Reflections In My World...

These are just a few thoughts from the second point in my message, Reflections of Beauty....Refections..In My world.

"For we are a fragrance of Christ to God,among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing."

2 Corinthians 2:14

Before my allergies took over and I could no longer wear any fragrances,I always wore the same cologne. You could smell it ever so faintly in my closet and bedroom. When Hannah my grand daughter was a baby, my son in law would sniff her and say to her, "You smell like Gramma, have you been with Gramma today"

So, it is with us, the world will know we have been with Jesus. Amongst the stench and decay of this fallen world our fragrance will be as evident as our reflection.

Many of you are in very hard places right now. There is such uncertainly in our world around us and there are crisis' and trials in our personal lives. Some days it is difficult tot look through spiritual eyes and see that all of this is going according to God's plan. Life hurts and at times is very painful. Even though our world can be a hard place to live right now, it's not impossible. We know God to be sovereign, control in all things.

One of the greatest affirmations of faith is found in; Habakkuk 3:17-18

"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior."

I will rejoice in the Lord!

This is the kind of reflection that a world gone mad with chaos and change needs to see from us as Christian women. We could read that Scripture this way in our world today.

Even though my health is failing, the checkbook is empty, the 401K is gone, the house is in forecloser and there seems to be no hope on the horizon....I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful on God my Savior!

As believers the more we suffer the more God comforts. For those that don’t know Jesus, where does their comfort come from? That’s where we come in...we comfort them with the same comfort God has given us.

Charles Swindoll says, “Our Father is preparing us to meet the deep inner needs of others by bringing us through the dark places first.”

He is bring us through those dark places first..why? So we can take someone, believer or unbeliever, by the hand and help them come through to the other side of whatever their crisis or circumstances are. And when we are showing compassion and comfort we are pointing them to Jesus by our reflections of Him and our sweet fragrances.

We are not here at this time in history to sink in the pool of self pity in our hard times. For such a time as this, we are here to show our children, friends and all whom God puts in our path how to live through adversity, illnesses, and whatever other loss you may have experienced or are experiencing presently.

Corrie ten Boom said, "Every experience that God gives us, every person he puts in our lives, is the perfect preparation for the future only he can see."

It's not just non Christians that need to see this reflection of Christ in our lives., we need to see it in each other. We need to see how another woman goes through the hardships of her life and that gives us hope and encouragement to go through hard times of our own.We are encouraged by each other's reflection's!

We have to be careful that we don't show people crooked patterns in life. They need to see us walk upright and not wavering. We can't let crooked patterns be our example to the world. When we are willing God will strategically place us somewhere to be a blessing.

Are we being that example for others to follow? Do we reflect Christ and show others straight paths rather than crooked ones? Do we give off the fragrance of Jesus in a world filled with the stench and decay of a fallen world ?

Our refection might be the one thing that would draw another person into the arms of Jesus during what we think to be the last days. Something in our refection could be the one thing that influences someone’s first thoughts of Christ.

It may be the one thing that would cause them to even be thinking of Him in the first place. We need to be an example to each other; it gives us strength to go on.

"As in water face reflects face,

so the heart of woman reflects woman."

Proverbs 27:19