"Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore." Psalm 105:4 Story: Worry or Rest? Wash the dishes, take out the trash, finish an email—Am

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"Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore." Psalm 105:4

worry-rest

Story: Worry or Rest?

Wash the dishes, take out the trash, finish an email—Amanda had more to do in life than there were hours left to do them. She tried to fall asleep, but sleep just wouldn’t come.

Her financial situation also weighed heavily on her mind. She had lost her job, and money was tight. The load of it all threatened to crush her.

Amanda got up and tiptoed to the edge of the nursery where her baby brother slept sweetly. Baby Jeremy didn’t feel any of the pressure she did. He didn’t know what tomorrow held—he just knew his parents would take care of him.

Amanda laughed as she tried to picture how worried Baby Jeremy would be if he knew all that he needed tomorrow. He needed so many things he couldn’t possibly get for himself—after all, he was just a baby, and babies can’t dress themselves or fix their own breakfast. But if he knew all he needed the next day and felt the impossibility of getting it, would he say what she’d been saying—that there was no way? Would he stay up late fretting too?

How silly that would be! Baby Jeremy had parents who loving took care of all his needs. He didn’t need to understand how his needs would all be met—it was enough to know his parents would take care of him.

Amanda stopped short in her train of thought. Didn’t she have a Heavenly Father caring for her too? A smile suddenly illuminated her face, and a weight fell from her shoulders. She could curl up and rest, even without answers, just like Baby Jeremy, confident that her Heavenly Father had it all under control.

"Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Matthew 6:30-34

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riverindesert

Thought: Rivers in the Deserts, Not Ways Around Them

Life sometimes gets hard. Things we don’t want to happen occur. Our plans vaporize. We find ourselves exactly where we never wanted to be—or perhaps we have to sit by and watch a loved one suffer.

Yet God gives rivers in the deserts of life. We want a way around them—for ourselves and for our loved ones. But God doesn’t promise to take us around the deserts of life—instead He promises to give us life-giving, refreshing rivers in the midst of them. Many times it’s in the desert—in those hard times—we learn to receive His miraculous provision and strength.

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19

Whatever you’re facing, whether it's a big or comparatively small hardship, choose to thank God. Thank Him because it can help show you His provision. Thank Him for working it together for your good (Romans 8:28). Thank Him that He knows what it is to suffer—that He came and suffered on the cross so we would one day get to live again with Him in a perfect world. Thank Him for using suffering to refine and work eternal glory we cannot even comprehend (2 Corinthians 4:17), even though suffering was not part of His original creation but came as a result of the fall (Genesis 1:31, Romans 5:12). Thank God for how He has proven His faithfulness to you in the past (or thank Him for His faithfulness throughout Scripture—how He provided manna in the wilderness, how He preserved His people in Babylon, how He sent the Messiah, Jesus, etc.), and know that He will be faithful to keep and guide you through this too.

As you choose to “rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16), you’ll find the refreshing streams of His strength and joy in the middle of life’s challenges.

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Teaching Problem-Solving Skills Through Summer Projects
A great way to help your students learn problem-solving skills is to give them opportunities to use math outside a textbook, guiding them through figuring out what information they know, what they need to know, and what steps they can take to get from one to the other. And summertime is a great time of year to work on problem solving! Check out the latest post for some summertime math project ideas.

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Hymn/Poem: Father! I Know

Anna L. Waring (1850). Found in Living Hymns: For Use in the Sabbath School, Christian Endeavor Meetings, the Church & Home. (Compiled by John Wanamaker. Published by John J. Hood, 1890.) Author’s name and last two verses found on The Cyber Hymnal.

Father! I know that all my life
Is portioned out for me;
The changes that will surely come
I do not fear to see;
I ask thee for a present mind, intent on pleasing thee.

I ask thee for a thoughtful love,
Through constant watching wise,
To meet the glad with joyful smiles,
And wipe the weeping eyes;
A heart at leisure from itself
To soothe and sympathize

I ask thee for the daily strength,
To none that ask denied,
A mind to blend with outward life,
While keeping at thy side,
Content to fill a little space,
If thou be glorified.

And if some things I do not ask
Among my blessings be,
I’d have my spirit filled the more
With grateful love to thee;
More careful not to serve thee much,
But please thee perfectly.

There are briers besetting every path
That call for patient care;
There is a cross in every lot,
And an earnest need for prayer;
But a lowly heart that leans on Thee
Is happy anywhere.

In a service which Thy will appoints
There are no bonds for me;
For my inmost heart is taught “the truth”
That makes Thy children “free.”
And a life of self renouncing love
Is a life of liberty.

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