a few of my best beloved passages from the Bible. (I included the passages at the bottom of the post.)

I started this post to write about being gracious toward those among us who are dealing with hard stuff, but things often go in a different direction than my original plan when I start writing… so I ended up with this.

But while I’m here, just a thought… when we hear a rumor, or find out about something our neighbor is struggling with, sometimes our first instinct is to look down our nose, across our righteous spectacles, and think less of them. It’s easy to make assumptions and throw opinions around, and spread the rumors further. Maybe we would do well to go to the person in question, offer them our friendship, and work on building relationship, in order to help them through their struggle.

It’s easier to stand aside and comment, but if we don’t know the person’s story, our comments are probably missing some pretty important context. And our words matter.

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue:

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭18‬:‭21‬a KJV‬‬

I love to think about a world where we operate only in love…that perfect love that our Lord modeled for us. Unfortunately we live on earth, not heaven, and we are human, not divine, but it’s still a lovely ideal to work toward. Even though we’re going to fail, I pray others can see that we are His disciples by our love for each other.

❤️Happy Weekend ❤️

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“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭12‬:‭7‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭6‬-‭11‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