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Tough Luck?

 

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🍀Top o' the mornin' to ya!  What's the craic (What's going on)? I hope it's grand and no one's acting the maggot  (misbehaving) or it will be donkey's years (a long time) before it's deadly (excellent) again.   Erin go bragh (Ireland forever)!  

I love the Irish, Ireland and St. Patrick's Day.  But it turns out St. Patrick wasn't Irish at all.  I'm not sure how the holiday of drinking got attributed to him either.   And lucky? You decide...

He was born in Britain and was captured during a raid where his home was burned by Irishmen and he was taken to Ireland as a slave.  He found a deep faith while being imprisoned and had a vision of escape that he followed and made it back to Britain. 

🍀After several years of evangelizing in Britain, he believed through a vision that God was leading him to a ministry back to Ireland- back to his captors.  He made the hard choice to return with only a Bible in hand.  While being violently opposed by the superstitious Druids, he  successfully helped plant hundreds of churches with thousands of converts.  

🍀I don't think anyone would call that luck.  

What an incredible example of someone who became sold out for God, in spite of his horrible circumstances, and was obedient to his Lord.  He left a comfortable place and made himself available to the uncomfortable.  And the Lord left a legacy of believers in his trail- people whose lives were forever changed.  

🍀What's uncomfortable to us?  People who drain our time, attention, and pocketbooks?  Those who cause us inconvenience, change of schedule, steal our peaceful plan for the day? Or when our priorities are forced to shift and get deprioritized? Those who cause us to extend our talents, capabilities, actions?  

Life sure gets messy if any people are involved, because people are messy.  I am messy sometimes.  And sometimes my messiness gets transferred to other people.  

🍀This beautiful Irish hymn sums up the beauty God makes from the messes we give Him-


(click on image to listen)

The apostle Paul, along with every one of the disciples, trusted God for the outcome of their messy ministries.  The reward is eternal life with Jesus for their obedience and all of us who have read, believed and obeyed the Scriptures these disciples wrote for us.

🍀What seems like tough luck is true ministry.

✙ Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the way You can orchestrate all the circumstances in our lives for our good and Your glory.  Please take our messy lives and make beautiful songs of praise to You. Help us to overcome our resistance to getting uncomfortable so we can help people come to know You as their Savior.  Amen.










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