Dearly Beloved,

IF NOT FOR GOD...

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his
compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your
faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23, NIV).

We are already in the eight month of the year. Have you ever looked
back to see what God has done in your life this very year? I did, and
I realized that if not for God, especially for His faithfulness over
my life, probably I would have been no more by now.

I have a first cousin that grew together with me. Our intimacy then
made people to refer to us as "husband and wife." However, marital and
other commitments of life kept both of us away from each other for
many years, though we do communicate regularly on phone. Her recent
visit to my family was a reminiscence of our childhood years. We
looked back to when we were growing up and now that both of us are
happily married with children. We discussed our experiences in the
past years. As a practicing nurse, she recounted many experiences of
dying people who died in her presence. She noted that many of such
people were younger to her in age. What normally comes to her mind
whenever such people die is that what makes her better than these
people that makes God to still preserve her life until the present. I
also looked back and remembered many times I have travelled especially
on the dangerous road from my school. Why has God preserved me from
all sorts of dreaded accidents that have claimed the lives of many
people? My cousin and I concluded that it is the grace of God that
makes us to still be alive today. If not for God's faithfulness and
grace, we would have been consumed by the storm of life!

If you look back, you will see many things that God has done in your
life. In that popular hymn, "Count Your Blessings," Johnson Oatman,
Jr. wrote, "When you look at others with their lands and gold ...
count your many blessings money cannot buy.... Count your blessings,
name them one by one; Count your blessings, See what God has done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your many blessings,
see what God has done."

If not for God's faithfulness and grace....

In His service,

Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).


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_________________________
Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).
+234 805 515 9591
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spiritualdigest2003/

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will
have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted
in my body, whether by life or by death. FOR TO ME, TO LIVE IS CHRIST
AND TO DIE IS GAIN" (Philippians 1:20-21, NIV).