[Membersandfriends] Saturday, October 09, 2004

Fri Oct 8 22:01:35 PDT 2004

The Upper Room Daily Devotional -- E-mail Edition
Brought to You by Upper Room Ministries
Saturday, October 09, 2004

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Nurture a Child

Nurture the spiritual life of a child -- send them a subscription to POCKETS, a devotional magazine for children, ages 6-12.  http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/desc.asp?item_id=12897&ep_id=246
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AWESOME POSSIBILITIES
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James 1:2-8 (NRSV)

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

     If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

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My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure.
-- James 1:2-3 (TEV)
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WITH two days remaining, I was frantically trying to finish an art project for an upcoming show.  I was near completing it when a slip of my hand ruined the whole thing beyond repair.  I was devastated, and I felt like a failure.  I quit and said I wasn't going to start again; it was too late.

The next morning when my husband said, "Try again," I took that as a nudge from God.   Reluctantly, I did.  The results were remarkable, even better than the original!

I learned about failure through that event and others in my life since then.  Failure when viewed with negative eyes is nothing more than failure.  But when we trust and listen to God, failure can become an opportunity for a change filled with awesome possibilities.

Prayer:  Dear God, give us eyes to see possibilities even in our failures.  Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Every day is a new opportunity to create something worthwhile, with God's help.

-- Mary Katherine Dial (South Carolina, U.S.A.)

PRAYER FOCUS: Someone starting over

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RELATED READING ...

Written for those who know little about the experience of prayer but who greatly desire to learn, BEGINNING PRAYER examines the attitude of prayer, times for praying, places for praying, the posture of prayer, and mood of prayer.
http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/desc.asp?ep_id=30&item_id=12479

PLEASE SHARE THIS MINISTRY with a friend. Invite them to sign up for the free E-Mail Devotional by visiting: http://www.upperroom.org/devotional/email/.

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The scripture quotation is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright (c) 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.