“Starting with Jesus doesn’t mean the day will be easy—it means we’re reminded who walks with us through all of it. Before the schedules, responsibilities, worries, and noise take over, spend a little time in His presence. Let His truth steady your heart before anything else has the chance to shape it.” Quote and photo borrowed from Salt & Light ~
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. – Psalm 143:8 NIV
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. – Lamentations 3:22–23 ESV
Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning. – Psalm 30:5
It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening. – Psalm 92:2
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. – Mark 1:35 NIV
Through the years, I have learned that starting the day with Jesus can make a huge difference. Whether in attitude, strength, peace, hope, joy, and ~ well, pretty much any other emotion a person can have. Our outlook on the day ahead can be affected by what we’re facing ~ worries, fears, a tough day at the office, a dreaded appointment, overwhelming daily tasks, leftover anger or hurt from the day before… However your day starts, whether it’s when your eyes open or after your feet hit the floor, there is one sure way to get even a good day off to a better start ~ and that’s with our eyes on Jesus. A verse, a study, a prayer … time in His presence is a difference-maker in attitude, heart, and mind. It can change how we see, speak, and listen to others. It can alter how we hear others, forgive others, and serve others. The presence of God, before us – behind us – and in us changes us from the inside out. It makes life sweeter and brighter because, as this ‘oldie but goodie’ by the Gaithers says: “Just a little talk with Jesus makes it right.”
“Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts.” —
Proverbs 21:2, NASB 1995
I recently read a post by Salt & Light that included the above verse, but what stood out to me was this quote: “This verse makes me stop and look at myself. It’s easy for me to think I’m right. I can explain how I feel and why I think something should happen a certain way. But God sees deeper than my explanations. He knows my heart, even the things I don’t clearly see in myself.“
Oh how true this is in my own life, and what a blessing – though one that convicts and allowed me to truly resonate with the author’s prayer. Lord, search my heart, like David prayed in Psalm 139:23–24. Show me what needs to change. Help me trust You enough to receive Your correction and follow where You lead.1
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. ~Psalm 139:23-24 NLT
These verses made me think about a chorus that I’ve sung for years. Particularly when I’m struggling with something that doesn’t align with God’s will, or when He’s leading me in a way that stretches my faith and trust. One thing I have learned through the course of 64 years of life is that God’s way is always right and always best. Knowing He is the Potter truly leads me to not just sing this chorus but to trust Him to mold and make me after His will
Today’s focus verse is tough for me to speak on because I’m no longer a wife. I realize some may not know my story, but the bottom line is…
Ending the marriage was not my choice…
I prayed for God to save it…
I actually begged him to stay…
I am thankful for the 27+ years God gave us and the daughters He blessed us with …
I regret that He left…
I wish I had been a better wife and…
Shame and regret still taunt me…
I am glad every day to know that God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose…
God has used the failures/divorce to strengthen my faith and understanding of His grace…
Please understand that I am thankful for the many who are reading this and are happily married and able to speak to this passage ~ please feel free to share whatever encouraging words you may have on the subject. However, you will also find a link below that will direct you to the commentary from bibleref.com on this verse. I believe that it will be both helpful and encouraging on this very important topic for the life and health of your marriage. Please know that while I may be divorced, I am a huge advocate for marriage and encourage those who are married to consider these words of Paul, God’s spokesman, concerning your role and that of your husband.
Think back, or look back if necessary, to our conversation on yesterday’s journey – namely, that if we want to live like Jesus, our goal must be to bring glory to God in whatever we say and do.
The More We Know
(My prayer for each of you who are married is that these words will bring hope, encouragement, and strength to you and to your marriage. Do not grow weary in doing what God has called you to do as a wife. Love your husband well, pray for him, and enjoy the blessing of your husband. May God richly bless both you and your husband as you seek to honor the Lord in your marriage relationship.)
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. – Colossians 3:18
Borrowed from the Christ is All I Need LGG Journal/week 6/day 3
The concept of submission to a husband has been totally despised and ridiculed in our Western society. Our culture has rejected the biblical idea of different roles between men and women in marriage, and the result has been countless family breakdowns.
Yes, God’s Word tells us that men and women are equal in value, equally loved by God, and equally in need of His grace. Submission does not impact this equality. Rather, it is a choice by the wife to submit to her husband because God has made him the head of the family. He is not the head, or leader, because he is more gifted, capable, or spiritual. Rather, God has given him that authority. It’s so important to marry someone we feel we can respect and follow.
Submission means to willingly (even joyfully) surrender myself under my husband’s leadership. It means responding to him with the kind of respect that is due his position. It means doing whatever I can to help my husband do what he’s supposed to do. It means accepting the decision he makes, even if I had to state my arguments for why I disagree.
