“This Is No Rose Garden!” This is the weekly email devotional of WhoUWith? Ministries (2005)   “Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks!” -Phillip Brooks (1835-1893, American preacher, wrote “O Little Town of Bethlehem”) What kind of life do you long for? Easy? Let’s be honest, the easy life is what we all dream of. But, how will we get any stronger? How will we build character? If everything is easy, then how will we know what a “hard day’s work” looks like? We sometimes want “our cake and get to eat it too” and I can’t find that promise in God’s Word. I do find: “I will never leave nor forsake you.” Deut. 31:8 Now that is a promise! The American way is “get rich quick”, “who wants to be a millionaire?”, “have it your way, right away!”… But, is that God Almighty’s way? God never promised life would be a bed of roses. Even Christ, God’s own Son, suffered on this earth. Need I remind you that the cross was not an award given out by the Jerusalem Rotary Club. If following Christ is not easy then what is in it for me?…Everything: peace that passes all understanding, joy, abundant life, eternal life Christ put it best when He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life no one comes unto the Father except through me.” John 14:6 Don’t take the “easy” way out with your life…take the only way…choose to surrender, follow and serve Christ and Christ alone. Just a thought! www.whouwith.