Why Beauty From Hardship Is Possible
May 12, 2020
Roses are perhaps the world’s favorite flower. However, there is a facet of growing roses that we don’t focus on—fertilizing. Yet, fertilizer is a very necessary part of growing beautiful blooms. Unfortunately, the best fertilizer to produce lovely roses is the natural type that smells very badly. No one likes the odor, but everyone likes the results. This fertilizer, however, can be compared to the painful experiences of life, especially those that come through the difficult people we all encounter.
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In this booklet, you will find devotional readings from each of Guidelines' daily and weekly devotionals: Reset with Bonnie Sala, Guidelines for Living with Harold Sala, and Encouraging Words with Darlene Sala. Let God's Word shine in your life every day!
Archives
What do you do to change when dishonesty has become a way of life, when it is just as easy for you to look someone in the eye and lie as it is to breathe and sleep? To the Corinthians, who knew something firsthand about dishonesty and deceit, Paul wrote, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). In God's sight, conversion makes you a new person; yet the fact remains that the ongoing change in your life, the result of God's Holy Spirit working within, takes time. Conversion isn't an instant transformation from dishonesty to moral perfection.
May 11, 2020
Here is something amazing about God: He is for us, not against us! So often, especially if we have grown up in a home with a very religious tradition, it is very easy to focus on wanting to please—first our parents, then teachers, employers and yes, God. Faith can become only a checklist of things to do and not do, instead of a real relationship with someone who says that He loves us so much that He would sacrifice for us.
May 8, 2020
God works in and through the difficulties and problems that confront you in ways that you seldom see except in retrospect. That's when you look back and say, "Ah, now I can see the hand of God leading, guiding, and protecting me; but I certainly didn't see it at the time." Right! That's why your hindsight is so much better than your foresight. Looking back you have 20/20 vision, but staring trouble and difficulty in the face, you are completely blind.
May 7, 2020
The Washington Post uses the word "compassion" as a synonym for governmental spending to help the needy and homeless. And while no rational person would argue against the involvement of government in helping the homeless and the poor, the idea of compassion as being a government program is a far cry from the biblical concept of the word. The term "compassion," found some 41 times in 39 verses, always included personal involvement.
May 6, 2020
"You don't get what you deserve; you get what you negotiate!" business writers claim, stressing that when it comes to your job review, you’d better be ready to prove your point with your boss. The fact is, however, that statement is pretty true. What you deserve and what you get may be totally different.
May 5, 2020
If a caterpillar can crawl up a tree and weave a cocoon around himself and emerge as a beautiful butterfly, why do we think it strange that God can change a human heart and erase the hatred and bitterness of sin, replacing it with love and joy? This remarkable change, of course, is not psychological; it is supernatural, and the supernatural involves God.
May 4, 2020
In many ways the problem of suffering is more difficult for Christians to deal with than for non-Christians. Why? The Christian believes that nothing happens apart from the will of God, that He is sovereign and all-powerful, and-- bottom line--that God is good, loving and kind. The non-Christian dismisses the intervention of God in the affairs of our world or, at best, considers Him to be only a disinterested spectator, either too weak or too remote to do much about the problem of pain.
May 1, 2020
The incident took place in Jezreel, just east of modern Tel Aviv, in a fertile valley lying midway between the blue Mediterranean and the arid desert across the Jordan. A certain farmer had inherited a vineyard from his father, who, in turn, had received the title to the property from his father. Everyone admired the luscious grapes which came from the toil of the well-respected middle-class farmer who kept the vineyard. Naboth, the owner, was proud of his vineyard, too, and rightly so. Offers to purchase the property were turned down without a second thought, even one that came from the wealthiest, most powerful man in the country.
April 30, 2020
Back in the days when circuses went from town to town, a prominent circus featured an act with Bengal tigers, those beautiful beasts that look like overgrown felines, whose powerful claws are capable of shredding an enemy in a few swipes. As part of the tiger routine, a trainer would go into the cage with his whip and a small kitchen chair. The snap of his whip would prod the tigers into a routine which was perfunctory yet dangerous. Bengal tigers are ferocious, and natives who live where they roam in the wilds are always frightened of them. And with good cause.
April 29, 2020
When it comes to human relationships, the same dramas play out over and over again. Like the story of a dad and his son locked in bitter disagreement. Angry words fly. Finally, the dad says, "Get out and don’t ever show up at the door of this house again. I never want to see your face again!" "Don't worry," yells the son. "You never will."
April 28, 2020
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In this booklet, you will find devotional readings from each of Guidelines' daily and weekly devotionals: Reset with Bonnie Sala, Guidelines for Living with Harold Sala, and Encouraging Words with Darlene Sala. Let God's Word shine in your life every day!