Coffee Mug

A mug like this belongs to a friend.  A mug to use at work.  A mug to be a witness to others.  A mug that it is manly.  A mug with a message.

What he did not know was that the person who needed that message most.  Would be him.  His work is not what it was.  He may be forced to leave.  He may choose to leave.  He may relocate his family.

His heart aches for fulfillment at work.  His mind tosses with uncertainty for his family.  His spirit wrestles with faith for his soul.

He does not know what future God has planned.  He does not know how God will provide.  He does not know when his prayers will be answered.

But.

He knows God has a plan.  He knows he can trust God to provide.  He knows God hears him when he prays.

He has a coffee mug.  A mug with a message.

What message does your mug need?  Post a comment.

Living Well

Forbid it, O Father, that the difficulty of living well should ever tempt me to fall into any kind of heedlessness or despair.  John Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer, 29th Evening.

Wait.  Don't go too fast.  We are used to having it our way as credit maxed, marginless Americans.  Baillie is Scottish.  Oldschool.  King's English.  Slow reading.  Soul searching.  Read it again.  And maybe a third time.  For good measure.

Have you ever considered "the difficulty of living well"?

"Considered it?  I'm living it," you may think.  I've got too much house, too much car, & too much waistline, but not enough time & certainly not enough money.  Too personalized.  Too indebted.  Too overworked.  Too tired.  Too stressed.

We've had it our way & it is killing us.  We are gluttons in the first degree.  Suffering from the sin of too little & not enough.

Have the blessings of God in your life - your talents, your abilities, your earnings, your family, your friends, your home, your possessions, your hobbies, your leisure - tempted you to heedlessness or despair?

Are you too busy to hear God?

Are you too worried to hear God?

By whose standard are you living well?

The world's?  

Passing away.

Or God's?

Eternal.

Through

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou are with me; thy rod & thy staff they comfort me. Psalm 23:4 KJV

Struggling?

Troubled?

Overwhelmed?

Hurting?

Worried?

Stressed?

Brokenhearted?

God's gift to the broken states, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." Not death, but it's shadow. Not a pit, but a valley. Not staying, but walking. If in despair you have pitched your tent in the valley thinking you'd don't deserve to get through or you are not strong enough to get through or things will never improve to get through, then break camp, pack it in, & hike out of the valley. You can get through. You will get through.

How? So weak. So tired. So depressed. So lonely. So drained.

Stop.

Pray.

Look up.

Ask God to show Himself. Ask again. And again.

Stop.

Listen.

Look around.

God is with you. Always. Take His hand.

Stop.

Ask for a friend.

Take their hand.

Walk through the valley together.

We can make it through. We will make it through. Kindred of the Broken. Walking together. Walking through.