joyancejames

Tag: #faith #life

  • Rain Stopper

    The sky was overcast, yet the obstinate sun rays managed to sneak through, continuing the delusion that the downpour wasn’t imminent, although I could hear the thunder rumble at a distance. I was about to leave home to pick up my daughter, Faith from her school as I faced a dilemma whether to risk the rain and take my e-scooter or listen to my wiser wife and take the car.
    Finally, I decided to ride to the school and asked God to hold up the rains for 15 minutes till I reached back.

    The rains obeyed their Creator. (Thank you Elijah for giving us a precedent in rain-stopping prayer).

    We started from school and enjoyed the scenic ride back across a small lake and since there wasn’t any rain, we decided to indulge in some shopping too. But what I mis-calculated was my 15-minute-rain-hold time was over, by the time we stepped out of the shop it was pouring! We managed to have an adventurous ride back where I covered Faith with my huge raincoat like a Batman’s cape (picture a hen covering her chicks). Her father’s cape had kept her dry but I was soaking wet!

    Many times we tend to test the limits of divine favour. We lean on our own understanding even when we know better. Father’s favour cannot become an excuse for our foolishness. Favour doesn’t always equate to protection, it includes correction too. 

    On brighter days – without the cape

    King Solomon’s words to the wise – 

    Proverbs 3:5-12 MSG

    [5-12] Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life! Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over. But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under his loving correction. It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this.

    May the Father’s favour keep us dry, protected & corrected. 😊

    God bless!

  • The Delicate Ecosystem

    The Delicate Ecosystem

    Dear friends, allow me the pleasure to take you through this narrative, I’m sure there is a gem or two of life lessons for everyone.

    When we moved to Kolencherry, Kerala 2 months ago, little did I know that we’d have some unwarranted, omnipresent guests in our home – house lizards. When I grew up in Ahmedabad and later lived in Ludhiana, Punjab, lizards were few and not an eye sore.
    Now we’ve a couple or more in every bedroom and bathroom, every other day we come across baby lizards, which are like little cretins not differentiating between the walls and the floor.

    Shalom told me lizards are part of every malayali household, the invited guests to stay, the silent listeners to every conversation and the mute spectators to every dometic drama! But these unwelcome reptilian fiends got the better of me so I decided to find a solution. We got this organic gecko repellent from Amazon (not the rainforest), it said it doesn’t kill them but only makes them uncomfortable (hopefully in the same measure they do to us).
    Following the severe infestation protocol, I sprayed (read attacked) all their usual hideouts for two consecutive days. Surprisingly, it worked well and they disappeard. In a few days time, I noticed a rise in the bug (read insect) population in one of the bathrooms. It was then that I relalized that I wrecked a delicate ecosystem and these crawly fiends were actually crawly friends!

    So many times in our lives, our insistence to have things our way, at our pace lands us in murky waters. From our vantage point we can never see the greater picture or the grand design so in our best interest it would be wisest to wait on Him who ‘makes all things beautiful in His time’!

    Some day we will look back and realise that the unpleasant things we use to whine about were essential for our greater good.

    King Solomon has an advice for our insatiable urgency and impatience,
    “Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all…”
    Proverbs 3:5-7 The Message

    https://bible.com/bible/97/pro.3.5-12.MSG

    Word to the wise from Backstreet Boys!! More than 2 decade old, still makes sense!

    Just like the ecosystem is self sustaining and doesn’t need our external help, sometimes the best thing is to be still and wait.

    God bless!

  • Called to Praise

    Sir Winston Churchill said, ‘The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.’ If I may add, ‘the Christian sees the opportunity to praise in every difficulty.’

    In Psalms we find a perpetual exhortation to bless the Lord, to praise His name. King David and the other Psalmists constantly praise His Holy Name irrespective of their circumstances.
    Psalm 103:1-2 AMPC
    [1]  BLESS (AFFECTIONATELY, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul; and all that is [deepest] within me, bless His holy name!
    [2]  Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits–

    https://bible.com/bible/8/psa.103.1-2.AMPC

    Apostle Paul reiterated “praise-posture” to the New Testament Church.
    1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT
    [16] Always be joyful.
    [17] Never stop praying.
    [18] Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

    https://bible.com/bible/116/1th.5.16-18.NLT

    Praise is the love language of a grateful heart!
    Praise/worship doesn’t diminish the sting of the trials or failures that besiege us but it allows us to focus on the only unchanging and unshakeable hope in our lives, the sovereignty of our Father. He’s the Father who never changes nor does His love and faithfulness end.

    From the rising of the sun to the setting of the same let the name of Adonai be praised.

    God bless!

  • Temporality vs eternity

    The same rose 4 days apart.

    The temporality of beauty and life hits hard as I study this picture.

    “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
    Matthew 6:28‭-‬30 NLT
    https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.6.28-30.NLT

    We are obsessed with things which catch our eyes, we fuss over things which are here today but gone tomorrow. God cares enough for you so that you can be carefree about tomorrow. May our worries be shaped into prayers to the One who holds our future.

    As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.
    1 Peter 1:24‭-‬25 NLT

    Let us make choices that outlast our lifetimes. The Bible compares our lives with the grass so transient that it vanishes without a mark, but the thing that remains forever is the word of the Lord. I pray that our lives and the choices that we make will be worthy of an eternity with Jesus.

    “Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
    Only what’s done for Christ will last.” – C T Stuff

    God bless you.

  • Already there!

    When I’m lost in the mystery
    To You my future is a memory
    Cause You’re already there
    You’re already there
    Standing at the end of my life
    Waiting on the other side
    And You’re already there
    You’re already there
    Already there by Casting Crowns

    We are unfazed by tomorrow’s uncertainties cause the One waiting for us is already there and He is sovereign!

    He promised never to leave nor forsake us, no wonder David could not run from His Spirit, David realized that neither the ocean depths more the mountain heights can hide him from God! Then Paul exclaimed, “there is nothing that can separate us from the love of the Father”. Our part is to trust Him one day at a time and be unperturbed by the challenges of an unknown tomorrow.

    We are myopic (short sighted) we just see the present but we don’t need the horoscopes or the stars to tell us about tomorrow, because the One who put the stars in their place is already there in our tomorrow!
    Our future is too wonderful for our meagre minds to comprehend so our myopia is a blessing in disguise!
    Go out and live this day- Carpediem!
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