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2 Timothy 2:11-13
11 This is a sure thing: If we die with him, we’ll live with him; 12 If we stick it out with him, we’ll rule with him; If we turn our backs on him, he’ll turn his back on us; 13 If we give up on him, he does not give up— for there’s no way he can be false to himself. (MSG)

What is the difference between giving up and turning you back on someone? I read today’s verses and that is the first thing that came to my mind. Here is what I came up with. . .

If you turn you back on someone (or deny them) it is often temporary. You just walk away, but you don’t deny they exist. You may still see them, talk to them, or even think about them. However, you do not want anything to do with them at that time and you certainly will not help them out right then.

If you give up on someone (or loose faith), you are finished. You walk away forever or at least until you gain faith in them again. You have no hope in them. You walk around as if they don’t exist.

So you see, if turn or back on or deny God, He is prepared to deny us as well. He will walk away and leave us be until we are ready to turn back around. What He won’t do is give up on or lose faith in us. He will never give up on us. He will always be there waiting for us. He loves us way too much to do that. How much do you love Him?

Lord thank You for never giving up on me. ~amen

Copyright © 2021 Tabetha Frick All Rights Reserved

Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Today is my last day of work. My husband recently took a full time position that gave us medical benefits and I was able to retire early. Last night, I got a not so good shock. I went to balance my checkbook because I usually get paid the last of the month and pay all my bills on the first of the month. I was counting on this last check to pay September’s bills. We had used most of my husband’s check to pay off somethings. The check was not there and my paystub said 0.00. I began to panic. THEN, I remembered to pray. God reminded me to be thankful and He was in control.

You see God had already provided. I had more than enough to cover what I needed in my savings and we had received some money earlier than we expected from another source. So, yes I still need to find out what is going on with my check, but I had no reason to worry. God was on the case! I usually concentrate on the don’t be anxious part of this verse. I can say I won’t always be like this, but today, I am choosing to thankfully present my request to God!

Lord, thank You for always having a plan. ~Amen

Copyright © 2021 Tabetha Frick All Rights Reserved

Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Do you ever feel like your straight paths seem to have a lot of forks in the roads? I really like the Message version of verse Proverbs 3:6, “Listen for GOD’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.” God didn’t promise no forks in the roads, He promised to help you choose which road!

I know this is a shocker, but even Christians have trials and troubles in their lives. We just have a hope to get us through them. We also have God to turn to when we need to make decisions. As a matter of fact, we are told to trust in Him and not try to figure everything out on our own. This sometimes presents a problem for all of us. We don’t feel like God is working fast enough or even in the direction we want to go. Good thing for us, when we come to our senses, He is right there ready to straighten us out and our path!

Lord remind me when I come to a fork in the road, I am not in this alone and You are there to help me make my choices. ~amen

Copyright © 2021 Tabetha Frick All Rights Reserved

Colossians 4:5-6
5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

What would happen if everyone learned to speak with grace, seasoned with salt? Wait? What? Seasoned with salt? What in the heck does that mean?

Salt has been used for just about everything. If you don’t believe me check out the tips for using it on the Morton Salt Company’s website. It has been used for everything from preserving meat, adding taste, removing stains to healing a sore throat. Hmmm. . . those things could apply to a conversation. Shouldn’t we preserve our relationships, make them enjoyable, remove anything that stains them and promote healing? OK, so maybe salt does make sense.

Before you throw words out of your mouth at someone, anyone, ask yourself have I salted those words yet. Will these words preserve, add taste, remove stains or heal? If not you may want to go back to the cupboard before speaking!

Lord, please help me to be a little salty! ~amen

Copyright © 2021 Tabetha Frick All Rights Reserved

1 John 4:19-21
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

My family is very familiar with hearing me say, “I love you. I just don’t like you right now.” That phrase is easy to say about people we truly love. It is not so easy to say about people we really don’t like. Think of people who have hurt you or your family. Can you honestly say, I love you? Hard isn’t it.

This love God requires of us does not mean we have to be besties. To be honest, we don’t even have to know the person, let alone like them. What God does want us to do is be willing to forgive them, be willing to pray for them, and never shut the door on them. Again, I don’t mean you have to just let them in your life. One of my friends told me once, “We can keep the door open, but it doesn’t mean we can’t have a screen door!”

Loving others doesn’t mean they are part of your life. It means not seeking vengeance or wishing harm. You may not be there yet. Ask God to help you to be willing to be willing to love, It is a step and God will honor it.

