"I Can Do Everything Through CHRIST Who Gives Me Strength!"

We might find it filled with 
sharp thorns under the flowers!

(J.R. Miller)

"Then HE said to them all:
If anyone desires to come after ME,
let him deny himself, and take up
his cross daily, and follow ME."
Luke 9:23

It is our own cross,

and not some other man's--

which we are to take up.

It is the particular cross that

GOD lays at our own feet, which

we are to bear. We are never

to make crosses for ourselves--

but we are always to accept

those which our heavenly

FATHER has allotted to us.

Each one's own cross--

is the best for him.

Sometimes we think that our

circumstances are peculiarly

hard, and we compare it with

the circumstances of this or

that other person, and wish we

had his cross instead of our own.

But we do not know what other

people's crosses really are.

If we did, we might not want

to exchange. If we put that

cross which seems woven

of flowers on our shoulders--

we might find it filled with s

harp thorns under the flowers! 

That cross of gold which 

seems so bright--

we would find so heavy 

that it would crush us!

The easiest cross for each 

one of us to bear, is our own! 

"Brothers, each man, as 
responsible to GOD should 
remain in the situation which 
GOD called him to!" 
1 Corinthians 7:24 

"I have learned to be content 
whatever the circumstances. 
I know what it is to be in need, 
and I know what it is to have 
plenty. I have learned the secret 
of being content in any and every 
situation, whether well fed or hungry, 
whether living in plenty or in poverty. 
I can do everything through CHRIST 
who gives me strength!" Philippians 4:11-13

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GraceGems has published Timothy Shay Arthur's short story,
"What's in a Name?" Read this before you name your new baby.