We have had very high water bills for a few months and just found out that we do have a leak. The plumber is here as I type and turns out we need to replace our water line. I wanted to tell him- "You don't understand! We're going thru our second Dave Ramsey class and this is NOT in the budget!" Instead I knew I needed to fill my mind with Jesus...with Truth. Gracegems is filled with such Truth!

"The very storms through which the believer passes, will only strengthen him to take a firmer hold of Christ. As the same wind that blows down the poplar tree, only establishes the oak tree; so the very storms which uproot the shallow professor, only root the child of God more firmly in Christ.Though these storms may shake off some of his leaves, or break off some of the rotten boughs, they do not uproot his faith—but rather strengthen it. It is in these storms that he learns . . . more of his own weakness, and of Christ's strength; more of his own misery, and of Christ's mercy; more of his own sinfulness, and of superabounding grace; more of his own poverty, and of Christ's riches. It is in these storms that the same blessed Spirit who began the work carries it on; and goes on to engrave the image of Christ in deeper characters upon his heart; and to teach him more and more experimentally—the truth as it is in Jesus." Philpot