Getting Enough Sleep (A Habit for Day 7)

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Anyone who spends time around children quickly begins to recognize the signs.  Hyper?  Cranky?  A bit more stubborn than usual?  More tears than usual?

Yep, it's time for bed, or at the very least, a nap!

Yet we easily lose sight of our own need for rest as adults, even though we often show the same signs of sleepiness seen in children.  We're just a little more sophisticated in the ways we show them!

It can be even more difficult to come by a good night's rest in our busy lives when we're facing extra stress.  The stress in turn feels worse because we're tired, and we go around and around in a vicious circle.  How do we stop the craziness?

I believe the Word of God is the first place to go for help when we're having trouble sleeping.

 Jesus says, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For My burden is easy, and My yoke is light."  Matthew 11:28-30

I realize that in the middle of our greatest trials, we don't always want to come to Jesus.  We're angry, we're hurt, we wonder why He lets things happen the way they do, we wonder why He doesn't set us beside still waters a little more often.

I can't solve your anger or answer your questions.  All I can do is by faith point to the One who cannot lie, and His promise to give rest to those who are heavy laden.  The only conditions in the promise are that we first come, and second that we take His burdens, which He promises are easy.  Doesn't that sound better than our heavy trials? 

When you come to Him, just be honest.  Tell Him about all your unanswered questions and all your anger.  These are the things that show your deep need for His promise of rest.  By faith, however small, ask Him to bring you that rest.  Not because you deserve it (none of us do), but because you need it.  Commit to carrying whatever Jesus gives you to carry.

Then make a resolution with the Psalmist:  "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep:  for Thou, Lord, only [as in only God does this] makest me dwell in safety."  Psalm 4:8

Again, that's where it starts.  It's easy to forget this familiar promise when we're struggling through a desert experience, but we can take God at His Word.  Jesus is there, through your most weary days and nights, holding out rest of soul and body, hoping you'll accept it.  Don't let your weariness blind you to His promise to take care of your need for rest.  Ask Him for protection from nightmares, or for wisdom in your lifestyle or bedtime routines, or for help with whatever it is that keeps you tossing and turning.

Then, don't be afraid to look at your life and ask what you might be able to do to help yourself settle down for a solid night's rest.  There's nothing faithless about living your life so you're not in direct opposition to your prayers (by doing things you know will make it hard for God to answer them).  Just as we would take care of a child's need for rest, we need to learn that it's acceptable,  appropriate, and important to take care of ours as well. 

For example, if you know you need to set a better evening routine for yourself, go again to the God who promised wisdom to all who ask in faith, and ask for help to make the changes you need to make for your nights go better.

If you're looking for ideas about simple things to do to get a better night's rest, I'd like to recommend a resource.  Easy Steps for Better Health by Shawn Boonstra and Fred Hardinge is one of the best little books on health I've read, and has an excellent chapter on sleep and ways to get better sleep.  You can order one here (new) for $3.97, or here for $.10 (used).  [I don't get anything from sales of the book--it's simply wonderful and an easy read so I thought I'd share.]

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(Photo by Barbara Frohne) 

When Your Desert isn't God's Fault (Job's Story, Day 6)

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Does the dryness of your life feel as though it has no purpose?

I believe Job must have.  After all, he lost everything, including his children, and although his wife's life was spared, she didn't seem to be much encouragement to him.  No, quite the opposite, because instead of blessing his miserable life with even a cool glass of water, she mocks him for his steadfast character.

"Then said his wife unto him, 'Dost thou still retain thine integrity?  Curse God, and die." 

Job 2:9

Ouch.  Let's give her the benefit of the doubt, and remember she just lost everything, too.  But to mock her husband for having the kind of unflinching honesty that Job has, and to suggest he give it all up, is a stretch hard to imagine.  Don't we all want our husbands to keep their integrity no matter what?

I only bring up her response to show how destitute of comfort Job's desert really was.  She may well have repented this thoughtless expression of her own grief.  After all, when God restores Job's fortunes, he and his wife have children together again.  We have no reason to believe that amidst all the other restoring God did for them that He did not restore their relationship.

