Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 13 – No. 0911 February 26, 2011
Thought for the week: "Ay, we must all hang together, else we shall all hang separately." – Benjamin Franklin
"The highest level of a successful life, at its best, is in helping others. What are you doing to make a difference with those around you? Is everyone in your life better in some way because of you?" – Ray Lammie
"I looked on child rearing not only as a work of love and duty but as a profession that was fully as interesting and challenging as any honorable profession in the world and one that demanded the best that l could bring to it." – Rose Kennedy
"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn." – Harriet Beecher Stowe
"The function of fear is to warn us of danger, not to make us afraid to face it." – Unknown
"It is human nature to hide our sins or overlook our mistakes. But it's hard to learn from a mistake you don't acknowledge making. And what good is a mistake if it doesn't teach you something? To learn from an error, you need to admit it, confess it, analyze it, and make adjustments so that it doesn't happen again. Everybody makes mistake, but only fools repeat them." – Unknown (Submitted by Charles Smith)
I love the title of your book, You Can't Fly With a Broken Wing, and look forward to reading it.
I wanted to share an experience I had concerning broken wings. This experience came when I needed it the most. In June 2003 my husband was in a terrible car wreck. He spent several days in the hospital. I have expressed my gratitude to God many times for saving his life. His body was one solid bruise, a whiplash, and broken ribs. I had to get a strong stance just to help him up (he's 6'3" tall) as he couldn't do that by himself.
I did great for two weeks, but utter exhaustion and emotional drain attacked me. I went to bed one night, half praying, half crying and half asleep, sort of in that twilight zone, just before falling asleep. (Some may call this a dream, but to me it was straight from God.) I had what I call a vision. I saw a beautifully wrapped package with beautiful ribbons and bows. I tore into it immediately and there lay a bird's wing, shimmering in brilliance and outlined in silver and gold. I immediately fell asleep and awakened the next morning totally restored.
I just knew this had to be in the Bible and I found it. It was Psalm 68:13 (NIV): "Even while you sleep among the campfires, the wings of my dove are sheathed with silver, its feathers with shining gold."
The Comforter had come to me, and, by the way, my husband recovered.
A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?"
Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.
The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."
He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, You have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.
"So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow.
"Whatever burdens you're carrying now, Let them down for a moment if you can. So, my friend, Put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while."
Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:
Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be "recalled" by their maker.
It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to be kind to others.
Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.
Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today. I did!
Driving home one night, Bill picked up a hitchhiker. As they rode along, Bill began to feel suspicious of his passenger and checked to see if his wallet was safe in his pocket. It wasn't there! Bill slammed on the brakes and ordered the hitchhiker out, demanding that he hand over the wallet. The frightened hitchhiker gave him a billfold and Bill drove away. Arriving home, he began telling his wife about the experience. She said to him, "Bill, you left your wallet at home this morning."
In Jesus' day, the scribes and Pharisees were quick to judge others while not realizing they had far worse faults in their own lives. Jesus rebuked them for seeing a speck in another's eye while they had a plank blocking their own vision.
Thought: Many relationships have been hurt because someone was too quick to judge. Don't jump to conclusions. "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye" (Luke 6:41)?
For most of us, there's something both wonderful and worrisome about large family gatherings. On the good side, we often can experience real pleasure in spending time with relatives with whom we have so many common memories. What's more, being with parents, siblings, and cousins who have known us since childhood often helps us see ourselves more clearly without pretensions or illusions of self-importance. Finally, shared family history and the ties of blood and marriage can create a tribal sense of identity and belonging that's comforting.
Yet few families are able to avoid the rifts and feuds caused by unpaid loans, unreturned favors, unfulfilled requests for help, broken promises, or careless or cruel comments or gossip. Although we think we should love everyone in our family, we often don't. Many of us have to struggle against the wisdom of the old adage "familiarity breeds contempt."
But in a world so filled with throwaway and transitory relationships, we should more highly prize the stability and strength of family ties. In dealing with family, we have a greater, not a lesser, obligation to avoid unkind, insensitive, and hurtful remarks that can spawn resentments and grudges. We need to monitor the tendency to feel competitive or envious and, instead, take pride and pleasure in the success of any family member.
Some of your most enduring and endearing friendships will come from your family.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Temptation is the pull of man's own evil thoughts and wishes ... [that will] lead to evil actions."1
Did you ever stop to think that what the mind dwells on the body acts on!
Consider, for example, how temptation works. A thought comes to mind from seemingly nowhere—maybe from ourselves or from the tempter. We choose (mostly unconsciously) to harbor and dwell on that thought and, as we do, it hooks into our emotions, and the more we think about it, the stronger we feel about it. Then we begin to visualize in our mind what we want to do, and then, unless we make a conscious choice to stop thinking about it, we give in to the temptation.
The battle is won or lost in the mind before we ever act out the temptation.
One of many dangers in continually giving in to temptation is, as another has pointed out: "If we don't live the life we believe, we will end up unhappily believing the life we live."
We do this because as long as we don't consistently live the life we believe, our mind experiences what is called cognitive dissonance; that is, mental disharmony. Because we can't tolerate this mental conflict, we can end up changing our beliefs to match our behavior and rationalize everything we do—a dangerous path to follow. The Bible calls the consequence having a dead conscience.2
In other words, "If we don't live the life we believe, we will end up unhappily believing the life we live"—a dangerous and self-destructive way to live.
No wonder the Bible teaches us to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."3 And, "...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."4
When I am battling a temptation, I like to pray, "Jesus, help" or "Holy Spirit, help." When I am consistent with this prayer and truly mean it, soon the tempting thoughts leave my mind. This is a simple way to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, help me to guard against harboring negative thoughts that could lead me into temptation and sin. Help me to remember to look to you for help, and to dwell on positive and wholesome thoughts that will lead to positive and wholesome living. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
1. James 1:14-15 (TLB)(NLT).
2. James 1:15.
3.
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV).
4. Philippians 4:8 (NIV).
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