{"id":34969,"date":"2023-02-04T03:30:38","date_gmt":"2023-02-04T11:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=34969"},"modified":"2023-02-02T10:29:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T18:29:31","slug":"february-4-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2023\/02\/04\/february-4-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"February 4, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-parallax-none nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-background-position:center top;--awb-background-repeat:repeat-y;--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-background-image:url(&quot;https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/2-February-2023.jpg&quot;);--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_6 1_6 fusion-one-sixth fusion-column-first\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;width:16.666666666667%;width:calc(16.666666666667% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.16666666666667 ) );margin-right: 4%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-1 fusion_builder_column_3_4 3_4 fusion-three-fourth fusion-column-last\" style=\"--awb-padding-top:40px;--awb-padding-right:10px;--awb-padding-bottom:40px;--awb-padding-left:10px;--awb-bg-size:cover;width:75%;width:calc(75% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.75 ) );\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\" style=\"--awb-text-transform:none;\"><div>\n<h2 class=\"Body\"><b>The Shadow of Death<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Body\" align=\"center\"><i>\u201cYea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death&#8230;\u201d <\/i>Psalm 23:4<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Body\">There is physical death, yet there are also other kinds of death\u2026 death to who I was, to life as I knew it, to the way it used to be, to the things I loved on this earth, the people, places, attitudes, habits and thoughts that were familiar and comforting&#8230;. I will still hope in the Lord, that He will make all things new and beautiful again, in His time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Body\"><i>Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death<\/i>&#8230; death to life as I hoped and dreamed it would be, to faithful friendships and relationships, to the little country cottage with a white picket fence, to birthing children who would care for me, and then happy grandchildren around my feet&#8230; I will trust the Lord\u2019s perfect will to be worked out in and through me, through any means He has chosen for me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Body\"><i>Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death&#8230; <\/i>death to my plans, to the things I worked so hard for that shriveled before my very eyes, to the perfect job, even to a particular ministry and calling&#8230; I will bow in submission to my heavenly Father who loves me. I will surrender to His will and His ways, and to what He is doing in me, for He is good.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Body\"><i>Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil<\/i>, for HE is with me; His rod and staff comfort me\u2014console me, extend compassion to me, show and prove deep empathy toward me. He weeps with me when I weep, and sighs with me when I sigh\u2014this is deep empathy. What affects me, affects Him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Body\">There are joyful days ahead of me, but today I feel a sting of the death of things that really must die within me. I gladly suffer the loss of all things <i>\u201cfor the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ\u201d<\/i> (Philippians 3:8).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Body\"><i>\u201cFor I will turn their mourning to joy, will comfort them, and make them rejoice rather than sorrow&#8230; And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord\u201d <\/i>(Jeremiah 31:13-14).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Body\" align=\"center\"><i>Dear Lord, help me to see my losses in this life as gains in Your kingdom, for there is nothing better than gaining You. In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-961","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34969"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34970,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34969\/revisions\/34970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}