But I digress.  They key and familiar points of Job's story are just as important today as they have ever been.  I wanted to review them today because if you're in the middle of the most horrible trial of your life, they provide valuable insights and framework for gaining comfort in the midst of turmoil.  Although the book is full of good things, I'm simply going to share three

The devil tests Job's faith by the most severe trials he can muster, and God permits him to do this.  Not because God has anything against Job (clearly the devil does), but because the strength of Job's faith can only be known if it's tested.  Fair weather friends are, in actuality, no friends at all.

Job never gets to see the background of his trials, and no one ever tells him why he went through all that he did.  You might not know why things happen in your life, either.  It might not ever make sense to you.   What assurance God did give Job came in the form of reviewing God's POWER, CHARACTER, and WISDOM to the extent that Job no longer has questions about something so small--yet so influential in heaven and earth from those days to these--as his own life.  If you need the same reminders of how all-wise and all-powerful God truly is, read Job 38 and continue through the end of the book.  Like God did for Job, I pray these ancient words will restore your faith and trust in the all-wise God.

God has the ability to restore even more than the devil has the ability to destroy.  For you as much as for Job.  But even if He doesn't seem to, think again about His wisdom, power, and character (which includes infinite love that led Him to die for you), and ask Him to renew your trust in His ways with you.

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(Photo by Barbara Frohne) 

Breathing Clean Air, Deeply (A Habit for Day 5)

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Think back with me to the very beginning of time--the Bible beginning of time.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."  Genesis 1:1

He kept creating and creating and creating all week, when finally, near the end, He was ready to make the last creatures and set them up in their new garden home.  

Whereas He had spent much of the week speaking, commanding with the breath of His voice, for all the different things of the earth to appear, this time He stooped to the dust--the dust of a desert, perhpas, for He had already planted the home-garden of Eden and it was the furthest thing from a desert--to make Adam with His own hands.

When he finished Adam, the new man still lay lifeless on the ground of which he was made.  It took air, the very breath of God breathed, as  the Bible says, into his nostrils, to bring Adam to life.  God's breath gave him blood circulation, made all his organs function perfectly, and "made him a living soul" (Genesis 2:7) with power to think, pray, and to decide for good or for evil.

Without God's air coursing through his lungs, he was only a sand sculpture.

***

We still need air to preserve our being, at least as much as Adam did.  Take a second, between stories, to think about how and what you're breathing.

Are you breathing from your diaphragm, and taking deep, full breaths to fill your entire lungs each time?  Is your posture supporting good breathing?  If you're inside, have you aired out your home or office recently?  Have you changed the filters in your heating/cooling system?  When was the last time you got outside--really got outside, where the air is fresh with only nature's scents?  (Please tell me you get outside for at least a little bit every day!!)

Think about what deep breathing does for you.  It reduces stress, and improves circulation, digestion, and sleep.  Don't all those things sound like worthwhile results in any time of life, but especially when you're in a stressful desert experience?  Keep breathing, and do it deeply!

***

Perhaps one of the saddest stories in all the Bible is the story of Belshazzar, king of Babylon.  He came into power when Daniel (of the lions' den faith victory) was quite old.  The Bible minces no words when it introduces this brash, foolish king, saying only this:

"Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand."  Daniel 5:1

Now maybe you see no big deal about drinking alcohol, but I'm going to go out on a {very sturdy} limb and say that it's one of the fastest ways this world affords to get yourself into the worst of desert experiences, and that's exactly what happened to Belshazzar.

The wine began to have its delirious effect, and the king started thinking of himself as the best of the best, higher than any god or man, indeed, higher than the one true God.  In what was probably the final expression of a long string of habit of selfish pride, Belshazzar demands that the holy vessels from God's temple, brought to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, be brought out of storage and put to use in pagan worship and drunken revelry.

