Lord, I can’t do this by myself!

By: Vicky Satterfield

Have you ever noticed a shrub, vine or tree that looked overgrown, awkward, struggling, sickly or just simply in the wrong place?  I have felt like all of these in just the past 6 months.  Then one day you notice the shrub, vine or tree has been pruned or maybe cut down and removed.  After the pruning, it may look odd, maybe even ugly for awhile.  Soon you notice a beautiful new beginning- new growth!

⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. (John 15:4-6)

The pruner, Jesus Christ, is alive and at work in us!  If you are struggling, give it to God.  He never intended for us to go it alone.  During these struggling, awkward seasons of life, God grows us!

³ Your adornment must not be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; ⁴ but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. (1 Peter 3:3-4)

By: Synora Cummings

The past month has been filled with sorrow for many loved ones around me.  It seems in every conversation I hear of someone diagnosed with this disease and that condition, someone undergoing treatment for this or that, and even more devastating the news of loved ones passed.

My heart aches and my heart cries.  No one really knows what to say in times like these.  No one truly knows how to help. And while we scramble for answers and grasp at hope, God extends his comfort.  There is no truer comfort than that of God and his only begotten son, Jesus Christ.

Here are a few words I scribbled when I found myself in hopeless despair some time ago. God is a god that will never leave us, nor will he forsake us.

Here I stand before the cross;A heartfelt sorrow for my loss.
Weeping. I bow my head and know not what to say,
I fall to my knees; have thine own way.
Searching. Your way is perfect; your way is true.
I offer my heart, fully trusting in you.
Leaning. This life within, I must live without.
Erase my worry, remove all doubt.
Believing. Here I stand before the cross; 
With much I have gained through this loss.
Rejoicing.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”