Sharon Sharing God: NOT A PRETTY PICTURE

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

NOT A PRETTY PICTURE

OK, here goes...my list of some things that DO NOT paint "a pretty picture":

1. Me - first thing in the morning.

2. "The Hub" - first thing in the morning...Sorry, hon!

3. A slightly overweight cable guy bending over to "check a few wires."

4. An unknown bowl of "fuzz" in the fridge.

5. A COLEN ("Change-of-Life Empty-Nester") in a bikini.

6. OK, I'm just gonna say it...most NORMAL women in a bikini.

7. A Christmas fruitcake (sorry, all you people who bake or cook or do whatever it takes to make a fruitcake).

8. Mel Gibson's (or insert any celebrity) latest booking photo.

9. Trash at the beach.

10. The bottom of my trash can.

11. My hair the day BEFORE I get it colored (think skunk, 2-lane highway, 50-yard line, etc).

12. A dead spider in your sleeping bag.

13. A LIVE spider in your sleeping bag.

14. Me snoring - (it's an ugly secret - but it had to come out).

15. Gopher holes.

16. EVERYTHING on MTV!

17. Any casserole I "try" to make.

18. Camels - (I'm sorry...I just think they're weird-looking...and they spit).

19. "Pink Eye" - (I'm not sure where this came from...).

20. The replay of Joe Theismann breaking his leg (football fans will be wincing right now).

21. Most people's feet - think about it...

Here's something that shouldn't paint a pretty picture...

"By this time it was noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock. The light from the sun was gone...[Jesus] said, 'It is finished' Then he bowed his head and released his spirit...Jesus shouted, 'Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!' And with those words he breathed his last." (From Luke 23 and John 19)

...but it's the most beautiful thing in the world!

"They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn't find the body of the Lord Jesus...Then the men asked, 'Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn't here! HE IS RISEN from the dead!'" (From Luke 24)

Only God could choose the worst "picture" of human cruelty - the cross - and turn it into the most beautiful symbol of Love ever known!

Praise God for His gracious "reversals!"

"The message of the cross is foolish to those headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the VERY POWER OF GOD. As the Scriptures say, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent...This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God's weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength." (From 1 Corinthians)

P.S. For another "pretty picture" you might be interested in - check out my devotional "A LITTLE REMINDER" at Granola Bar Devotionals!

BLOG = "Blessedly Leaning On God!"

3 comments:

MTJAugust 17, 2010 at 8:14 AM
Hi Sharon,

God does perform reversals doesn't He? Through Christ, the shame of the cross symbolizes the hope and joy of our salvation.

Thanks for sharing the mental pictures today.

Blessings and peace.

MTJ
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Replies
Terra August 17, 2010 at 10:13 AM
Your list is fun, and I like how it leads up to Scripture.
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KarenAugust 17, 2010 at 7:50 PM
#11...seriously? Love how you tied all this in at the end....
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"So [I] have been greatly encouraged in the midst of [my] troubles and suffering, dear brothers and sisters, because you have remained strong in your faith. It gives [me] new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord. How [I] thank God for you!" (1 Thessalonians 3:7-9)

Thanks for your comments - it is such a joy to be sharing my journey with friends like YOU!

(NOTE: Anonymous comments will be removed. Thank you for understanding.)

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MY WORD FOR 2016

GRATEFUL

Grateful: feeling or showing thanks to someone for some helpful act; appreciative of benefits received; warmly or deeply thankful; indebted; beholden.

Word origin: 1550's, "pleasing to the mind," also "full of gratitude," from obsolete adj. grate "agreeable, thankful," from Latin gratus "pleasing" – derived from the same word origin as the word "grace."

The trick to changing your behavior is to become more thankful.

The practice of gratitude involves a focus on the present moment, on appreciating your life as it is today and what has made it so.

Let us begin an eternal quest to express in new and creative ways our thanks to God.

So I'm breathing in Your grace,

And I'm breathing out Your praise.

Let our prayers be the overflow of a grateful heart to God.

Three steps in prayer:

PRAISE – praise, reverence, worship, adoration, and awe for who God is and what He does

ASK – honest, earnest, and intense requests

THANK YOU – always end with thanksgiving for everything

Pulpit commentary:

In everything give thanks.

In every circumstance – in joy and in sorrow; for everything – for prosperity and for adversity; in every place – in the house of God and on the bed of sickness.

Christians should not only be engaged in constant prayer, but in constant thanksgiving.

For this – this thankful spirit – is the will of God, His desire.

God by the gift of his Son has laid us under the obligation of perpetual thanksgiving. Our whole lives ought to be one continued thank-offering for all the blessings of redemption.

Gill's Exposition:

Thanks are to be given to him for all things…

For all temporal good things;

for our beings, the preservation of them;

for food and raiment, and all the mercies of life;

for the means of grace, the word and ordinances, and the ministers of the Gospel;

for spiritual blessings, for electing, redeeming, regenerating, adopting, pardoning, justifying, and persevering grace:

for a meetness for heaven, a right unto it, and a good hope of it;

and especially for Jesus Christ, for such a…Saviour, and advocate with the Father, as he is; and for life, peace, joy, comfort, righteousness, and salvation in him.

Thanks should be given to God in every circumstance of life; in adversity, as Job did; when not in so comfortable and agreeable a frame of soul as to be wished for…even under the temptations of Satan…since the grace of God is sufficient to bear up under them, and deliver out of them.

[Give thanks] in afflictions of every kind, since they are all for good – temporal, or spiritual, or eternal.

WHAT IS LOVE?

Love is when you are missing some of your teeth but you're not afraid to smile because you know your friends will still love you even though some of you is missing.

By Emma K. - Age 6

"Out of the mouth of babes..."

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.

Anonymous

When you are uncertain, it helps to have someone remind you what is true – someone who knows you well, who sees you, and keeps track of you – not just your body but your soul.

Emily Freeman

Sharon Sharing God

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

NOT A PRETTY PICTURE

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HOW GREAT THOU ART

ALL FOR HIS GLORY

I'D RATHER HAVE JESUS

THE GLORIFIED ONE

SERVING THE MOST HIGH

HE IS ALWAYS THERE, AND EVER NEAR