Aches and Praise Two Hundred & Fifty Six

Posted on 2016-08-04 in English |

Dear friends,

 

We live in a world where there is a lot of anger. Recent news reflects the awful consequences of unrestrained anger. A few weeks ago I read the late Gary Smalley’s book “Making Love Last Forever.” Dr. Smalley was a speaker and author of several books about marriage and family. He writes: “Anger is an emotion. Like all of our emotions, there’s nothing wrong with it in and of itself. It’s our human response to something that occurs, or at least to our perception of that occurrence. In fact, some anger is good; we should get angry when we see an injustice or when someone is trying to violate our personal property lines. In such cases, our anger is what motivates us to take appropriate action. But after anger motivates us to do something good, we can’t afford to let it linger inside us.”

Dr. Smalley continues: “Actually, anger is a secondary emotion. It arises out of fear, frustration, hurt or some combination of these three. Frustration is not receiving what we had expected from other people or from circumstances. Hurt is when we don’t hear the words or receive the actions we expected from other people or from circumstances. And fear is either dreading that what we expect will not come as we wish it to or expecting that something bad is going to happen.”

Earlier this week J.P. phoned to say that he was discouraged. Just the day before he had told me that he went to church and was blessed by meeting other believers. What happened between Monday and Tuesday? I asked him if someone said something that hurt him. His answer was “yes” and he reacted strongly to that. Would you please join me in praying that J.P. would see how much God loves him and that he would find strength in His Word to face difficult circumstances in his life?

A friend sent me an email while Karen and I were on vacation, remarking that I read a lot. I have been blessed to have been given many excellent books by my mother, who taught me the value of reading from an early age. A few years ago, several friends gave a number of books and messages to our ministry. Gary Smalley’s book was one of those books. If you would like to visit the lending library in our office, please contact us and we would be glad to arrange a suitable time. 

Scripture for the weekend:“And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, ‘What do you wish Me to do for you?’ They said to Him, ‘Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.’ And moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they received their sight, and followed Him.”Matthew 20:32-34 (NASB)  

Thought for the weekend: “In our culture, when we think of provision, we think of food on the table and a roof over our heads. Actually, the emphasis in provision is vision. The pro part of the word indicates ‘before’ or ‘ahead of time.’ Vision obviously speaks of ‘sight’ or ‘seeing.’ What does that formula yield? Looking ahead. Giving direction. Anticipating needs. Defining the destination …What makes a man? Above all else, it is vision.” – Stu Weber (from his book “The Heart of a Tender Warrior”)
 

By His grace,

Steve

^