AUTHENTIC

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering” - Okri

How can a follower of CHRIST say that?

We can. 

For…

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome... because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.  - 1 John 4:4 (NIV)

We can:

Overcome.

Endure.

Transform.

And love beyond our sufferings.

(this) time of distress will result in God’s richest blessing upon us forever and ever!  So we do not look at what we can see right now, the troubles all around us, but we look forward to the joys in heaven which we have not yet seen. The troubles will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (TLB)

Last night in Bexley, Ohio I was honored to share time on a stage with some of Ohio’s most courageous parents.  Heidi, Wayne, Sharon, and Ellen to name a few of them. 

Everyone had SUFFERED loss; a brutal loss, the loss of a child to overdose.  And yet THROUGH the suffering they were overcoming, enduring, and transforming their pain into passion and their hurt into help.

Marin’s Hope ( https://www.facebook.com/Marinshope/)

Tyler’s Light (http://tylerslight.com/ )

These are just 2 of the efforts of LOVE and COURAGE that are underway; efforts that have been birthed from great tragedy but are amazing statements of triumph and tangible expressions of the “greater-ness” of the GOD in the hearts of people, the “overcoming-ness” of His Spirit moving and coursing within us.

My time on the platform followed their stories of sacrifice and courage.  And I felt moved to share with them and the 200 or so in attendance this amazing truth from Paul…

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Father who is full of mercy, the God of all comfort. He comforts us every time we have trouble so that when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us. - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (ERV)

These few parents were there to comfort those who were in similar situations or managing similar loss and it was beautiful to witness.  They were living testimonies of GOD'S authenticity.

Friends are you suffering today; going through a seemingly unmanageable, un-overcome-able circumstance?  I know it may not be at the magnitude of these mentioned but be reminded that GOD IS AUTHENTIC and trustworthy.  He readily turns tragedy into triumph and hurt into “opportunities for hope”.

To all who mourn…he will give: beauty for ashes; joy instead of mourning; praise instead of heaviness… Isaiah 61:3 (NLT)

Lucado once penned that “Difficult days demand decisions of faith.”

Is today a difficult one for you?

Make a decision to have the faith that KNOWS that IN YOU is the beautifying and overcoming love of the Father and you can and will triumph!

I love you all…

Opportunities for Hope (Champions Charge)