Christians Unite!

[The Albatross]

In faith I defy gravity.

 

[The Albatross]

 

[The Albatross]

My dentist's band, His vocals.

 

[The Albatross]

“For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. ” ~ Psalm 84:11

 

[VioletButterfly]

Jesus Calling - November 15th

"Approach problems with a light touch. When your mind moves toward a problem area, you tend to focus on that situation so intensely that you lose sight of Me. You pit yourself against the difficulty as if you had to conquer it immediately. Your mind gears up for battle, and your body becomes tense and anxious."

"You will always face trouble in this life. But more importantly, you will always have Me with you, helping you to handle whatever you encounter."

Psalm 89-15
John 16:33

"Our God is Greater," Chris Tomlin - Youtube
"Whom Shall I Fear," Chris Tomlin - Youtube

Have a blessed day! VB

P.S. I will figure out how to do that embedded Youtube task!!

 

[The Albatross]

“And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.” ~ Isaiah 54:12

"I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." ~ Isaiah 61:10

In youth, we were all used to handling stones or kicking at them with our feet. Who hasn't picked up a stone and flung it through the air once or twice. At the time, it probably never occurred to us that something so common as a rock or a stone might have any value to it. Maybe today you feel common and ordinary, but as a child of God you are unique and precious in His sight! Our heavenly Father keeps a rock collection made up of people just like you and me. God sees value even in a lost soul, and through the blood of Christ, He brings the truth to the world - the realization that rocks can change!! Have you ever tried to change the shape of a rock with your own hands? It's impossible! Only the hand of the Lord can change us, but change IS possible!!

"And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible." ~ Mark 10:27

As in the case of the rock tumbler, a coarse grit is used on the first cycle, then a progressively finer grit. It may seem at present that the Lord's tumblings in your life are too abrasive, but it won't always be so. The smoother you become, the less abrasive He'll have to be. Yield to the process of perfection, for the end results are worth it! According to the directions for a rock tumbler, once the tumbling begins, it must continue till the cycle is finished. If the contents of the barrel are left standing for an extended period of time, the mixture will harden and become one solid cement-like cake. It's that way in our lives too. We need continual tumbling to keep our hearts from hardening again and the Lord knows it better than we do! Don't lose hope, don't give up - just patiently wait on God to bring about your beauty.

"As for God, his way is perfect" ~ Psalm 18:30 "He hath made every thing beautiful in his time" ~ Eccles. 3:11

Yes, through the various elements of nature such as wind, water, heat and pressure, over time this change is brought about in rocks. You know what's interesting about rocks? Each one is different. Some are larger or smaller. Some types are softer or harder. All this affects the tumbling process. The rocks that remain roughest after the first cycle must be taken out of the barrel, removed from the smoother ones so that they can continue to become smoother yet in the second cycle... Would you be one of those rocks that hindered the refining of another?? For good tumbling, it is instructed not to mix different types of material together in the barrel. For example, agates and amethysts when tumbled and polished together will not give the best results because the agates will chip the amethysts and neither will take a good polish. The bags of stones provided are wisely selected so that each individual bag can be tumbled and polished in one batch. God knows what He is doing in all our lives. Trust His tumblings! He knows precisely what people to put together in particular circumstances or trials of life because it is best for those selected, in order that each might take a good polish.

Yes, different rocks go through different changes, but if they change enough, they finally end up looking very much alike!! That should be oural! Each one of us will experience some tumblings in life as we go through various forms of pressure at different times and for various lengths of time. However, the end result should be the same - we should all come out to be more like the image and likeness of Jesus Christ! Our lives as Christians should be bordered or outlined with pleasant stones. This is the reason for the pressure God's designing hand places upon us individually as He carves and polishes out the image of His precious Son in us. He brings out that which would otherwise never be seen by the world!

”He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing. He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light” ~ Job 28:9-11

"And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head." ~ Ezekiel 16:12

 

[Changing4Best]

I collected rocks when I was a kid. I loved them. We even went mining Herkimer "Diamonds" which were really just some transparent quartz. I found some nice ones, if I recall. It was fun. I never tumbled rocks though, I liked them in their purest form, at their basic beauty. I wasn't yet saved then, so that is interesting too. Now, I have a real diamond that I wear. It was my mother's engagement ring. She wore it for 61 years, so I figure it has some precious moments it witnessed, like my conception and my birth!

 

[Changing4Best]

As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands.
Psalm 119:14 NLT

 

[Changing4Best]

 

[Changing4Best]

1 John 4:16-19 New Living Translation (NLT)
16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19 We love each other because he loved us first.

 

[Changing4Best]

 

[Changing4Best]

Ephesians 4:2 New Living Translation (NLT)
2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.