Words by Hawk Nelson

A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 15:1

A gentle tongue is a tree of life
Proverbs 15:4

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, 
sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
Proverbs 16:24

A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back. 
Proverbs 29:11

"We so easily say whatever comes into our heads, spewing out everything we think or feel.  According to God's Word spouting off whatever one thinks or feels is a characteristic of a fool." ~Nancy Leigh DeMoss

When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.
Proverbs 10:19
 

Squeezed by Circumstances

from: The Quiet Place Daily Devotion Readings by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

So we do not lose heart...For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.  2 Corinthians 4:16-17

I remember talking years ago with a young mother who had a two-year-old child and one-year-old twins, and who said to me with a sigh, "I was never an impatient person -- until I had these twins!"

She believed what most of us have believed at one time or another: the reason why we're the way we are is because someone or something has made us that way.  If our circumstances were different --- our upbringing, our environment, the people around us --- we would be different.  More patient, more loving, more content, easier to live with.

But if our circumstances make us what we are, then we are all victims.  And that's just what the enemy wants us to believe.  Because if we are victims, then we are not responsible; we can't help the way we are.  God says, however, that we are responsible, not for the failures of others but for our own responses and our own lives.

Truth is, our circumstances do not make us what we are; they merely reveal what we are.  They "squeeze" us, forcing what's on the inside to come out.  As I gently shared with that exasperated mother, "The fact is, you actually were an impatient person before having twins.  You just didn't realize how impatient you were, until God brought a set circumstances into your life to show you what you were really like --- so He could change you into someone who looks a whole lot more like Him!"

We've been deceived into thinking we would be happier if we had a different set of circumstances.  But we can trust our wise, loving, sovereign God to work out His plan for our lives by using those very circumstances to show us our need and to make us desperate for His grace. 

What have you been blaming on the people, problems, and uncertainties around you? Ask God how He wants to use your circumstances to show you your heart and to bring you to a place of greater dependence on Him.  


Yup, I needed this one AGAIN!

Revelation Song by Kari Jobe

10000 Reasons by Matt Redman

There is a Remedy

The first time I heard this song was about a month ago during choir practice.  The words have been ministering to me ever since.

For the world that's lost in darkness
For the saint who's gone astray
For the sinner, blind but searching
For the child in need of faith
For the homeless and forsaken
For the hungry and the cold
For the prisoner and the captive
For the young and for the old

There is a remedy
For every sin-sick soul
There is a cure for all
All the pain and hurt and wrong
There is a solution
For all the problems deep inside
There is a remedy
And His name is Jesus Christ

For the bitter, for the lonely
For the weary and afraid
For the burdened and frustrated
The discouraged and dismayed
For the mocked and persecuted
For the battered, for the wronged
For the scarred and for the wounded
For the weak and for the strong

There is a remedy
For every sin-sick soul
There is a cure for all
All the pain and hurt and wrong
There is a solution
For all the problems deep inside
There is a remedy
And His name is Jesus Christ

For every tribe and every nation
For every color, every race
For every tongue and every language
For every time and every place
There's an answer to the questions
There is love for all the hate
There's a healer for the dying
He's the Way the the Truth Light,

There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick-soul.

There is a remedy
For every sin-sick soul
There is a cure for all
All the pain and hurt and wrong
There is a solution
For all the problems deep inside
There is a remedy
And His name is Jesus Christ

Christ Is Able to Save

I love the message of this song!

Come ye sinners poor and needy
Come ye wounded weak and worn
There's a harbor for the broken
Where the hopeless are reborn
Come ye lost afraid forgotten
Let your wandering souls find rest
At your hearts door He is knocking
For you His precious blood was she'd

He is able He is able
Christ is able still to save
Come ye sinners poor and needy
Sing to Him our song of praise

Come ye ransomed and forgiven
Come ye rescued from the grave
Rise and worship Christ our Savior
For the glory of His Name
In the stillness of the morning
In the quiet of the dawn
Praise will rise as darkness scatters
And the song goes on and on

 

Draw Me Nearer

By Meredith Andrews