"You must bear the cross, or you shall never wear the crown; you must wade through the mire, or you shall never walk the golden pavement. Cheer up, then, poor Christian. “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.” (Ecc 7:8) " I was reading this this morning and I began to pray for you all and this is what the Holy Spirit laid on my heart to share with you all.....

Many a weary saint do I get to encourage along this narrow way who have been waylaid by the slogging and sloshing through the muck and swamp mire we call life on this Earth. If we were to just sit, soak, and sour in our salvation all we would have would be a ticket stub to a prom. We would never have entered, we would never have known the exilerations of heart thumping at seeing our future spouses, we would never known the heart wrenching crisis of rejection when spurned for our first request to dance. All we would be at the beginning is a cucumber sitting in the swill of briny sin waiting for something, or someone to be the catalyst in our change. Yet by God's amazing wonder and great love HE reaches down and takes us lumps of coal and places us in a canister that is the church; a rock tumbler of sorts. In this tumbling and bumbling and bumping and knocking together the rough and unattractive carbon is removed for it takes these hard knocks of life to remove carbon and reveal what is of greater value beneath. Still yet we think that that now a precious gem is revealed that this process long since begun is finished because a jewel has been shown forth. NOOOOOO, God is not finished yet!!!!! From that precious stone a majestic, one of a kind royal, stone must still be made. So it is that the master smith begins to study our hearts and attitudes, our thoughts, words, and actions. HE places us into the jewelers vice where we are squeezed till it hurts us from its pressure and then there is a sharp smack from the chisel and hammer; and what we thought would be unbearable to live with out the Master with one precise blow removes from our lives to reveal an even more stunning view of Jesus in us as HE fashions into a fitting jewel for HIS crown of Glory. It is not till all the rough pain of tumbling and chiseling has been completed that the precious is left to reveal the true treasure God has saved us for. So today as you wade through, as the slogging weighs you down, as the wet and cold wearies your soul and brings you to the brink of exhaustion and throwing in the towel. Remember... "the end is always better than the beginning... GOD has not finished revealing His glory through you yet, there is just a little more carbon left to knock off, one more chisel blow and the SON will shine through in such unmistakable beauty; it will dazzle all those you know and lead many to Jesus. God loves you just the way you are...He loves you so much He doesn't want to leave you that way... HE knows just how beautiful you are and is determined for the World to see that beauty also.

God Bless you -
Pastor G

Spurgeon, C. H. (2006). Morning and evening: Daily readings (Complete and unabridged; New modern edition.). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.