Growing in Grace

My mother-in-love passed this on to me in an email. I thought it was worth sharing. It says to me that "a strong woman" relies on her own strength. Whereas "a woman of strength" depends on the Lord. The Scriptures were not part of the original quote. They were verses that I felt went with each point. A STRONG WOMAN VERSUS A WOMAN OF STRENGTH ____________ A strong woman works out every day to keep her body in shape... but a woman of strength kneels in prayer to keep her soul in shape. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will be health to your body and nourishment to your bones . -Proverbs 3:7-8 A strong woman isn't afraid of anything...but a woman of strength shows courage in the midst of her fear. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you  -Deuteronomy 31:6 A strong woman won't let anyone get the best of...

Consider the holiness of Christ. We need this first of all to be firmly grounded in our security in Christ. . . It is important therefore that we understand the righteousness of Christ, and the fact that His righteousness is credited to us. On numerous occasions the Scriptures testify that Jesus during His time on earth lived a perfectly holy life. . . But the holiness of Jesus was more than simply the absence of actual sin. It was also a perfect conformity to the will of His Father. . . It is possible to do the right action from the wrong motive, but this does not please God. Holiness has to do with more than mere acts. Our motives must be holy, that is, arising from a desire to do something simply because it is the will of God. . . Consider the holiness of Christ, because His life is meant to be an example of holiness for us. . . Consider then His statement, "I always do what pleases Him." Do we dare take that as our personal goal in life? Are we truly willing to ...

A boy went into a pet shop, looking for a puppy. The store owner showed him a litter in a box. The boy looked at the puppies. He picked each one up, examined it, and put it back into the box. After several minutes, he walked back to the owner and said, "I picked one out. How much will it cost?" The man gave him the price, and the boy promised to be back in a few days with the money. . . The boy went to work - weeding, washing windows, cleaning yards. He worked hard and saved his money. When he had enough for the puppy, he returned to the store. He walked up to the counter and laid down a pocketful of wadded bills. The store owner sorted and counted the cash. . ."All right, son, you can go get your puppy." The boy reached into the back of the box, pulled out a skinny dog with a limp leg, and started to leave. The owner stopped him. "Don't take that puppy," he objected. "He's crippled. He can't play. He'll never run with yo...

The sluggard never seems to have time for the things that really matter, especially things that require discipline. But before he realizes it, his time and opportunities are lost. As Proverbs 24:33-34 observes, "A little sleep, a little slumber, . . ." Notice that it's just a "little" sleep, a "little" slumber, a "little" folding of the hands to rest that brought the ruin of lost time an opportunity. It's so easy to lose so much. You don't have to do anything to lose time. Many people value time as silver was appraised in the days of Solomon. It is said of him in 1 Kings 10:27, "The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones." Time appears to be so plentiful that losing much of it seems inconsequential. But money is easily wasted as well. And if people threw away their money as thoughtlessly as they throw away their time, we would think them insane. Yet time is infinitely more precious than money because money can...

"God's work done God's way will never lack God's supply," -J. Hudson Taylor God wants all there is of you; and when you give Him everything that you are and have or hope to be, God has enough to accomplish what He wants done. Do you every feel hesitant to step out and attempt anything for God because of your inadequacies? " But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest in me. That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. " -2 Corinthians 12:9-10 Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus . -Philippians 1:6 -From Heroes by Harold J. Sala

Long ago, Abraham lived in Ur, a land known today as Ancient Mesopotamia. When God began to speak to Abraham about leaving his hometown, people thought of him as a fool. Hebrews 11:8 speaks of his step of faith saying, "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed, and went, even though he did not know where he was going" (Hebrews 11:8). Oswald Chambers, a man who died an early death in Egypt, once wrote, "I am not many kinds of fools in one; I am only one kind of fool; the kind of fool that believes and obeys God. " That is the kind of man Abraham was. Men and women today who live and walk by faith, like Abraham of old, will always be considered to be out of step with their peers, a kind of fanatic who takes the truth of God's Word literally. Such have always been in a minority. The writer of Proverbs put it like this, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding;...

The past six weeks have been interesting. . .  We began the month of October by taking Dennis' car in for service. We left with a very large repair bill and him still needing four new tires. The next week I got a bolt in my tire on the way home from Bible study. The tire couldn't be repaired, so we had to buy a new one. The next weekend our kitchen faucet sprung a leak. We had to buy a new one and have it installed for lack of the "right" tools. In between the faucet leak and its repair, Dennis ended up going off the freeway and had to be towed up the embankment back onto the road. He had to pay a very large towing bill there on the spot. My eyes finally demanded a new prescription which meant new progressive lenses as well as new prescription sunglasses. And as we enter November, Dennis' laptop keyboard and track pad stopped working. This meant a trip to the Genius Bar today with a repair bill due in the next several days. . . We could look at all of these fina...