Fill-Your-Cup Friday - Blessed With An Overflowing Cup

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                  If you own just one Bible, you are abundantly blessed. One third of the world does not have access to even one. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, or the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed that three billion people in the world. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep, you are richer than seventy-five percent of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top eight percent of the world’s wealth. If your parents are still married and alive, you are very rare, even in the United States. If you can hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not. If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them, or even touch them on the shoulder, you are blessed because you can offer God’s healing touch. If you prayed yesterday and today, you are in the minority because you believe in God’s willingness to hear and answered prayer. If you believe in Jesus as the Son of God, you are part of a small minority in the world. If you can read this message you are more blessed than over two million people in the world that cannot read anything at all.

-unknown

                  I’ve heard a great deal of complaints directed at the government lately. Am I concerned? Absolutely. Are they and the decisions they are making in my prayers? Without question! But do complaints accomplish anything? Hardly. Is this furlough cause for concern and complaint? Not for those of us who are Christians. God is in control. He is always in control. To say that we are blessed is an understatement. I think we need to be reminded that things could always be worse and are worse for someone else. My cup runneth over. How about yours?

Traditional Thursday - Soak Up Some Mountain

“To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life.”

 -John Burrough

photo taken in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Cades Cove 2010

"There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough to pay attention to the story.”

-Linda Hogan

Work-To-Do-Wednesday-Easy Evangelism & Benevolence Ideas #1

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“So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith.”

Galatians 6:10 KJV

If you missed your congregation’s sign up list to prepare meals for those in need, drop off some snacks such as sausage balls, banana bread or fresh fruit. Many times families dealing with these life-changing events don’t really sit down to a meal but they will snack when they feel like it. When my grandmother passed away, a dear sister brought our family a loaf of blueberry bread for breakfast the day of the burial and another congregation left a tray of lunchmeats, cheese and crackers in the break room of the funeral home since the visitation was in the evening. When my grandfather had surgery, a precious friend brought a bag of BBQ and fixins' for sandwiches to the waiting room. Another brought a basket full of goodies, such as peanut butter crackers, small candy bars and peanuts. Their thoughtfulness touches me to this day.

(If those you are taking this too are not members of the Lord's church, include a couple of tracts with information about it and business cards with the local congregation's contact information.)

“Everything the local congregation does should be evangelistically oriented, for our real goal is the souls of men and women.”

-Ira North in Balance

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Tough Truth Tuesday