October 2: Today my life began. My parents do not know it yet. I am as small as the pollen of a flower, but it is I already. I will be a girl. I will have blonde hair and blue eyes. Nearly everything is settled already-even that I shall love birds.

October 19: I have grown a little, but I am still too small to do anything by myself. My mother does everything for me, although she still does not know that she is carrying me under her heart. But I am a real person just as a crumb of bread is still real bread. My mother exists, and I do too.

October 23: My mouth is just now beginning to open. Just think-in a year or so I'll be laughing, and later I'll start to talk. My first word will be "mama."

October 25: Today my heart began to beat. It will beat softly for the rest of my life, never stopping. After many years it will tire and stop. Then I shall die.

November 2: I am growing continually. My arms and legs are taking shape, but I must wait a long time before these tiny legs will raise me to my mother's arms; before these little arms will be able to conquer the earth and befriend people.

November 12: Tiny fingers are beginning to form on my hands. How small they are. One day I'll stroke my mother's hair and tell her how nice she is.

November 20: Only today the doctor told my mother that I'm living here under her heart. How happy she must be! Are you happy, mother?

November 25: My mother and father are probably thinking about a name for me. And they don't even know that I am a little girl, so they are probably calling me "Andy." But I want to be called Barbara. I am growing so big.

December 10: My hair is growing. It is as bright and shiny as the sun. I wonder what kind of hair my mother has.

December 13: My eyes are almost fully developed, although the lids are still shut. When mother brings me into the world it will be full of sunshine and overflowing with flowers. I have never seen a flower, you know, but more than anything I want to see my mother. How do you look, mother?

December 24: My fingers and toes are fully formed. Even my nails are beginning to develop.

December 26: I wonder if my mother hears the delicate beat of my heart? Some children are born with sickly hearts, and then the gentle fingers of the doctor perform miracles to make them healthy. But my heart is healthy. It beats so evenly: tup-tup, tup-tup. You shall have a healthy daughter, mother.

December 28: Today my mother killed me.

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God says, "Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him."
-Psalm 127:3

The Psalmist wrote, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
-Psalm 139:14-16

Isaiah said, "Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name... And now the LORD says-- he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength--"
-Isaiah 49:1,5

God said about Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
-Jeremiah 1:5

God says, "...your sin will find you out."
-Numbers 32:23b

One day, I woke early in the morning to watch the sunrise.
Ah the beauty of God's creation is beyond description.
As I watched, I praised God for His beautiful work.
As I sat there, I felt the Lord's presence with me.
He asked me, "Do you love me?"
I answered,
"Of course, God! You are my Lord and Saviour!"
*******************************************

Then He asked, "If you were physically handicapped, would you still love me?" I was perplexed. I looked down upon my arms, legs and the rest of my body and wondered how many things I wouldn't; be able to do, the things that I took for ranted.

And I answered, "It would be tough Lord, but I would still love You." *******************************************

Then the Lord said,
"If you were blind, would you still love my creation?"

How could I love something without being able to see it?
Then I thought of all the blind people in the world and how many of them still loved God and His creation.

So I answered, "Its hard to think of it, but I would still love you."
*******************************************

The Lord then asked me, "If you were deaf, would you still listen to my word?" How could I listen to anything being deaf?

Then I understood. Listening to God's Word is not merely using our ears, but our hearts.

I answered, "It would be tough, but I would still listen to Your word."
*******************************************

The Lord then asked, "If you were mute, would you still praise My Name?"
How could I praise without a voice?
Then it occurred to me: God wants us to sing from our very heart and soul. It never matters what we sound like.
And praising God is not always with a song, but when we are persecuted, we give God praise with our words of thanks.

So I answered, "Though I could not physically sing, I would still praise Your Name.
*******************************************

And the Lord asked, "Do you really love Me?"
With courage and a strong conviction, I answered boldly,
"Yes Lord! I love You because You are the one and true God!"
I thought I had answered well, but God asked, "THEN WHY DO YOU SIN?"
I answered, "Because I am only human. I am not perfect."
"THEN WHY IN TIMES OF PEACE DO YOU STRAY THE FURTHEST? WHY ONLY IN TIMES OF TROUBLE DO YOU PRAY THE EARNEST?"

