~~~~~Happy 4th of July!!!~~~~~
______________________________
Living 4 Jesus 4 Life: #12 July 4, 2011
______________________________
In this issue... trials in strange forms
___________________________
11 Happy Birthday Grace Christina!!!
Gracie is turning 11 in one week! She likes mint chocolate chip ice cream; she enjoys swimming, riding horses, playing with her dog Zoey, and being with her friends and family.
______________________________________________
14 Happy Birthday MaryJane!!!
MaryJane is turning 14 on July 14th! She enjoys photography, speech, and just chillin'. Happy Birthday girls!!!
_________________________________________
{Prayer Requests}
⦁ Please pray for a lady in our church who has breast cancer. Erin has 3 kids: 4, 3, and 18 months. You can read about her at erinfray.blogspot.com. - Artiss
⦁ Please continue to pray for Rebekah's cousin Karen, who has Breast Cancer. She has five children, and her husband is in the military! Thank you!
⦁ Please continue to be in prayer for some friends of mine. They have ten kids and they lost their home about two weeks ago in a fire. Everything they own, except for their vehicles and the clothes on their backs were lost in the fire. Please pray for them as they face this huge struggle. thanks! ~Sarah Elisabeth
⦁ Pray that God will show Himself to a girl in Elly's gym class and He will change her heart!
⦁ Harper Grigsby is now off both her oxygen and feeding tubes and she is doing really good since her surgery. God has been so good! Check out her mom's blog atadgrigsby.blogspot.com. This little baby has found a special place in my heart and her life is truly a miracle!
Don't forget to send us your prayer requests and we can publish them or just keep a secret!
******************************
Trials in Strange Forms_________* ___*________
**********************************************
So again this week we decided for the topic to be on trials in strange forms. I was thinking about it all week. Cuz I mean, we all know that God loves us, so why does He send trials and things that are hard for us to handle? It is because He wants to draw us closer to Him, and so that He can show us how much He truly does care about us! The smallest trial you may go through, could lead to the greatest breakthrough ever in your relationship with Christ! It could be something as simple as having to stay home from a party because you are sick to something as big as the death of a loved one. No matter how big or small your trial is, God can make the better outcome sooo much bigger! It's amazing! Lately, I have not been getting as much sleep as I have needed, and so sometimes I get upset easily, or get frustrated really quick. Also, this summer I have been gone quite a bit. So that's been taking it's toll. Just being gone all the time, and not staying in the same place for longer than a week. That just gets difficult sometimes. But as I go through my week, I notice the days when I have remembered to have my devotions that morning, or if I put them off until the afternoon. My days are always a lot better when I have had my devotions, and start the day off right in God's Word and spending time with my Heavenly Father. And that also, better prepares me to face the trials and struggles of the day. So, basically, what I'm trying to say is, no matter what happens, just run to God and read His Word, the Bible. Just spend time with Him. If you learn to have a daily quiet time, the daily trials and struggles won't seem as hard. May the Lord bless you this week!
<3SarahElisabeth
******************************
So... the last two weeks have been pretty epic. In our last issue Sarah and I talked about how God has a perfect plan and every trial that comes, great or small, fits into His plan perfectly. This week I want to point out that sometimes these trials come in very strange forms.
Have you ever ridden a new bike for the first time, and had an accident? Well, the answer for most of you is probably yes. But it's probably been a few years, maybe some time around first grade when you were first learning to ride without training wheels... Thirteen days ago I was riding a brand-new bike for the first time. Oh it felt good. I'm telling you she's a beauty. A french manicure on a bicycle, that's her. I was outside riding in my driveway with my dad and my little brother and having rather a good time. They went inside to get a drink of water and I was left alone for a minute. Now you wouldn't think a seventeen-year-old girl would need to be supervised on a bike, but apparently I did. On my new bike, I decided to try something very immature really quick. Not to sound like a guy or anything, but I decided to take a 45-degree turn with no brakes, see if I could.
Well... I couldn't. Way too sharp a curve. I skinned my knee really bad, just like in first grade, and the palms of my hands didn't look too good either. I hurried inside to clean myself up, "I'm a big girl," I thought... wow. No one would ever have to know or worry about me at all. Well, being right on my joint, my knee did not even start to heal for days. Every time I would bend my leg it would bust open. It was a very humbling experience. I started limping so that I wouldn't bust it open again, but then I really looked helpless. Four days later, I woke up around 4:30 a.m. and I had scratched my eye. I could not open it. Now I became even more dependent on every one around me. Because God designed our eyes to work together, I had to keep the other one closed for the whole first day as well. My dad had to doctor it every couple hours. My brothers and sisters led me around because I could not see. Perhaps the most humbling part was meal times. Although they weren't trying to be hateful, my family couldn't help but laugh every time I put an empty fork in my mouth. And they were nice enough to eat in the dark with me for days because the light hurt my eye so bad. I did not open it for good until the fourth day. Again that was an humbling experience. I was mad, and "the weirdest things happen to me," I thought. I knew there was something I should be learning from all of this, and when I thought about it, I realized that the more I had had to rely on my family as the week had gone by, the more frustrated I had become. So there was a purpose, no matter how weird it does sound. No I did not have time to deal with those things, but God did. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." He wanted to teach me some humility, and I sure hope I learned it so I won't ever have to learn that lesson again!
by autumn clare
******************************
Don't forget to follow our blog at http://living4jesus4life.
No comments:
Post a Comment