https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions/full-post/2023/02/07/god-doesnt-work-by-coincidence?utm_campaign=Daily%20Devotions&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=243274109&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-85FbpUHdUn6uef7ODpZUi5DlOtSstoMsxnyqiq3aZGmU3C1qaWgQ9F2m2FHSt2tG5ieQkA3sHQtGLiJ1n8CY9YiGrEEA&utm_content=243274109&utm_source=hs_email#disqus_thread

God Doesn’t Work by Coincidence
February 7, 2023
by Tracie Miles

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.” Ecclesiastes 3:11a (NLV)

I nervously typed up the email and reviewed it a few more times for accuracy.  For more than a year, I had been working on this new project. But now I knew it was time to trust God, move forward and spread the word rather than continue to let fear and procrastination keep me stuck.  As my fingers hovered hesitantly over the keyboard, I finally hit the “send” button. And off it went. A sense of anxiousness came over me but was quickly interrupted by a quiet voice stirring in my spirit.  What is today’s date, Tracie?

God whispered.  Perplexed, I glanced at the calendar and was instantly taken aback. It was not until that very moment that my eyes were opened and I realized the significance of the date.  It had been exactly seven years, to the day, since my 26-year marriage imploded and my entire life turned upside down. My thoughts were instantly drawn back to the painful memories, overwhelming emotions and crippling fears that had brought me to my knees on that unforgettable, traumatic day seven years ago.  But God quickly shifted my thoughts and helped me refocus. I certainly hadn’t planned on kicking off my new business project on this particular day, and at first I thought, It's just a coincidence. But was it?

As I pondered this, God calmed my anxiousness and gently reminded me that over the past seven years, He had turned my life around completely, exchanged my sadness for joy, and transformed my pain into purpose. In His perfect timing, He had brought me to a place where I never thought I would find myself healed, restored and filled with passion for a purpose I never even imagined.  I immediately recalled how, in Scripture, the number seven often symbolizes a sense of fullness or completeness. In fact, throughout the Bible, the number seven appears 735 times, and it often references the holy works of God, repeatedly serving as proof of the perfection and beauty God orchestrates.  In today’s key verse, we read that “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

This verse reminds us that all things are crafted by God including time. He is behind all things and the way they will turn out. It also reminds us that everything happens exactly when it should. Not by chance or irony but by a divine plan beyond our comprehension.  On this day ordained by God, after experiencing a devastating heartbreak I thought I’d never recover from, I stepped out in faith, pushed past my insecurities and pursued a dream God laid on my heart. I had no idea this was the day God had appointed for me to take this leap of faith. But it was. Certainly not a coincidence, this had been planned long before my time on earth even began.  My faith soared, and this evidence of God’s sovereignty reminded me to put all my trust in Him for all things. Always. Why?

Because nothing is random with God.  He had been divinely orchestrating behind the scenes to turn my ashes into beauty, in His perfect timing, exactly seven years later.  God is in the process of perfectly planning out your life as well, in a way only He can. Trust that He is in the details, and believe with all your heart that one day you’ll see His perfect plan for you fall into place.  I promise it will cause your heart and your faith to soar.

https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions/full-post/2023/02/02/when-god-gives-you-more-than-you-can-handle?utm_campaign=Daily%20Devotions&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=242260055&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9aaDGF_7x3JEkRyjhROLOzpabTnjB9thVLIwF46lnOiX8KxvIcOrfhEXMdBXT-Ro7XJXBdjzVuEORGVe5ZzYk3m9yAPA&utm_content=242260055&utm_source=hs_email#disqus_thread

When God Gives You More Than You Can Handle
February 2, 2023
by Lysa TerKeurst

“Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” 2 Corinthians 1:9 (NIV)

I felt sure there had to be some sort of awful mistake. I had no family history of breast cancer. I was young(ish) and healthy. And I was already walking through an incredibly hard season that was making life feel impossibly heavy.  Yet there I was, sitting in a pink chair, wondering what you’re supposed to do after you get a cancer diagnosis.  I kept thinking about that statement everyone loves to throw out in times like these: “God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

But that’s not actually in the Bible.  God does say He won’t allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear and that He always provides a way out. (1 Corinthians 10:13) But that’s not the same as God not giving us more than we can handle.  God didn’t cause my cancer. But He was allowing it. And He sometimes will allow more and more.  As I type these words, I know I’m not the only one who feels they’ve been given more than they can handle.  The world is filled with people who are dealt more than they can handle. And, surprisingly, so is the Bible.  The Apostle Paul wrote: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9, NIV).

No, God doesn’t expect us to “handle” everything we’re facing. He wants us to hand it over to Him.  He doesn’t want us to rally more of our own strength. He wants us to rely solely on His strength.  If we keep walking around thinking God won’t give us more than we can handle, we set ourselves up to be suspicious of God. We know we’re facing things that are too much for us.  After my diagnosis, I had some really difficult days. I needed God to show me His perspective so I could set my perspective. But it didn’t come right away. And that frustrated me. I was filled with fear and questions like, Why this?

Why now?

Why me?

The story I started telling myself was that life would never get any better.  But while I was thinking about everything I didn’t know I wasn’t getting anywhere. So I started listing things I did know. And the main thing I know?

