Encouragement

Kristin Williams. Our society has taken on a very individualistic tenor. We’re missing out on the Romans 12 body life that indicates that we really do need each other and can experience real blessings from others. That was my case yesterday.Romans 12:4-5 came alive where I was experiencing some deadness.
“Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.” And the following verses speak to the unique gifts that the Holy Spirit has given us.

I’ve been fairly discouraged about the increased Parkinson’s symptoms and the increase in stuttering blockage. I had asked the Lord to empower me to get back to the normal Christian perspective: “give thanks for all things, and in all things;” and “rejoice evermore.” It seemed to be an insurmountable task. Then Theresa’s daughter (my step-daughter – though I hate to use the word “step”) sent me an email for the book “Streams in the Desert.”
What a great source of encouragement. May I share it with you? It is entitled, “Great faith must endure great trials.”

“God's greatest gifts come through great pain. Can we find anything of value in the spiritual or the natural realm that has come about without tremendous toil and tears? Has there ever been any great reform, any discovery benefitting humankind, or any soul-awakening revival, without the diligence and the shedding of blood of those whose suffering were actually the pangs of its birth? For the temple of God to be built, David had to bear intense afflictions. And for the gospel of grace to be extricated from Jewish tradition, Paul's life had to be one long agony.

Take heart, O weary, burdened one, bowed down
Beneath your cross;
Remember that your greatest gain may come
Through greatest loss.
Your life is nobler for a sacrifice,
And more divine.
Acres of blooms are crushed to make a drop
Of perfume fine.
Because of storms that lash the ocean waves,
The waters there
Keep purer than if the heavens o'erhead
Were always fair.
The brightest banner of the skies floats not
At noonday warm;
The rainbow follows after thunderclouds,
And after storm."

Thanks, Kristin Williams, for your thoughtful sensitivity.