The devotional for today comes from Julia:
“For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord,
and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.
For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’
is the One who has shone in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God
and not from ourselves;
we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not despairing;
persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus,
that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
For we who live are constantly being delivered
over to death for Jesus’ sake,
that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
2 Cor 4:5-11 (italics and bold mine).
Today I read these verses and was crying before I finished reading them. This is our job in a nutshell. We do what we do so that these boys can see the life of Jesus lived out in our bodies. And just like Jesus, our bodies experience pain so that life can come out of it. We are tired—make that exhausted. We are verbally abused by boys. There are spiders and scorpions around our children. We are achy. We have to cook dinner…AGAIN. They test our mental prowess daily. For administration, there are trials, as well. The paperwork never ends. There’s always something else to be done…. (You know what I mean.) I could go on and on.
But THEY SEE JESUS IN US, which makes it all worthwhile, even if it takes our dying every day. And praise the Lord, He gives us the power daily to somehow make it through each day. Hope this encourages you. Reading those verses was exactly what I needed today.
Josh and I love you all very much.
Julia
