WE EXPECTED TO DIE
“I think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia.
We were crushed and completely overwhelmed, and we thought we would never live through it.
In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we learned not to rely on ourselves, but on God who can raise the dead.
And he did deliver us from mortal danger.
And we are confident that he will continue to deliver us.
He will rescue us because you are helping by praying for us.
As a result, many will give thanks to God because so many people’s prayers for our safety have been answered.”
Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11
What more would I want to add to that. Powerful Stuff!!! What does this mean to you?
My first honest thought is that it’s pretty silly when we worry about our reputations being ruined by someone saying something bad about you or worry that we’ll look bad to someone else for helping out someone who’s homeless.
Our Christian walk in America can be pretty superficial.
Paul gets me everytime I read one of his letters! Who would have thought that something written so long ago would hit me so hard today! God really does transcend time…
This challenges me to search for the ways that God provides for me and protects me. But more than that, it challenges me to LET God provide for me and protect me. After all, I believe that we do have a choice as to how much we let God into our lives. Its an independence thing…its a stubborn thing…its a pride thing. Don’t get me wrong, I choose to serve the Lord everyday in my actions, words and thoughts but a relationship is a two-sided thing and sometimes i simply choose not to receive the other side.
So today I am going to lay it all down and choose to LET God protect me and provide for me and I hope that I can choose the same tomorrow.
Wow! I love this! And it dovetails perfectly with a blogpost I just finished this afternooon. Yep, I’m going to go back and add this portion of Scripture. Thanks for sharing!!! Blessings, Mary