It wasn't a good move, clearly, but neither was the first sip of that toxic death drink that removed his final inhibitions and gave him the unwise courage to defy the God of heaven.

You remember, right, that here is where the fingers of God write on the wall, making the king and all his assembled guests tremble?

"Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another."  Daniel 5:6

None of the kings pagan magicians could read the words on the wall, let alone interpret them.  One woman, however, remembered the elderly Daniel, who has before interpreted dreams for another king, one who eventually humbled himself and gave glory to the God who made him and gave him his kingdom.

Daniel arrives in the banquet hall, unflinching in his rebuke to the king, untouched by the promise of expensive gifts and rewards for yet again solving the mystery of a nation.

Daniel rehearses Nebuchadnezzar's story, the power that he had, the way God humbled him from his pride, and the way he finally turned his eyes toward heaven in grateful praise.  The final course of Nebuchadnezzar was a good one.  Then Daniel brings it home to the king standing before him.

"And thou his son, O Belteshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;   (emphasis mine) but has lifted up thyself against the God of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, (emphasis mine), and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified."  Daniel 5:22, 23

The tears come as I type those words.  Through all the rebellion and unwise decisions of Belshazzar's life, his very breath was still held mercifully in the hands of the God who created him, who loved him, who wanted nothing more than to save him and the nation he ruled.

That night, it was too late for Belshazzar.  He lost his life, and while he came through on his word to reward Daniel for reading and interpreting the words, there is no evidence that even this miraculous display by the hand of God called forth any repentance from him.

But that doesn't have to mean it has to be too late for you, or for me.

God still holds your breath--the very physical body and the lungs that even now take one breath after another--in the hand that was nailed to the cross for you.

Through Paul, Jesus still calls to your heart.

"Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts."  Hebrews 3:15

Say yes to the One who loved you enough to give His own life in place of yours, and take courage that your breath is in His nail pierced hand.  There is no better place for your life to be, and no matter how deep or dry the desert you're in feels right now, and even if it's your own fault, you can still turn to Him for all the help you need, for the breath of your body as well as your soul.

***

Take another few moments between stories, and think about what keeps your spiritual life filled with the life-giving air you need.  Prayer?  Bible study?

Are you breathing deeply enough in your walk with Jesus?

***

Adam began as clean dirt and became a person.  But Ezekiel stands before a scene of utter desolation, in a desert where dust-bodies are almost entirely returned to desert dust.  Only the bones--completely dried out--remain.  They're not still warm from death, like the little boy.  They are past all visible sign of hope.

And that's frightening, because these bones represent what God's people had become spiritually.

If that's how you're feeling, take courage, and read along in the story with me.

"And He said unto me, 'Son of man, can these bones live?'  And I answered, 'O Lord God, Thou knowest.'  Again He said unto me, 'Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, "O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.  Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.  And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD."  (Ezekiel 37:3-6)

Ezekiel, in the vision, obeyed the Lord.  When he spoke the breath of God came upon the bones like a wind, and all were restored to life, becoming "an exceeding great army" (Ezekiel 37:10).

The people of the Lord, whose faith had died and become dry as bones in the desert, could and would be entirely restored to life by the breath of God.

***

God gave human beings their first breath.  He designed us to need fresh air, and He has proven by the resurrection of Jesus Himself (as well as others), that He can restore that physical breath with simply a word.  He was and still is the source of all the air we breathe, and He has plans to raise up the dead in Christ when He blows the trumpet (see 1 Thessalonians 4:17.)

He's also the source of all your spiritual life and breath.  Stay connected to Him, and you will not lack for air.

Is the prayer of your heart for God to revive your spiritual life?  Make the prayer of this choir, this song, your own with me today.

(For further information on the health benefits of fresh air, see White, Ellen G.  The Ministry of Healing, chapter 20, called General Hygiene, available online for free; or these resources from Dr. Neil Nedley.)

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(Photo by Barbara Frohne) 

Anywhere with Jesus I can Safely Go (Ruth's Story, Day 4)

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Ruth.  Ah, what a love story!

