Monday, November 14, 2011

Encouragement for our day



Today I am giving thanks for the sweet way the Lord let my sister, Stephanie, know HE CARES!

As she serves the Lord teaching at Ruach International Christian Academy in Comayagua, Honduras, there are times she becomes tired and needs encouragement and joy from the Lord.  These past few days have been like that for her and she has asked her friends and family to pray for her. This morning I received a text message from her saying that she had opened one of the cards I sent her (I gave her a stack of cards this summer to take back to Honduras with her and to be opened whenever she wanted). 

The text message said:

I opened a card from you this morning and it said just what I needed for today.  The verse is now on the board in the high school is Romans 15:13. Love you!

I was excited and knew God was hearing our prayers.

A couple hours later I  spent some time with my devotionals.

First I read My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers.


Then, I opened
Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young and read:

... "As you sit quietly in My Presence, your awareness of My Life within you is heightened.  This produces the Joy of the Lord, which is your strength. 
 I, the God of hope, fill you with all Joy and Peace as you trust in Me, so that you may bubble over with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

One of the verses at the end of the devotional was...
Romans 15:13 which in the Amplified reads:

May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.

I was so excited as I was seeing God was not just telling my sister, but me also, how much he wants to fill us with His joy and His peace so that we will be overflowing with His hope!  What a word of encouragement!!

When  I looked back at the beginning of the Jesus Calling devotional I found I had read yesterday's, not todays! This realization caused me to remember what Oswald Chambers had said in his devotional today:

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers:
...."Never allow that the haphazard is anything less than God's appointed order, and be ready to discover the Divine designs any where. "

I know God orchestrated all this. It began with me buying the very card Stephanie would need to read today and then everything else that happened pertaining this! 

 I LOVE HOW HE LOVES US!



Giving Thanks,
Elaine

1 comments:

Patty Sumner said...

A word in due season....just when we need it. God is indeed good! Blessings to you and your faithfulness to his Word and to your sister and her faithfulness to his call. Be blessed and thanks!