A Break for 'Tea'

Finally, I'm getting to some more recent photos...at least they were taken this calendar year.  I love these pictures. I always like pictures of little ones and their tea sets.

It is late and one thing I read today would be very meaningful to anyone at certain times of their lives. I am copying it from a newsletter I received from Rick Warren this morning. I would suggest everyone read it.  If you don't need it right now, there will come a time that it could mean a whole lot to you.  It can be a big comfort sometimes just knowing why things are happening as they are and that it is for your own good...

Rick Warren...

“Then the man said, ‘Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!’ But Jacob 

said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me’”(Genesis 32:26 NLT).

Obviously, when God and Jacob entered their wrestling match, God 

could have overpowered Jacob and ended things instantly. Why did 

God let the struggle go on?

Here’s the lesson: When God allows a crisis into your life, he doesn’t

solve it immediately. He lets it go on for a while because he wants to 

see if you’re really serious about seeking him. If God answered every 

prayer immediately, you’d begin to think God was a big vending machine: 

Put in a prayer, pull out whatever you need.

I can’t tell you how many people say, “Rick, I am praying for a financial 

miracle in my life. I am so in debt and I’m praying for a financial miracle.” 

I sometimes want to say, “Did you get in debt supernaturally?” The truth 

is often no. Some people have poor financial habits that keep them stuck 

in debt. Your debt may be the result of foolish decisions. You may have 

spent more money than you were making. Or maybe you didn’t save for 

the lean times that inevitably come in life. Or maybe you didn’t use your 

money wisely.

Why should God just bail you out? If God just instantly bailed you out of a 

financial crisis rooted in your poor choices, then tomorrow you’d go out 

and overspend again. You wouldn’t learn discipline, or money management, 

or wisdom, or persistence. God is not just going to bail you out of the debt 

you got yourself into; he will help you get out of debt, but he wants to build 

your character in the process.

If you’re in a crisis right now, hang in there! Don’t give up. Don’t run from it. 

Don’t try to escape. Most problems you have in your life didn’t get there 

overnight. You may have worked years getting yourself into this mess. 

You may have some ingrained patterns, bad responses, and wrong habits 

that have built up over the years. So God isn’t going to remove those all at 

once. It’s kind of like peeling an onion; he takes it off one layer at a time. 

But here’s the hope. God is with you and he is for you. When you ask God 

for help, and trust him to provide, you will experience the peace of his 

wisdom and blessing.