Look for the Best

Posted on January 19, 2011 by russellmckinney

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8, N.L.T.)

A Baptist preacher of another day wrote this:

Don’t ever send a buzzard out to report on the landscape. He’ll fly over all kinds of beautiful flowers, green meadows, blue lakes and gorgeous mountain ranges; and when he comes back and you ask, “Buzzard, what did you see?” he will answer, “I saw a dead cow covered with maggots and big purple flies.” That buzzard may have flown over ten thousand beautiful flowers and trees and placid lakes to see maggots and flies on cows. Being a buzzard caused him to see that.

But send a honeybee out to report on the landscape, and when he returns ask him, “Honeybee, what did you see?” and you will hear a different story: “I saw ten million little flowers filled with nectar, and I got all I could take and added it to my honeycomb. My! I must have made a pint of honey today!” It flew over the dead cow and didn’t see it. It was looking for something else – flowers.

If you look for the worst, you will probably find it. If you look for the best, you will find that down the road too. SO GO THROUGH LIFE LOOKING FOR THE BEST.

Our text verse tells us to fix our thoughts on things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise. That’s another way of saying, “Go through life looking for the best rather than the worst.” Unfortunately, the worst is usually easier to spot. That is not to say, though, that the best isn’t out there too if we are willing to search for it.

Keep this in mind, Christian, whenever life funnels you through a difficult season. Right there in the midst of your struggling, pain, disappointment, and frustration, look for the good in all the bad. Ask the Lord to help you reprogram your mind so that you can fixate on everything that is right rather than on everything that is wrong. And wherever you find something that is (to use Paul’s description from the conclusion of our text) “worthy of praise,” take the time to actually praise the One who has blessed you with that particular thing.

Posted in Adversity, Attitude, Balance, Complaining, Criticism, Depression, Disappointment, God's Love, God's Provision, Human Life, Leadership, Loneliness, Praise, Problems, Sickness, Suffering, Trials, Worry | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Is God Judging America?

Posted on January 18, 2011 by russellmckinney

The question is often asked, “Is God judging America?” My answer is an emphatic, “YES.” You say, “I haven’t seen any fire and brimstone raining from the sky.” Well, neither have I, but fire and brimstone are not how God is judging America.

Romans 1:18-32 is one of the most terrifying passages in the Bible. The passage explains what God will eventually do to people who persistently, consistently, and steadfastly refuse to come under His lordship. He will “give them up” (or “give them over”) to uncleanness, immorality, and wickedness so that they can fully indulge in the lusts of their hearts. This “giving up” allows them to dishonor their bodies by letting their debased minds and vile passions run absolutely amuck.

I used to drive a school bus, one that had a governor on its motor. A governor is a device that kicks in when a bus reaches a certain speed. Its purpose is to slow the motor down to keep the bus from going any faster. In the case of the bus I drove, the governor kicked in at 50 m.p.h.

Just as that governor served as a restraint, the Romans passage teaches that God reaches a point with hardened sinners where He takes His governors off their lives and says, “Go as fast as you can and live as dangerously as you want. I’ve tried to help you, but your heart is so set against Me that you won’t heed Me. So have it.”

I once heard a baseball coach say to his players, “Boys, if I yell at you, it’s because I care about you. The day I stop yelling at you, that’s when you need to worry because it means that I’ve given up on you.” The Romans passage explains that God works the same way in the lives of individuals. It’s when He stops yelling that the situation gets scary.

You see, God is right now pouring out His wrath (1:18) upon America by allowing sinful men and women, people who are dead set in their rebellion against Him, to do whatever they want. Do they want to engage in homosexuality and lesbianism (1:26-27)? God has disabled their governors. Do they want to live lives marked by “sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, strife, deceit, and evil-mindedness” (1:28-29)? God isn’t yelling at them. Do they want to be “whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, and unmerciful” (1:30-31)? God is sitting up in heaven and watching it happen without lifting a finger to stop it.

But how can God’s lack of action be classified as Him pouring out His wrath? It earns that classification because God understands something that hardened, calloused rebels don’t. He understands that the rebel lifestyle, when carried out to its desired extreme, is a fire that ultimately gets so big and so hot that it consumes the rebel himself. Even as the rebel genuinely believes that he is living the high life, in reality he is only destroying himself. In this way, he virtually judges himself and pours out God’s wrath upon himself.

Similarly, it seems clear to me that God is also employing this “hands off” approach in regards to our nation as a whole. He’s letting us have the corrupt, greedy politicians so many Americans favor. He’s letting us have the perverse, immoral national laws so many Americans will take to the streets to get enacted. To sum up, He’s letting a bunch of ungodly, undiscerning, and unbroken sinners have their way. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why our nation stands on the brink of ruination.

