A Word of Encouragement

   Good morning and welcome to the Panhandle I'm glad your able to drop by.  I recently took an old tea candle house and painted it some bright colors and wired it to a stand left here by one of the former pastors of the parsonage. Gayla filled it with birdseed and now we have a bird house just out our living room window. It is fun to watch the little birds flit and flutter around it and occasionally one will go down the chimney and chase the other birds out. 
   As I watch the birds I am reminded of that verse: Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (Matthew 6:26).
   It's easy to get discouraged, to feel like everything is going against you. You just want to cry out, "God, why?" "Why did you take my son?" "Why are you letting my son or daughter suffer?" "Why am I experiencing this now?"
   Maybe you think, "Am I not serving you like I should?" Maybe your saying to yourself, "If only my faith was a little stronger then maybe it wouldn't be so bad." It could be you feel like Job: "I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me." (Job 30:20). 
   I know where your coming from I've been there. I even find myself telling the Lord, "I'm not Job, Father, please no more." And then after that I have called to Him, hollered at Him, begged Him and everything in between.
   Even when we can't find God, or when we think our prayers aren't getting any higher than the ceiling He is there. The promise God made to Joshua in Joshua 1:5, He has made to us: I will never leave you nor forsake you.
   So holler, beg, ask why, cry out to God. Do what ever you need to do. Then look at the birds. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.(Matthew 10:29-31).

“‘“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’ (Numbers 6:24-26).

 Brother Orden