Cast Your Bread on the Water

When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.  Exodus 2:3-6

When we read the story of Jochebed, Moses’ mother we see a woman trapped between two agonizing decisions. If she kept Moses for herself any longer he would be discovered and killed. If she threw him into the Nile River according to the king’s command he would drown. Lovingly in faith she chose to do all she could as she worked into the night forming a basket for her child. She wove together the bulrushes and covered them with tar, then fearfully placed the basket into the river and prayed. If ever anyone cast their bread upon the waters it was she. Her heart floated down the river in the basket with little Moses inside. She trusted God with what was beyond her control. Then as Moses cried, Pharaoh’s daughter heard him and chose to save his life.  You and I may not be forced to put our child in a basket and send it down a river but we each face choices that seem like the end of own hopes and longings. There are times when it feels like everything good and beautiful in our lives is being torn away. We hold on to them as long as we can but the time comes when we have to release them to God’s grace. We must trust our loving God. He sees beyond the bend in the river to a plan that is greater than anything we can imagine. God will never abandon us. God will always watch over our fragile dreams. One day He will put back into our arms what we have let go of and trusted into His mighty hands.

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Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. Ecclesiastes 11:1

 

Never Lose Hope

As caregivers we struggle daily to serve and honor the lives of the most fragile members of our society. The violence suffered tonight at the veterans home in California leaves me unspeakably sad. God have mercy is our prayer. Who will join with me in trusting Him to plant a seed of hope today?

pastorpete51's avatarWalking With Lambs

The still unfolding story of yet another deranged man with a gun – this time at a nursing home touched a nerve with me tonight. Whatever the motivation for the violence will soon be lost in another shouting match over 2nd amendment rights and gun control. The three dead employees will soon be forgotten by everyone but God. But in spite of the night of hatred, division and fear that seems to get darker by the hour there is still hope. God has not nor will He ever abandon us. If we cry He is listening. When we lie awake sleepless with anxiety, He stands watch. In the deepest despair He plants a seed of hope. God’s kingdom whether in the life of an individual or a community always starts with the tiniest of seeds. Will you plant your seed of hope with me tonight in prayer that together we…

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Hope of Healing

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses      Matthew 8:17 KJV

Did you know that God is so intimately concerned with our physical needs that He has even counted the number of hairs on our head? We have a great hope that whether in this life or in the next; God will heal every disease, restore all that is broken and renew our youth like the eagles!
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Whether sitting in a wheel chair in a nursing home or confined to a bed with a tracheotomy tube in order to breathe, Jesus offers the hope of complete and entire healing as one part of His promise of eternal life. That promise may be overlooked or forgotten by those in perfect health, but God does not forget. The same Jesus who was moved with compassion for lepers, the blind and the lame has promised to wipe every tear from our eyes. He not only has compassion for our aches, pains and disabilities but the Bible tells us that He took all of these onto his shoulders and carried them. If we continue reading in the chapter of Isaiah that Matthew quotes we see in the very next verse that it is by His stripes that we are healed. God is so very concerned for every one of our pains and infirmities that He allowed a whip to fall across the shoulders of Jesus. As He was wounded again and again we were being healed. Weak arms will be lifted, failing voices will sing again and deaf ears will hear the shepherd’s voice! When the things of earth have passed we will stand strong and eternally young in the presence of our ageless King!

Excerpt from 50 Days of Hope – A special devotional for residents, workers and family members of the long term care community.

50 Days of Hope

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