A wife is to submit as a response of obedience to Jesus, knowing that He would not ask her to do anything that would harm her. Because Jesus is still her ultimate Lord, she can never follow her husband into sin, nor is she to submit to abusive behavior. Husbands are to model their actions after Christ.
It’s true that the man we are called to submit to is far from perfect. Yet, our role is to submit to him in such a way that it will be easier for him to lead and love. When things are difficult, we need to look up, put our hope in God, and ask Him to renew our respect toward our husbands.
Lord Jesus, please help me to honor you in the way I respect my husband and submit to him. Amen.
Reflection and Application
If you are married, how can you submit to your husband by encouraging him in his God-given role of leadership?
If you are not married, what are the main traits in a godly man you should look for?
Spend time praying for the marriages around you and for future marriages.
Today’s Road Map for the Journey: Colossians 3:5-11 (SOAP: 8-9); 1 John 1:5-2:2
8But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds.
Colossians 3:8-9 NLT
Today’s portion of our journey continues with Paul’s instructions for the believers to turn from their sins. To the sexual sins he listed in verse 5, Paul, “not wanting to leave anyone wondering what our dirty clothes actually look like,” now adds other areas of spiritual failure, including anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and foul (or abusive) language. He also adds, “do not lie“(v. 9) to the list, reminding them that these things were all part of who they were before they came to faith in Jesus Christ. He desperately wants them (and all believers, including us) to understand that their new life in Christ is a changed life. The old is gone; the new is here. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Friends, the same is true for us. For we know that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ – and not by our works. Paul continually reminded the believers that the Christian life is a changed life. There isn’t a magic button to push or a transformation pill to take – it takes daily choosing to get rid of or to stop doing all of the things that belong to our old sinful nature. While Paul gives us a short list in this letter to the Colossians, note that it is not a complete list but examples of things we do or attitudes we have that do not please God.
As today’s LGG Journal entry explained, it’s very tempting for us to be unspecific and vague about our own sins. Instead of calling it “anger” or “rage”, we may say, “I’m just irritable today.” When we speak unkind things about other people, we may call it “openly sharing”, but we would never consider ourselves to be slanderers. Instead of admitting that we have lied, we call ourselves “clever” or “shrewd.”
The writer also points out that “Paul says in verse 6 of Colossians 3 that it is because of these sins the wrath/anger of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.” She goes on to write that, “In other words, God hates sin. Sins are not small matters to be played around with or to be tolerated in our lives.”
We will only “put off” our sins if we have become aware of what they truly are. We need to stop excusing our selfish attitudes and behavior. If we want to gain victory over sin, we need to name it. Tell it for what it is. ~Christ Is All I Need, p 156
Response of Worship
Response of Prayer
Father, thank You for the reminder that sin is no small matter and shouldn’t be something we play around with. Help us to hate sin as you do and to never tolerate it in our lives. Help me to be a little less like me and a lot more like Jesus. Help me to filled with kindness, goodness, love and grace ~ In Jesus’ name, Amen.
The More We Know
A closer look at things that should no longer be a part of or characterize a believer’s life1
First, Paul speaks against anger. Outbursts of uncontrolled anger are not meant to be found in the life of a Christian. Anger in and of itself is not always wrong, but it can lead to much sin (Ephesians 4:26). Human anger tends to pop up over issues which are not worth that emotion.
Second, Paul addresses wrath. In modern English we often mingle the words “anger” and “wrath.” However, they are really two separate ideas. Anger is an emotion, wrath is an action. In this context, wrath suggests the idea of revenge, and is sometimes translated as “rage.” In Romans 12:19, Paul taught that believers ought to leave wrath to God and not seek revenge on our own terms.
Third, Paul condemns malice. The Greek term used here is kakian, which includes the idea of desiring to harm another person. Paul has already condemned the emotion of unrighteous anger. He has done the same with wrath, which is the act of revenge. “Malice” is a broader term, referring to a general desire to see another person suffer or be harmed. We should not hope for harm to befall others.
Fourth, Paul speaks against slander. In the Biblical context, slander is putting down other people or speaking evil against others. This can include insults, lies, harsh speech, or even gossip.
Fifth, Paul prohibits obscene talk. Speech which is vulgar, or intended to be offensive, is not to be : associated with the life of a believer.
