Pastor Odie Kennedy's Pearls

Our world has changed so dramatically in the last two years.  It all happened in the blink of an eye.  One minute we were carefree. We went anywhere and everywhere we wanted without consulting the powers that be. We simply chose a destination, and that was that. Who bothered to ask about the health of that place? Who left the house, but turned quickly around to retrieve a face covering? Who walked around with germ killers as accessible as car keys? No one, and the next minute we were in a battle.  When we face tests we either learn to conform, or we learn to conquer. Which one best describes you? When you conform, you are not only allowing the situation to control you, but also to mold you.  Conforming takes on the traits of that problem.  What seems hopeless will develop hopelessness in you.  What seems unsure will produce doubt in you. It's like a ship in a storm being tossed about in the direction the storm chooses.  When the ship has a sail or its covering, the storm is no long

What I'm about to say isn't earth shattering.  It isn't even surprising.  In fact, I know you will be nodding your head when you read it.  I have had some down days.  It seems like life comes at me like a bulldozer trying to bury me under my circumstances. Are you nodding yet? I know you get what I'm saying. That may sound presumptuous of me, but I don't have to know your business to know that you're in a battle.  I know who is stirring up the trouble around you. I know because he is the same one who tries to discourage us all.  Sometimes, the initial response to the attack of the devil is to fight back with our smarts.  We think we can outwit him with our natural thinking, but God showed me a better way.   I was feeling down just the other day, when in minutes, God reminded me of this:  "I'm God! In the midst of calamity, I am still God!" He took my mind back to a series of lessons we had last year in Bible study.  We examined the power and necess