{"id":8137,"date":"2013-04-22T12:08:50","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T12:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=8137"},"modified":"2013-04-22T12:11:47","modified_gmt":"2013-04-22T12:11:47","slug":"encouragement-for-all-seasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=8137","title":{"rendered":"Encouragement for all Seasons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This mornings devotional on In touch was too good not to pass on and then add a little personal insight.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Deuteronomy 7:7-9 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0New Living Translation (NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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7\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cThe Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! 8\u00a0<\/sup>Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. 9\u00a0<\/sup>Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Spring, summer, fall, and winter\u2014these are the seasons of the year. Life also has its seasons. Some are filled with joy, while others are characterized by difficulty. Take comfort because there is a principle from the Bible that can encourage and sustain you through every season: Our God is faithful.<\/span><\/p>\n

We learn about this attribute of the Lord from passages like<\/span> \u00a01 Corinthians 1:9<\/span><\/a><\/span>, where Paul says, \u201cGod is<\/span> faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.\u201d To say that God is faithful means He always does exactly what He says He will do.<\/span><\/p>\n

How reassuring it is to know that He will keep His promises to His children and never leave their side, whatever \u201cseason\u201d of life they are in. No matter how deep, how dark, how depressing, how hopeless, or how good things may seem, the child of God can count on the Father\u2019s abiding presence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So regardless of your present trials or triumphs, embrace these three truths:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. God will be faithful to you because it is His very nature<\/span> (Ps. 36:5<\/span><\/a>)<\/span>.<\/p>\n

2. God knows all about your situation; you are never alone in any season of life<\/span> (Ps. 139:7-12<\/span><\/a>)<\/span>.<\/p>\n

3. God is omnipotent, so He has the power to meet every single need, and He knows how to move you through the various seasons of your life<\/span> (Rom. 8:28<\/span><\/a>)<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Hold onto this fact: You will change and seasons will change, but our wonderful God is always the same. That means He won\u2019t fail you, He won\u2019t waver on you, and He won\u2019t vary\u2014you can fully rely on Him. And He will never forget about you; He is with you always. Great is His faithfulness!<\/span><\/p>\n

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I have been the benefactor of many incredible acts of the faithfulness of God. \u00a0Let share several important ones to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In High School and College I had several girl friends, I was young, so you can count that against my judgment, but I was sure each one was the “one”!! \u00a0Needless to say by time I graduated and returned to my home town, Harlan, I was girl friendless… \u00a0To be honest, I was very lonely, and I was questioning why my God was leaving me alone in the world. \u00a0The answer to my prayers was not immediate. \u00a0Then one night while visiting my father in the hospital, I mete a pretty young nurse! \u00a0One date later, I had found the love of my life. \u00a0 44 years later, I can see what god was saving me for! \u00a0Not a day has gone by \u00a0that I haven thanked Him for this my greatest earthly gift!<\/span><\/p>\n

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One of the great loves of my life has been football. \u00a0I played in High School and had a chance to play in college, but frankly I was just not big enough or fast enough to play major college ball. \u00a0I coached high school ball and really enjoyed it but, it was obvious tome that my future was not going to be as a player or along term as a coach. \u00a0During my time coaching I picked up a 35mm camera ands started dabbling in photography, something I had always had an interest in. \u00a0God opened doors that led to my life time passion with and involvement in photography. With the exception of my Lord, my wife and family, and friends, photography has become the joy of my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Twice I’ve faced cancer and in both cases, great medical folks and my Lord have seen me \u00a0through both! \u00a0He not only helped me to recover, he taught me life lessons of incompressible value through both experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Some might say that these are all coincidences. \u00a0Believe what you wish, but I know what I believe, my God has been faithful in every aspect of my life, both large and small!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Blessings,<\/span><\/p>\n

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the pilgrim<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This mornings devotional on In touch was too good not to pass on and then add a little personal insight.   Deuteronomy 7:7-9 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0New Living Translation (NLT) 7\u00a0\u201cThe Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8137"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8140,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8137\/revisions\/8140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}