I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Don’t Be Surprised
There are some things that shouldn’t surprise us:
Winter blooming to life each spring.
The sun rising every morning.
Our ongoing need for food, water, air, and rest.
Change being an essential part of life.
Likewise, there’s no escaping the fact that life is messy and full of trouble. This beautiful world is fractured. But, despite this, Jesus offers us hope:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
What “things” had Jesus just told His disciples?
He was honest about the grief and pain they’d endure but also about the future joy they’d experience. He was preparing their hearts for His death and their persecution but also for His resurrection and their salvation. Jesus’ encouragement to His disciples is also an encouragement to us…
We shouldn’t be surprised that this world is full of challenges—but Jesus is bigger than it all.
Following God doesn’t automatically erase the pain of the world—at least not yet. We still have injustice and evil to fight. But God has not left us to our own devices. We have not been abandoned to ourselves. We can trust in Him wholeheartedly as we wait for His return.
So, as you think about the trouble in your life—whether it’s your health, relationships, finances, or other difficulties—remember:
You can still have peace, you can still take heart, and you can still be comforted because Jesus Christ has already overcome the world!
“These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for ...
“Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD's servant? Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not. The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable. But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, ...
