Dirt has to be broken to receive a seed that will someday grow to a plant producing fruit. Grain must be crushed before it can be used for bread. It’s the broken heart that pleases God, not one that is hurting, but one that is contrite and open before Him. “While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. -Isaiah 26:3 If you fly long enough, you’ll eventually experience turbulence. It’s uncomfortable at best, terrifying at worst as the plane bounces up and down, shakes, and even takes severe drops. But the truth is, planes are made to handle turbulence. Vertical and horizontal stabilizers help
Momentum is simply the force or speed of movement that carries an object to its final destination. If you want to break through, you need to have a certain amount of momentum. In order for a rocket to blast into space, it needs tremendous momentum to break the gravitational barrier but with the enormous power of jet engines and rocket fuel the ship is
It seems like a rite of passage for most tween girls—those between the age of 10-13—is to have a diary, a book to write down her deepest thoughts, ideas and pain. Most of them had a little key so it could be locked and no one would know your deepest secrets. And if a sibling read it, it was like the end of the
Some people are remembered more for one glaring mistake than they are for all the rest of the things they did in life. That was true for a man named Douglas Corrigan. In 1938, he set off from New York in a single engine plane, presumably headed for the West Coast. 28 hours later he landed in Dublin, Ireland! He claimed it was just
Some time ago, an old mule fell into an abandoned well which was no longer in use. The farmer who owned him tried and tried to pull the mule up out of the well. However, after many attempts, he realized he was not going to be able to rescue his mule. So, the farmer decided to solve two problems simultaneously by burying the mule
In ancient days, men would heat gold or silver to extreme temperatures that would burn away all the impurities. Then with great skill, they hammered the metal into a desired form. This was a process of many steps: heating, pounding, reheating, hammering some more, then plunging the metal into cooling water to harden the new shape. This is how God transforms us. He is
An official of a mission board, who knew it takes more than just desire to make a missionary, was appointed to examine a candidate for the mission field. He told the young man to be at his house at six o’clock in the morning. The young man complied and arrived at six o’clock sharp. The examiner kept him sitting alone in the room until
Niccolo Paganini, a well-known Italian violinist in the early 1840s, noticed right before going out on stage for a concert, that the violin he was about to play wasn’t his, but an “ordinary” violin. His high dollar instrument had been stolen and replaced with an inexpensive one. He went backstage, thought for a minute, then came back and played a magnificent concert. He told
I’ve not taken a so-called vacation since I started this ministry 22 years ago, yet I don’t feel worn out or weary. One day I was pondering to myself and thought, “why don’t I feel worn out?” Many people take vacations because they’re exhausted from work, and need an extended rest to be restored and revitalized. Yet, ironically, more often than not, when they