“It’s painful to have our sins exposed by Jesus. It’s not easy to articulate our wrong thinking, speaking, and acting by bringing it all out into the open before a holy God. Yet, the reason He shows us a specific sin is so that we can confess it, be forgiven, and gain victory over it. Jesus is the good doctor who lovingly shows us our sickness and then offers us the cure. He gives us His gracious cleansing and the power to change.”3
In today’s blog, we will zoom in on Matthew 6:25 where Jesus says:
Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Those of you who have followed my posts for very long have likely heard my story and know that I used to battle anxiety. It was a noose around my neck and choked the life out of me more times than I can count. BUT GOD, in His goodness, set me free from the grip anxiety had on me. This is not to say that anxiety doesn’t still seek to grab hold of me, but today’s verse and others like it (Philip. 4:6-8, 1 Peter 5:7, Isa. 26:3…) are ready weapons that silence the anxious thoughts and give me victory over the enemy who, as Paul wrote, “…seeks to steal, kill, and destroy”(John 10:10).
You see, what I had to learn years ago is to retrain my focus. If I focused on my circumstances (the things of this life), the enemy, with his fiery darts of anxiety, was sure to win the battle; BUT GOD showed me that when I set my mind on Him and His Word, where we find that His character is one of truth … goodness … faithfulness … ever-present …. abounding in love (and so much more)… then the battle and the victory belonged to Him and the anxious thoughts no longer had any power over me!
As the author points out in today’s ‘snapshot’1, “Jesus says we should aim to focus on our true home, which is in the next life–in God’s kingdom. The things that cause us anxiety are often things that are ‘passing away’ (1 John 2:17), but Jesus wants us to focus on the things that will last.”
Reflection and application
Today’s reflection and application are from “The God Shot”, p 13
Are you anxious over temporary things?
What is disrupting your peace today?
Where do you feel like God has forgotten you?
Talk to Him about it.
Remember He can be trusted, and
His trustworthiness is the only thing that can truly set your heart at peace.
The More We Know
THE GOD SHOT, 100 SHAPSHOTS OF GOD’S CHARACTER IN SCRIPTURE, pages12-13 ↩︎
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. ~ James 1:17
God is good! His love and blessings surround us, fill us, delight us, intrigue us, and astound us. He loves us with an unfathomable love. A love undeserved but so deep that He gave His only Son to save a world of sinners. Actually, His word describes us as his enemies. Yet still He loved us and gave us the gift of all gifts, the perfect gift that came down from above. He didn’t stop with the gift of Jesus; but to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God, and to all who received Him by faith, He gave the gift of everlasting life. He continued to pour out His blessings on us and continues to this day ~ mercies that are new every morning, all-sufficient grace, the privilege of prayer and the promise that He will hear and answer them. He gifts us with provisions of daily bread and other needs, renewed strength, forgiveness of sins, daily mercies (holding back what we do deserve), and unbelievable grace (giving gifts we don’t deserve). Then there’s also the gift of His active presence in our lives, His promise to never leave or forsake us, forgiveness for unimaginable sins, hope for tomorrow, and as Peter wrote, “everything we need for life and godliness”(2 Peter 1:3-4).
Friends, may we never become oblivious or unresponsive to His good and perfect gifts. May our gratitude flow continually for every gift and every act of love and kindness. May we stay alert to the enemy’s schemes and never allow our emotions and sinful thinking to trick us into turning away from God.
In the previous verse, James urged his readers not to be deceived. Emotions and sinful thinking can trick us into turning away from God. It’s important to cling to the truth, which is that every good thing in our lives is a gift from God. In the midst of our trials, we are tempted to change our opinion of the trustworthiness of our God. We start to make lists of all the things we think we are missing in our lives, of all of the things we have lost. If God were good, wouldn’t we have those things?
This attitude leads to even more temptation. We begin to look elsewhere for the good things we think we’re missing. “If God won’t provide them,” we think, “we’ll have to go and get them for ourselves.” We attempt to take control. We struggle to find our own satisfaction.
Now, however, James urges us to flip the typical human script. He calls us to make a new list: all the good things we do have. Where did all those good things come from? James is encouraging believers in Christ to tell themselves the truth: God gave you every single good thing in your life. He is the source of all the good you have and all the good you crave. Who God is does not change when our circumstances change. He doesn’t go from being a good God to a bad God when our trials begin. He is still the source of all the good in our lives; He never changes.
Bibleref.com/James 1:17
Reflection and Application
What does it mean to remain faithful in hard times?
Bibleref.com explains: It means continuing to acknowledge that God is the source of what is good in our lives and what will be good in the future.
What else do you think it could mean?
A Challenge
End each day by thinking about, listing out, or simply thanking God for the gifts of grace you saw throughout the day. I write mine in my prayer journal almost every evening. I call them Daily Graces. Let me know if and how you do them.
Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.