I know God is good. I didn’t know the details of God’s good plan, but I could make His goodness the starting place to renew my perspective.  So now let me tell the story of the recent events in my life using God’s goodness as the central theme. Because I had a mammogram at the exact time an appointment was available, the doctors caught a cancer early on that needed to be caught. And because they caught a cancer that needed to be caught, I had every fighting chance to beat this cancer. And to God be the glory that I am now cancer free.bbYou see, we’re all living out a story, but then there’s the story we tell ourselves. We just need to make sure we’re telling ourselves the right story. Yes, God will give us more than we can handle. But He always has eventual good in mind.  We don’t have to like it, but maybe knowing this can help us live through it.

split jeans

wood

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12622241/TV-judge-Rob-Rinder-reveals-Jewish-mother-doesnt-feel-safe-Britain-Hamas-attack-Israel-says-young-nephews-school-risk-not-come-home-amid-surge-anti-Semitism.html

TV judge Rob Rinder reveals his Jewish mother doesn't feel safe in Britain after Hamas attack on Israel and says his young nephews go to school 'under risk and might not come home' amid surge in anti-Semitism

    READ MORE: Judge Robert Rinder lights a candle for Holocaust Memorial Day

By Katherine Lawton

Published: 09:51, 12 October 2023 | Updated: 10:17, 12 October 2023

Rob Rinder today revealed his Jewish mother does not feel safe in Britain after the Hamas attack on Israel.  The TV judge also told Good Morning Britain that his young nephews go to school 'under risk' and may 'not come home' as he fears for the safety of all Jewish people across the country.  It comes amid fears of a surge in anti-Semitic hate crimes in Britain after Hamas terrorists slaughtered innocent Israeli civilians at the weekend and Israel starting bombing Gaza in retaliation.mmRinder was born into a Jewish family and received an MBE in 2021 along with his mother Angela Cohen in recognition of their services to Holocaust education. He learned how seven of his relatives were slaughtered in Nazi concentration camps in the Second World War while delving into his family history on a 2018 episode of the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are?   Speaking to GMB, he said: 'My mum is sitting there saying she feels unsafe there's less than 270,000 Jews in this country, and my nephew, kids as young as seven, are going to school today and they do so under risk.  There's a chance they're going to not come home. Sending your kids to school shouldn't be an act of courage that's the life-lived experience of Jewish kids just going to school.  And of shop owners in London and in other cities, we've got a lived memory of that of what that means not to be safe because of your religion, because of being Jewish.'

He added: 'It's personal for me but it should be personal for every person, whoever you are, up and down the country.  It's worth remembering when you think about how you're going to respond today.  I was at a vigil outside Downing Street. What happened at that vigil was that there way no chanting, no happiness, there was prayer for peace, for every singe human life, every single human life that has value.  Whatever happens in the Middle East should have no impact on the safety of our communities - and its your job whoever you are to stand alongside us because we need you.'

He added: 'Be mindful of that is what I'd say before you post.'

Rinder made an emotional plea to social media users to 'think carefully' before they post following the death of two of his friends in Israel.  Speaking to Sky News at the Attitude Awards in London on Wednesday, Rinder said: 'Be kind, read and educate yourself and think carefully before you post (on social media).mm'Kindness requires thought, it requires hope, it requires you to try and be as mindful as possible, as you can have to learn a little bit and we invite that from other communities and that's true of the Jewish community as well.  Right now, our Jewish community, many of my friends, my kids who I taught, I've got friends who were killed at that dance party, for example, a couple who planned to get married, two women in Israel, they spent their lives trying to work and campaign for peace and they're gone tonight.'

Supernova music festival in the desert near Kibbutz Re'im was invaded by Hamas gunmen and hundreds of attendees were killed.  Rinder took a pause during the interview as he appeared to break down and look tearful and upset before, saying: 'Hamas doesn't speak for the people of Palestine, it does not speak for the people of Gaza, it's a tragedy and a horror for what might befall them, but be mindful of the Jewish community tonight.  Thousands of people have died, many of whom are working for justice, for freedom, for the people who celebrate this so joyously, remember them too and don't ask them questions about whataboutery, they don't deserve that.  Hamas is a terrorist organisation. It's one that hates gay people.  They do not speak of or by for the good people of the world, remember that when you post, be mindful.  Remember all human life is a value and we as a Jewish community, just like the LGBT+ community, need you, we need you more than ever and be an ally, and think, and be kind.'

Judge Rinder gave a talk to mark Holocaust Memorial Day at Exeter Cathedral in Devon in January.  The TV personality also lit a candle in remembrance of the six million Jews who were killed in the atrocity.  The UK's Holocaust Memorial Day was first held on January 27, 2001 and has been held on the same day every year since.  The date is the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by the Soviet Union in 1945.  Upon receiving his MBE, Rinder said it was 'a gift to share this with my mum who has taught me always to see the best in humankind.'

In 2020, Rinder made the documentary My Family, The Holocaust and Me in which he and his mother explored Jewish families' stories and speak in schools alongside survivors.  Some three million viewers watched the documentary, which follows second and third generations of three families affected by the Holocaust.  The TV judge was told how his great-grandparents and five of their children were killed in the Holocaust, with his grandfather, Morris Malenicky, the only member of the family to survive the war.  The star discovered how Morris' parents, his four sisters and his brother all died at the Treblinka Camp in Poland in 1940, six months after war was declared.

tea cake

journey