"SHOULD" - Throw it out like an old Mattress!!

The word, "SHOULD", causes more trouble than any other word in the English language. We get in our minds what "should" happen if things were as they "should" be and it blinds us to reality!

Technical support tells me over the phone their instructions "SHOULD" have worked, and they think they have done their job.

We think God's blessing "SHOULD" insulate us from being oppressed or from hurting when bad things happen, and we wonder where God is and why it didn't work for us.

Do with "SHOULD" what Mattress Mac says do with an old lumpy mattress,"Throw it out!" Let the reality of Christ seep into your Psyche:

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 1st Peter 4:12-13 (KJV)

It is, precisely, in those "fiery trials" that God's presence can become more evident, not less!

The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. - Psalm 9:9-10 (KJV)

I am discovering in the stressful, oppressive, times of trouble He hasn't forsaken me but is, instead, teaching me how to put my trust in Him, and I am discovering how to let tomorrow's threats of destruction not shake me because when those "tomorrows" have, in the past, become "today" they have always proved God's grace was evident.

- Fritz