No answers. Only tears.
The Lord continued: "Why only sing at fellowships and retreats? Why seek Me only in times of worship? Why ask things so selfishly? Why ask things so unfaithfully?"

The tears continued to roll down my cheeks.
*******************************************

"Why are you ashamed of Me? Why are you not spreading the good news? Why in times of persecution, you cry to others when I offer My shoulder to cry on? Why make excuses when I give you opportunities to serve in My Name?"

I tried to answer, but there was no answer to give.
"You are blessed with life. I made you not to throw this gift away. I have blessed you with talents to serve Me, but you continue to turn away. I have revealed My Word to you, but you do not gain in knowledge. I have spoken to you but your ears were closed. I have shown My blessings to you, but your eyes were turned away. I have sent you servants, but you sat idly by as they were pushed away. I have heard your prayers and I have answered them all."
*******************************************

"DO YOU TRULY LOVE ME?"

I could not answer. How could I? I was embarrassed beyond belief. I had no excuse. What could I say to this? When I my heart had cried out and the tears had flowed, I said, Please forgive me Lord. I am unworthy to be Your child."

The Lord answered, " That is My Grace, My child."

I asked, " Then why do you continue to forgive me? Why do You love me so?"

The Lord answered, " Because you are My creation. You are my child. I will never abandon you. When you cry, I will have compassion and cry with you. When you shout with joy, I will laugh with you. When you are down, I will encourage you.
When you fall, I will raise you up. When you are tired, I will carry you. I will be with you till the end of days, and I will love you forever." *******************************************

Never had I cried so hard before. How could I have been so cold? How could I have hurt God as I had done?
I asked God, "How much do You love me?"

The Lord stretched out His arms, and I saw His nail-pierced hands. bowed down at the feet of Christ, my Saviour.
And for the first time, I truly prayed.

Author Unknown.

The store was bustling with shoppers, all crammed together in aisles made narrow by dozens of people and shopping carts. Thanksgiving had not yet arrived, but Christmas gifts were already being purchased, decorations for the same season bought as well. Traffic jams abounded; I had to wait for what seemed like a hundred people to go by before pushing my cart out into the main aisle, even then barely avoiding a collision with someone else. It often took several minutes just to cross from one side of the aisle to the other, and "excuse me," uttered in an irritated tone was a common sound. There was no place to go to be out of the way; scowls, frowns, and looks of exasperation were etched across the faces of most of the shoppers as most of them pushed their way between the multitude. Huffs and sighs were often heard. Mothers swatted their whining children in an awkward attempt to shop. It was a madhouse, a fatiguing frenzy of frustration and confusion. I longed to get my shopping overwith and *leave*.

I was about halfway through it all when I turned my cart into a housewares aisle, apologizing as I nearly ran into a woman's. There was a young man, probably around 18 years old, obviously mentally handicapped. He turned around, smiled and waved at me. I smiled back. I felt refreshed; just one smile, one happy face amongst all the others screwed up in agitation. One of us, oblivious to it all, or at least not really caring. That smile lifted my spirits and stayed with me for the rest of the time. It's amazing what one little smile can do.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I firmly believe that the only
disability in life is a bad attitude.
-Scott Hamilton
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Lord is my programmer, I shall not crash, He installed his software on the hard disk of my heart; All of his commands are user-friendly. His directory moves me to the right choices for his name's sake.

Even though I scroll through the problems of life, I will fear no bugs, for You are my backup; Your password protects me in the> presence of my enemies; Your help is only a key away.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and my file will be merged with His and saved forever.

- William R. Cox

Jenny was so happy about the house they had found. For once in her life t'was on the right side of town. She unpacked her things with such great ease. As she watched her new curtains blow in the breeze.

How wonderful it was to have her own room. School would be starting, she'd have friends over soon. There'd be sleep-overs, and parties; she was so happy. It's just the way she wanted her life to be.

