I received this via email today


A well-known speaker


started off his seminar by:

holding up a $20.00
bill. In the room of 200, he asked,
'Who would like this
$20 bill?'

Hands started going up.
He said, 'I am going to give this
$20 to one of you

but first, let me
do this.
He
proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill.
He then asked, 'Who
still wants it?'

Still the hands
were up in the air.

Well, he
replied, 'What if I do this?'

And he
dropped it on the ground

and started
to grind it into the floor with his shoe.

He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.

'Now, who still wants it?'

Still the hands went into the air.

My friends, we have all learned a
very valuable lesson.

No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value.
It was still worth $20.
< B>
Many times in our lives,
we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt
by the decisions we make and
the circumstances that come our way.
We feel as though we are worthless.

But no matter what has happened or
what will happen, you will never lose your value.

Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased,
you are still
priceless to those who DO LOVE you.

The worth of our
lives comes not in what we do or who we know,
but by WHO WE ARE and
WHOSE WE ARE.
You are
special
-
Don't EVER forget it.'

If you do not pass
this on, you may never know the
lives it touches, the hurting hearts it speaks to,
or the hope that it can bring.

Count your blessings,
not your problems.


'And remember:
amateurs built the ark ..

professionals
built the Titanic.

If God brings you to
it - He will bring you through it.

If you like this story,check out the
"chicken soup for the soul " books,they have lots of really inspiring,uplifting stories like this one.

Oh yes, I've heard good things about that book.

Thanks Russ, I happened to see "Who's Online" reading this story, so I read it as well. It's precious.
----
-Prettier Than Freckles ~

'Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.'
--Mark Twain

-It happened one year at the zoo. My daughter and I stood beside a grandmother and a little girl whose face was sprinkled with bright red freckles. The children were waiting in line to get their cheeks painted by a local artist who was decorating them with tiger paws.

"You've got so many freckles, there's no place to paint," a boy in the line yelled. Embarrassed, the little girl beside me dropped her head.

Her grandmother knelt down next to her. "I love your freckles," she said.

"Not me," the girl replied.

"Well, when I was a little girl I always wanted freckles," she said, tracing her finger across the child's cheek. "Freckles are beautiful!"

The girl looked up. "Really?"

"Of course," said the grandmother. "Why, just name me one thing that's prettier than freckles."

The little girl peered into the old woman's smiling face. "Wrinkles," she answered softly.

That moment has whispered something to me ever since. If I look at others with the eyes of love, I will not see blemishes. Only beauty.

--Sue M Kidd
-From "Chicken Soup for the Golden Soul" ~~

-Fear Not

-BIBLE MEDITATION

"Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with the whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9

-DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

The devil is the sinister minister of fear. When he clamps his icy fingers of fear on your heart, do you become afraid of what he'll do to you if you take a stand for God? Don't be afraid. Fear is an insult to God who said, I will be with thee. Fear will destroy you.

Are you a worrywart? One lady said, "Don't tell me it does no good to worry. Most of the things I worry about never come to pass." Be not dismayed. God will take care of you.

-ACTION POINT:

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what your fears are, then confess them as sin. Repent, then reach up and take hold of His right hand that is outstretched to sustain you and give you the victory!

--What Do You Love to Do?
--
What do you love to do? What gives you a sense of satisfaction? Some long to feed the poor. Others relish singing or teaching or holding the hands of the sick or counseling the confused. Each of us has been made to serve God in a unique way.

Ephesians 2:10 says: “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” You are a custom design; you are tailor-made. Regardless of the circumstances that surrounded your arrival, you are not an accident.

The longings of your heart are not incidental; they are critical messages. The desires of your heart are not to be ignored; they are to be consulted. As the wind turns the weather vane, so God uses your passion to turn your life. God is too gracious to ask you to do something you hate.

-From: Just Like Jesus/ML

---God Is Still on the Phone

“…ye have not, because ye ask not.” - James 4:2

A little girl heard the choir singing that song “God Is Still on the Throne.” She didn’t understand it quite correctly and told someone they were singing “God is still on the phone.” Well, He is!

There’s a heavenly hotline and thankfully God is still on the phone! He answers our prayers. Prayer—that you and I can talk with God—is the greatest Christian privilege. The One Who scooped out the seas, heaped up the mountains, and flung out the stars—the omnipotent God — has invited us to talk with Him. There is no possible way I could overstate the importance of prayer. And I pray that you will never underestimate the importance of prayer.

Prayer is the Christian’s greatest privilege. It is the Christian’s greatest power. But it is also the Christian’s greatest failure. We have not because we ask not. May God forgive us.

-Count Your Blessings, Not Your Problems~~

'Let me stop complaining
about my load of care.

For God will always lighten it
when it gets too much to bear....

And if He does not ease my load,
He'll give me strength to bear it,

For God, in love and mercy,
is always near to share it. ~~/ -

--Helen Steiner Rice