{"id":2373,"date":"2013-10-04T12:26:26","date_gmt":"2013-10-04T12:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=2373"},"modified":"2013-10-04T12:26:26","modified_gmt":"2013-10-04T12:26:26","slug":"sparks-are-flying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=2373","title":{"rendered":"Sparks are Flying"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As I was out and about yesterday, there were two vehicles in front of me with their flashing lights on. The rear car was being towed by the front car. It wasn\u2019t a safe situation, so I kept my distance.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As I followed this pair, I realized that neither of them were very good drivers. If one swayed, the other followed. They were in both lanes of this two lane road and also on the shoulder.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/spark.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2374\" style=\"border: 3px solid black; margin: 10px;\" alt=\"spark\" src=\"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/spark.jpg\" width=\"128\" height=\"141\" \/><\/a>On occasion sparks would fly. The chain between these two vehicles didn\u2019t seem to be the safest way to transport the obviously disabled car.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And then it happened. The chain broke and both vehicles took a quick right turn and stopped by the side of the road. I was thankful that while these two vehicles were figuring out their next strategy that I was able to get around them safely.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The swerving, swaying, jerking, unexpected movements and unsteadiness remind me that sometimes in our lives we seem to be following God\u2019s plan well. And then something causes us to become unsteady and get off track. It could be an incident. It could be someone. It could be an attitude. It could be a temptation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Whatever it might be, we suddenly find ourselves on the side of the road of life in a broken-down vehicle and what seems to be the one who took us down this road.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When we are in this position, we have the best roadside assistant plan available. Grace. We can call on the One who is able to do far more than we could imagine. We can call on the One who has lavished His great love upon us. We can call on the One whose mission is to seek and save the lost. We simply need to call Him.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But what is best is if we strive to never get in this position at all.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So how can we be steadfast in our daily walk and not wind up on the side of the road?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ask for God\u2019s help! Psalm 51:10 (NIV) gives us David\u2019s prayer.<b> <i>\u201c<\/i><\/b><i>Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.\u201d <\/i>David realized that a steadfast spirit would wane with the situations of life and that only God could restore it within him.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Know that God will come to your aid just when you need it.<i> <\/i>1 Peter 5:10 (NIV) says, <i>\u201cAnd the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.\u201d<\/i> What a blessing to be able to approach God\u2019s throne with this request.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>What are the results of being steadfast? Psalm 112:6-8 (NI) assures us,<b> <i>\u201c<\/i><\/b><i>Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever. He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.\u201d <\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Are you catching some of these phrases? <i>\u201c<b>renew<\/b> a steadfast spirit,\u201d \u201c<b>restore<\/b> and make you strong, firm, and steadfast,\u201d \u201c<b>no fear<\/b> of bad news,\u201d \u201chis heart is <b>secure<\/b>,\u201d \u201c<b>trust<\/b>,\u201d \u201clook in <b>triumph<\/b> on his foes.\u201d<\/i> What promises! And God can make these promises because <i>He<\/i> is steadfast in all His ways.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Psalm 111:7-8 (NIV) tells us that our God is steadfast.<b> <i>\u201c<\/i><\/b><i>The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. They are steadfast forever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness.\u201d <\/i>I don\u2019t know about you, but that spurs me on to <i>\u201chold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful!\u201d<\/i> (Hebrews 10:23 &#8211; NIV)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>By staying the course, sticking to the narrow path, we know we are heading in the right direction. I pray that God\u2019s words would resonate in your mind when you are tempted to get off track.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cTherefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.\u201d<\/i> (1 Corinthians 15:58 &#8211; NIV)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Grace and peace be yours in abundance,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Donna<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019d like to leave a comment, please click <a title=\"Sparks are Flying\" href=\"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=2373&amp;preview=true\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I was out and about yesterday, there were two vehicles in front of me with their flashing lights on. The rear car was being towed by the front car. It wasn\u2019t a safe situation, so I kept my distance. &nbsp; As I followed this pair, I realized that neither of them were very good [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,15,17,21],"tags":[1012,310,1160,1159,1158,1157,1156],"class_list":["post-2373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-following-god","category-knowing-god","category-obeying-god","category-trusting-god","tag-1-corinthians-1558","tag-1-peter-510","tag-hebrews-1023","tag-psalm-1117-8","tag-psalm-1126-8","tag-psalm-5110","tag-sparks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2373"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2376,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2373\/revisions\/2376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}