The day with dianne Louise

So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4:16‭-‬18 MSG https://bible.com/bible/97/2co.4.16-18.MSG Hard times are small potatoes, really! However, a potato under a foot or stuck in your trousers could be uncomfortable. However, small potatoes can be extricated, cooked and mashed, and eaten. Do we need to worry about small potatoes? No! Keeping correct focus is always, always important. Trusting God is paramount!

So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4:18 NLT https://bible.com/bible/116/2co.4.18.NLT We can be caught in worry and anxiety as our thoughts and sights are caught on gazing at problems. This is exactly what our enemy wants us to do. In the Old Testament, we read about King Hezekiah who was besieged by an Assyrian who boasted God would not deliver him. However, as Hezekiah sought the Lord and had his people do the same, God won a victory for him and the Assyrian we're enticed away and that Assyrian's sons killed him while he worshipped his foreign god. Our afflictions boast loudly and want all the attention. However, as we discipline our thoughts and hearts to see what is beyond now and we begin to confess that reality instead. We love to moan and complain and seek attention. Not good! Praise and worship...

For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. Matthew 7:2 NLT https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.7.2.NLT If we want to be treated kindly, then we should sow kindness. If we want to be treated fairly, then we should be fair. If we want others to love us, then we should show love. Simple! Sow the harvest you want!

For with the judgment you use, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:2 HCSB https://bible.com/bible/72/mat.7.2.HCSB Are you starting to be annoyed with others and little judgemental thinking is creeping in? Flush it and spend time in the Lord's presence. Forgive and move on. Today I must forgive myself. My shoulder was healing well and yesterday I did too much and today I am in pain. Allowing myself to heal completely is a challenge. Who do you need to forgive? A friend who let you down, who said they would come and visit and did not arrive and two days later did not call to explain? Forgive anyway! Are you annoyed at God for unfulfilled promises? Realise the problem is yours. Your time-line and His are different. Forgive and be patient! Amen!

You who sit down in the High God’s presence, spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow, Say this: “God, you’re my refuge. I trust in you and I’m safe!” That’s right—he rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from deadly hazards. His huge outstretched arms protect you— under them you’re perfectly safe; his arms fend off all harm. Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night, not flying arrows in the day, Not disease that prowls through the darkness, not disaster that erupts at high noon. Even though others succumb all around, drop like flies right and left, no harm will even graze you. You’ll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance, watch the wicked turn into corpses. Yes, because God ’s your refuge, the High God your very own home, Evil can’t get close to you, harm can’t get through the door. He ordered his angels to guard you wherever you go. If you stumble, they’ll catch you; their job is t...

I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalms 91:2 HCSB https://bible.com/bible/72/psa.91.2.HCSB Note, this scripture says the Lord is my refuge. My refuge can only be the Lord. It cannot be the bottle, drugs, illicit sex, our friends or family. No one but God is enough. He alone is good. Insisting that anything but God must sustain us is foolish and will disappoint us. We will despair of our relationships and in turn, neglect them for our imagined slight. Our God has a love that is unparallel anywhere else. It sustains better than any other. It touches the deepest hurt, the worst scars. Turn to Him, sit in your disaster before Him and allow Him to heal you and minister to you. He does this best. Amen!

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away. Revelation 21:4 HCSB https://bible.com/bible/72/rev.21.4.hcsb I can say I am looking forward to heaven: being eternally alive, we'll and free from pain. I am also looking forward to being in my Lord's presence physically. My life on earth is short in comparison to what it will be in eternity. What I do here, I sow to my future there. I am learning here what I will use there. I can not live as if this life is all there is, how stingy of me, how stingy of God. Rather eternity is what in my soul and it is one with my God. Eternity is what this life is all about. Look up!