9-11 God didn’t set us up for an angry rejection but for salvation by our Master, Jesus Christ. He died for us, a death that triggered life. Whether we’re awake with the living or asleep with the dead, we’re alive with him! So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you’re already doing this; just keep on doing it.
1st Thessalonians 5:9-11 (The Message)
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I recently went away on a trip to Germany to visit my lovely girlfriend Corrie. The flights I had booked with a known low-cost airline were going to leave Stansted Airport very early in the morning. Since I live in South Wales it is quite a trip to London Stansted and I wouldn’t have been able to travel there over night.
My initial plan was to stay at some friend’s house in Hammersmith. But on the day before the flight departure, I realised that Hammersmith is quite a distance away from Stansted Airport and staying with my friends over night wouldn’t have made much sense in terms of saving travel time. So I initially opted for spending the night at the airport, which I had done a few times in the past.
Later on that day I prayed over my decision and felt that Father didn’t want me to spend the night on the airport and felt to look for a reasonable priced Bed and Breakfast accommodation. I didn’t really think I would be able to find any on such short notice. It was meant to be for the evening of that same day.
But after only 2 to 3 minutes of looking I actually found a place very close to Stansted Airport. The reviews were mostly positive and the pictures looked promising. The price was very low for the area and my short notice booking. I gave them a call and reserved my single room and also booked transport from and to the airport for a very cheap fee.
I arrived at the airport after a long train journey and contacted the B&B to be picked up from there. A silver van collected a few other people and myself and drove us away for a few minutes. We stopped at a large 3 star country hotel site and I thought the driver would just let out the other guests and bring me to the B&B after. I was surprised to hear him tell me that this was meant to be my destination, too. He told me it was my lucky day and my booking had been upgraded.
Elated I entered the hotel and double checked the fee on the bill. It was the same and I was happy to provide payment details. I was given my room keys and it was actually an Executive Double Room. A bright and airy room with large windows, a nice big bed, a separate working space and a huge bath room you could have danced in. I was absolutely stunned and happy and just couldn’t stop thanking God for His wonderful provision. I felt treated like a king.
The next morning I woke up after a nice rest in a very comfortable bed. I later went to the restaurant for a quick, continental breakfast. As I sat down to have my food, I noticed huge wall painting on the opposite site of the room. The painting was showing scenes from the Paradise. Adam and Eve, animals and plants. I smiled to myself and burst into laughter. Must have looked a bit weird to the other guests at 5:15 in the morning.
After I saw that painting, I really knew who had organised that royal treatment for me that night.
Thank you Papa God!
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Like I do every morning on my way to work I walked past this old farm, which has grown derelict over the years as it’s owner has passed away heirless. Part of this farm is a huge garden that must have been very beautiful once. It’s been going to rack and ruin for a few years now and has become a real jungle. Somehow it has become my custom to let my eyes wander across the main house who’s windows are long boarded up, the barn’s portico and let them come to rest at the front garden.
This one morning I unexpectedly had this familiar fragrance in my nose that belonged to a flower I know quite well. I turned around and could not imagine finding anything worth looking at in these solitude surroundings. But I found a bush of common lilac that seemed to bloom despite all the scrub and weeds around it. I took a deep breath full of that subtle fragrance and felt the Lord speak to me.
In the middle of our lives that so often appear to be just like an empty desert without anything worth looking at or paying special attention to; God is still doing something special. We read in Isaiah 43:19: „See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.“
May we allow ourselves to walk through life with open eyes and pay attention to how our Heavenly Father speaks into our lives, blesses us and fills our desert with new life. How He intervenes in situations that appear to be impossible to get out of, refreshes us with streams of living water and lets us see His beauty in it’s full measure. <><
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glorycorrie & potamos 