Watch for details about (Brunch (Souper Bowl) and Congregational Meeting and collecting for Everlasting Life Ministries) New worship experience next week at 10:30! Can't wait!
Good Morning Forgetting-what-lies-behind, made new, redeemed, mentoring, children of Love~! OK read the devotionals below as you sit at God's feet and meditate. I have to get going to grand babies. God did really speak top me through these. How about you? What's He saying? What will you do about it? Who are your teammates and who are you mentoring. God loves you, has forgotten your past and made you new for such a time as this. PTL! He has great plans for you. Trust and obey! Shalom!! See you on zoom at 10. Be safe, warm and prepare for the blizzard-like wind and snow. Check in on each other too. God loves you and wants to love through you! Choose to trust Him and allow it!
ODB:
Remembering to Forget
Why, my soul, are you downcast? . . . Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42:5
Author Richard Mouw tells of a Black theologian from South Africa who struggled with dark memories of life under apartheid. Mouw wrote, “He told a story about an African child whose teacher asked her to define ‘memory.’ After thinking about it, the child said, ‘Memory is that thing that helps me to forget.’ ” Out of the mouths of babes! Her past held much she didn’t want to recall, so she wanted to remember the good things.
Many carry the scars of terrible, seemingly unforgettable things. But that child’s wisdom offers hope. If we learn to remember better things, those memories can strengthen us to move forward from our painful past. In Psalm 42, the psalmist feels like a deer running for its life. However, he also says, “These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng” (v. 4).
The singer’s memories of worshiping God encouraged him to praise, even in the midst of pain. “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (v. 5). Remembering who our God is—and that we are His—can help us move beyond the painful past we can’t forget.
By Bill Crowder
REFLECT & PRAY
What dark memories of struggles and pains haunt you? How will you allow the God of all hope to move you beyond them?
Dear Father, You know my scars and wounds, my anger and grief. Please wrap me in Your goodness and mercy; give me healing from hurts long past but not forgotten.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Psalm 42 is a song of ups and downs. The singer rises to crescendo (vv. 1-4) with a statement of praise and celebration, joining the throng in worship (presumably at the temple or tabernacle). The singer then expresses a deep emotional low, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (v. 5). This pattern follows in the remainder of the psalm by showing the psalmist’s trust in Him in verse 8 only to repeat his lament in verse 11. When he feels that He has forsaken him (vv. 9-10), he remembers to put his “hope in God” (v. 11). , when we find it difficult to move beyond our pain, it can provide comfort to remember that God is faithful.
Bill Crowder
TWFYT
UR: An Unexpected Guide
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. - Proverbs 27:17 (NIV)
I have spent more than 30 years teaching children with behavioral disorders. But I think back to a time when I considered leaving the education field. Thankfully, God sent me a mentor and brother in Christ to help guide me during this uncertain time. Sonny was our school’s custodian, and one day he gave me a copy of The Upper Room. Afterward, Sonny would drop by my room each day and we would discuss the readings together.
I am grateful to God for sending Sonny as a mentor. I have continued a fulfilling career and now work with juveniles who were incarcerated. In addition, I’ve been given an opportunity to be a mentor to many co-workers. I give them The Upper Room just as Sonny did for me. , Sonny delivers copies of each issue to me so that I can give a copy to those I mentor.
God is unfailing when we need someone to help direct our path. In scripture God provided Joshua instruction through Moses to lead Israel to the Promised Land (Deut. 34:9). Elijah inspired Elisha, who assumed Elijah’s ministry (1 Kings 19:16). In what we might see as an impossible challenge, God is at work providing the direction we need to serve others.
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's Prayer
Dear God, guide our steps and direct our paths. Show us opportunities to grow and to be of service to you in unexpected ways. Amen.
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