trust in trouble

Good evening friends,
Please keep Barb Miller in your prayers as she begins rehab at Hill Haven following a fall on Sunday. Our reading today reminds us that faith requires discipline to be the people God calls us to be. When we really trust and follow God, we will sometimes find ourselves in places we wouldn't ordinarily like to be. Even then, God's word is free, powerful and effective. Faith means trusting God, and God is trustworthy in life and in death.

God bless,
Sam

2 Timothy 2:1-13

You then, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; ²and what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well. ³Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier’s aim is to please the enlisting officer. ⁵And in the case of an athlete, no one is crowned without competing according to the rules. ⁶It is the farmer who does the work who ought to have the first share of the crops. ⁷Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in all things.

⁸Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, ⁹for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. ¹⁰Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. ¹¹The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; ¹²if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; ¹³if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.