Surrendered

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Victory comes through surrender. Surrender doesn’t weaken you; it strengthens you. Surrendered to God, you don’t have to fear or surrender to anything else

~Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Life

As much as I’ve understood that “Surrender” is necessary in my personal relationship with God , I had never thought of surrender as being a position of continual VICTORY.  Yet, when I read those words, they immediately  resonated with me, and awakened me to a greater desire to be fully surrendered to God.  Continue reading

Be Prepared to Carry Your Cross…

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Have you watched the movie  The Passion of Christ? I have only seen it once at the movie theater when it was first released. I found myself crying and burying my face in my hands so many times during the graphic depiction of the Crucifixion.  I can remember thinking to myself,  “You need to face this,” but no amount  of “self-coaching” would allow me to keep from turning away periodically. It was so difficult to watch , and I can 1491356395900only imagine that it was much worse than what was depicted on the screen.  Tonight’s passage is from Luke 23:26-30. I read it several times focusing on each verse.  I kept coming back to verse 26,

As they led Jesus away a man named Simon who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming from the countryside.  The soldiers seized him and put the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.

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