{"id":3311,"date":"2014-06-21T13:17:30","date_gmt":"2014-06-21T13:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=3311"},"modified":"2014-06-21T13:17:30","modified_gmt":"2014-06-21T13:17:30","slug":"message-in-a-bottle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=3311","title":{"rendered":"Message in a Bottle"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am still working on the finishing touches in my new beach-themed office. It\u2019s coming along, but I went on a shopping spree to look for new items to add to this room.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Nigel\"<\/a>I found items like this cool pelican friend, who has been names Nigel after the Finding Nemo<\/em> pelican. There was this great \u201cbeach\u201d sign that I love. And an array of picture frames.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"beach\"<\/a>On a whim (like all of the other purchases weren\u2019t?), I also picked up a message-in-a-bottle. My daughter couldn\u2019t wait to get home to see what message had been included. But to our surprise, there was no message. The paper had areas to fill in the blanks with your own message. I guess if you\u2019re planning to travel, you need to pick this item up before you go.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What I\u2019ve been drawn to is how we look at a message in a bottle. I suspect we\u2019ve all dreamed of finding one in our lifetime and that because of finding said message, we\u2019d save someone from a deserted island or from a calamity of some sort. But to be honest, most of us will probably never find such a message along the seashore.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"message<\/a>So to fill the gap, we purchase our own message-in-a-bottle \u201ckit.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My question this morning would have to be, \u201cWhat message would you want to share with the world?\u201d I believe most people who are reading this blog would say, \u201cGod loves you!\u201d So if would share this message when we have nothing to lose, where is that same passion in our day-to-day lives?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Paul asked the Colossian believers to pray for him. Let\u2019s see what he specifically asked for. \u201cPray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.\u201d<\/em> (Colossians 4:3-4 \u2013 NIV)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I wonder how many doors God would open for me to share His message if I prayed this prayer. I\u2019m sure it would be more than I could even imagine. And when those doors were opened, would I have the clear message that I should share?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sometimes we make God\u2019s message difficult and confusing. And I\u2019ll be the first to admit that there are some teachings of Paul that can get a little confusing, but the heart of the Gospel can be found in John 3:16. Know that verse and you\u2019ll have a clear message.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is your message today? Are you willing to ask God to open the doors to share His message? I pray that your willingness linked with God\u2019s message will travel across the world. It\u2019s the best message in a bottle anyone could possibly receive.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Donna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am still working on the finishing touches in my new beach-themed office. It\u2019s coming along, but I went on a shopping spree to look for new items to add to this room.   I found items like this cool pelican friend, who has been names Nigel after the Finding Nemo pelican. There was this […]<\/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":[20,15,17,10,9,21],"tags":[2545,2192,553,182,2544,305],"class_list":["post-3311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hearing-god","category-knowing-god","category-obeying-god","category-proclaiming-god","category-sharing-god","category-trusting-god","tag-beach-themed-office","tag-colossians-43-4","tag-gods-message","tag-john-316","tag-message-in-a-bottle","tag-sharing-gods-message"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3311","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=3311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3315,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3311\/revisions\/3315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}