Contemplation on.... 'Lessons Learned at the Life's University of Hard Knocks...'

* Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point.

* You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have......

* Do you know what hurts so very much?

It's love. 

Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked, -that means pain. 

There are two things we can do when this happens: 

1.We can kill that love so that it stops hurting. 

But, -then of course part of us dies, too. 

Or...

2. We can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.....

* Today I know that such memories are the key not to the past, but to the future..... 

I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious & perfect preparation for the work he will give us to do....

* Our All-Wise Father-God in Heaven knows when we're going to need things too. 

Don't run out ahead of Him....!”

* Love is larger than the 'walls' which shut it in."

* Even as the angry vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the 'sin' of them..... 

Jesus Christ had died for this 'person'; was I going to ask for more? 

Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him....

Jesus, I cannot forgive him. 

Give me your forgiveness....

And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on his. 

When he tells us to love our enemies, he gives along with the command, the love itself.

* If the devil cannot make us bad, he will (definitely) make us busy......

* You will find it is necessary to let things go, simply for the reason that they are too heavy....

* Some knowledge is too heavy...you cannot bear it...your Father will carry it until you are able.

* Don’t bother to give God instructions, just report for duty...!

* God takes our sins – the past, present, and future, and dumps them in the sea and puts up a sign that says NO FISHING ALLOWED......

* Hold everything in your hands lightly ("Live with an open hand"), -otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.

* Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.

* Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surroundings…it’s something we make inside ourselves; it is simply 'humble' contentment with what we have....

* Is Prayer your steering wheel or..... your spare tire?

* In darkness God’s truth shines most clear.

* What wings are to a bird and sails to a ship, so is prayer to the soul.

* With Jesus, even in our darkest moments the best remains and the very best is yet to be…

* If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed..... 

But if you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest.....

* It is not my ability, but my response to God’s ability that counts!

* This is what the past is for! 

Every experience God gives us, every person he puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only he can see.....

* Don’t pray when you feel like it. 

Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. 

A man is powerful on his knees... !

* The measure of a life lived,  -after all, is not its duration, but its donation.

* There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.....

* If God sends us on stony paths, he provides strong shoes.

* Worry is like a rocking chair: it keeps you moving but doesn't get you anywhere.

* Faith sees the Invisible, believes the Unbelievable, and receives the Impossible!

* Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.

* Trying to do the Lord’s work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work.....

But, -when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows....... out of you.

* There is no panic in Heaven! 

God has NO problems, -only 'wonderful' Plans.”

*When I try, I fail. When I trust, He succeeds.......

* God never measures the mind… He always put His tape measure in the HEART.

* Let God's promises 'shine' on your problems.

* Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. 

It empties today of its strength.

* Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear.......

* Now, I know in my experience that Jesus’ Light is stronger than the biggest darkness.

* Discernment (through the Holy Spirit), is God's call to intercession, never to faultfinding.

* The first step on the way to victory is to 'recognize' the enemy...

* Any concern too small to be turned into a Prayer is too small to be made into a burden to worry constantly about...!

May 'our' Life and journey remind each other, -how to live strong and love well through the hope and Freedom of Christ. 

May we press on in that wisdom, moving forward with the same forgiving spirit that typified the example that Jesus Christ set for every courageous soul. 

Don’t let the enemy hold you back. 

No matter what we walk through, God has 'only' good in store.....

Shalom & Maranatha