Posted in Abortion, Addiction, Adultery, Choices, Coming Judgment, Current Events, Depravity, Desires, Disobedience, Drugs, Gambling, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, Government, Homosexuality, Idolatry, Lesbianism, Lust, Lying, Man's Freewill, Obedience, Politics, Racism, Rebellion, Sex, Sin, Sowing and Reaping, Sports, Submission | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Case of Mistaken Identity

Posted on January 16, 2011 by russellmckinney

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ… (Philippians 1:27, N.K.J.V.)

A man was sitting in his car at a red light one morning. When the light changed to green, the woman driving the car in front of him didn’t immediately start going. She was texting on her cell phone and didn’t notice the light change. Unfortunately, the light was a quick changing one that shot through yellow and turned to red again without her moving. This incensed the man, and he started yelling curse words at the woman and beating on his horn in disgust.

What he didn’t know was that a police officer, in an unmarked car, was sitting in the car behind him. The officer turned on his siren and lights, got out of his car, pulled out his gun, and carefully approached the man’s car. When the officer tapped on the driver-side window, the man said, “Hey, wait a minute, you can’t arrest me for yelling in my car and blowing my horn.” To that, the police officer had him step out of the car. Then the officer put handcuffs on the man, placed him in the back seat of the police car, called for the man’s car to be towed, and took him to the police station.

After the man had spent an hour in a holding cell, the arresting officer came in and said, “You’re free to go.” The man angrily replied, “I knew that you couldn’t arrest me for yelling in my own car and blowing the horn. I’m warning you, you haven’t heard the last of this.” In reply, the officer said, “I didn’t arrest you for shouting in your car. When I saw you screaming and laying down on your horn, I said to myself, ‘What sorry behavior.’ But there was nothing I could do about a man throwing a fit in his own car. That’s when I noticed the cross hanging from your rearview mirror and your “Jesus Is Coming Soon” bumper sticker and assumed that you must have stolen the car!”

Okay, okay, I’ll admit this story didn’t actually happen. Obviously, the officer would have asked for the guy’s driver’s license, ran the identification and license tag number through the in-car computer, and not arrested him. Still, though, the story makes a valid point. Christian, in little situations that crop up every day and night out there in the real world, is your conduct always worthy of the gospel of Christ? You see, you should be careful giving a little chuckle to this story about the irate driver because it just could be that you will need to heed its lesson sometime in the very near future!

Posted in Anger, Character, Complaining, Criticism, Discipleship, Doing Good, Holiness, Humor, Impatience, Influence, Patience, Personal Holiness, The Tongue | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Putting Out a Fire

Posted on January 15, 2011 by russellmckinney

Proverbs 26:20 has rung true since the days of Solomon, the man who wrote it under the inspiration of God. As a matter of fact, it has rung true since the days of Adam and Eve. It says:

Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases. (New King James Version)

The New Living Translation puts the verse in even simpler terms:

“Fire goes out for lack of fuel, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.”

We’ve all done it, allowed ourselves to at least temporarily become gossips and talebearers. One fairly reliable way to tell that you are about to gossip is if you lower your voice when speaking. When you catch yourself doing that, be careful, you might be about to cross a line into territory the Bible condemns.

Where there is no talebearer, strife ceases. And quarrels disappear when gossip stops. Do you want to be a peacemaker? Then stop spreading tales about others. After all, our world is incendiary enough without you adding more wood to fires that are already burning.

Posted in Character, Communication, Influence, Personal Holiness, The Tongue | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Jesus & Social Media

Posted on January 14, 2011 by russellmckinney

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31, N.K.J.V.)

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:17, N.K.J.V.)

Let’s say that a known drug addict named Jack gets arrested yet again for possessing drugs and his picture ends up on Facebook as part of the local Sheriff Department’s page. Under that post, one Christian writes the comment: “Drug addiction is a disease. We need to pray for Jack.” But then another Christian responds by typing, “If drug addiction is a disease, it’s the only one you get by using drugs.” That prompts the first Christian to reply, “Jesus said, ‘Judge not that you be not judged.'” To that, the second Christian types back, “He also said, ‘Judge with righteous judgment,’ and my righteous judgment tells me not to waste my prayer time praying for drug addicts who’ve already had multiple chances to repent.” And just like that, the scripturally worthy topics of intercessory prayer, personal accountability for sin, judging others, and showing spiritual discernment have been dragged down into the mud of social media. 

