"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" ~Josh 24:15~
We often overlook one power we have...we have the power of choice. We may live in a land that is not always Christian based, but we can still choose to live our life with Christ first. We may have come from a family that lacked Godly women to teach us, or Godly men to lead us...but we can choose to break that heritage. We don't have to be victim to the gods of lies and bonds our parents served. We can choose to hand down a better legacy to our children. We can become students of the Bible, and teach them to our children as we walk, as we talk, as we lie down, and as we rise up (Deut 6:7).
And, we may not be in the greatest circumstances at this moment. We may be in a situation we did not choose. We may even detest the things we presently have to face each day. But guess who did choose this for us? God. He allowed us to be here, even if it's the result of our own poor choices or the choices of others. He still allowed it. And because we know God, we can trust He has a purpose for us being here. There is a reason that He allows us to face these daily stresses. We can trust that if He has us here, the end will be good because all things work together for the good of them that love the Lord, and are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28).
So once again, we can choose. We are not bound to a dreadful future without hope. We are promised the greatest hope of all. We can get up every day determined to beat the odds, to persevere with a positive attitude, to be grateful for the blessings in the midst of the storm, and focused on encouragement--both to receive it, and to give it! We can choose to worship while we wait for things to be different, to be better.
Our faith is strengthened here, believing with all hope in the things unseen. We do not serve a God of evil, but a God of love, even in the darkest of days. "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"
