Manna for July 9, 2009

Question for the day: Have you ever had something insignificant throw you for a loop?



WE’RE PRAYING FOR YOU TODAY…

Good morning,



This is just a reminder that every day, while we are studying God’s Word to add to our website, someone from our ministry, Dysmas Conduit, is holding you up before the Lord in prayer. May He greatly bless you today as you pursue His will and He is glorified through you.



God’s blessings, our love,

George & Sidney Granger





CURRENT PRAYER REQUESTS:



Please pray for Mike and Sandy Brommer as they spread the Lord’s Seed and witness to His glory while on the road today. Please pray also that the Lord will lead him to Kingdom-profitable loads to carry, and that He grants them safe passage from Erie, PA to Youngstown, OH to Ambridge, PA to Peoria, IL.



PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR PASTOR BOB ALLMANN

Treatment Location:CARE-TEL

6700 WESTSIDE SAGINAW ROAD

ROOM 108

BAY CITY, MICHIGAN

Phone:

989-667-9800 x610



Bob was in a car accident Thurs. 4-9-09 at about 6pm in Midland. Someone ran a stop light at about 50 mph and hit him in the driver side door and flipped his Cutlass on its roof. He was hanging upside down by his seatbelt. The jaws of life had to be used to remove him. He was taken to Midland Hospital and then transported to St. Mary's. He has about 6 broken ribs on his right side, collapsed lung, broken pelvis and broken wings on his vertebrae.



Since that time, God has done wondrous things in Bob’s life, and has him known as the Miracle Man because of the way he has mended. Bob was transported to Covenant Select Hospital, and most recently to CARE-TEL. Something tells me that Bob won’t be there long… He may just get on his motorcycle and scoot out to his daughter’s wedding in Colorado. God is AWESOME!



Update:

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Wednesday, July 08, 9:48 PM - Wendi:

All is GREAT with Pop, he is just getting the workout of his life! He is doing longer periods of therapy and he is handling it very well. With his walking, he goes further each day. He is working on stairs, a bit challenging for him, but he said tomorrow he is going to try without holding onto the railing! I don't know if his terrorists will allow that, but he is going to try. OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD!!! That is about all I have to update on, he is very blessed and thanks and praises God daily!!!



GOD LOVES YOU & SO DO WE!



Wendi





Please continue to pray for Billy Hamburg, whose doctors found 5 tumors in his bladder. He had surgery June 29th and the biopsy results showed a cancerous condition. He will be undergoing chemo & radiation treatments and will need the Lord’s Hand to overcome his anxiety as well as the cancer.



FREE FOOD

(Isa 55:1)



Today in God’s Word



THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2009

Please join your brothers and sisters

studying and praying with us today…



ENCOURAGEMENT FOR TODAY

July 9, 2009



My Great Brownie Debacle

Lysa TerKeurst



"For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again,

but the wicked are brought down by calamity." Proverbs 24:16 (NIV)





Devotion:

Rewarding. That's what this particular day was supposed to be, my shining-star day at my kids' school. Finally, I was going to get the "Really Good Mommy Award."



Not that this is an official award on a frame-worthy piece of fine linen paper. It is not. It's just a feeling--that feeling of getting a thumbs-up and acceptance nod that you are in fact doing an okay job as a mom.



I had volunteered to make 100 individually wrapped homemade brownies. And I was going to be completely fancy and use the turtle brownie mix that comes in a box. That's as close to homemade as I get.



After baking all those brownies and allowing them to cool, I cut and lifted each one into the safety of its own little baggie and recruited my daughters to help me finish up. We bagged up brownies 95, 96, 97, and then a disaster of epic proportions occurred.



Nuts.



These turtle brownies had nuts in them. Lots of nuts. And there I was standing over individually wrapped brownie number 97 listening to my daughter's reminder that our school is, in fact, a peanut-free school.



My arms started flailing about as if to gather the pieces of my scattered brain and tuck everything back into place. I sent the kids out of the room and ate brownies 98, 99, and 100.



No shining star. No Really Good Mommy Award. No happy, proud kids elated with their mom's efforts.



I spent the rest of the day trying to process this great brownie failure. I saw it as a debacle that defined my motherhood journey. Grand visions that led to big messes that led to unmet expectations that heaped more and more guilt on my already slightly fragile motherhood psyche.



And that's exactly where Satan would have loved for me to stay. That's his daily goal, actually. If Satan can use our everyday experiences, both big and small, to cripple our true identity, then he renders God's people totally ineffective for the kingdom of Christ.



These were brownies for a school bake sale. And these brownies had somehow knocked me to the ground. I didn't want to smile. I didn't want to be kind. I didn't want to be a disciple for Christ that day. Ever been there?



Satan wants us to entertain a very dangerous thought: "Why doesn't Jesus work for me?" This is never the right question. Instead, when circumstances shift and we feel like we fall short, we should ask, "How can I see Jesus even in this?"



The only way I can ask myself this question is when I pull back from whatever situation I'm facing and separate my circumstance from my identity.



Now let's state what is true. Despite my feelings, my identity stayed the same. I am a loving mom. I am a giving person. I am a woman who takes her responsibilities seriously. I am a daughter of the King.



All of this is true despite my failures. So, though I have a whole mess of extra brownies with nuts laying around and the school won't have any brownies for the bake sale today, this mishap doesn't define me. The only thing this means is I need to read the bake sale instruction sheet a little more closely next time.



That's it. It's simply a call to action not a call to condemnation. And did you notice the response of the righteous man in the key verse above? Though he fell time and again, he kept getting up. May we do the very same thing.



Dear Lord, help me separate my circumstances from my identity. Help me only determine my worth by Your truth and not my performance in any situation. Thank You for looking at me not as I am, but how Jesus has enabled me to be, in Jesus' Name, Amen.





Application Steps:

Write down a failure you've experienced lately. What is a truth from God's Word that can help you? Write down 2-3 verses you find particularly encouraging in your area of struggle.





Reflections:

Have I let a failure define my worth lately? How might I separate my identity from my circumstance?







Power Verses:

Romans 9:15-16, "'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy." (NIV)



Hebrews 4:16, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (NIV)





…and…





How Can I Save My Own Life?

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Jesus offers a paradox to those who seek to save their own lives.

He says, "You have to lose your life first." See what that means for you...

Series: John: Answers to Life's Questions (Week 5 of 8)



VIEW OR LISTEN AT

http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Back_to_the_Bible/



GDLC Message: http://www.gdlc.org/worship/sermons.aspx