She gets one of the best men in town.  

He's courteous, caring, and generous, and what more could a girl want in her man?

It's so easy to read the end of the story, skipping over the pain, turmoil, loss, and steel determination that precede the romantic perfection of the man who brilliantly rescues her from widowhood AND from marrying the wrong guy.  If the happy ending is all we see, we actually miss its fullness of joy, its gold instead of gray, the hope rekindled out of ashes, and the way God has of restoring the years that the locusts have eaten.  (See Joel 2:25)

 Let's not skip over the loss this time, but stop there and ponder it for a few moments.

First, Naomi, her husband, and her sons lose their homeland, their farmland, while everything there is under a sever drought.  The sacrifice it all and travel to a distant land where no one knows them, much less their God.  They remain Jehovah's worshipers, yet for a decade live far away from His temple and, as far as we can tell, from fellow believers who could encourage and strengthen them in all the stress of life.

If you've ever moved, and especially if you've ever moved to a place where there weren't other people around who believed as you did, you know exactly what they faced.

Then, more loss.  Naomi loses husband and sons.  Ruth loses the husband of her youth. And as Naomi learns of the rains that come to her homeland, she determines to return.

Alone, if necessary.

She's prepared to lose her daughters-in-law even after the loss of everything else, who both weep and beg her not to send them home.  They both show a deep attachment to this, their mother-in-law.  We don't know much about the bonds between these three women, yet we know from just a few short verses that Orpah's departure from them was a painful, hesitant one.  Perhaps a parting she grieved the rest of her life, but who can really tell?

It's at this moment that the two Moabite women get a choice.  Haven't we all wished sometimes that we could have at least chosen what we lost, how we lost?  Rather than being stuck with something we could not control?

Orpah chooses to lose Naomi and Ruth--and by extension the God of Israel.  

But Ruth, looking permanent widowhood in the face, as well as alienation from everything (culturally, at least) she's ever known, chooses to lose the familiar in favor of the God of her dead husband and her living mother-in-law.  

To all outward appearance, Ruth has chosen a life of barrenness, yet it's a price she's willing to pay to remain faithful to the truths she must have learned as a young bride in a foreigner's house.  

It's here we get those utterly romantic words we hear all the time at weddings.  But they're spoken to a mother-in-law and her God, not to a groom.

"Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee:  for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge:  thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:  Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried:  the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me."  (Ruth 1:16, 17)

Ruth would suffer the loss of everything--family of origin, homeland, future husband, future children, possibly even food on the table--rather than suffer the loss of her new-found Savior.

It's only against this backdrop of faithfulness in loss--to her mother-in-law become more-than-mother, and to God become her very own--that the sweet romance of Ruth and Boaz could begin to blossom.

The whole town knows about her, this foreign widow woman.  They quickly hear of her loss, but even more so of her faith.  Her character impresses them all, including Boaz.

I'm not going to finish the story.  We all know the happy ending well enough.  I want instead to focus on how Ruth handled the losses life threw in her way, at no choice of her own.

• She stayed true to her faith, no matter how much grief she faced.
• She made a life-changing choice based on the convictions of her faith, even though she couldn't possibly know how it would turn out. 
• She worked hard--physically--to provide for the home she did have.

  And in this place of faithful determination, God stepped in and provided abundantly above all she had dared to ask or think.  (See Ephesians 3:20--"Now to Him who is able to do abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us...")

Here me carefully on this.  I'm NOT saying that God works on a reward system in which we earn restoration instead of loss by how we behave.  God's purpose and desire is always to bless.  Even when we don't deserve it.

However.

It's hard for Him to turn our losses into blessing when we turn our backs deliberately on Him and choose the way of the enemy.  Because the enemy's purpose and desire is always to curse.

Remember the condition of the promise that all things work together for good?  It's for those who love God.

When we face loss, we must, like Ruth, make the kinds of decisions that will help keep our love for God alive.  Even when we don't understand why and how all kinds of painful things are coming into our lives.  

