Holding Pattern

Many times, God will allow a painful situation or a painful circumstance in our life to "swallow us up." This season in our spiritual growth is a holding pattern. We can't move to the left or the right. All we can do is sit, like Jonah sat in the belly of that great fish, so God can have our undivided attention and speak to us.
\n\u003cbr\>\nGod put Jonah in a holding pattern because He needed to speak to his heart. Jonah was all alone. There were no friends to call, no colleagues to drop by, no books to read, no food to eat, no interferences, and no interruptions. He had plenty of time to sit, think, meditate, and pray. \u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\nWhen we're deep down in the midst of a difficult situation, God can talk to us. When He has our undivided attention, He can show us things about ourselves that we might not otherwise have seen. \u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\nA few of God's holding patterns... \u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\n1. When you are sick in your physical body and you have prayed, but you're not yet healed, you are in a holding pattern. \u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\n2. When you are having problems with your children and you have put them on the altar, but God has not delivered them yet, you are in a holding pattern. \u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\n3. When you have been praying for a loved one to return to God, and they have not come back yet, you are in a holding pattern. \u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\n4. When you are in a broken relationship and you have given it over to God, but it has not been restored yet, you are in a holding pattern. \u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\n5. When the doors slam shut before you can even knock on them, you are in a holding pattern. \u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\nWhen we are deep in the belly of a difficult situation, there are no interruptions. God has our undivided attention. All we can do is sit, think, meditate, and pray. Like Jonah, we cannot run from God, because there are no mountains that are high enough, valleys that are low enough, rivers that are wide enough, rooms that are dark enough, or places that are hidden from Him. \u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\nWe must remember to praise Him while we're waiting, and remember three things: \u003cbr\>\n1. The pattern has a purpose. \u003cbr\>\n2. The pattern has a plan. \u003cbr\>\n3. The pattern has a process. \u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\nSo stop struggling and start listening, praying and trusting. He'll keep you right where you are until you can clearly hear Him say, "I love you." \u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\n"Father, forgive my unbelief. I know you love me and I will come to see the benefit of everything in my life, even this holding pattern, and the manifestation of my Good is assured through You. You have planned nothing for me but victories and I am ready to receive them regardless of how difficult the path." ",1]
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God put Jonah in a holding pattern because He needed to speak to his heart. Jonah was all alone. There were no friends to call, no colleagues to drop by, no books to read, no food to eat, no interferences, and no interruptions. He had plenty of time to sit, think, meditate, and pray. When we're deep down in the midst of a difficult situation, God can talk to us. When He has our undivided attention, He can show us things about ourselves that we might not otherwise have seen. A few of God's holding patterns... 1. When you are sick in your physical body and you have prayed, but you're not yet healed, you are in a holding pattern. 2. When you are having problems with your children and you have put them on the altar, but God has not delivered them yet, you are in a holding pattern. 3. When you have been praying for a loved one to return to God, and they have not come back yet, you are in a holding pattern. 4. When you are in a broken relationship and you have given it over to God, but it has not been restored yet, you are in a holding pattern. 5. When the doors slam shut before you can even knock on them, you are in a holding pattern. When we are deep in the belly of a difficult situation, there are no interruptions. God has our undivided attention. All we can do is sit, think, meditate, and pray. Like Jonah, we cannot run from God, because there are no mountains that are high enough, valleys that are low enough, rivers that are wide enough, rooms that are dark enough, or places that are hidden from Him. We must remember to praise Him while we're waiting, and remember three things: 1. The pattern has a purpose. 2. The pattern has a plan. 3. The pattern has a process. So stop struggling and start listening, praying and trusting. He'll keep you right where you are until you can clearly hear Him say, "I love you." "Father, forgive my unbelief. I know you love me and I will come to see the benefit of everything in my life, even this holding pattern, and the manifestation of my Good is assured through You. You have planned nothing for me but victories and I am ready to receive them regardless of how difficult the path."
\u003c/div\>\u003cbr\>\u003cbr\>\n\u003chr color\u003d\"#003366\"\>\n\u003ctable border\u003d\"0\" cellpadding\u003d\"0\" cellspacing\u003d\"0\" width\u003d\"100%\" bgcolor\u003d\"white\"\>\u003ctr\>\u003ctd valign\u003d\"top\"\>\n\u003cfont face\u003d\"verdana,arial,verdana\" size\u003d\"1\"\>\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:8pt\"\>\n\u003cb\>Visit \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.InJesus.com/index.php?module\u003dmygroups\" style\u003d\"color:#75A3ED\" target\u003d\"_blank\" onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"\>My InJesus\u003c/a\>\u003c/b\>\nto manage your subscriptions, change your profile, or check out thousands of other great ministry groups. \n\u003cp\>If you do not have access to the web, you can use these addresses to unsubscribe or subscribe:\u003cbr\>\n\u003cb\>Unsubscribe:\u003c/b\> \u003ca href\u003d\"mailto:The_Daily_Encourager-unsubscribe@MyInJesus.com\" style\u003d\"color:#75A3ED\" target\u003d\"_blank\" onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"\>The_Daily_Encourager-unsubscrib\u003cWBR\>e@MyInJesus.com\u003c/a\>\u003cbr\>\n\u003cb\>Subscribe:\u003c/b\> \u003ca href\u003d\"mailto:The_Daily_Encourager-subscribe@MyInJesus.com\" style\u003d\"color:#75A3ED\" target\u003d\"_blank\" onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"\>The_Daily_Encourager-subscribe\u003cWBR\>@MyInJesus.com\u003c/a\>\u003cbr\>\n\u003cp\>To view this message in its entirety on the web, click \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.InJesus.com/index.php?module\u003dmessage&task\u003dview&MID\u003dIB007CA4&GroupID\u003d2A000MJQ\" target\u003d\"_blank\" onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"\>here\u003c/a\>. For a printable version of this message, click \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.InJesus.com/index.php?module\u003dmessage&task\u003dview&MID\u003dIB007CA4&GroupID\u003d2A000MJQ&print\u003d1\" target\u003d\"_blank\" onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"\>here\u003c/a\>\u003cbr\>\n\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.injesus.com/index.php?module\u003dcontent&ID\u003d8\" target\u003d\"_blank\" onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"\>About inJesus\u003c/a\> - \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.injesus.com/index.php?module\u003dgroup&task\u003dedit\" target\u003d\"_blank\" onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"\>Start Your Own Group\u003c/a\> - \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764426818?ie\u003dUTF8&tag\u003dinjesus-20&linkCode\u003das2&camp\u003d1789&creative\u003d9325&creativeASIN\u003d0764426818\" target\u003d\"_blank\" onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"\>",1]
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strike 3

