OCC Women's Online Meeting

Rose has been thinking on our subject of "compassion" and she shares this thought:

1 Peter 3:8 (New King James Version)

⁸ Finally, all of you be of one mind,
having compassion for one another;
love as brothers,
be tenderhearted,
be courteous;

2 Corinthians 1:3 (New King James Version)

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
⁴ who comforts us in all our tribulation,
that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble,
with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Rose says she felt blessed this past Sunday as Betty shared the encouragement of our accepting of God's pruning of in our lives. It may hurt, but we will grow closer to Jesus as we put away the things in our lives that are not beneficial in our walk with him.

Thanks Rose, for sharing this. Very appropriate being us in the midst of Orchard and Wine country! I took the liberty to find a poem and thought to follow you up, Rose.

Pruning


It is the branch that bears the fruit
That feels the knife,
To prune it for a larger growth
And fuller life,

Though every budding twig be lopped
And every grace
Of swaying tendril, springing leaf
Be lost a space.

Oh, thou whose life of joy seems reft,
Of beauty shorn,
Whose aspirations lie in dust,
All bruised and torn,

Rejoice, though each desire, each dream, each hope of thine,
Shall fall and fade; it is the hand of love divine

That holds the knife, that cuts and breaks
With tenderest touch,
That thou, whose life hast borne some fruit,
May now bear much.

~By Annie Johnson Flint~

The Lord Jesus said in John 15:1-2

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

The word translated, "purgeth" means to "to prune" in the Greek. Many times the hopes and dreams that a Christian may have is not God's will for their lives. We know that God's will is best for He always has the best intentions for us and knows the outcome of every situation. Today, many Christians are running to and fro, pursuing their own dreams but they have yet to understand that as a true Christian, our life is not our own. We have been bought with a price - the precious blood of Christ Jesus!

Poem and insight from Cobblestone Ministries

Looking forward to our meeting, Wednesday night @ 7 for those of you who can make it. Please let me know if you have anything else to post and your prayer requests for this week!

Wednesday, March 11

I thought I would just sneak in here this morning and add a link to a friend's blog as she posted today about... compassion! Alicia always has some good words of wisdom - why don't you check today's post out by clicking HERE.