Who is our Fortress ?

I send this card to my colleague last month when we hear that he is down with some disease. Once I asked to him about his sickness; Later I came to know that here in USA, we are not allowed to ask personal questions in work environment. I just enquirer about his health issues so as to tell him some comforting words. So I decided to give my most beautiful photo that I took this year to him and here it goes. We all signed in the card and send it to him. I took this one on 28th Nov 2010 around 6:30 am when the temperature first came down below '0' Celsius...

Just like every fall days, If i get time to look through the windows during a semi cloudy day; i will spend time to see God's work enjoy the Sun rise and how it is putting and blending colors into the sky... 28th was special in the way it was... It's a bright day with scattered clouds... I stopped making the tea and rushed to take my camera and my jacket... Ran to the park and took few ; then ran to the pond where I can get both clouds and frozen water's reflection ....

After taking few pictures, I waited there for few more minutes... WOW... that's the only word that I was whispering when watching the Sun rise... It's so so cold out there; also I am holding my camera with my bare hand... ohho... its getting frozen... Let me go back to home. Made a tea and went back to my room. Suddenly I remember the verse that I send to my church group; But I already send that photo with the verse... This is the most suitable one for the below verse... But it's ok; I can use this as a card...

Psalm 65:8 - They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens: thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.

Would you know this life of triumph, victory all the way?
Then put God in the beginning of each coming day...
(28th Nov - Streams in the Desert)

After one month he came back to office and I got a mail from him...

"Hi Jean. Today was my first day back in the office... And thank you for the nice get well card while I was out. That was very thoughtful, and really meant a lot..."

I am so happy now... I make use of this card to make some one happy... :-)

These are the little things that we can do in our life for others ; as a return for what all God has done to all of us...

What to do when we face darkest hours in our life...

Read the below portion from Bible...

I Corinthians 10:13 - There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

I am here only because of the "GRACE" of God... Nothing else... I had a very memorable 2010 that God has given me.

My 2010 ends with a lot of pain due to my kidney stone and I am struggling the same till today... If you ever had a kidney stone pain; you can imagine how bad it is... but I am very happy now upon reading the above lines again and again...

I told some experience in my life based on this verses when I was visiting Philadelphia STECI Parsh on Mar 2010. My closest friend told me to read this over and over again to grab the internal meaning of this and how that can change our lives...

Why I am not able to put down all the things that I want to say and express in this blog? I wil try to bring up one by one...

How the verses became my source of encouragement ?

Have you ever faced death? What will be going to the mind of anyone who is going to operation theater with the knowledge that there is a 50/50 chance of survival? If you experience that sort for situation; it's very easy to get what I am going to say below... from my experience...

In Bible (from my understanding) temptation has few more meaning other than the literal meaning - it's trial that we faced / or trails that we are facing now... - It's the difficulties that we encountered in our life / pain and suffering that we are going through right now...

And this saying what if trails or sufferings overtaken you ? If you read it one more time; you can see that God is faithful and will give us pain or suffering or temptation that we cannot bear. God knows the lever of suffering that each one of us can hold on... God will not suffer anyone to be tempted above what they are able to bear because God made us like that.

continuing ...It's my Bed time now...

Life before, during & after cancer treatment...

Weeping may endure for the night but joy cometh in the morning... Joy sometimes needs pain to give it birth...

Joy sometimes needs pain to give it birth... Yea, It is comforting to know that sorrow tarries only for night; it takes its leave in the morning...

The above quotes are taken from my daily devotional reading - Streams in the Desert - 9th Dec Reading Portion

I don't know where to start and what to write... Of-course everyones life change after going through something like cancer... But...

Pay It Forward

I try to write down something about teaching the "Word of God" when I saw a movie "Pay It Forward." Our world seems like an unfriendly, violent, unhappy at this moment of time. Practicing "paying it forward” methodology may change it – I believe. As you can see in the novel/movie that little steps the kid takes from his side finally got results.

Teaching the Word of God

As we have seen in my previous blog, accept the reconciliation that God offers asking Him to forgive you. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Phil 4:7) and this is the peace that god brings to those who have been reconciled himself to God. In the current world, peace is the one that we rarely seen or get. But there are something everyone can do to make a better world, by spreading the word of God.

How can we make this practical in helping our children or friends or colleagues?

We are the new generation and we are responsible to take the gospel to others… It’s not the duty of a pastor or missionary to preach others about salvation. Those who all got reconciled by Jesus, is having equal responsibility to tell about Got to others… Sometimes it is a difficult question for us about how to spread God’s words.

Bible teaches us all that it’s our job to study the words of God and teach others…

The first question that comes to our mind when we read the above line is that, I have a job, have to run my busy life, lots or responsibility etc. and where I can find time to teach others about salvation. As we are familiar with a proverb “little drops of water makes an Ocean”, likewise if you get free time in your work place or while you are traveling, find some time to spread the word of God… now in the modern world we have email to spread the word of God… By us doing our part in spreading the word, we are not only doing our part, we are also showing others how to spread Gods word - We can say it triggers Reciprocity (cultural anthropology).

Why God send his son to this world? In simple words we can say that God cannot die, so he sends his son to this world so as to prove that God loved the world. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16. Knowing god is the beginning of wisdom.

But, before we can teach others we must find time to study ourselves, from Bible itself and if we are not sure about any verse as our Pastors and Parents. I would say it’s our daily responsibility to go through at least half a chapter if it is too long…  

The word of God can indeed change our outlook on life, but we must listen to it and follow its teachings, if we are going to see the changes. The Israelites, for example, were told by God that He was going to lead them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, a place that had an abundance of food, and where they would no longer be oppressed. But they didn't listen to His word; they spent forty years in the wilderness. And as the end of these forty years comes to pass, Moses reminds the people of all that the Lord has told them during their time in the wilderness. If we want a new and bright outlook on life, if we want to cast out the darkness and gloom in our lives, if we want our lives filled with love and compassion, then listen and teach the word of God to others…

Think for a moment and give this some serious thought on how to make this world a better place to live - from your part...