Colossians 4:2
Yesterday’s Scripture Reading from ourdailyverse.com was Colossians 4:2. “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.” What a gracious gift God has given us through these words of Paul. We have been invited into a life of prayer. He doesn’t demand it but graciously offers us the privilege to not only come boldly before His throne but to come often – actually to stay in an attitude of prayer, making it the “heartbeat of our existence.”
“It is an opportunity to experience the profound intimacy of continual communion with our Creator, to align our hearts with His in every waking moment.” ourdailyverse.com
Through the years of knowing/quoting this verse, God has trained my heart to hear His voice, to be alert not only to the guiding hand and voice of His Spirit, but to watch with expectation for His answer and to discern His purposes unfolding in and around me. It has been in the watching and the staying alert, as Paul instructed his readers to do, that my prayers have morphed into not just requests but offerings of thanksgiving and praise. This way of praying becomes a way of living and has the power to change us from the inside out. It changes not only the way we think but the way we live and how we respond to life, to others, and to God.
We recognize that every blessing, every trial, every moment is an opportunity to experience God’s grace and faithfulness. Gratitude becomes the lens through which we view life, transforming even the darkest days into opportunities for praise.
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:12-14
Using the analogy of a runner, Paul teaches us to press on … to continue on by keeping our focus on the goal, which he identifies as “the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” He encourages his readers to “forget the past” and keep moving forward by focusing on what we can do today and in the days ahead to live for Christ until we meet with Him ~ whether through death or His return.1
He wrote a similar message to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:14) – telling him to remain faithful, despite the evil that was around him, to continue on in the things he knew to be true, the things of faith which he had learned and been assured of and professed to others.
To the Colossians, he wrote that they were to continue in prayer, to be devoted to it. He wanted those he was writing to understand that prayer was an essential part of their faith and should be a constant in their lives, not just something scheduled for certain times or places. As one commentary explains, “It is meant to be an ongoing dialogue with the Lord.” Paul reiterates this in his letter to the Thessalonians when he tells them to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
Paul mentions two important aspects of prayer. First, believers are to be “watchful” in prayer. This carries the idea of standing guard, or staying awake at night to make sure a location is safe. Prayer demands ongoing attention, just like the guard at a city gate. In practical terms, this means prayer is not supposed to be a careless, casual, or frivolous act. We should pray with specific purpose and with deliberate intent. Bibleref.com
John also writes to believers about continuing on in their faith… specifically to keep (continue, remain…) abiding in His love (John 15:9-11) and to abide (continue, remain…) in Him (John 15:4-7). Only when we choose to remain (continue on) in Him will we know the fullness of His joy and bear spiritual fruit for His glory.
Friends, continuing on isn’t always easy. It wasn’t in the days of Paul and John, and it isn’t in the days and times we live in now. Yet it is the calling of Jesus on our lives and the example He (and His disciples) set before us – even to the cross that Christ hung on and the unimaginable deaths that many of His followers faced. – May our God of grace and mercy help us to press on to the “mark of His high calling in Christ Jesus”. May we remember that He has given us everything that we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4) and that through Him nothing is impossible.
Reflection and Application
What is the key to pressing (or continuing) on in our faith, even in this sin-infested world?
What is the key to remaining in Christ?
How can we encourage others to continue on in the faith?
Today’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 25 and Ephesians 3:20
From being barren for twenty long years to a complicated pregnancy to delivering twins, the road to having children was not an easy one for Rebekah and Isaac.1 Unlike today, barrenness in the days of Isaac and Rebekah came not only with the disappointment women experience today but with the added stigma of social shame and disgrace. This was in large part due to the cultural beliefs that childbearing was equated with a blessing from God and/or a woman’s worth. So, like Hannah and others2 we have studied in our journey through the women of the Bible, barrenness could frustrate marriages or have crushing mental effects on a woman who struggled to conceive.
Rebekah also serves as an example that when we feel barren God can intervene. She, volume 4/p58
I particularly appreciate one of the commentaries by Biblehub.com, which points out (and I paraphrase) that the stigma not only affected the barren woman but also her husband and extended family. However, as the commentator points out, God often used these situations “as a backdrop for miraculous divine intervention.” I know the reality of this statement from my own years of barrenness, and I am forever grateful for God’s sovereign timing (divine intervention) in opening not only my womb but my mind and heart to His saving grace and mercy. These gifts (mercy and grace) led me out of the physical barrenness, but also out of the hopelessness and spiritual wilderness I had been wandering in for far too long.
Her husband prayed to the Lord on his wife’s behalf.