Did you know there is an actual meme that quotes Jesus’ words from Luke 22:36: “…and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one”? Accompanying that slice of scripture is a picture of a gun followed by the words: “Obey Jesus, buy a gun.” So, let’s say that a Christian (one who doesn’t care that a quote from Jesus has been brutally ripped out of its context) posts that meme on his X (formerly Twitter) page. That, in turn, gets another Christian to type the reply, “Jesus also said, ‘Love your enemies and turn the other cheek.'” In response to that, the first Christian cites Psalm 144:1, where David says, “Blessed be the Lord my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle” (N.K.J.V.). Can you imagine the negative influence those two Christians bickering back and forth, both of them quoting the Bible, would have on a lost person who happened to be reading and was forming an opinion of Christianity?

Such is the world of social media. Even well-meaning Christians can find themselves wandering down controversial paths in regards to their posts and comments. But is social media really the place for “keyboard warriors for Jesus” to go to war? I suppose some good can come of it, but that good will have a hard time outdoing the bad that gets created by the disrespectful, negative, and even offensive language these warriors often resort to using.

This, of course, is to say nothing of the professing Christians who lace their social media pages with personal pictures that scream of vanity, narcissism, and worldliness. Seriously, is there any way for a supposedly Christian woman to post a selfie of herself looking “hot” and it be done “to the glory of God”? Is there any way for a supposedly Christian man to post of selfie of himself partying in a bar and it be done “in the name of the Lord Jesus”?

Look, it’s not that I’m against Facebook, Instagram, X, TiK ToK, or whatever other social media platforms are out there. I myself use Facebook and X to advertise my blog posts and use Facebook to advertise my sermons. I’d just like to see us Christians do a better job of harnessing social media for the purposes of evangelism and discipleship and stop using it so much as a soap box to advance our political agendas, bludgeon those who disagree with our takes on controversial topics, and glorify our own selves. Maybe we should all stop asking, “What would Jesus do?” and start asking, “What would Jesus post?”

I guess when it’s all said and done, my advice concerning social media would be this: Don’t put anything on there that you wouldn’t feel comfortable letting Jesus see. I mean, after all, He IS seeing it, right? Here’s a good test for you, Christian: Study your posts, comments, pictures, memes, videos, etc. as if you were a lost person assessing them and be honest about what impressions you are left with about you. You might just be surprised at the portrait you are painting of yourself.

You see, if your walk with Jesus isn’t life changing enough to keep your social media activity done to the glory of God, in the name of Jesus, and (dare I say it?) holy, then what have you got that lost people don’t have? Think about this the next time you start to post something or make a comment under someone else’s post, and let the Lord guide you in what you put out there for the world to see. Remember, you aren’t just representing yourself; you are also representing your Savior. And He might want you to use social media in a much different way than you plan to use it.

Posted in Character, Communication, Current Events, Discernment, Discipleship, Doing Good, Evangelism, God's Work, Gun Control, Influence, Personal, Personal Holiness, Righteousness, Sanctification, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Unpardonable Sin

Posted on January 13, 2011 by russellmckinney

Will God forgive any sin or is there one sin that He considers unpardonable? That’s a good question. In Matthew 12:22-32, the Bible gives us the record of an incident in which a group of Jewish Pharisees attributed Christ’s miracle-working power to the power of the devil. In the context of this story, Jesus gave the following warning:

“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” (N.K.J.V.)

I should point out that there are reputable commentators who contend that the sin of which Christ spoke (the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit) cannot be committed today because it specifically involved attributing an obvious miracle of Jesus to the power of Satan. According to this view, since Jesus is no longer personally on the earth working miracles, the “unpardonable sin” no longer comes into play. Speaking for myself, however, I agree with those who believe this sin can be committed today.

To rightly understand this whole subject, it is vital that we understand the role that God the Holy Spirit plays in salvation. First, the Spirit convicts the lost sinner concerning the sinner’s sin (John 16:8). Second, He (the Spirit is not an “it”) strives with the sinner over the sinner’s need for forgiveness/salvation (Genesis 6:3). Third, He works to convince the sinner to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and thereby receive that forgiveness/salvation (John 15:26, 16:14). Fourth, at the moment the sinner chooses to believe in Christ as Savior, the Spirit comes to indwell the sinner’s body (Romans 8:9-11, 1 Corinthians 6:19, Titus 3:5). It is the Spirit’s entrance that creates the “born again” experience inside the person (John 3:1-8).

But what if a lost sinner time and time again refuses the Holy Spirit’s convicting, striving, and convincing? Well, that is where the issue of blaspheming the Holy Spirit comes into play because, at some point, the Holy Spirit will simply stop working on that lost sinner. You see, when the Spirit stops striving with the lost sinner, that sinner has committed the unpardonable sin. Why? It’s because no one will ever come to Jesus who isn’t first drawn to Him by the ministry of the Spirit.

