hope

There really is hope for you in days to come. So your hope will not be cut off.

- Proverbs 23:18 (NIRV)

 

Day five of 2023, how are those resolutions coming?

I stopped making resolutions a while ago because I found that they were really just empty promises that I would make to myself and then I would be angry and lose hope when I failed. 

We don’t need resolutions; we don’t need to worry about where we are heading if we follow Jesus.

No matter what obstacles we face, there is hope.

Hope lies in the knowledge that Christ is on our side.

Christ isn’t going anywhere, so your hope will remain.

Believe that because it is true.

 

#dailybreadbykitty

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here’s a test

Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

- Luke 4:12 (NIV)

 

I remember when I was a young Christ follower, and I did not understand how to pray, I really thought that I could just ask for what I wanted.

Then, when I didn’t get the answers I needed, I would be disappointed, and I would question my newfound faith.

Someone told me to pray that if God wanted me to make this decision, to ask for a sign.

Of course, I took that to an extreme and I would say things like “God if you want me to <insert task here>, play <specific song> on the radio this morning.”

Looking back, I realize that was pretty dumb, because I always chose a song according to what was popular on that station so I would trick myself into thinking the answer from God was there.

We do not have to test God. 

God loves us and will do what is best for us in His time.

It is hard to be patient, but we have to learn to TRUST.

Song reference!

Letting go of every single dream

I lay each one down at Your feet

Every moment of my wandering

Never changes what You see

I try to win this war

I confess, my hands are weary, I need Your rest

Mighty warrior, king of the fight

No matter what I face You're by my side

When You don't move the mountains

I'm needing You to move

When You don't part the waters

I wish I could walk through

When You don't give the answers

As I cry out to You

I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You

Truth is, You know what tomorrow brings

There's not a day ahead You have not seen

So let all things be my life and breath

I want what You want Lord and nothing less

When You don't move the mountains

I'm needing You to move

When You don't part the waters

I wish I could walk through

When You don't give the answers

As I cry out to You

I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You

I will trust in You

You are my strength and comfort

You are my steady hand

You are my firm foundation

The rock on which I stand

Your ways are always higher

Your plans are always good

There's not a place where I'll go

You've not already stood

When You don't move the mountains

I'm needing You to move

When You don't part the waters

I wish I could walk through

When You don't give the answers

As I cry out to You

I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You

Trust - don’t test. 

You’ll get better results.

 

#dailybreadbykitty

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keep walking

Then you will travel safely on your way, and your foot will not stumble.

- Proverbs 3:23 (ISV)

 

I am not the most graceful person on the planet, I can trip over air.

As I have aged, I find that not only am I more of a klutz, but I also get hurt when I fall!

My body is covered in bruises at any given point in time as I walk into walls that have been there forever.

Thankfully, our walk with Jesus is not quite as painful in most cases.

Yes, we will still face trials and sorrow, but when we do, Jesus is there to hold us up, to protect us when we fall.

We will travel, we will be safe, because Jesus is our guide.

 

#dailybreadbykitty

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a brand new year

Then the One sitting on the throne said, “See! I am making all things new. Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

- Revelation 21:5 (NLV)

 

Here we are, 2023.

Wow.

I have been writing for over a decade now and blogging for seven years.

Sometimes I get serious writer’s block.

Sometimes I don’t know what to write.  

Sometimes I feel like no one reads these and it doesn’t make a difference if I write or not.

Once again, but God.

When I am starting to feel like I should stop writing, God sends a message through a reader that says, “your words touched me”.

When I feel like no one is listening, God sends someone that says “Are you ok? Your message seemed sad today”.

When I am at the end of my rope, God tells me I am not done yet, keep writing.

So, we are here in 2023, a new beginning, new plans for the future (college!) and more of my daily ramblings.

Thank you for being a reader, a friend and sometimes a critic.

God is making all things new, just wait, His word tells us we will be made new.  

 

#dailybreadbykitty

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without hypocrisy

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

- James 3:17 (NKJV)

 

I have heard that a lot of people don’t attend church because it is full of hypocrites, people that judge others for doing the same sort of things that they do when they leave church. 