While our focus is on Rebekah in this part of our journey through God’s Word, it should also be noted, as the my study journal points out that Isaac prayed for his wife because she was barren and the Lord heard Isaac’s plea and God gave them even more than they asked for, or, as He so often does ~ He gave them exceedingly abundantly more than he asked or even imagined (Eph 3:20). When it came time for her to deliver she delivered twin boys. In Genesis 25:23 the Lord had described them to her as “two nations…two manner of people would come from her…one would be stronger and the other would serve the younger. Of course, if you know the story of Jacob and Esau, you know that every word God spoke to Rebekah about her babies was proven true, they could not have been more different.
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”
Ephesians 3:20 KJV
Reflection and Application
How did Rebekah go from barren to doubly blessed? (list out all the ways/things that you can think of that played into it.)
Think of ways God has blessed or doubly blessed you and/or someone else you know and why it happened.
The More We Know
Rebekah did not have an easy pregnancy and Scripture tells us that she talked to the Lord about the difficulty (Genesis 25:22) ↩︎
Notable matriarchs who wrestled with the stigma of barrenness include: Sarah (Sarai): She endured years of childlessness before God miraculously enabled her to conceive Isaac in her old age (Genesis 11:30, Genesis 21:1-2). Rachel: She famously cried to her husband Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” (Genesis 30:1). Hannah: Mocked by her husband’s other wife due to her infertility, she poured out her anguish in prayer to God, eventually giving birth to the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 1:6-8, 1 Samuel 1:20). Elizabeth: In the New Testament, she was publicly disgraced for being childless, but gave birth to John the Baptist in her old age (Luke 1:7, Luke 1:24-25). ↩︎
adapted from the study She, delighting in the examples of the women of the Bible, volume 4/pp63-64
Today’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 16 and Isaiah 55:8-9
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar.
Genesis 16:1
In our last encounter with Sarah, we learned that she was married to Abraham, and she left her family and a life she had known for more than 50 years to follow Abraham to a land God said He would show them. She has heard God’s promise to Abraham of many descendants that would make up a great nation. Yet, four chapters later, Scripture still reports that she has no children.
Sarah was considered barren, Yet she knew what God had promised.
She, Delighting in the examples of the women of the Bible, Volume 4, p65
The journal for this study poses the question, “Why had she not gotten pregnant yet?” This made me think of others we’ve met on our journeys, like Hannah (1 Samuel 1:5) and Rachel (Genesis 30:22), both of whom are reminders of the fact that it is God who opens the womb and/or keeps it closed. The journal also reminds us that “she was getting up in years, and it seemed as if time was short.” This truth is made evident in today’s journey through Genesis 16, where we find that Sarah decides not to wait any longer; she devises a plan and takes the necessary steps to carry it out. The plan involved her Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, and the very desperate act of having her sleep with Abraham. (Yes, this was a cultural norm at the time, but I can only imagine how desperate you must be for a child to consider, let alone actually, employing it.) I would like to say that I have never been one to manipulate situations for a certain outcome, but sadly, I played those games for years when I was younger, and I learned, just like Sarah, that manipulation comes with regret and consequences that are often more difficult and disappointing than waiting for God and His timing.
Friends, we must never forget that patience is a highly esteemed virtue in the Bible, often described as “long-suffering” or “endurance”. It is not passive waiting, but an active, steadfast trust in God’s timing and loving treatment of others. Patience is not only a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), but according to James, it is also a key ingredient in developing spiritual maturity (James 1:3-4).
We would be wise to remember that our God, the same God of Abraham and Sarah, is a sovereign God, a keeper of promises, and His timing is always perfect. Apparently, though, the years of waiting have made her question, if not flat-out disbelieve, that she would ever get pregnant. Unlike God, she had a plan B and set it in motion through a conversation with Abraham, explaining her plan. She then takes Hagar and gives her to Abram as a ‘surrogate’ wife. Can you even imagine what a desperate desire Sarah had for a child, to the point that this became her solution?
A Plan Gone Wrong
2 So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. 3 So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.) 4 So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt.
Genesis 16:2-4
The plan accomplishes Sarah’s desire for a child, but it backfires in every other way. Her husband was now the husband of Hagar, her handmaid, who was now pregnant with his child. On top of that, Hagar now despises Sarah and treats her with contempt, and in turn, Scripture says that Sarah treated Hagar harshly, and Hagar fled from Sarah’s presence.” (Genesis 16:6, CSB)
Sarah is an example of how impatience, not being willing to wait on God’s will, can lead to trouble and heartache ~ having a negative impact on our lives as well as others. I also believe Hagar serves as an example of how jealousy can lead to broken relationships. ~ May God guard us from jealousy and impatience. In His worthy and powerful name I pray – AMEN!
Me From the Inside Out 