Meditate!

This made me re thinka lot of things. The Duck & the Devil There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head, and killed it. He was shocked and grieved. In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the woodpile, only to see his sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash the dishes." But Sally said, "Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen." Then she whispered to him, "Remember the duck?" So Johnny did the dishes. Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, "I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper." Sally just smiled and said," Well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help." She whispered again, "Remember the duck?" So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help. After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's ... he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug, and said, Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you." Thought for the day and every day thereafter: Whatever is in our past, whatever we have done . . . and the Devil keeps throwing it up in our face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, badhabits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.) what ever it is . . . we need to know that Jehovah was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. . . He has seen our whole life. He wants us to know that He loves us and has forgiven us. He's just wondering how long we will let Satan, the Devil make a slave of us. The great thing about Jehovah is that when we ask for forgiveness, He not only forgives us, but He forgets. Always remember: Jehovah is at the window.

Lovely sentiments Helen! Jehovah's love is far beyond our thinking.. We're shaped so much by Satan's warped mind and hence system that we have to work hard to understand why we.. the 'unlovable' can be tolerated let alone blessed.. Yet I see this time and time again. A broadcast in the past said Jehovah is a generous God.. Boy has this been true in my own case... The blessing I had upon coming back to the Truth after drifting away.. I just could not understand why I got the blessing upon only trying the first few steps to come back... Lance's illustration set me thinking upon the LOW fuel gauge.. in line with our often faulty thinking.. You could fill up the vehicle's tank and 'pay for' it but still not dare to use the vehicle for a reasonable length/necessary journey because of fear induced by the faulty gauge! How sad Jehovah must feel when he is so willing to forgive and bless the honest hearted. No.. it is not easy for a lot of our dear brothers.

This is fabulous! I just used it and surprise surprise up came what is was looking for! I'll definitely use that in future. Grateful for your work and help...

Fabulous illustration! I'm having that one.. 😁😁😁

Perfect, Dawn. Thanks! I can hear parents, right now, saying.. 'why aren't you like your brother/sister' .. Employers, teachers do it all the time... But when we take it on ourselves, setting a value or worth, it can be very destructive! The opposite is also true. One WT (sept 2019) stated “Haughtiness is like poison. The effects can be devastating. It is a quality that can render the most gifted human useless (of no value) to God. The only expression of any value when making a comparison is summed up in Jesus' heavenly name 'Michael' meaning 'Who is like God?'

I was talking to a sister today and the we discussed the current WT (this Sunday) We both agreed that it was a shame that some feel unlovable by Jehovah at times because of past mistakes. . She then said a few things that shocked me, initially. She said she doesn't understand why some get down (over this) and then, doesn't find it easy to empathise or know what to do to help ones who feel that way. As i said it was a little shocking at first but then then, with full confidence plainly and profoundly stated: Love is not attached to value! It stopped me in my tracks at first and then she said.. when parents have a baby, they change their whole lives around it to give it what it needs. and what does they baby give back, in practical terms; nothing ..for years! The child may not even appreciate what is done for them till they are in their late teens if ever! And what does Jehovah give us all through our lives? 'Underserved kindness'! She admitted that you can feel awful after doing something wrong but if you are 'truly' sorry, beg for forgiveness and really try hard not to do it again.. 'why on earth would Jehovah NOT forgive you and why should you feel ashamed and worthless for years...? She said again Love is not attached to value! Wow. I thought.. She gets it! Jehovah is greater than our hearts in what we condemn ourselves. We just have to believe it. I commended our sister and said that whilst she 'thinks' she can't help anyone who feels that way.. she of all people CAN help because she understands Jehovah's undeserved kindness, VERY well! I had to write her statement down on paper as she said it... Hope this helps someone else.

