Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 754 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Joseph - Trial by Faith – Meditation Monday

 

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 754 of our trek, and today we are transitioning our focus from mindshift to meditation.

So starting today, we will be calling our segment Meditation Monday. Taking time to relax, refocus, and reprioritize our lives is crucial in order to create a living legacy. For some, it may just be a time alone for quiet reflection. Some may utilize structured meditation practices.

In my life, meditation includes reading and reflecting on God’s Word and praying. It is a time to renew my mind, refocus on what is most important, and make sure that I am nurturing my soul, mind, and body. As you come along with me on our trek each Meditation Monday, it is my hope and prayer that you too will experience a time for reflection and renewing your mind.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. We are quickly approaching Christmas and then New Years. 2017 has been a challenging time for our family. Businesswise, we are battling the ever-changing fluctuations in the oil and construction sectors. Familywise, our world was shaken to its foundations when our granddaughter Hazel was diagnosed with Leukemia on April 15th.  Our lives and perspective of life will be forever changed. As Hazel goes through the treatment regimen that will last over two years, we are adapting to a life which is much different than we anticipated.

On July 8th, I fell from a ladder and broke my femur bone right below the ball socket of the hip. I am still recovering from that as I go through the healing process. The bone is healing well, but rebuilding the muscles and tendons through daily exercise is certainly more painful than exercising was before the fall.

Unexpected events and trials can certainly rock our world. As I reflect during this Christmas season, I realize that many of you go through trials and challenges too. Today in our Monday Meditation, let us consider such a trial from one of the key members in the story of Christ’s birth. Today let us reflect on…

Joseph – Trial by Faith

Most of us really dislike tests. I was not a stellar student in school, so tests brought a certain amount of stress although I certainly had some control over the outcome if I chose to. As we have experienced this year with Hazel and her numerous medical tests, these test results are completely out of our control.

As we have experienced and so have many of you, other tests are life tests. They have to do with tough times in your lives, times that are hard, painful, and discouraging. They may involve a time of illness, hardship, persecution, marriage problems, family upheaval, job difficulties, loneliness, grief, or a host of other painful experiences. Some tests are a result of the choices that we make, but many of these tests come because we live in a broken world.

Some periods of testing invade your lives because other people do evil things or make unwise choices. Sometimes, times of testing come because Satan wants to discourage you and lead you to doubt God’s love and grace. Sometimes testing comes because of your unwise or sinful choices. Bottom line: The fallout from times of testing can blow into your world and wreak havoc in your lives. Sometimes trials come because we are grasping for things to make us content instead of being content in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Hebrews 13:5 tells us, "Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, 'I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.'"

As we reflect on Christmas,