 Strike Three - You're In!
 Dick Innes
 May 18, 2007

 STRIKE THREE AND YOU'RE IN!

 "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14).

 Motivational speakers ask the question, "What would you like to do if you knew for certain that you couldn't fail?" Good question. I'm sure that many a life's dream, hope, and/or ambition is lost because of the fear of failure.

 Perhaps a better question to ask is: "So what if you do fail?" What is the worst thing that could happen? Ninety-nine percent of the time you could learn from the experience and be better qualified to try again. I doubt if there is anyone who has succeeded in fulfilling theirblife's dream and goals who hasn't experienced failure - or even many failures before they succeeded.

 What we need to realize is that there is no shame in failure. As another has said, "Low aim, not failure, is a 'crime.'" In fact, failure can be our greatest teacher. It's only as we are willing to risk failure that we can ever succeed and become a true winner. Remember, too, thatbfailure is an event not a person. The only real failure is not to get up and keep trying one more time than we fall or get knocked down. In baseball it may be "strike three and you're out". Not so for a successful life where it's "Strike Three & You're In!"
 STRIKE THREE ANDYOU'RE IN!
 We only succeed when we're willing to fail;
 We only score goals when we're willing to be tackled;
 We only hit home runs when we're willing to strike out;
 And we only win when we're willing to risk failing.

 Consider the high jumper who only discovers how high he can jump when he reaches his failure point.

 Consider Babe Ruth, too, the year he broke the world record for hitting the most home runs, he also broke the record for scoring the most strike-outs!

 Success, however exhilarating, doesn't teach one how to be a winner. In fact, failure is the greatest teacher to help one win in the game of life. So, if you want to hit home runs, stand at the plate, start swinging, be willing to strike out - and begin winning!

 Dick Innes
 www.actsweb.org
 

A Lesson for a Lifetime

A Lesson for a Lifetime
Janet Seever
Apr 26, 2007

When I arrived at 6 a.m. in the large hospital kitchen, Rose was already checking name tags on the trays against the patient roster. Stainless steel shelves held rows of breakfast trays which we would soon be serving.



"Hi, I'm Janet." I tried to sound cheerful, although I already knew Rose's reputation for being impossible to work with. "I'm scheduled to work with you this week."



