Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Mark Batterson, (2015-10-06) from his book, If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities (Kindle Location 2670). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I have the ability to think in options.   That has helped me in dealing with problems.   I can see many different ways to handle the problem.   God has given me that ability but what I can do is in no way close to what God can do.   He sees it all. Mark says, “Every decision we make has a million consequences, very few of which we can predict. Every action we take has a million ramifications, very few of which we can control. But that’s where the Sovereignty of God comes into play. There is no contingency the Omniscient One has not taken into account.” He goes on, “When things go from bad to worse, as they did for Joseph,” (the one in the Old Testament) “I know it’s tough to trust God. All you see is the perverse result, which

A thought by Mark Batterson, (2015-10-06) from his book, If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities (Kindle Locations 2607-2608). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) We have so many false ideas about a lot of different things and we don’t know it.   Reading people’s comments on Facebook or listening to talk radio shows you that to be true.   Our ideas about prayer shows this too. Mark says, “Prayer must be in alignment with the will of God or it’s null and void. It’s not like turning your back to Trevi Fountain and throwing a penny over your left shoulder. If it’s not God’s will, you’re not going to get whatever you ask for. God loves you far too much to spoil you in that way. But if it is God’s will, God will make a way. Even if it’s out of your league!” Right before this he says, “Our prayers are limited by our lack of knowledge— we don’t know what we don’t know. That’s why I trust

A thought by Mark Batterson, (2015-10-06) from his book, If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities (Kindle Locations 2244-2245). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) We know that don’t we?   I mean, try to sit at a stoplight when the light has turned green.   There will be a least one person who honks at the exact time it turns red.   And then what about in that express check out line?   We can be very impatient. Mark says, “By the by, if you live in a city with a population of more than a million people, like I do, a pause will seem twice as long as it does to someone who lives in a small town.   It’s called time-warping. We all have an internal metronome, and it ticks a little faster in the city than it does in the country.” Mark continues, “In the grand scheme of things, a two-minute wait or two-second delay are no big deal, right? But in short time frames, we are incredibly impat