"If you are following Jesus, if you've committed your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, he may discipline you - with a purpose - but he is not punishing you.

The follower of Jesus does not have a burden of guilt wondering 'What did I do wrong?' There is no karma in the Christian life. What goes around doesn't come around to me; it comes around to the cross and stops there. If I confess my sin and forsake my sin, it stops at the cross.

It doesn't mean I never have trouble it means I never have punishment."

Ted Klassen "Hope When It's Hopeless" Culloden Church 2008

Habakkuk 3:17-19
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.

"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!"
Matthew 7:11 (ESV)

"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
Luke 11:13 (ESV)

... how much more... what a thing our Saviour said to us.

Ask and see how much more. I'm going to.

NANCY HECHE
the truth comes out
The Story of My Hearts Transformation
Read it!!

Nancy's story has something for everyone.

Blessing - from the book...

" That's me. That's me when I'm stuck in self pity and frustration I can see only the sting of the moment. I can't stand back far enough to get God's perspective,... I'm right in the middle of it, feeling hopeless and angry, not a plan in sight. " pp.132,133

" ... I know that He works together all of the things of my life to make me more like Jesus (Romans 8:28)...
It's not just that God waves a magic wand over my troubles and abracadabra! it's all better. It's God and Nancy working together. He does His work - holding, illuminating, guiding - and I do my work - praying, reading His Word, obeying - and I grow and heal and learn to wait and be patient, and then I become more like Jesus. " pp. 134

" It's not fair! Not fair? Leif Enger in his beautiful book Peace Like a River, writes, 'Fair is whatever God wants to do.'
" I cried and yelled and screamed at God and told Him I would not do this. Period. I would not do this. This is more than I can bear. Don't You get it? THIS IS MORE THAN I CAN BEAR.
Is this what I was being prepared for when I sang those songs and prayed those prayers about the fellowhip of Christ's sufferings? Did you take me at my word, really? I didn't mean it to happen this way... why me? " pp. 135

Acts 3:26
God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.

Read that verse again.

" God sent Jesus to bless me, and that blessing turned me from my wicked ways! I wondered if I had ever read that verse before. God's blessing is what turns me from my ways to His way. "

... I thought in my 'Christian' lingo, that blessing [her] would be the same as agreeing with [her]. I didn't agree with [her] position, but I loved [her] and longed to have a relationship with [her]. It was so hard. Most of the time I didn't know what to do or say.
... I confessed my hard heart and I blessed [her], and I blessed [her] friends. "
pp 138 ( []brackets mine)

" I believe that the Bible is a book of what God is doing, what is happening, not just what God did, or what happened hundreds of years ago. God did not speak in Bible times and then go mute! He is speaking things into existence all the time. "

" I learn what to expect today by reading what God did yesterday. It's very scientific, actually. If a scientist performs an experiment over and over and gets the same result each time, she can expect that the same things can and will happen each and every other time. "

" I got out my Greek lexicon to study the word 'blessing'. Here's what I read: to bless is to ask God to interfere, to take action in one's life, to bring them to the desired relationship with Himself so that they are truly blessed and fully satisfied. "

" To bless is to ask God to interfere, to take action in one's life, to bring them to the desired relationship with Himself. . . Do you get how powerful that is?
... blessing releases God's power to change the character and destiny of the one being blessed. WOW! "

" I wanted us to learn to bless each other,... with a knowing, informed, passionate, intentional "BLESS YOU!" We committed to blessing those who annoyed us in traffic, collegues who frustrated us at work, friends and family who hurt us at home. "

" God bless you. God bless me. " pp. 139,140

Seriously, read the book!