The Way Your Story Ends

The Way Your Story Ends TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. Psalm 139:16, NLT. TODAY'S WORD: Did you know that God has already recorded every part of your life from the beginning to the end? He knows every disappointment, every loss, every challenge; and the good news is that with Christ, your story ends in victory! God has written out a plan to bless and prosper you. When you choose His plan, your final chapter concludes with you fulfilling your God-given destiny. Here’s the key: when you go through a disappointment, when you go through a loss, don’t stop on that page in your life. You’ve got to decide to keep moving forward. There’s another chapter in front of you, but you’ve got to be willing to take the next step. Sometimes, we get so focused on what didn’t work out that we stay stuck, reliving the disappointment. If that’s you, recognize that you’ve been on that page long enough. It’s time to let it go and turn the page to the new chapter God has in store. You may not understand, it may not have been fair, but remember, the next chapter is full of blessing, full of favor, and full of victory! Make the decision to let go of the old so you can move forward into the abundant life God has in store for you! PRAYER FOR TODAY: Heavenly Father, thank You for the good plan You have for me. Today, I lay aside the disappointments of the past knowing that You have blessing in store for my future in Jesus’ name. Amen. PS...

Love Lets It Go   by Rick Warren “A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.” (Proverbs 19:11 NIV) There are people in life who always want their way. They’ve got a right way and a wrong way to do something, and your way is always the wrong way. When you don’t meet their standards, they’re going to let you know about it. And it always seems you can never quite please them. So, how do you respond in love to demanding people? The Bible tells us that patience comes from perspective: “A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense” (Proverbs 19:11 NIV). The more you understand a person — his background, battles, and burdens — the more patient you’re going to be with him. We often look at people and go, “Look how far they have to go.” But we don’t stop and say, “I wonder how far they’ve come?” Maybe they were raised in a family where they had no model of kindness or courtesy. Maybe they grew up in a very dysfunctional home, and it’s a miracle, really, that they made it this far. What are the burdens they’re carrying? They may be sick. They may have a family issue. They may have just lost their job. There are all kinds of battles and burdens people carry that you and I don’t know about. Proverbs 19:11 tells us to overlook offenses. Do you overlook offenses or are you offended by offenses? Are you so touchy and irritable that anybody who looks at you funny or forgets to say something or doesn’t see you offends you? Love lets it go. The Bible says, “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31). Love is understanding, not demanding — and it’s what you would want others to do to you when you’re having a bad day or don’t feel well or are carrying heavy burdens. Does that mean you’re just supposed to let people run over you? Do you just let them push you around? Do you act like a doormat, cave in, and let them say whatever they want? No. Here’s the key: Be tender without surrender. Jesus never caved in to manipulators — the religious leaders and Pharisees who were extremely demanding and legalistic. They had all kinds of demands that they themselves couldn’t even keep. But Jesus did not let demanding people push him into a corner. He was tender without surrender. That’s what you call love in action. Talk It Over Spend today considering what people around you might be struggling with, or even take the time to ask them. How does it change your perspective? Your attitude? Your response to others? Why do you think it’s so hard for us to “let it go”? Why do we have to have the last word? What would need to change about your response to people to be tender without surrender?