Carry Our Inability to the Ability of God

 

Carry Our Inability to the Ability of God

 I was about fourteen years old and I was standing alone in the hallway of the clinic shaking all over from what had just happened and wondering , was my brother going to be all right?

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” Ephesians 3:20 NIV

 I was the oldest of my siblings and taught well by my mother how to care for them. When she was away on an errands I often was left to take care of them for a short time. In those days you had neighbors watching over you all the time too. But on this particular day I had more than neighbors watching over me and my little brother.  

 It was a sunny summer day and my two little brothers were playing in what we called the woods. In fact it was nothing more than several acres of over grown scotch broom.  In this natural playground was a gigantic rock the kids called big rock and it was the major point of many climbing challenges. It was a rite of passage to be able to climb up to the top of it and all the children tried and tried until one day they mastered it.

 On this day particular day, when mother was away, that’s exactly what my youngest brother was attempting to do when he slid down the rock in a flash and a thick branch growing nearby caught him in the throat cutting him deeply.

 I heard kids yelling, I ran outside our house to find a group of them jumping up and down frantically. “Hurry up, he’s cut himself bad!”

My heart was pounding and I pushed back branches and fled to big rock. I saw my little brother lying on the ground with a gash across his throat. That’s when I realized that when I went out the door at home I had grabbed one of mother’s freshly cleaned and ironed dish towels and now I got the sense I was to press it tight across the cut. I put his hand on it and told him to hold it there and carefully I lifted my brother up into my arms and ran for home. He weighed half my weight, but I never noticed it all as I hurried along.

A mother from next door was already there when I arrived, having heard the story from the children on the block. One look at my brother and she threw open her car door and said “get in now- we need a doctor.”

“One nick closer on his throat and it would have been a disaster,” the doctor said to me in the hallway later. “Good thinking on the pressure from the towel, but how on earth were you able to run that far carrying your brother- you're such a little thing?”

I had nothing to say, but I’ll never forget what the mother who brought me there said, “It wasn’t her strength, but it was the strength of Lord who made her able to do it.”

 “Able is the Greek word dunatos, related to dunamis, meaning ability, abundance, capability, mighty works, miraculous power, prevailing strength. “God is able” means God has the mighty power to do a miraculous work out of His abundance and strength…Let us bring our inability to the ability to God.” Sylvia Gunter-“The Father’s Business”

“Carry Our Inability to the Ability of God” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© April 27, 2016

Tune in First

 

 

Tune in First

Daily I enjoy the bits of humor, the quotes, and things written to encourage a person that I receive on the internet. But I ponder over them and I often question their sources, as well as their truthfulness.

When I shared my concerns over these quotes in a mixed crowd of people recently, I was heard a great question from one person in the crowd, “Where then can we really find the truth and real wisdom these days? It’s all too confusing.”

“Wisdom is more valuable than gold and crystal….But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding? ….God alone understands the way to wisdom; he knows where it can be found…And this is what he says to all humanity; ‘The fear of the LORD is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.” Job 28 NLT

To fear the Lord, is the key to wisdom and wisdom can always be found and trusted in the Word of God.  It means to have respect and reverence for God and to be in awe of His majesty and power, first and foremost.

 This truly is the starting point to finding real wisdom and it’s important, it’s paramount more and more today that we always take what we hear, read and see back to God. Then let the His Holy Spirit impart to us through God's Word the wisdom we need to stand firm in our faith and be true to God.

God is always faithful and He will never fail us when we come to Him in our need for wisdom, discernment and the strength we need every day. Before we read the paper, before we check the internet, before we watch television, let us tune in to God first.

“Do not have your concert first and tune your instruments afterward. Begin the day with God.”-

J. Hudson Taylor

“Tune in First” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© April 25, 2016

Love Binds Them All Together



Love Binds Them All Together

Getting dressed for the day requires many components to be an outfit, presentable and functional for the day. But we also need to consider how we will put on the right outfit that is more than functional but an outfit of a positive attitude which expresses our faith in God through the many designs of love.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:14 NIV

Compassion, kindness, and humility, are tucked in together with patience and gentleness and bound together with love. More precious and important than faith is heavenly love. Without love even the faithful will falter. Many faithful workers for God, have, after a time, lost their way― because they lost their spirit of love.

Love is the crowning glory of grace of our Christian character. It is the finer touches in the many variables of love in which all the light, love and glory of God is revealed to the world.

 “Why is Love greater than faith? Because the end is greater than the means. And why is it greater than charity? Because the whole is greater than the part." Henry Drummond

“Love Binds Them All Together” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© April 20, 2016

Created to Withstand the Storm

Blue Heron in Nest by Dee Kamp

Created to Withstand the Storm

“They’re back!” I shouted with joy to husband as we were driving by the thick grove of alders growing along the estuary near our home. I stared in awe at the rookery of nests built last season by the beautiful great blue herons.

“How on earth did they survive our record rainfalls this winter and that huge gale force wind that took down so many other trees?” I asked Bill.

He said with a smile, “Easy, it’s God who that taught Noah exactly how to build a weather proof ark, and it’s God who taught the heron how to build storm proof nests.“

“I shall remember the deeds of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work and muse on Your deeds. Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples.” Psalm 77:11-14 NISB

How often we look up to God in wonder at how He was able to teach a bird to build a nest, or how He taught a man to build an ark, but so often we look to Him as our last means for what we need to survive a storm in our life.

Our strength comes from our faith in God alone. And by each passage through them, our faith becomes stronger and stronger building us up more and more.  Just like those strong sticks the heron adds to strengthen their nests after each storm our foundation of faith in God is able to give us the strength we need too.  

When we experience those unforeseen storms in life, they may frightened us for a moment, but when we turn to God it’s then we realize the storm isn’t able to make us fall apart. We are by faith able to stand through it, just like the heron’s nest is created to withstand a windstorm.  

“How often we look upon God as our last and feeblest resource. We go to Him because we have nowhere else to go. And then we learn that the storms of life have driven us, not upon the rocks, but into the desired haven. “―George MacDonald

“Created to Withstand a Windstorm” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© April 5, 2016