Enjoying my flowers on the front porch.
Inspiration
For this is how much God loved the world - He gave His one and only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believe in Him will never perish but experience everlasting life.
John 3:16 (TPT)
Reading and Learning
But if God knew beforehand that we would make such a mess of things, says the skeptic, why did He let it happen? Why did he create us capable of sinning? Fair question. But think carefully about what it means. In order for God to ensure that we could not sin, He would have had to tamper with our freedom of will - to create us not as full human beings but as puppets or robots programmed to do only what He wanted. But that would have renders us incapable of loving God or one another, for genuine love cannot be coerced. Also, without free will, we would not be capable of moral responsibility, creativity, obedience, loyalty, or heroism. The only way God could create beings that are fully human was to take the risk that they would use their freedom to choose evil.
. . .
In his famous doctrine of "Blessed Fault," Augustine encapsulated the mystery of suffering: "God judged it better to bring good our of evil than to suffer no evil at all.: Better to endure the pain involved in redeeming sinners than not to create human beings at all.
Why did He do that that? There is only one answer. Love. God loved us so much that even when He foresaw the sin and suffering that would darken and distort His creation, He chose to create us anyway. That is the most profound mystery of all, and one that inspires our hearts to worship.
pgs. 213-214
Today has been an unusual kind of day. I only had one child come in for the day and since he is only one year old we, of course, didn't do any of our usual lessons. Somehow I didn't even get any pictures. Michael did get some online work done and he participated in the Calvary Youth Bible Study via Zoom.
In the Kitchen
This morning for breakfast I tried a recipe for turkey sausage. It turned out really delicious. This recipe called for applesauce to make the sausage nice and juicy and it worked! Along with some strawberries they made a wonderful breakfast.
I also canned seven more quarts of shredded turkey and broth. It's fun watching the shelves in the basement fill up with food!
On My Mind
Thou God seest me . . . Genesis 16:13
This verse has been on my mind so frequently the last couple of weeks. In a world of chaos, with strange headlines, and so many big things happening, I sometimes feel like I could get lost in the shuffle. But in so many ways - some little, some not so little, God continually reminds me that He sees me and He loves me. He has met needs in ways I never saw coming and couldn't have expected. He has brought laughter and joy into places where there had seemed to be only sorrow and regret. In short, He simply says - "I see you, and I love you. No weapon formed against you can prosper. I am your Provider."
Today's Quote
God's love for me is perfect because it's based on Him not on me. So even when I failed He kept loving me.
~ Joyce Meyer
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