Sunday, January 12, 2014

Not Without Purpose

Not Without Purpose


All that you are going through is not without purpose.  The pain and suffering has a far more eternal weight of glory.  Sickness is never easy.  It can be very lonely when others have not walked in your shoes and do not seem to understand.  There is always that voice that says, you should be healed.  There is healing in the name of Jesus and the Lord does want to heal us from sickness and disease for it is not from the Lord.  Yet, God does allow it.  God does use it for His purposes and what the enemy means for evil the Lord turns for good in our lifetime.  Truly it would be wonderful if all were healed.

One thinks of Joni Eareckson and her courageous battle over many years and the awesome testimony of the power of God in her life.  She is an example to so very many.  There are stages we go through when dealing with chronic illness and sometimes we have to just keep believing that God is God and that His purposes are higher than ours and at the same time, never give up hope of total healing in His way and timing. 

There are days when it seems dark, especially when one is going through suffering in the winter months.  The only sun that is shining can be in our hearts and His name is Jesus.  For those living in the northern hemisphere life can at times be so very difficult.  The snow, freezing cold temperatures and lack of sunshine are at times hard to bear.  Plainly many of us live here but are spring and summer people at heart.

 Remember each day brings us one day closer to spring and summer when the sun will shine a lot longer and there will be heat and warmth again.  In the meantime let us remember that even in the winter months Jesus is here working in your heart and life and He has not forgotten where you are living.  Take this time to seek Him in a greater way and remember that He, Jesus is the sunshine in your life.  Take time to pray, for God hears even those simple little prayers and they do go up before the throne of heaven and reach His ears.

 Plainly God is saying, my child do not give up for I hear you and know your heart.  I have seen the disappointments of life and you must go forward knowing you are mine.  Keep trusting in me child and see even in the deep of winter that my heart has not taken my eye from you.  Trust that you are mine and hold on even in the storms of life.  I am the anchor of your soul..  I am your rock and your salvation.  Hold on to me even in the dark night hours when lack of sleep due to pain seems unbearable.  Lean on Me and allow me to hold you in My arms.  You are mine and I will never forsake or leave you.

While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.  Genesis 8:22

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Stephen Harper mourns death of former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon | CTV News

Stephen Harper mourns death of former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon | CTV News

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dies at 85

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dies at 85
January 11, 2014FoxNews.com

Former Israeli prime minister and storied general Ariel Sharon, who was at the height of his power when he suffered a stroke in 2006 and fell into an irreversible coma, died Saturday at the age of 85.

Sharon died at Tel Hashomer hospital just outside Tel Aviv, where his family had gathered at his bedside over the past several days as his vital organs reportedly deteriorated. His death was first reported by Israeli Army radio.

Visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry addressed Sharon’s condition ahead of a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday.

  "My thoughts are with the Sharon family as they sit in vigil with the former prime minister of Israel, Arik Sharon," Kerry said, referring to Sharon by his nickname. "We remember his contributions, sacrifices he made to ensure the survival and the well-being of Israel, and I have many personal thoughts about my meetings with him on many different occasions -- always robust and strong and clear about his positions."

Sharon, an iconic figure who fought in three wars before entering politics, was elected prime minister in 2001. He suffered a stroke in January 2006, at the height of his political power, and remained comatose since then.

However, in 2011 his son Gilad told the New York Times his father could move his fingers when he asked him to, adding, "I am sure he hears me."

In the months leading up to his stroke, longtime hardliner Sharon had shocked his political base by expelling Jewish settlers from 21 Gaza settlements and from four on the West Bank

He also resigned as head of the Likud party and formed a new centrist party called Kadima ("Forward").

Sharon's longtime rival and current prime minister, Netanyahu, was elected his replacement as head of Likud.

Sharon suffered a mild stroke in December 2005 and was released from the hospital after two days. A little more than two weeks later he suffered a massive intra cerebral hemorrhage from which he never recovered.

Sharon's deputy, Ehud Olmert, was elected prime minister two months later.

Sharon was born February 26, 1928 in the then British Mandate of Palestine to a family of Lithuanian Jews. By the age of 10 he had entered the Zionist youth movement Hassadeh and later the Haganah, the military precursor to the Israel Defense Forces.

His military career flourished as he became a commander in the Israeli army, celebrated as a military strategist.

He was an instrumental figure in the 1956 Suez War, the Six Day War of 1967, the Yom Kippur War of 1973 and as Minister of Defense directed the 1982 Lebanon War.


Sharon joined the Likud party after retiring from the military, serving in a number of ministerial posts and then as party leader in 2000 before becoming prime minister from 2001-2006.

Widowed twice, he is survived by his sons Gilad and Omri.