May 16th, 2020

The Christians Choice - “To Always Rejoice”
   
            Some years ago, in Tyler, Texas, a tragic automobile accident left Katlyn White, a beautiful 16-year-old girl, a quadriplegic.  She was faced with a difficult choice at an early age.  She could let this circumstance ruin her or use it to reign with Christ.  She chose to look to God's Word and made Job 23:10 her life's verse: "He knoweth the way that I take; when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold".  For 40 years she has been confined to a wheelchair, but the chair does not define her.  The suffering and loss of mobility are not her focus.  She learned, even with diminished strength, that she could reach out to children and adults and minister Christ's love to them on the telephone. With a specially made device, she is able to hold the receiver and share the good news.  Clowns at area circuses carry her phone number to give to homeless children.  Many people call with the names of kids who need help.  She spends untold hours on the phone talking about Jesus.
 
            She has been hammered and forged, passed through the heat of affliction and pain again and again, but the product is finished, polished, and ready for each delicate task God gives her.  Her success has come through brokenness, which she turned around for the glory of God.  She chose to draw near to God in her physical tragedy."
 
Victor Franklin wisely said,
                           "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—To
                          choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, is to choose one's own way."
 
          Hated, betrayed, and forgotten by his friends, Joseph chose to praise God for His goodness. Beaten and wrongfully enslaved in prison-Paul and Silas chose to sing the choruses of heaven. Rejected, beaten and hung on a cross to die, Jesus looked upon his self-proclaimed enemies and pleaded, “Father forgive them”- then in joyous expectation shouted, “It is finished”.
 
               Christians today would do well to live out Paul’s admonition to the distressed believers at Philadelphia, “Rejoice in the Lord alway and again I say rejoice”.   You always have a choice…
    
              The Psalmist declared that no matter the circumstances we face nor our standing in life...let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.- Ps 68:3.   Choose today to fully  rejoice in the Lord!
 

                                           “Keep smiling - It makes everyone wonder what you're up to.”
 
 Pastor Rudy