Grace......

Sufficiency of Grace

Careless drivers often push their automobiles beyond their designated capabilities and the poor vehicle chugs and chugs until the motor finally dies. Daring and foolish engineers will put too much pressure on their boilers, or try to force more power from an engine than it can provide. But our Master guarantees that tasks shall be balanced with the precise strength we possess. Psalm 103:14 (ESV) For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. He will not be less merciful to us than the merciful man is to his beast. He knows the exact pressure we can stand, for He has made us; He knows the utmost load we can lift, and will not suffer us to be tried, tested, above what we are able (1 Cor. 10:13). 1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV)  No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. He is a Faithful Creator, because He is an abiding Sustainer. 

                                                     Practical Bible Illustrations from Yesterday and Today

I love these particular words from the Illustration above, “He knows the exact pressure we can stand, for He has made us; He knows the utmost load we can lift, and will not suffer us to be tried, tested, above what we are able. Many have been the times over the years when I have truly tried to convince God that His idea of how much pressure, testing, etc. I could handle and my idea of how much pressure and testing I could handle were not the same (smile), of course hoping to win Him over to my way of seeing it. I suspect if many of you were being honest you have had that discussion, too, somewhere along the road. I praise God for His Sovereignty that acts for our good and is not moved by our assessment of any given situation. I praise Him that He knows the exact amount of pressure we can stand and the utmost load we can lift.  I also praise Him that He equips us with just the perfect measure of Grace and Mercy to deal with things as we are tried and tested, thus leaving us once again to be in awe of His Sufficiency. 

I wanted to let you know that we have put Burkina Faso on hold as of last week. At first we thought maybe warfare but as time continued I honestly couldn't decide what was going on. So, I asked the Pure Joy executive staff to pray with me for 1 week very intentionally not taking into consideration Ebola, difficulty of procuring a location, etc. but strictly asking God were we to be there or not come January, 2015. The question isn't what does it look like in the physical; the question is what is God doing in the spiritual realm and is it His timing or not for us to be there. We held a conference call at the end of the week on Saturday. As a result of that time together we agreed that we weren't getting a "no" or a “yes" in regard to going. So, we will wait on the LORD until He directs our spirits otherwise. Tanzania is continuing to move forward. We are in a good place with one of the most important things left to do.... raise money for the support of the missionary women. We have 14 missionary women sponsored as of this writing - so 36 more to go. As always I ask you to prayerfully seek God on sponsorship.

  

Love you all,

His,

Vickie