Rose, a middle-aged woman with graying hair, stopped what she was doing and peered over her reading glasses. I could tell from her expression she wasn't pleased to see a student worker.



"What do you want me to do? Start the coffee?"



Rose sullenly nodded and went back to checking name tags.



I filled the 40-cup pot with cold water and began making the coffee when Rose gruffly snapped, "That's not the way to make coffee." She stepped in and took over.



"I was just doing it the way our supervisor showed us to do it," I said in astonishment.



"The patients like the coffee better the way I do it," she replied curtly.



Nothing I did pleased her. All morning her eagle eyes missed nothing and her sharp words stung. She literally trailed me around the kitchen.



Later, after breakfast had been served and the dishes had been washed, I set up my share of trays for the next meal. Then I busied myself cleaning the sink. Certainly Rose couldn't criticize the way I did that.



When I turned around, there stood Rose, rearranging all of the trays I had just set up!



Totally exhausted, I trudged the six blocks home from the University of Minnesota Hospital late that June afternoon. As a third year university student working my way through school, I had never before encountered anyone like Rose.



Fighting back tears, I wrestled with my dilemma alone in my room. "Lord, what do you want me to do? I can't take much more of Rose."



I turned the possibilities over in my mind. Should I see if my supervisor would switch me to work with someone else? Scheduling was fairly flexible. On the other hand, I didn't want to be a quitter. I knew my older co-workers were watching to see if my actions matched my words.



The answer to my prayer caught me completely by surprise -- I needed to love Rose.



Love her? No way! Tolerate, yes, but loving her was impossible.



"Lord, I can't love Rose. You'll have to do it through me."



Working with Rose the next morning, I ignored the barbs thrown in my direction and did things Rose's way as much as possible to avoid friction. As I worked, I silently began to surround Rose with a warm blanket of prayers. "Lord, help me love Rose. Lord, bless Rose."



Over the next few days an amazing thing began to happen. As I prayed for this irritating woman, my focus shifted from what she was doing to me, and I started seeing Rose as the hurting person she was. The icy tension began to melt away.



Throughout the rest of the summer, we had numerous opportunities to work together. Each time she seemed genuinely happy to see me. As I worked with this lonely woman, I listened to her--something no one else had done.



I learned that she was burdened by elderly parents who needed her care, her own health problems, and an alcoholic husband she was thinking of leaving.



The days slipped by quickly as I finished the last several weeks of my summer job. Leaves were starting to turn yellow and red, and there was a cool, crispness in the air. I soon would be returning as a full-time university student.



One day, while I was working alone in one of the hospital kitchens, Rose entered the room. Instead of her blue uniform, she was wearing street clothes.



I looked at her in surprise. "Aren't you working today?"



"I got me another job and won't be working here no more," she said as she walked over and gave me a quick hug. "I just came to say good-bye." Then she turned abruptly and walked out the door.



Although I never saw Rose again, I still remember her vividly. That summer I learned a lesson I've never forgotten. The world is full of people like Rose--irritating, demanding, unlovable - yet hurting

inside. I've found that love is the best way to turn an enemy into a friend.



"Love your enemies! Do good to them! Lend to them! And don't be concerned that they might not repay. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most

High, for he is kind to the unthankful and to those who are wicked." Luke 6:35 NLT

Copyright © 2002 Janet Seever (jseever1@shaw.ca)



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Posted by Tim Levin at "Inspiration Daily"

Heaven

I Hold Clear Title
David Langerfeld
Apr 16, 2007

Some years ago radio evangelist Charles E. Fuller announced that he would speak the following Sunday on "Heaven."

It was to be broadcast on radio. During that week he received a letter from an elderly gentleman who was very ill. Here is part of that letter:

"Next Sunday you are to talk about 'Heaven.' I am interested in that land because I have held a clear title to a bit of property there for over 55 years. I did not buy it. It was given to me without money and without price. But the donor purchased it for me at a tremendous sacrifice. I am not holding it for speculation since the title is nontransferable. It is not a vacant lot.

"For more than a half-century I have been sending material out of which the greatest architect and builder of the universe has been building a home for me, which will never need to be repaired because it will suit me perfectly, individually, and will never grow old.

"Termites can never undermine its foundation for it rests upon the Rock of Ages. Fire cannot destroy it. Floods cannot wash it away. No locks or bolts will ever be placed upon its doors, for no vicious person can ever enter that land where my dwelling stands, now almost completed and ready for me to enter it and abide in peace eternally without fear of being ejected.

