This is the weekly email devotional of WhoUWith? Ministries
(2004)
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“Eat a live toad in the morning and
nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day.”
–Unknown
Have you ever
had one of those times in your life when you think, “nothing worse can
happen to me” and then it does? Pretty soon you find yourself
waiting/expecting the next bad thing to happen!
It becomes really dangerous when we get into a
downward twisting spiral that takes us from one adversity to the next. What can
stop this roller coaster of life? Will eating a frog each morning give us a
brighter outlook on the day ahead?
What does God’s Word say?:
If you
falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength! Proverbs
24:10
When times are good, be happy; but when times are
bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man
cannot discover anything about his future. Ecclesiastes
7:14
See, I have refined you, but not like?? silver; I
have tested you in the furnace of adversity. Isaiah 48:10
Can I be real with
you? I get tired of God “refining” me. I appreciate His desire to
make me a better man, but I won’t be heart broken if I never feel the heat
of the “furnace of adversity” again.
Yet I know my only hope of ever reaching the
depths of spiritual maturity, that I see in other Godly men and truly desire
for myself, is through life’s adversities. There are days I wonder if
spiritual maturity is worth the price. Maybe being a superficial,
pseudo-spiritual man would be enough. Could I be content? No!
The older I get the more I realize
contentment only comes as we grow in our faith and love for Christ. And our
faith and love grows exponentially within the arena of adversity. Even if you
opt to skip the frog & cheese omelet this morning, know that God wants to
deepen you…He wants to mold you…He wants to refine you. Don’t be
scared to face the heat of the “furnace of adversity”.
Just a
thought!
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