YOU to know or believe. What... ? That Jehovah loves you even with your imperfections. (satan hates that!). If you are trying to serve Jehovah despite the Pandemic effects, injustice, lack of self worth, the mistakes of our brothers, feeling inadequate in the ministry, in putting on the Christ-like personality. etc etc etc.. (even with all of those pressures), Jehovah loves you EVEN MORE for doing. Satan knows this, although he hates all of mankind; even those who do what he wants. So what does satan do.. he uses this system to sow doubts in our mind that deflect our attention or service away from Jehovah. He wants us to believe that it is pointless serving God (Ps73 Asaph) and if we don't do it PERFECTLY... ALL OF THE TIME we should just give it up and chase other things; materialism, our Job/career, make us feel more important about ourselves or our social position.. making money our goal. (1 Cor 15:32 )These things do have an effect on how Jehovah sees us. However Satan Also knows that if we 'try hard' to resist this tendency Jehovah loves us for it. It is true that we cannot fully understand the depth of Jehovah's love and character or WHY on earth would he love ME.. (Rom 11:33) but we can try; by studying the scriptures we can try to discern/see these realities Satan is not stupid.. he has had a lot of experience in getting mankind to be self absorbed and adopting the characteristics of 2 Tim 3:1-5. He IS affecting us all to 'some' degree and even though we may be fighting these tendencies it can still make us feel unlovable... However, WE MUST remember even Satan KNOWS this is not the case! (Job 2:3) He just doesn't want YOU to know or believe it! Don't let him...!

As with all of you brothers, we're writing letter personally to those in our neighbourhood. It is all new to us here (in UK) It has come as a surprise (to us anyway) how expensive it can become; especially if you are on a fixed budget but still want to get involved.. We have a sister in the congregation who is married to an unbeliever.. He is very tolerant of our sisters beliefs and a pleasant person too. He works for the Post Office... Our sister knows that he gets stamps given to him every year but forgot about the connection with her letter writing. Anyway he is sorting through some drawers in the room and came across his personal stash of unused stamps. He pipes up and says your congregation should be using these for your letter writing! I'm guessing around 600 first class stamps... She duly contacts the elders and they makes sure they go to those who need them most.. We were all very grateful for this sudden 'out of the blue' blessing... Didn't expect that!

It has been mentioned before that the restrictions have had an effect on us all.. not meeting together but learning other ways to support each other.. However on the other hand the 'forced to look elsewhere' for our preaching work has led to some surprising events here. (UK) One congregation decided to include the Nursing homes in the Business letter writing and include some of the residents staying in them... The congregation got an almost immediate response from one of the residential home's Director. He wanted to talk about it as soon as possible.. Among other things he said the residents had really appreciated the personal letters and he had been in touch with 'a few other homes' to gauge what they needed.. So the director asked if they would be prepared to contact 'some' other residents directly? Our brother responded; 'Of course we would be more than happy for our congregation to write to some residents.. can you give us some idea of how many you are looking at?' Around 800..... We are experiencing a different ministry and it is helping us all to adapt to a new situation. Our CO this week reports that the growth in preaching esp with pioneering is at a record high.. We have opportunities that were there before but didn't see them. Now we have our eyes open and look the fields are white for harvesting. John 4:35 We still have a ministry and we can all do it safely now... Jesus knows what he is doing; all we have to do now and through the GT, is to be obedient. Why can we be sure? 2Kings 6:16 But he said: “Do not be afraid! For there are more who are with us than those who are with them.” How many more? Matt 25:31 “When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne.. Our literature estimates it could be a billion or more: I know who I would rather side with in the war ahead. Who said the ministry is restricted... LOL

