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Articles by Rita Reid

Dreams for the Good Life

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“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”  
Proverbs 3:5-6, NLT

GoodLife_SignI was sitting around with a group of friends, talking about our lives and how we’d gotten to where we were when one friend declared, “This is definitely not what I had in mind when I made my big plans to live the ‘good life’!”

Many of us develop big dreams of what we’d like our lives to be in the future.

But how often do we look back on those great dreams and have to admit, that for whatever reason, they’d never come true? I mean, when was the last time you looked at your life and said, “I’m doing exactly everything that I’ve ever hoped, wished for, and dreamed of doing”? If you’re like me, the answer is…never!

Generally, we can stand to relinquish some dreams without much regret. But what do we do about those unrealized dreams for which we simply have a very difficult time letting go? Maybe we missed out on having a spouse, child, or children. Maybe we longed for but never received a certain education, career, retirement, house, or car. Maybe we lost a marriage, friends, or family member too soon to bring closure to the relationship. Perhaps, we even think that we found out about God’s love and grace too late in life to really do something useful about it. Have we simply missed out on our opportunity for the ‘good life’? Has God let us down by refusing to honor our dreams? Read today’s Dose verse.

Often, our ‘big plans’ don’t take into consideration God’s will for our lives. We envision what we’d like due to our own interests, passions, and knowledge. We don’t realize or we forget that, our knowledge is limited and our truth is not God’s truth. When our plans aren’t realized, we don’t understand and we can become discontented. But take heart, my friend, God has not abandoned you or allowed you to miss out. He has the ultimate good life planned just for you!

The Lord will lead us on the correct route in life so long as we place our trust in him instead of ourselves. Placing God as number one means readjusting our will and life to his. Then, our dreams will move in line with His plans for our life. Yielding to his leadership is often a humbling experience but it’s our one and only shot to have a truly ‘good life’. Don’t you want that promise over anything that we can dream up? It’s not too late. Why won’t you trust Him today?

 

 By grace through faith,

Rita

Who Cares?

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“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”
1 Peter 5:7 NLT

Woman_comforting_young_woman, Who Cares?“I don’t know why I’m even bothering to tell you this, I mean it’s not like anybody cares,” screamed my new friend! “Just because I got into trouble, nobody will help me! They won’t even listen!”

Sometimes, as a result of our histories, we find it hard to believe that anyone else cares about us. We may have made poor choices and we start to worry about our stuff. After all, if we don’t who will? But worry won’t bring about the changes that we really desire. Changes that bring about the belief that someone truly cares about us comes from our willingness to place our trust in the hands of someone other than ourselves. However, we often hesitate to do that because, like my friend, people have let us down in the past and will likely also let us down in the future. So we plod on in our struggle until we become overwhelmed. Read today’s Dose verse.

God cares for us through all of our struggles. When we really believe this, we turn over our anxieties and concerns to Him. But we also need somebody “with skin-on” in order to help us along our path to complete trust. It can sometimes be difficult for us to totally trust God after what we’ve experienced and come to believe. He has provided for that need.

Once we initially trust Him as our Savior from sin, we can grow our trust in Him as Lord of our lives, by pairing up with someone who is farther along in his or her walk with the Lord. This would be a mature Christian—somebody from whom we can actually learn to trust. They take the time to listen to our struggles, pray with us, show us Bible verses that speak to our situation, and show us how we can apply them in our lives. They share some of their own struggles and how God has shown them that He cares.

It’s been several years since I had the conversation that opened this Dose. I simply told that young woman, “I’ve been in trouble before too and I’ll listen to you.” God did the rest. He allowed me the privilege of being a godly example in her life and He opened a willingness in her heart just wide enough to trust someone by faith.

God’s care and concern is so much greater than we could ever imagine or possess! He’s listening!

Are you trusting in His care for you today?

By grace through faith,

Rita

 

That’s Not Fair, God!

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“When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.  
Romans 5: 12, NLT

Girl_with_Not_Fair_sign
“You can’t do that!”

“Oh, yes I can!”

“Well… you wouldn’t …right?”

“I don’t see why not?”

“Because anyway you slice it, it’s simply not fair!”

“Not fair? Oh grow up! Life’s not fair! Didn’t your mama ever tell you that?”

“Just know that when this thing goes badly (and it will), I’m telling everyone that it’s your fault!”

Can you relate to that conversation? Maybe you’re in the that’s-not-fair camp. Or, if you’re a little rougher around the edges, perhaps you’re in the life’s-not-fair-so-get-over-it camp. Either way, we’ve likely all believed at some point in our lives that something wasn’t fair. And what’s the next natural step that we take? We find someone or something to blame for it, right? This is exactly what has happened since the first sin was committed in The Garden of Eden. Read today’s Dose verse. I know for a fact that I’ve heard more than one woman mention her intentions to have a “talking-to” with Eve once they get up to heaven over her part in this sin-thing that led to pain in childbirth! I suspect that even though the men haven’t vocalized it, some of them likely thought something similar for Adam!Group_with_Mercy_sign

The question might be asked, why should we be penalized for what Adam did? How can that be fair? After all, he started it, didn’t he? We say, “That’s not fair, God, give us something fair!” God should be fair to us and just blame Adam! And that’s how it happens. A lot of us consider it simpler to accuse others for our troubles. We say they are the reason for our mistakes, faults, and sins.

But, demanding fairness from God and calling out the sin of those who sinned before us shouldn’t be our focus at all. Just because our ancestors sinned before us doesn’t negate the fact that we fell right into the same footsteps as Adam and Eve.

We are naturally of a mind to go counter to God and his plan. So perhaps our focus ought to be that we’re sure to face the inevitable result of our sin (death) unless God does something!

The good news is He already has! God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our sins!

God doesn’t owe us fairness but we do require His mercy! God’s mercy is what He extends to all who believe in Him!

Are you seeking fairness or mercy today?

By grace through faith,

Rita