Pastor Appreciation 10/22/23

What’s funny to me is how much time I wasted trying to cover them up. I mean, we’ve all got them. We may not have deserved some of them but wherever they came from we earned them.

So the question becomes, do you allow them to shackle you to a long past hurt or use them as a reminder of future blessing?

Diane and I talked to a lady yesterday. She just praised God for His goodness. She was sincere and we could feel her strength. She said it wasn’t always this way. She asked for nothing. No pity. We just listened. She said that there was a time when she and her family were homeless. They just could not get it together. Then one day, they began to pray. That simple. She and her family began to pray. Then they began to seek God for a path out of their desperation. That hadn’t a clue what they were doing. They just sought God.

With a newfound peace, they went to work. Fast forward. Together they put a daughter through college. She works in a hospital today and their son is in his first year. And this is but a small part of her testimony. They still pray together.

The Lord is still doing it y’all. We can’t call on Him and just sit down. If we will only trust Him, He will bring wholeness to our lives and use our scars to help others who are hurting.

Our every scar should remind us not only what we learned through the experience but that even when we are at our best, of how far we have yet to go.

I’ll choose the blessings.

Oh yeah, the lady’s dad and I have the same nickname. Poor fellow!

Thank you Lord for your finishing work!

-Pastor Butch