A sister I know.. (I'll call her Julie now, for her sake) told us about the fear she had of an upcoming diagnosis.. she was going to have an MRI scan and going to have to wait two weeks to get the results. The congregation praying continually for her. She is claustrophobic and hated even the thought of being inside this 'thing' for 40 minutes! On arrival at the hospital she had to go knock on this massive metal door and heart pounding dreading even to go in.. only to find the person behind was a friend she had grown up in the Truth with! Turns out she doesn't normally do this shift.. Strange eh.. Anyway she is so pleased to have someone there with some compassion.. They talk about old times and hopes this may resurrect her feeling for the truth. After the long wait since the MRI she gets a call.. can you come to the hospital ? (three days time!!!) She is thinking.. If this is something benign you would not call someone in.. She is fretting now over the consequences of a cancer diagnosis. On top of this she is notified by a specialist that her mid twenties son who is Autistic and a mental age of 5 (who is in specialist care and in isolation) is going to have his medication, which has taken a long time to sort out, stopped. There is an initiative to stop a plethora of unnecessary drugs being prescribed. She is thinking what can she possibly say to this specialist.. Who would take the words of a simple mum. She knows what removal will do to him; he'd probably end up worse and in a more secure institution... Feeling even worse now! Julie is looking up Phil 4:7 trying to find some peace... Later a social worker phones Julie up.. 'just to see how she is coping'.. She tells this person what has happened and this person says I find comfort in Phil 4:7! She quotes the words exactly as our translation! Are you a JW she askes.. No. I just read my Bible... They have a great chat and says she wants to talk again in a few weeks time. However as regards the problems with her Son she tells the person of her helplessness about his meds removal and what it would do to him. She asks who the doctor was that was going to do this... Julie tells her.. Oh I was with him last week!.. I'll talk to him about it. Later she tells Julie that she explained to the doctor that she knew the Son personally and what the removal of his meds would do to him. So he relented and said ok to carry on with them! Julie phones the care place to tell them that he was going to get his medication restored. How on earth did you manage that!? they ask... she explains what had happened. Now Julie is trying to sort out and prepare for 'probable' hospitalisation.. Her Blood card is out of date due to Covid restrictions and not meeting at the hall and doesn't want to do anything behind his back but also not bring it up as hubby is against her bible view. Her unbelieving husband surprisingly reminds her that she needs her Blood card! Then an elder and his wife pop by.. they are able to sign and witness the declaration! Sorted! On Tuesday she meets with the specialist to discuss the diagnosis.. only to find it is 'nothing serious and may well go away with time! Phew.. relief and a lot of crying in the car with hubby. A whirlwind tour! We're all in tears, listening to all off, this with her!

Why can't you mute your mouth in normal conversation..(foot in mouth) What shouldn't you say to the person who texts, WhatsApp or emails you 3 minutes before the FS meeting. "What is the zoom link to the meeting"?

Would you like a Bible study? What to say to the person who never unmutes till the third prompt?

But mine I must add.. But a reflection of Jehovah's view of these precious congregation members. A Poem for My Sisters (Read it when you have time... but dont forget to read it! 🥰)... I was sitting, on a summer day, beneath a shady tree, descending into a slumber, when a vision came to me. There was beating of a thousand drums - the ground was shaking too. Then over the horizon came a woman into view. And then another woman, with a hundred at her heel. They multiplied a thousandfold - the vision was surreal! Salvation was their helmet, and solid faith their shield, With righteousness as breastplates, their hearts were well concealed. A mighty sword they all possessed, held tightly in their palms. Was this the female army indicated in the Psalms? Their eyes were facing forward as they marched in perfect time. Then I recognized their faces! These were sisters - friends of mine! See there that single sister? Satan put her to the test! How she longed to have a husband; to be loved like all the rest! And there, that older sister, though her spouse does not believe, You'll find her out in service, every morning, noon, and eve. Another lost her husband, yet she marches through her trial. Says she, "He's on vacation - merely resting for awhile." And that one lost her husband when he simply went AWOL. He dropped his sword mid-battle, yet she's marching straight and tall. Oh yes, and there's my sister with her young ones - quite a sight. Her husband is in prison - he refused to go and fight. This sister here seems quite content - her life seems quite ideal, But what goes on behind closed doors - she never will reveal. In spite of all these hardships, the women march on strong. The old, the young, the strong, the weak: they bravely trudge along. And then, like lightening, one of them stepped right up to my face. "How dare you rest!" she said to me. "There's no time left to waste!" "Here, take this sword and take this shield, this breastplate you must wear." "Don't rest until the Kingdom News is broadcast everywhere!" And so I found my place in line, with no time to debate. For now I see the urgency - my sleep will have to wait. No time for insecurities, no time for shrinking back. Just time to get this preaching done, false doctrines to attack! So next time you sit down to rest, or get the urge to snooze, Or if you start to tire out while preaching the good news, Observe this military force, just see what they can do, And pray for strength from God on high, then you can do it too. ______________________________________________ "The women telling the good news are a large army." - Psalm 68:11 - ❤❤❤

Perhaps you were joking, but I find this a very strange comment. We have everlasting life in view, don't we? Don't let this system's view affect your actions or thinking. This life is not it..LOL

I'm still getting failed to update messages even after reinstalling fresh from the online downloaded installation.. then after the failure (it is usually a message saying is there another instance of WT Lib running; there never is) Now WT library opens after 10-15 seconds now. like all of my other installations do; following that failure. annoying because it is so useful to me.