On the first day of school, everything went great. She made new friends and even got a date! She thought, "I want to be popular and I'm going to be, because I just got a date with the star of the team!"

To be known in this school you had to have a clout, and dating this guy would sure help her out. There was only one problem stopping her fate. Her parents had said she was too young to date.

"Well, I just won't tell them the entire truth. They won't know the difference; what's there to lose?" Jenny asked to stay with her friends that night. Her parents frowned but said, "All right."

Excited she got ready for the big event. But as she rushed around like she had no sense, she began to feel guilty about all the lies. But what's a pizza, a party, and a moonlight ride?

Well the pizza was good, and the party was great, but the moonlight ride would have to wait. For Jeff was half drunk by this time. But he kissed and said that he was just fine.

Then the room filled with smoke and Jeff took a puff. Jenny couldn't believe he was smoking that stuff. Now Jeff was ready to ride to the point. But only after he'd smoked another joint.

They jumped in the car for the moonlight ride, not thinking that he was too drunk to drive. They finally made it to the point at last. And Jeff started trying to make a pass.

A pass is not what Jenny wanted at all (and by a pass, I don't mean football). "Perhaps my parents were right....maybe I am too young. Boy, how could I ever, ever be so dumb?"

With all of her might, she pushed Jeff away: "Please take me home, I don't want to stay." Jeff cranked up the engine and floored the gas. In a matter of seconds they were going to fast.

As Jeff drove on in a wild fit of anger, Jenny knew that her life was in danger. She begged and pleaded for him to slow down, but he just got faster as they neared the town.

"Just let me get home! I'll confess that I lied. I really went out for a moonlight ride." Then all of a sudden she saw a big flash. "Oh God, please help us! We're going to crash!"

She doesn't remember the force of the impact. Just that all of a sudden everything went black. She felt someone remove her from the twisted rubble, and heard, "Call an ambulance! These kids are in trouble!"

Voices she heard...a few words at best. But she knew that there were two cars involved in the wreck. Then wondered to herself if Jeff was all right. And if the people in the other car were alive.

She awoke in a hospital to faces so sad. "You've been in a wreck and it looks pretty bad." These voices echoed inside her head, as they gently told her that Jeff was dead.

They said "Jenny, we've done all we can do. But it looks as if we'll lose you too." "But the people in the other car!?" Jenny cried. "We're sorry, Jenny, they also died."

"Tell Mom and Dad I'm sorry I lied. And that it's my fault so many have died. Oh, nurse, won't you please tell them that for me?" The nurse just stood there-- she never agreed.

But took Jenny's hand with tears in her eyes. And a few moments later, Jenny died. A man asked the nurse, "Why didn't you do your best to bid that girl her last request?"

She looked at the man with eyes oh so sad. "Because the people in the other car were her mom and dad." This story is sad and unpleasant, but true. So young people take heed; it could have been you.

When in sorrow, call John 14
When others fail you, call Psalms 27
If you want to be fruitful, call John 15
When you have sinned, call Psalms 51
When you worry, call Matthew 6:19-34
When you are in danger, call Psalms 91
When God seems far away, call Psalms 139
When your faith needs stirring, call Hebrews 11
When you are lonely and fearful, call Psalms 23
When you grow bitter and critical, call 1 Corinthians 13
For Paul's secret to happiness, call Colosians 3:12-17
For an idea of Christianity, call 1 Corinthians 5:15-19
When you feel down and out, call Romans 8:31-39
When you want peace and rest, call Matthew 11:25-30
When the world seems bigger than God, call Psalms 90
When you leave home for labor or travel, call Psalms 121
When your prayers grow narrow and selfish, call Psalms 67
For great invention/oppurtunity, call Isaiah 55.
When you want courage for a task, call Joshua 1
How to get along with a fellowmen, call Romans 12
When you think of investments/returns, call Mark 10
If you are depressed, call Psalms 27
If your pockbook/wallet is empty, call Psalms 37
If you are losing confidence in people, call 1 Corinthians 13
If people seem unkind, call John 15
If you are discouraged about your work, call Psalms 126
If you find the world growing small and yourself great, call Psalms 19

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