This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Thank you for reading the blog this week. I hope that everyone has had a good week.
I am still looking for a different job that won't make me so nervous. Please keep praying for me in that regard. I got really nervous on Monday and I had to leave work early. Please pray that I won't get nervous like that again.
The book is coming along very well. I hope to have that ready in the not too distant future. I think that it will be good. I know that I have worked very hard in preparing it.
I would like to ask everyone who reads the blog to please pray for those in Louisiana who are facing the terrible flooding. Pray that they will receive the aid and the help that they need. Also pray for those whose lives have been damaged as a result of the fires in California. Pray that these fires might be extinguished and people will get the help that they need.
In my part of the country, they are predicting some very bad storms once again. Please pray that these storms won't cause any damage. We need a little rain, but we don't need any damaging winds.
Please continue to pray for the safety of the Olympics. Also, continue to pray for peace in the world. Let's focus our prayers on Syria this week.
For our prayer focus countries, pray for the nations of Indonesia and Jordan that many people in these nations might hear the message of Jesus.
As you probably know, we have been going through two different series of messages over the course of the Summer. One of our series is focusing on the Ten Commandments, and we will return to that series next week. Our other series focuses on some of the lessons that the Lord taught me through the animals that He brought into my life.
Today, we will continue with our lessons from the animals series. During the course of this particular series, I've brought three previous messages on what I learned through my best friend Toby. I would like to focus on one final lesson that Toby taught me in this series. Of course, there is a lot more that the Lord taught me through Toby, but I am going to save that for another time.
One thing that you need to know about my friend Toby is that he had very poor health. In that regard, the two of us were very much alike. Toby had a number of health problems the most serious of which was his lifelong battle against ulcerative colitis. He would get so sick from this before we got him on the right treatments. I had to stay up with him several nights.
In addition to colitis, Toby also had some problems with his immune system that caused him to have problems in various parts of his body. This was so strange because we found out that Toby had the exact same immune problem that I have. He often had problems with his kidneys.
Thanks to the Lord providing us with a great veterinarian, and with a lot of prayer, (Thank you Lord) Toby lived to be 13 and one-half years old. No one,except me, thought that he would live anywhere near that long.
One lesson that I learned from Toby through his many health concerns was that you can't let things get you down. I certainly haven't learned this lesson to the full yet. Sometimes when I face hard times, I do feel like giving up. However, I can look at how my old friend reacted, and it helps me to keep going.
No matter how sick he became, Toby never let it get him down. He was always a great dog and a good friend to me even when he didn't feel good. Even when he was really sick with a kidney problem, he was on guard warning us when some people on drugs were messing around in the backyard. He lived life to the fullest right up until the day before he passed away. He always found something to be happy about.
Life can be hard to handle at times. I know that from first hand experience. It is easy to get depressed.
The Bible tells us that whatever circumstance we might find ourselves in, we can still be thankful and we can still find contentment. Verses for this include Philippians 4:11 and I Thessalonians 5:18.
For me, being able to give thanks and being able to find contentment even in the midst of hard times comes through focusing on Jesus. Looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith is the key to making it through this life.
No matter what we are facing, we always have something to be thankful for and we always have something to find contentment in. We can rejoice in the fact that Jesus is Lord. We can recall the good things the Lord has done for us. We can be happy in the knowledge that Jesus will never leave us or forsake us.
I haven't had very good health during my life. I've experienced some other times of great difficulty. The only way that I've made it through is because I have the ultimate hope in Jesus. I know that He is with me, and I know that He will help me to make it through. I know that one day I will be with Him for all eternity.
Love also helps you make it through the hard times. If you have friends and family that you love and care about, that will help you even in the hardest times. The love of family and friends is the most important thing that you can have in this world next to a relationship with the Lord Jesus.
I think that Toby was able to keep going all those years in spite of what others thought because he cared a lot about me and he knew that I cared about him. That made me want to be there for others to help them in hard times.
Try not to let life and bad things get you down. I know that it is hard. Keep your focus on Jesus. Pray that He will give you a special awareness of his presence when you are facing times of great difficulty. Also, rely on the love of family and friends when facing hardship. Also, when you are facing difficulties, find someone else who is experiencing difficulty and try to help them. By helping others, you will often find that you are helping yourself as well.
I am so thankful that the Lord gave me my friend Toby to help me through some very hard times in my life. I learned a lot from him. A couple of years ago, I posted many excerpts from a book I wrote about Toby here on the blog. You can go back and read those posts if you would like. They are not of a religious nature, they just tell about some of the good times that we had, some of the fun things that we used to do and some of the trips we went on. You may enjoy reading some of those stories.
Next week, I will post two more memory verses on Monday. I will try to have a review on Wednesday, but I am not sure about that yet. For the sermon next week, we will continue with our series on the Ten Commandments. May God bless you all. Amen.
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