Let me use an illustration that I trust will help. Let’s say that you have a life-threatening disease, but your doctor knows about a cure and tries repeatedly to tell you about it. For whatever reason, though, you refuse to hear his words. When he walks in to see you, you get up and leave. When he calls on the phone, you hang up. When he sends you a letter, you throw it away without opening it. When he sends you an email or a text, you immediately delete it. Finally, after his best efforts have been rebuffed repeatedly, the doctor says, “Alright, if you want to die, go ahead. I’m through trying to help you.” And so you die. Okay, what killed you? Was it the disease? Yes, in a sense. But in another sense it was your refusal to heed the doctor who was trying to point you to the cure. That is, of course, to say nothing of your lack of the cure.

So now let’s apply this illustration to the committing of the unpardonable sin. The individual’s fatal disease is sin. The doctor who is trying to help the individual is God the Holy Spirit. And the cure the Spirit is trying to get the individual to put to use is Jesus Christ. Therefore, when the individual rejects the Spirit’s conviction to the point where the Spirit says, “I’m done trying to help you,” that is how an individual commits the unpardonable sin today.                  

Posted in Belief, Forgiveness, Salvation, The Holy Spirit, The Unpardonable Sin | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Could You Pass Review?

Posted on January 12, 2011 by russellmckinney

One night a British soldier was caught creeping back into his quarters from some nearby woods. Under suspicion of being a spy, he was immediately brought before his commanding officer and ordered to explain his actions. The soldier answered that he had gone into the woods to pray.

His commanding officer, who was highly skeptical of that answer, sarcastically scoffed, “And have you been in the habit of spending such time in private prayer?” “Yes, sir,” answered the soldier. “Well then,” said the officer, “get down on your knees right now and pray, because I assure you that you never needed it more than you do at this moment.”

Expecting a death sentence for treason, the soldier knelt down on the spot and poured out his soul in prayer. He prayed with such eloquence, emotion, and obvious experience that it was undeniable that he truly was a genuine man of prayer. Consequently, when his prayer was finished, the commanding officer rendered his verdict in terms a military man would use. He said, “You may go. I believe your story. If you hadn’t drilled often, you couldn’t have done so well at review.”

The application of this story is easy to grasp. How much do you pray each day? Is it enough to give you the experience and expertise to pass review? If it isn’t, then you need to find your own “woods” somewhere and start drilling. Remember that even Jesus, God the Son in human flesh, was a man of prayer. And if He needed to pray, so do you.

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Started School Yet?

Posted on January 11, 2011 by russellmckinney

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed.” (John 8:31, N.K.J.V.)

John Phillip Sousa was sitting in his hotel room on a summer evening when he heard a hand-organ on the street just below his window. The organ grinder was playing Sousa’s famous march, “The Stars & Stripes Forever.” But Sousa found himself greatly irritated by the way the song was slowly dragging out of the organ. Finally, he couldn’t stand it any longer and dashed down to the street. “Here, here,” he said to the slothful grinder, “that’s no way to play that march.” Then Sousa seized the handle of the organ and began working feverishly as the song’s proper power and purpose surged from the instrument. Afterwards, the grinder simply bowed low and smiled.

The next night Sousa heard the same hand-organ playing the same march again, but this time the tune was sounding forth in the right tempo. Mildly amused, Sousa looked out the window and to his surprise saw a great crowd gathered around the organ grinder. He went down to investigate and saw that the grinder had now placed a large card over his organ. At the top of the card, written in large letters, was the grinder’s name. Underneath his name, written in equally large letters, were the words: PUPIL OF JOHN PHILIP SOUSA.

The Bible has much to say about Christian discipleship, and the word “disciple” literally means “learner.” Sadly, even though every disciple is a Christian, every Christian is not a disciple. You see, there is a considerable difference between Jesus merely being your Savior (as eternally vital as that is) and Him being your Teacher. So tell me, Christian, can you truthfully write under your name “PUPIL OF JESUS CHRIST”? If you can’t, I’d say it’s past time you enrolled in school.

Posted in Discipleship, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Incredible Power of Showing Kindness

Posted on January 10, 2011 by russellmckinney

The Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, was once a world-renowned health resort. Opening its doors in 1866, the Sanitarium eventually grew into a massive complex that included a hospital, a nursing school, and multiple research facilities that were all designed to further the causes of health and wellness. The Sanitarium catered especially to the wealthy, and the likes of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, J.C. Penny, and Amelia Earhart spent time there.