Lord I need help being willing to be willing to love some people. I am trying. ~amen

Copyright © 2021 Tabetha Frick All Rights Reserved

1 John 4:11-12
11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

I always laugh when God hits me with the same verses or ideas in more then one of my bible studies for the day. I want to look up and say, “Yes, God I hear You loud and clear!” Today seems to be one of those days.

I look at these verses and I am reminded that God doesn’t discriminate between sinners or saints when it comes to His love. We are instructed to love one another just as God loves us. Boy, isn’t it good that it is not the other way around. I mean isn’t it awesome that God doesn’t choose to love us only when we are doing what He wants us to do or when we make Him happy. No, He loves us all of the time.

So, guess what? Yep! I don’t care how angry someone has made you, you need to find love in your heart. That love will lead to forgiveness. That forgiveness will set you free and make you complete! I can guarantee that will make God happy!

Lord help me love like you love. ~amen

Copyright © 2021 Tabetha Frick All Rights Reserved

James 1:13-14
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.

Do you ever read a verse and get hung up on a word? I did today. The word is ‘dragged’. I have never pictured myself as being dragged away by my own evil desire, enticed yes, but not dragged. As a matter of fact, I kind of always imagined me jumping right in, head first without a care in the world when I give into my temptation. Then the consequences set in after I hit the bottom.

This explains Paul’s statement in Romans 7:19 “For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” It portrays this eternal conflict going on inside of you. It isn’t just a passive desire that you give up and give in. Your human nature drags you away from doing what is good and right.

I don’t know about you, but that makes me want to fight all the more. No one drags me around! It is time to stand up and fight for yourself. Those evil desires are not dragging this girl anywhere!

Lord, I choose to fight and not be dragged away by evil desire. Help me train! ~amen

Copyright © 2021 Tabetha Frick All Rights Reserved

Philippians 1:3-6
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

I am blessed with some very special Christian women in my life. They are my anchors and my life lines. I thank God every time I remember them. I know that we are constantly in each others prayers. I know, in each of our lives, we have been to that place where we asked God, “Why?” I can say with all confidence we will continue to face those days until we ourselves get to Heaven.

I know the last thing you want to hear when you are faced with a bad medical visit, financial ruin, a wayward child, or unfaithful spouse, is just keep going. On the other hand, these brave women in my life have encouraged me to just do that. Days I didn’t want to get out of bed, they helped me take one step at a time. Just keep moving!

I hope you have someone in your life like that. Please know I am here. I would be happy to be God’s arms and legs. I would be happy to be your Dory and remind you to “Just keep swimming!” I am confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Lord help me to remember you have it all in your control, and to just keep swimming! ~amen

Copyright © 2021 Tabetha Frick All Rights Reserved

John 5:17
But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” (NLT)

Nope! I am not going to sleep! I refuse to close my eyes! You are probably thinking these are the words of a child. They aren’t. They are mine. My PTSD often leaves me with nights like this. Nights where I know if I close my eyes the ‘monsters’ will come. What if I don’t wake up this time? What if I get stuck there? I know this sounds strange to all of you blessed with a normal brain. However, am I really that far off your thoughts when something has you worried or upset?

It doesn’t matter if you are facing depression, anxiety, panic, PTSD, stress, worry, or fear we can all look at today’s verse for courage. We can rest in our fear because God is still working. He does not stop. This is the very idea we stand on when we hope for a better day. We know the Son always rises because God never stops working. So take a deep breath. Let go and fall. I promise God will catch you because He is always on duty!

Lord, I trust You. I am learning to let go and fall into Your arms. Thank You for being patient with me. ~ amen

Copyright © 2021 Tabetha Frick All Rights Reserved

Matthew 24:4-7
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

Every decade has its people saying we are in the end times. Well I may not be very popular with my next statement, but….. they were all right. We have been in the ends times since Jesus stepped off this Earth. I can’t say if times have gotten worse in my life but we certainly have our unique problems. We certainly have had wars and rumors of wars. More than one person has stepped up believing themselves to be the chosen one. Nations rise against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms every day. Oh yes we are still facing famines and earthquakes in various places. We are still in the end times.

One thing people often overlook in these verses is “Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.” We can’t stop any of this. As a matter of fact, we are told to not be alarmed. We do what we do best, watch, worship, disciple, pray, and live out our days. We don’t know the moment Jesus will come again. We don’t know when we will be called home. We just need to live every moment we are given as if there was no next one.

Lord thank You for having time in your hands. I don’t want to take a single second for granted. ~amen

Copyright © 2021 Tabetha Frick All Rights Reserved