Like Ruth, when we place ourselves in the positions where we will most likely experience the least opposition to our faith and the most encouragement of it (think about how she surrounded herself to the best of her ability with the people of God rather than the people of the pagan religion of her homeland and all its inherent temptations), we open a door in our hearts, clearing the way for Jesus to come in.

When we do this, He says, "I will come in to [them], and will sup with [them], and [they] with Me."  (Revelation 3:20)

I believe that's exactly how it worked with Ruth, and although I can't guarantee you a romance, or a job, or any of the particular things you've lost, and I can't guarantee an exit from your current desert experience, I can put full confidence in the promise of God that says He will come to be with you as soon as you open the door, no matter how barren you think the landscape is that surrounds you.

What is more, I can say from experience and from the word of God, when Jesus comes in, life can't stay barren or dry or bleak anymore.

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(Photo by Barbara Frohne) 

Gather the Lillies and Pinks, Not the Thorns (A Habit for Day 3)

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I've read a little story--maybe you've read it too, but if not, you can read it here--where a woman writes a letter to another woman, wondering why her life is so full of darkness, and would she share any advice?

Well, the woman received the letter, and that evening went to bed and slept.  She dreamed of being led on a tour, with the discouraged woman and the gardener as a guide, through a garden.  The garden wasn't a perfect one, and although there were many flowers and beauties in it, the discouraged woman gravitated toward the weeds and thorns, soon getting stuck and pricked and grumbly.  

Meanwhile, the discouraged woman's friend hasn't even noticed the patches of weeds, but gets drawn immediately toward the sweet-smelling flowers.  As she's picking a lovely bouquet, her friend calls her attention to all things ugly.  And what do you know?  She's off the path, away from the gardener, refusing to notice where there is beauty.  She was in the desert, instead of enjoying the garden, because she had made a habit out of looking at the worst side of everything.

We do the same thing all the time.

We are near the Gardener, but just far enough away that we refuse the blessings He has to offer us.  Or the thorns seem so painful that we can't seem to remember where the flowers are.  We get stuck in thorn bushes and forget to ask the Gardener to help us out.  We look around us, talking about the ugly things in life far more often than we enjoy its beauties.  Then we try to get other people to focus on the thorns, when they could be enjoying the flowers if it weren't for our discouraged jabber.

So how do we stop the negativity?

We have to acknowledge that there are weeds, but also that there are flowers.   

We don't have to deny that there are weeds in our lives, but we can look at, talk about, and gather flowers as much as possible.

If you've ever looked at a desert landscape from a distance--say, from your car as you drive through it on the highway--you probably have thought, like I did, that it was a pretty barren place.  But if you've had a chance to stop and hike a little through the sagebrush and sand, you've probably been amazed, like I was, at how many flowers make their humble, cheery homes in the midst of what seemed like a wasteland.

It works the same way in life, in relationships, and in conversations.  Verbally notice the little beauties and blessings--in the physical world, in your social circles, and in your walk with Jesus--and they're bound to stand out in more stunning brightness, contrasting all the more with whatever other bleak wilderness you might be experiencing.

Bring flowers to your dinner table, to the office, to the grocery store when the checker asks how you're doing.  Decide to look for cheer, and you will certainly find some.  You may not get out of the desert, but the act of looking will open your eyes to the beauties more and more each day.

And remember you have a Gardener for your Guide, One who designed your path to go past as many flowers as possible on the narrow way toward our goal.  He wants to lead you through the flowers, and give you those moments of rest as you smell them.

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(Photo by Barbara Frohne) 

You Feel Alone, But Are You Really? (John's Story, Day 2)

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Even if we have no external knowledge of Patmos, it's clear from the very start of book of Revelation that it was a punishment to be there, in a time and society where it was a crime to preach Jesus and to unflinchingly believe in the Bible.  That's how John ended up isolated on an island, suffering for his faith.

