{"id":35445,"date":"2023-06-11T03:30:25","date_gmt":"2023-06-11T10:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=35445"},"modified":"2023-06-08T09:32:15","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T16:32:15","slug":"june-11-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2023\/06\/11\/june-11-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"June 11, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 has-pattern-background has-mask-background 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\/05\/June-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\"><h2><strong>Prison of Purpose<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>\u201cFor as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.\u201d<\/em> Isaiah 55:9<\/p>\n<p>I recently watched an animated movie about the life of Joseph. It was very well done and though it left out some details, it was fairly accurate. My favorite event of \u201cartistic license\u201d was a scene of Joseph in prison. He planted and tenderly tended a broken sapling until it grew into a rather large, beautiful tree inside the prison walls. Joseph found a purpose as he waited for what God would do next.<\/p>\n<p>A few days later I read in my favorite devotional <em>Jesus Lives*<\/em>\u00a0by Sarah Young:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>To trust Me wholeheartedly, you must rest in My sovereignty: My absolute control over the universe. When circumstances seem to be spinning out of control, it\u2019s essential to believe I know what I am doing. I orchestrate every event of your life\u2014including suffering and loss\u2014to benefit you in this world and the next.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>What comfort I felt, for I have recently been going through loss and change, and my life had begun to feel like a \u201cprison.\u201d Just like Joseph, I want to find purpose and favor in the midst of the \u201cprison.\u201d I think my attitude while going through the suffering and loss can either help or hinder my \u201csentence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>How about you? Has your life been spinning out of control? Are you in a \u201cprison\u201d of sorts? Will you begin to believe God knows what He is doing as He orchestrates every event of your life?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Father, thank You that You are in absolute control of our lives. Help us to trust You as You take us through our \u201cprisons\u201d of loss and suffering. We want all of it to benefit us in this world and the world to come. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n<h6>*Young, Sarah. <em>Jesus Lives. <\/em>Thomas Nelson. 4 June 2012.<\/h6>\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-35445","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-9dH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35445","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=35445"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35446,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35445\/revisions\/35446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}