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Living in the U.S., you can't help but have seen the disaster of an election process that we've seen in this one. Not to mention the overall destruction of the country over this past year. As a former Navy veteran, it breaks my heart to see what has become of this wonderful country. A country countless numbers of people immigrated to (including my family) for freedom. I take no sides, I just offer a prayer for all children of God (believing or non) that peace would fall on this country, over her people. I pray that the growing cruelty and disregard for new life and each other melt away. I pray that some amount of sanity would once again reign. May God forgive us, may He save us from ourselves.
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"My Lord, I pray that you would open my opportunities to make a difference in someones life. That my actions will always show Your love. Help me Father, that I may reach others for Your glory."
By T. Garafola © "…In the morning I will sing of your love." 🌿Psalms 59:16
"When your heart belongs to God His love will shower upon you like a warm spring rain Nurturing the seeds that bears the fruit of faith." By T. Garafola © **All devotionals on this site are the intellectual property of T. Garafola. You are welcome to share this but you must cite the devotional author, T. Garafola. God bless  Found on Bing.com. The authors name and website is listed on the side but unfortunately I can't read it but thank you to the creator of the picture and thanks for sharing it with us all. "Like a father to his child Christ our Savior waits for us with open arms To cradle us when we hurt, He mends our shattered lives He soothes our broken hearts and lifts us up; we can face the day once again We draw our strength from Gods’ endless love and live in His limitless grace, trusting in Him Like a child to his father." T. Garafola “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him” 1 John 3:1 NIV I don’t know who said this first but they had it right, “Sometimes you’re the bug, sometimes you’re the windshield.” Can you count the number of times you’ve been the bug? I certainly can’t, it’s been way too many times! Life is hard for many of us. Sometimes just knowing what the day is to bring, can make you not want to get out of bed in the morning. I'd like to discuss a little about suffering, both physically and spiritually. The physical suffering usually effects our spirit. Cancer, children being born with horrible diseases, autism is prevalent, obscure new disease come up everyday, autoimmune disorders, debilitating neurological disorders, just to name a few. Let's focus on the environment and what is going into our bodies. The air we breathe is filled with chemicals. Chemicals are in the water we drink and in the food we eat. These things (and more) all carry a variety of toxic garbage that can destroy the body. In food alone there are carcinogens, hormones and all types of unnatural substances and there is almost no way to escape it. They inject hormones into the cattle we eat to fatten them up quickly, yet we are surprised that when human beings ingest these hormones, many of them fatten up quickly too. People love to blame obesity on gluttony but that is a very narrow view of the problem. Many of these chemicals destroy our bodies. They corrupt the perfectly created system that is the human body. There are those who say, “oh that’s not true, we don’t create diseases”, I disagree. Take a good look the next time you pick up that pack of cigarettes. Hiding within those wonderful plumes of smoke are formaldehyde, poisonous chemicals and carcinogenic compounds that are released into the air for everyone to breathe in. Try reading the contents everyday household products, cosmetics or even the frozen or boxed foods commonly purchased at the market. Did you know that food manufacturers are fighting to not have to label what is in the food they are selling? They desire ability to use Genetically Modified Organism's (GMO's) but label them as natural ingredients. No one can tell us how these genetically modified ingredients will effect us in the future. It's heartbreaking that so many people become angry with God or simply decide to not believe in God because they say if the Lord was real, why would He allow anyone to suffer the ravages of cancer or any other disease for that matter? There is no way to say it delicately and it’s usually not well received, but the fact is, God did not create this mess, we did. This is an imperfect and broken world we live in. The Lord gave us free will, the ability to choose for ourselves. And as a good father does, He often allows us to learn from our mistakes, to take the journey we have chosen, to learn from our choices. What we are feeling are the effects of some of those choices. I do not say that flippantly. I’ve been there. Watching and waiting helplessly while someone dear to me died slowly and painfully from Leukemia. I’ve felt the pain, the helplessness, the frustration and the anger, as we had to pick up the pieces of our shattered lives. I live in pain every day of my life because I have two very debilitating illnesses. But I don’t allow that to break me. God may have my feet to the fire, figuratively of course, but he is using my circumstances to teach me and bring me closer to Him. And it works! He is teaching me endurance, I have a passion to learn and understand His Word, and I am so much closer to Christ than I have ever been. It’s a hard thing for nonbelievers to understand or find truth in because they do not know the Lord. Christ has nothing to do with religion. Our Lord has nothing to do with the hate and violence the cruel people of this world claims to do in His name. Our Creator is peaceful, caring and loving. He gave us the gift of life and the free will to live. Our creator can heal our broken hearts, tame our anger, mend our broken spirits, and find our lost souls. He asks only for our belief, trust and obedience to His commandments. Those commandments by the way just instruct us not to be deceitful, hateful barbarians to one another, and to love and come to the aid of others. Personally, I think that’s a great recipe for a healthy society! Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you . . . They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.” John 15: 18-21 People tell us we’re crazy, even call us ignorant because we believe in God but I chuckle at those comments. I tell people if I’m wrong, I’ve lived a good life with belief and hope in something greater than humankind, I’ve lost nothing (besides, I’ll be dead - it will be too late to be neurotic about it). But . . . if I’m right . . . I’ll be in the presence of our Creator and to me, there can be nothing better than that! If you don’t know Christ and have a sincere desire to know Him than I urge you to seek Him. Attend a few different churches, a few classes, read the Bible and ask questions. Ask all of your questions! When you come to know Christ, you will understand why millions of people believe. You will feel His presence in your life and I tell you, it’s amazing. Peter wrote about Jesus, “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 8-9 God loves us even through our sins, our faults and imperfections. He does not care if you are tall or short, skinny or chunky, he doesn’t care where you come from or what you have believed in, nor does he care what color your skin is or how far you have fallen. We are all the Lord God’s children and He wants all of us to jump the fence and rejoin the flock! He is waiting with open arms. If you haven’t accepted Christ as your savior but desire His grace than repeat a prayer for salvation with truth in your heart.  Found on Bing.com. Author unknown. |
Victoria GarafolaHi there! This devotional blog is a place for followers of Christ to share thoughts and experiences. Please remember to be respectful. Archives
September 2017
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