"I John, who am also your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ."  Revelation 1:9

In one short verse, he tells us some incredibly important things:

• "...who am also your brother..."--Christians, being adopted by God as their Father, always have a family.
• "...and companion in tribulation..."--Christians, though they may suffer alone geographically, always have the company, in a sense, of other Christians who have suffered and do suffer and will suffer, for their faith.
• "...in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ..."--Christians have patience because of the hope and assurance that Jesus indeed has a kingdom with a place in it for them, and will come again.

As if those words weren't sufficient encouragement for the downhearted, lonely sufferer, what happens next far surpasses them.  John goes on to describe how he was "in the spirit", maybe praying or thinking on passages of Scripture or the words of Jesus he remembered from those eventful three-and-a-half years, when quite unexpectedly there is a voice behind him.  

It sounds like a trumpet, and quite starteled, he turns to find seven golden lampstands, possibly like the one in the ancient temple, and in their midst One who shines brighter than the sun itself, with flaming eyes and even shining feet.  One with power enough to hold seven stars in His hand.

"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.  And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:  I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."  Revelation 1:18

Thus in this dreary place, where to all appearances John would remain alone, abandoned, and desolate, Jesus, in all His power and glory, was right there with him all the time.  It's the same Jesus John knew while He walked on the earth, yet he's flattened by awe in the presence of His power and purity--so much so that Jesus gives him the touch and words of reassurance before taking him in vision through what is perhaps the longest and most comprehensive vision of human history from start to glorious finish in Scripture.

I'm guessing that's not what John expected from his time on prison island.

Yet perhaps it was the perfect place for such an amazing message to be given to human beings.  John had all the time in the world, with no distractions.  He kept seeking the Lord in his aloneness, and was doing so when Jesus spoke behind him.  He had no deadlines to meet, and he had time to write out what he saw after this vision, which in the seeing of it must have taken several hours at least.  And by being alone there and being willing, the book he penned has blessed and encouraged millions of Christians the world over for nearly two thousand years.

When you're in a desert feeling alone, whether because of persecution or some other reason, still seek the Lord like John did.  You never know when you might discover His voice just behind you, or when His light will shine on your life and because of your deserted island place and your aloneness make your life mission more effective and far-reaching than you dreamed possible.

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(Photo by Barbara Frohne)

Therewith to be Content (A Habit for Day 1)

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"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."  Philippians 4:13

You know that verse, right?

For all my life, almost, I've looked at that verse as an empowerment to accomplish all my goals and face the impossible (but always glorious) dreams I had for myself as a person and would-be worker for God.  Here it was, God's promise that I could do great things with my life, without fail.  With Him, I really could do it all.  I tried, too.  It hadn't occurred to me that maybe what I could do for Jesus was endure a season in life that seemed dry, mediocre, and humanly barren.

Then in a moment, a quiet one, it grabbed me afresh--because this time I read the context.

"But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.  Not that I speak in respect of want:  for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound:  everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."  Philippians 4:10-13

Did it catch you?

Paul writes to the Philippians, affirming their offerings to help him, which is really helping the gospel go to all the world, because he's a missionary.  Yet he doesn't want them to think it's all about him.  Instead, he simply wants to thank them for the blessings while assuring them that no matter what, Jesus is his sustenance.  His food and drink, his all in all.

Jesus gives him power to endure all hardships with content, and to endure all times of plenty in the same humility that looked to Jesus in times of need.

It's not all about the goals and dreams we have for ourselves or our ministries--though with Christ, we can do all those things, too, according to His plans.  It's about contented faith no matter what the trial, no matter what the victory, an evenness of character that stays the same no matter the heights or the depths we reach.

So in our deserts of trial, temptation, and loneliness, this promise is one of the greatest strongholds for our lives.  We can pass through the desert safely, or endure it permanently, through Christ, who is our strength.

Thus it's the same Paul who writes to the Hebrews, "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."  Hebrews 13:5

Jesus is enough, He is the key to contentment, and He is always right close by.  Even in the desert you're facing today.

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(Photo by Barbara Frohne)