AT THE BEACH

Two questions are on my mind at the present time.

Who likes to answer questions? I do, sometimes. Are questions not asked to be answered?

THE FIRST QUESTION:

“Have a problem on your hands and need someone in your corner?”

I am looking at the question just now. An advert in one of our local papers, NORTHERN NEWS, February 10, 2016, that is today, asks the question.

I think we all have problems  on our hands and we need someone in our corner.

In the March 24, 2012 number – that is some time back – of the magazine called THE PEOPLE’S FRIEND, the editor listed a catalogue of grievances: A pipe burst at the back of the house, a tile fell off the roof and the car battery died.

Other problems are accidents and illnesses.

What is your list at the present time? Things are happening to us. They are also described as the tyranny of circumstances.

THE SECOND QUESTION:

I found the second question in the WAR CRY, issue 6635, the magazine of The Salvation Army.

Mark Batterson asks: “What if you approached every person, every situation, every challenge as if Christ were in your corner?”

I know my answer to the second question, but what is your answer?

“FAMILY

_________

we may not have it all together, but together we have it all.”

To win a copy of A WORSHIPFUL LIFE, tell us what brings you closer to God.

FAR AWAY FROM GOD.

HEART

The Bible tells us about the brokenhearted. Brokenhearted people believe that they are far from the Lord, they think that the Lord has cast them out.

DAVID HAD A BROKEN HEART.

“My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear,” he says in Psalm 38:4.

PETER HAD A BROKEN HEART.

“Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: ‘Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly.” – Matthew 26:75  (Read also Mark 14:72 and Luke 22:62)

When brokenhearted people believe that God is the furthest away, he is the nearest in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We read that in Psalm 34:18, where it says: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.”

Being brokenhearted brings us closer to God.

FORGIVEN

“Forgiveness is setting the prisoner free, only to find out that the prisoner was me.” – Corrie ten Boom

AT THE BEACH

Have you ever been encouraged to let go of negative thoughts? I have.

How can we do that?

Let me give you an example.

We have a saying in German and it goes like this:

“WAS DU NICHT WILLST DAS MAN DIR TU,

DAS FUEG AUCH KEINEM ANDERN ZU.”

First of all let me tell you that the proverb rhymes, and I think that is the reason why I remember the saying.

Here is the meaning in English very quick for those who do not know German: Don’t do to others, what you don’t want others do to you.

That encourages me to think about all the bad things people have done to me in the past. (Or have they done negative things to me in the past?)

Have you heard about the GOLDEN RULE?

We find the Golden Rule in the Bible in Matthew 7:12. There the Lord Jesus Christ says, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the  Law and the Prophets.”

That encourages me to think about all the good things I can do to others.

Let us encourage each other to let go of negative thoughts. Let us encourage each other to move away from negative cycles of thinking. Let us encourage each other to change the way we frame our negative thoughts.