I like this devotional, so I wanted to share it with you. I do hope this 
one is not in HTML.

>Love and Blessings,
Pat Ferguson
>ae104f.jpg
>
>THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN® LIFE Daily Devotional
>July 28, 2004
>
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>Growing Pains
>by John Fischer
>
>Often, as a child, when I complained about some ache or pain that had no 
>clear physical explanation, the simple parental diagnosis was: “It’s just 
>growing pains.” I used to imagine my muscles and bones actually hurting 
>while they stretched and grew. While I know nothing about the scientific 
>nature of this evaluation, I do know it has a spiritual application that 
>is entirely accurate. It hurts to grow.
>
>It hurts to grow because we have to die to old ways in order to live anew, 
>and old ways die hard. We place a high premium in life on dying 
>peacefully, but in reality dying almost always is accompanied by pain. We 
>have dependencies with coping mechanisms that have enslaved us. It’s hard 
>letting go of our security blankets.
>
>In a touching scene from the romantic comedy, Mr. Mom, Michael Keaton has 
>to coax his toddler’s “whoopee” blanket away from him. Upon rendering it 
>up, the little boy asks for a moment to himself to grieve the loss and we 
>can almost touch his pain. We would like similar moments to grieve our 
>little daily deaths, but we have to learn to move on, because the pain of 
>losing is followed by the greater joy of finding that God always meets us 
>on the other side of our loss.
>
>It hurts to grow because growing usually means facing some fear or 
>weakness that has limited us. Though God saves us through no effort of our 
>own, he asks for our cooperation when it comes to our spiritual growth. 
>Real spiritual growth only happens when our effort to act upon God’s word 
>meets the provision of the Holy Spirit in us.
>
>Or as Paul teaches, “Put into action God’s saving work in your lives, 
>obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, 
>giving you the desire to obey Him and the power to do what pleases Him” 
>(Philippians 2:12-13 NLT).
>
>This is always the spiritual principle of growth. We obey by stepping into 
>our weakness or our fear, hoping in faith that because it is something He 
>asks of us, He will meet us somewhere along the way with the power to do 
>it. This is almost always a painful proposition because it requires a step 
>into the unknown. What if God doesn’t show up? What if this is all a hoax? 
>I suppose you can ask these questions, but you will never get them 
>answered on this side of the pain. You have to take the step, believing 
>that there is something there that you can’t see. And if that doesn’t 
>hurt, it’s probably not faith.
>
>So if what God asks you to do today hurts, remember what you’re feeling is 
>just growing pains.
>
>PDL
>
>John Fischer is an author, speaker, and song writer based in Southern 
>California.  His latest book, Love Him in the Morning has been released by 
>Revell Publishing.
>
>
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>[]
>
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