The Sanitarium was a place where new (sometimes even controversial) treatments were tried. These included treatments involving hydrotherapy, electrotherapy, dietary nutrition, and physical exercise. Scientific experimentation also took place in the research facilities, and one story from those days was told by Dr. Carolyn Geisel, who became a noted speaker who traveled around the world to promote the work being done at the Sanitarium. Her story might seem a bit cruel to our modern sensibilities, but keep in mind that she and her coworkers were in the business of thinking outside the box in their efforts to figure out what makes for heath and wellness. Her story goes as follows:

There came to the building where we lived and worked the cutest little pup I ever saw. We all fell in love with him. He was so anxious to show us his appreciation of our affection that he wagged his tail with such enthusiasm that his whole body wagged along with it. He was the happiest pup I ever saw. We took him into the operating room, gave him an anesthetic, and probed the bone in one of his rear legs. The marrow was a beautiful pink, filled with red corpuscles. We carefully bound up the wound, and it healed almost overnight.

Then we passed the word around that no one was to smile at the pup or speak in a kind tone of voice for six weeks. We fed him as always, but nobody petted him or showed any affection. The poor little pup just wilted. He became the most forlorn little dog I ever saw. He crept into the dark corners, and his tail dragged the ground. We took him back to the operating room and examined the marrow in the same bone. It was a dark brownish color, and the red corpuscles were very scarce. It took the wound a long time to heal, despite the fact that we showered all of our pent-up affection on the little puppy. He responded very slowly to our overtones, and it took a long, long time to get him to wag his tail again. When his enthusiasm was finally restored, we took him again to the operating room and found the marrow in the bone was pink and beautiful again.

I really have no idea what correlation might exist between the color of a puppy’s bone marrow and how that pup is treated, but I do know that the Bible has a lot to say about being kind. This holds true especially in regards to Christianity. Consider the following passages (all from the N.K.J.V., emphasis mine):

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…(Ephesians 5:22-23)

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. (Colossians 3:12-13)

Love suffers long and is kind…(1 Corinthians 13:4)

Getting more specific, the book of Proverbs has a lot to say about the power of showing kindness in one’s speech. Here are five such verses:

The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life, But violence covers the mouth of the wicked. (Proverbs 10:11)

There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, But the tongue of the wise promotes health. (Proverbs 12:18)

A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, But perverseness in it breaks the spirit. (Proverbs 15:4)

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. (Proverbs 18:21)

She opens her mouth with wisdom, And on her tongue is the law of kindness. (Proverbs 31:26)

Keep both categories of verses in mind, Christian, as you deal with others. Show kindness in your actions and speak words of kindness that promote life rather than death. Even if you must rebuke someone — and, yes, that can be a way of showing kindness when done rightly (Galatians 2:11-14) — do it with the goal in mind of helping the person and making the situation better. To sum up, be kind in every situation, whatever form of kindness the situation needs. You just never know what effect you might have on someone’s marrow.

Posted in Character, Communication, Counsel, Criticism, Doing Good, Encouragement, Friendship, God's Work, Influence, Ministry, Problems, Reconciliation, The Tongue | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Hop of Faith

Posted on January 8, 2011 by russellmckinney

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21, N.K.J.V.)

I read about a very frustrated pastor who said to his congregation, “I’ve stopped expecting you to make leaps of faith, but it would be nice to see a hop now and then.” I can’t help but wonder if God doesn’t feel the same way about His people. Tell me, Christian, when was the last time you showed Him even a hop of faith, let alone a leap?

For example, think about the expectations you have for this new year. Do they fall under the category of “optimistic” or “pessimistic”? If you answer, “Pessimistic,” your faith in God surely isn’t what it needs to be.

You say, “But Russell, with everything that is going on in the world right now, how could anybody have much faith that this year is going to be a good one? Don’t you keep up with the news?” Well, yes, I do keep up with it, and I’m definitely aware that: gas prices are too high, grocery prices are soaring, the economy is lagging, the housing market is troubling, climate change is going to end civilization as we know it, etc., etc., etc. But here’s the thing: Despite it all, I’m also aware that God continues to reign over all creation from His throne in heaven.

Furthermore, I’m aware that if you are a true Christian, that same God is your loving heavenly FATHER. So, why should you be so doom-and-gloom about this upcoming year? Why not, instead, show God at least a hop of faith to prove that you think He’s going to do great and mighty things in your life this year? My guess is that He is tired of most of us (including Russell Mckinney) underestimating Him.

Posted in Attitude, Current Events, Faith, Fear, God's Love, God's Omnipotence, God's Provision, Grace, Needs, New Year, Problems, Trials, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment