Dear Friends,
Recently I spotted a quotation, or motto, on the front of someone’s notebook, which read “Everything is impossible – until it’s done!”, by Nelson Mandela.
How many times have we thought, ‘this can’t be done…we haven’t much time…I can’t do this…’? I know I’m guilty of such thoughts.
9 times out of 10 it works out in the end – and we wondered what we worried about!
How did we achieve it? With some perseverance? Management planning? or – Team Effort?
I like to think of ‘problems’ as ‘challenges’, as tasks that need to be done. We have plenty of those – in our daily lives, at work, personal challenges, and definitely at church!
But who’s on your ‘Team’? Who do you turn to for help? And how?
I think it’s only natural to try and deal with things ourselves, but sometimes you just can’t, and you need to turn to others around you. That might be family, or close friends, or our church family.
First and foremost we have God!
Even the disciples struggled with Jesus’ teaching at times, for instance on how to enter the kingdom of heaven – how can anyone be saved? But Jesus replied, “…with God all things are possible,” Matthew 19: 26.
Isn’t that a better motto? To have faith in God!
The Brigades remind us of their motto: “Sure & Steadfast” from Hebrews 6: 19, which reads “We have this hope as an anchor for our lives. It is safe and sure, and goes through the curtain of the heavenly temple into the inner sanctuary”.
These passages assure us that we can have faith in God’s promises, which gives us hope, a hope which is securely ‘anchored’ in Jesus, particularly in his resurrection, ascension and glory in heaven.
The Psalms (among others) talk about God’s promises, for instance Psalm 138: 8:
“The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.” NRSV
See also the translation in the Good News Bible.
There are other passages in the Bible that we can turn to… 1 Corinthians 15: 58, Galatians 6: 9, 2 Thessalonians 2:15, to name just a few.
There is a moment when we become aware of our human limitations and need to depend on God. Then, other possibilities become open to us. Perhaps we should do more of that – I know I need to, how about you?
God bless
Ann