...for God is at work in you.

                  Philippians 2. 13

(More than you can know.

Even in this.

Don't miss it).

I want you to know, brethren,

that what has happened to me

has really served

    to advance the gospel....

...knowing that I am put here

for the defense of the gospel.

                  Philippians 1. 12, 16

(God has strategically placed you

       right where you are. 

Even here.

Work with all excellence,

pray for those around you,

bring the love of Jesus there.

There is nothing random in this,

   only God's deeper purposes).

For My thoughts 

  are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways

    My ways, says the LORD.

For as the heavens 

   are higher than the earth,

so are My ways

        higher than your ways,

and My thoughts 

        than your thoughts.

                      Isaiah 55. 8-9

(Not just "have a good attitude,"

not just "take the high road,"

but what is the mind of Christ 

                            in this?

Even in this).

...and will make her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the garden of the LORD...

                       Isaiah 51. 3

(God reveals His way,

    He bears His fruit

in impossible situations.

Help me to see this place

       with Your vision, O LORD).

O God,

       You know my folly;

the wrongs I have done

    are not hidden from You.

                      Psalm 69. 5

(I am not just sorry.

 I did not just make a mistake.

                      I was wrong.

And that is why You sent Jesus.

Because of Your forgiveness,

     I am no longer defined by my sin,

but marked by Your redemption.

I was broken,

       but now I am redeemed.

You, O God, do not just forgive 

             each individual wrongdoing;

      You have forgiven me.

Help me to live forgiven

        and practice resurrection).

 ...to lead a life

           worthy of the calling

to which you have been called...

                    Ephesians 4. 1

(You have not been called 

       to an occupation,

but occupied by Christ.

In you,

through you,

all around you,

wherever,

in whatever,

among whomever,

however that may look today).

           

Remember not the former things,

nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I am doing a new thing;

now it springs forth,

do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness 

    and rivers in the desert.

                    Isaiah 43. 18-19

(God has brought you here,

      even to what only appears

      as a barren place,

for His profound purposes).