Not all churches are the same and not all people are hypocrites.

There are people out there who want to lead a life that is loving and giving, full of mercy and forgiveness.

People that follow the teachings of Christ.

People that won’t pick and choose who they love based on what the world thinks, but instead loves everyone as God has directed.

People who know they are not perfect, who know that they are sinners right along side the person next to them.

The sin may not be the same but acknowledging the sin is still something that all sinners must do.

And since we are all sinners (Romans 3:23) we should all be able to look each other in the face and be full of grace.

Where do you stand?

Are you “selectively Christian”?

 

#dailybreadbykitty

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war

And wars will break out near and far, but this is not the signal of the end-time.

- Mark 13:7 (TLB)

 

Every day I hear on the news that people are at war.

There is a war on drugs, a war on immigration, a war between countries, a war within the same country.

Everywhere there is war.

War has happened since the very beginning of time, as recounted in Genesis 14 as the Battle of Siddim.

Christopher Blattman wrote in his book Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace“From gang wars to ethnic violence, and from civil conflicts to world wars, the same five reasons underlie conflict at every level: war happens when a society or its leader is unaccountable, ideological, uncertain, biased, or unreliable.”

Edwin Starr released an album called “War & Peace” in 1970, on that album was a song called “War”, some of the lyrics are:

War, huh, yeah

What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing

Say it again, y'all

War, huh (good God)

What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing, listen to me, oh

War, I despise

'Cause it means destruction of innocent lives

War means tears to thousands of mother's eyes

When their sons go off to fight

And lose their lives

. . .

It ain't nothing but a heart-breaker

(War) Friend only to The Undertaker

Oh, war it's an enemy to all mankind

The thought of war blows my mind

War has caused unrest

Within the younger generation

Induction then destruction

Who wants to die? Oh

. . .

Oh, war, has shattered many a young man's dreams

Made him disabled, bitter and mean

Life is much too short and precious

To spend fighting wars each day

War can't give life

It can only take it away, oh

. . .

Peace, love and understanding, tell me

Is there no place for them today?

They say we must fight to keep our freedom

But Lord knows there's got to be a better way, oh

War is horrible, it destroys lives for generations, yet we continue to fight wars at home and abroad.

These wars do not mean that it is the end of the world though.

That is for God to decide.

 

#dailybreadbykitty

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all the things

Then Jesus said to them, “Be careful and guard against all kinds of greed. People do not get life from the many things they own.”

- Luke 6:38 (ERV)

 

The great literary classic A Tale Of Two Citiesbegins:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

I wonder if Charles Dickens perhaps used Luke 6:38 as the inspiration for this novel.

I read somewhere that although Charles Dickens wanted to be popular and wealthy through his writing, he always had one goal in mind, he wanted his novels to be parables, stories that would emphasize the teachings of Christ.

In the parable of the rich fool, Jesus gives two brothers fighting over their inheritance a strong warning about thinking that their possessions can give their life worth and ultimate value.

Greed grips our hearts when we place material things (or anything) in the place of God and His ultimate approval and blessings in our life.

We can make these the best of times, use the wisdom of the age, live in the Light, in the spring of hope and know that we are going to Heaven because we have been given the very best God has to offer.

Don’t be greedy – here I reference another Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, where spirits are sent to Ebenezer Scrooge to show him what greed has done for him, what he has lost and what he will lose.

Sometimes it feels that our happiness in linked to our possessions.

We need to get out of that mindset sooner rather than later.

Remember that God will provide you with everything you need right now, what you have is enough right now.

When Israel left Egypt, God provided manna every day, more than enough to feed everyone, and He told the people to gather only what they needed for that day, to trust that He would provide. 

Life doesn’t come down to what you own, but how you use it in glorifying God.

Nice things are nice, but they are just things.

Things go away, God is forever.  

All our “stuff” won’t matter the day we meet our Savior face to face.

 

#dailybreadbykitty

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