"There is a valley of deep shadow between the place where I live in California and that to which I shall journey in a very short time. I cannot reach my home in the City of God without passing through the dark valley of shadows. But I am not afraid, because the best friend that I have ever had went through the same valley alone, a long, long, time ago and drove away all the gloom. He has stuck by me through thick and thin since we first met and became acquainted 55 years ago, and I hold His promise in printed form, never to forsake nor to leave me alone. He will be with me as I walk through the valley of shadows, and I shall not lose my way when He is with me.

"I hope to hear your sermon on "Heaven" next Sunday from my home, but I have no assurance that I shall be able to do so. My ticket to heaven has no date marked for the journey... no return coupon... and no permit for baggage. Yes, I am ready to go and may not be here while you are talking next Sunday, but I shall meet you there some day."

God wants to rescue you!

On sunday 25th at my church, mark Ritchie spoke for a few. He told of something God reminded him ...

"I remember as a boy we were on holiday in Italy with my family. My brother and I went out for a swim. Suddenly we started to struggle, the current was making it difficult for us to swim out of the water. Futher in, there was an elderly couple that was enjoying a swim. Suddenly people from shore started shouting for everyone to get out of the water. We tried so had and my brother kept disappearing under the water -I thought he was going to die. The elderly couple ignored the calls to begin with. We made it out but the couple was sucked in. The life savers waited on some rocks where the current was pushing the couple. As they were passing in full force the guards held out their hand. The man managed to get hold of one of the guards and was safely pulled out of the water. The lady only managed to touch the fingure-tips of one of the guards and she was sucked under. A few hours later her body was recovered... I remember when they put a towel over her body and I remember her being loaded onto an ambulance. This morning I feel God is holding out His hand to someone who has drifted away from Him. He wants to save you from 'drowning'. If you know thats you please pray and ask Him to save you!...

I hope this will speak to someone and you shall be blessed...
KBW lets honour God and lets recognise that He is real!

Right to die!

The progress of a controversial bill in UK which would allow terminally ill people to be helped to die has been blocked by the House of Lords. Lord Joffe's bill would give doctors the right to prescribe drugs that a terminally ill patient in severe pain could use to end their own life. But peers backed an amendment to delay the bill by six months by 48 votes. Lord Joffe said the move was intended to end the debate, but pledged to reintroduce his bill at a later date. The government has said it will not block a further hearing of the bill. Peers had spent the day in a passionate debate on whether or not it was right to allow people who were terminally ill to be given drugs they could then use to end their life.

Who Am I? Who Are You?

Who Am I?
Who Are You?

That question still rings in my head. My group therapy leader, a psychiatrist
and Christian, still seems unsatisfied with my answer. I have pondered,
wondered, ruminated, and mused over this question for the past two weeks.

I don't really find it that difficult a question to answer. My problem comes
with why does my answer seem so incredible when I share it with him or others?

Jeremiah 5:1 quotes the prophet as saying: "Roam to and fro and through the
streets of Jerusalem and look now and take note. And seek in her open squares,
if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, and I
will pardon her."

I dont by any stretch of the imagination think that I am that one man who does
justice and seeks truth. However, I do believe that in these days of
increasing apostasy, I am of a breed of men who are fewer and fewer in number.

There are about 500 million males of African descent. Of those who are still
married to their first wives, have higher education, are not living in poverty,
in nations at war, stricken with illness, in jail, on drugs, in adultery or
fornication, in healthy and holy heterosexual relationships, practicing their
profession in a way that seeks to honor God and help the poor, I do believe I
am one of those men of whom Jeremiah spoke.

I believe that if we are to carry on as a remnant of what remains of African
men, we must define who we are, and not allow the world to define us as it
presently does.

The images of black men around the world is thugs, pimps, gangsters, addicts,
indiscrete sexually, dishonorable to our wives, our daughters and our mothers,
unemployed, foul mouthed, unreliable as leaders and unrepentant as sinners.

The question I would put before each and every one of us as black men, those
who have the blood of Africa running through our veins is just who are you?
Can God find in you someone who will do justice and seek truth? Or are you
going to give in to the image that the world expects of us and to become part
of the continued decay and decadence of our cultural heritage and the loss of
our heavenly inheritance?

Who are you? Are you worthy of God roaming to and fro through the streets…
God is looking for a man who will do justice, seek truth so that He will pardon our
people. That is who I have asked my God to make me. That is who I am.

Source: http://kenyananalyst.blogspot.com