Obstacles and Opportunities

The story is told of an old Scottish fisherman who

was having afternoon tea with some friends in a

little tearoom by the sea.

As he was describing some of his fishing exploits

of the day, his hand accidentally knocked over 

his cup of tea.

An ugly brown tea stain appeared on the

freshly whitewashed wall beside him.

"Never mind about the stain," said a friend

as he rose from his chair and drew from his

pocket a brown crayon.

There emerged from that ugly brown tea stain

a magnificent stag with antlers spread and

back arched. 

The friend of the fisherman was one of

England's most famous painters.

Life is full of ugly tea stains that splash

against whitewashed walls. 

Reality often seems to be

more obstacle than opportunity,

more pain than pleasure,

more chaos than calm,

more hurt than happiness,

more tension than tenderness.

But, if I interpret
 Romans 8:28 correctly,

I must believe that as God's woman,

God is using everything in my life

to make me more like Himself.

Together, He and I can

take the tea stains of my life

and make something out of them.

We can take the chaos and be calm,

take the tensions and be tender,

take the hurts and be content,

take the obstacles and

build opportunities.

That is what God offers me

from life.

And when God says that's what He can

do for me, only my unbelief keeps me

from experiencing it.

If the Christian life is

worth living, then God is worth believing.

And if I believe God, 

there is no end to the possibilities.

-Ruth Senter 

 Poetess Anne Bronte was the
sister of novelists Emily and Charlotte Bronte

 

Believe not those who say
The upward path is smooth,
Lest thou should stumble in the way,
And faint before the truth.

It is the only road
Unto the realms of joy;
But he who seeks that blest abode
Must all his powers employ.

To labor and to love,
To pardon and endure,
To lift thy heart to God above,
And keep thy conscience pure.

Be this thy constant aim,
Thy hope, thy chief delight,
What matter who should whisper blame
Or who should scorn or slight.

What matters—if God approve,
And if within thy breast,
Thou feel the comfort of His love,
The earnest of His rest?

-Anne Bronte 

(1848)

The beautiful, windswept English Moors of

 the Bronte sisters childhood