{"id":34497,"date":"2022-11-04T03:30:09","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T10:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=34497"},"modified":"2022-11-01T11:46:41","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T18:46:41","slug":"november-4-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2022\/11\/04\/november-4-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"November 4, 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/p>\n

The Shaping<\/strong><\/h2>\n

“But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”<\/em> Isaiah 64:8<\/p>\n

A family member recently sent me some very old family photos.\u00a0Some were of my mother as a young woman.\u00a0Her husband died in surgery, and she was left with four children to raise on her own.\u00a0A few months later her father, who she was very close to, died. She had a hard life! I’ve always admired her walk with the Lord and her depth of prayer. I think it was born out of her difficult situations. It’s no wonder she prayed a lot\u2014she had to, to keep going!<\/p>\n

When she married my dad and I came along, I grew up watching my mother turn to the Lord time and time again in hard times.\u00a0I observed her faith and her prayer life.\u00a0She “mentored” me by her example.\u00a0When I’ve faced difficult times, I’ve known what to do because I saw how my mother had responded when faced with tragedy, financial challenges, family struggles. I saw how God helped her and met her needs time and time again.<\/p>\n

I read a poem recently:
\n“Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
\nSow an act, and you reap a habit;
\nSow a habit, and you reap a character;
\nSow a character, and you reap a destiny.”<\/p>\n

Our responses in the simple, everyday events of our lives shape us into who we are\u2014and who we will be as life goes on.\u00a0It’s not just one big forever choice, it’s many, many choices along the way.<\/p>\n

I look back over my life and see how God was shaping and forming me from my early childhood on.\u00a0Without that forming in my life, I don’t think I could have withstood the recent difficult years.\u00a0He prepared me for my “destiny.”<\/p>\n

“Character is formed by making choices in one direction.” I am so grateful for God’s hand on my life in helping me make choices towards Him.\u00a0He has lovingly prepared me for the things I have faced. I could not have made it without His guiding hand.\u00a0He is so faithful!<\/p>\n

Lord, You have had Your hand upon us all the days of our lives. Thank You for Your preparation in us for what we now are living, and for our future. In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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