FEBRUARY 2025 NEWSLETTER

                                             FEBRUARY 2025 NEWSLETTER

Robert Lindenberger 

405 Indian River Ave. 504. 

Titusville, FL 32796. 

321 – 368 – 7184 

expas65@yahoo.com 

 

God is good all the time; all the time, God is good! 

 

Can I be happy and sad at the same time? 

 

      “Rejoice in the Lord always.”  Through these five words, God has shown me that my internal joy cannot be tied to my external circumstances.  When I experienced family tragedies, when my flaws were exposed, and when my meaningful relationships were broken or dysfunctional, God reminded me that joy in the Lord was/and is still possible. 

 

      God does not cruelly tell us to put a smile on our faces no matter the pain in our hearts.  Philippians 4:4 reminds us that no matter what is happening around us, we can still have immense joy because God, not our circumstances, is the source of all joy. 

 

      “Rejoice no matter what.”  And “rejoice in the Lord always” are two very important imperatives.  God never tells us to rejoice, no matter what, simply.  He tells us to rejoice in him no matter what. 

 

      My life is hard; is it okay to be sad?  If a dream of mine is not coming true, is it a sin to be discontent?  Does “rejoice in the Lord always” mean I must be happy no matter what? 

 

      Sometimes, understanding what is being said in the Bible helps to define what is not being said.  But God wants us to be content in every situation, which is why we must become blind to real pain in the world or in our own lives. 

 

      God really cares about the details of our human lives(1 Peter 5:7), so to reflect him as image-bears, we must care about the details, too.  Jesus, the most fully human person ever to live, cried bitterly in response to the pain of his friend, even while knowing better than any of them the miracle that was about to take place (John 11:35).  To be human is to care deeply about things on planet Earth. 

 

      Like Jesus, we care about life’s pain, trials, and hardships.  Now, even though we are confident of the joy that will come later.  God is sovereign, “declaring the end from the beginning.”  (Isaiah 46:10), but he still cares about everything that happens in between.  As his followers, so should we. 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

INTRODUCTION - MY VERY FIRST BLOG

Image
Hello, my name is Bob, God is good all the time; all the time, God is good!, Lindenberger.  To introduce myself, I am going to post my 2019 Newsletter:   I love to tell the old, old story Of Jesus and how He saved me.  Another Christmas month is here, and I am changing the format of my newsletter. (but it didn't copy to here)  I do love to tell the old, old story because it makes me happy and blessed to hear and tell it over and over again. When Peter wrote his second letter, he said this, "This is my second letter to you, dear brothers, in both of them I have tried to remind you – if you let me – about the facts you already know: facts you learn from the holy prophets and from the apostles who brought you words of our Lord and Savior." (2 Peter 3:1-8)_ A professor where I went to college (EPC) used to say, "Keep your testimony current and alive. Tell it over and over again and never let it grow dim." So, I'm going to give you my testimony, whic...
Read more

Peace or Panic

  Peace or Panic? by David Marvin One of the biggest challenges about the anxious thoughts we have is that there is some truth in them. That’s why they can be so powerful. If there was absolutely no truth to our thoughts, we wouldn’t be tempted to dwell on them. But half-truths are only half true, so they must be replaced with full truths. Stay with me if that sounds confusing. Some half-truths could be: I will never be good enough I don’t have friends who care about me. I will never get married. I am not pretty enough. I will never be able to conquer my depression. My brother will always be an addict. My mom is going to die from cancer. I may die in a car accident. My boyfriend is going to break up with me. I will never get promoted. I will never get out of debt. What makes thoughts like these hard to ignore is the little bit of truth in them. They are partly true but not the whole truth. Maybe you think, I may never get married. There is some truth t...
Read more

MAY 2023 NEWSLETTER

                                                               MAY 2023 NEWSLETTER Robert Lindenberger 711 Wager Avenue Titusville, FL 35780 321-637-2949 expas65@yahoo.com   One month since I left home to take a room in Assisted Living.  When I was in college, I had a History Professor who started his class by saying, “History repeats itself.”  A student asks him, “Does that also go for His Story?”  His answer is, “That is the work of the Holy Spirit.”  In my life, I can say “yes.” I prayed for the Holy Spirit to write a good newsletter and then went on Facebook and see what appeared.   May 2017 Newsletter (6 yrs ago)   In my last letter, I said, “If I live one more month down here, we’ll meet again.” Hallelujah, I did live one more month, and so did you.   Thank You, Jes...
Read more