Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images s from Laura Story singing her very personal song … Blessings … Poignantly singing of how the trials and challenges and pain of life are likely some of God’s greatest blessings.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Genesis 50:20 [NLT] … 20 You [Joseph’s brothers] intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
… God’s mercy/grace is showing thru Joseph’s love for his brothers in spite of their intended ill will decades earlier.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Genesis 50:15-20 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Joseph’s brothers had intended their actions against their brother 2 decades earlier for evil God used them for His glory thru the mercy/grace shown by Joseph in sparing his brothers.
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … Job 2:9-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Job was willing - in faith - to accept his trials in spite of the horrible pain/suffering he had to endure.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Matthew 5:14-16 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus taught that we Christians should shine His light into the darkness of the world … no matter the circumstances.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Romans 8:28 [NLT] … 28 And we know that IN ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.
… Yes, ALL THINGS !!
Reference Passage [NLT] : … 2 Corinthians 12: 9 [NLT] … 9 But He [Jesus] said to me [Paul], “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
… God’s grace is ALWAYS enough, … even in the worst of circumstances.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Dave Branon, used as story about a dying coach to illustrate how God’s grace can work in the worst of circumstances. The ODB author wrote: Jay Bufton turned his hospital room into a lighthouse. … The fifty-two-year-old husband, father, high school teacher, and coach was dying of cancer, but his room—Room 5020 [see photo] —became a beacon of hope for friends, family, and hospital workers.
Because of his joyful attitude and strong faith, nurses wanted to be assigned to Jay. Some even came to see him during off-hours. Even as his once-athletic body was wasting away, he greeted anyone and everyone with a smile and encouragement. One friend said, “Every time I visited Jay he was upbeat, positive, and filled with hope. He was, even while looking cancer and death in the face, living out his faith.”
The dying coach’s room number (5020) became very significant witness at the coach’s funeral when his friends reflected on how it pointed to the passage in Genesis 50:20 where Joseph exhibited God’s love working thru decades of trials, remembering what Joseph went thru because of his brother’s treachery, … ultimately showing God’s mercy and grace and love in their moment of reunion.
I hope that all reading here have taken in and meditated on all the Scriptures linked/copied above as well as Laura Story singing about how many of God’s greatest blessings come disguised in the most painful and troublesome trials of life. She wrote that song when she and her husband had discovered that he had a life-threatening brain tumor, which now has turned out to be events which have touched the lives of thousands in a positive way from their story.
And today, if any of us are going thru trials, like a Job or a Jay Bufton or a Laura Story, … I pray that we can still shine the light of Christ outward to others from those very dark trials [see Matt. 5:14-16].
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … I pray that we all see the hope You have for us as we endure the trials of life. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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