Women's Focus Ministries: Sunday Writing... 3-8-20... "SPRING FORWARD"

Good morning!

Today is the beginning of daylight saving time in the U.S. when you "SPRING FORWARD" an hour with all your clocks (unless like me you live in one of the few places who don't observe it!) Read below to learn more about springing forward.

Blessings,
Jan

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Today's Devotional:

"SPRING FORWARD"

Jan Andersen

“Spring forward, fall back” is a mnemonic that helps people remember which way the clocks change for daylight saving time (DST). Today is the day in the U.S. that most people have set their clocks forward one hour, or their “smart” devices have automatically adjusted forward, giving them more daylight time during after-work hours, until it changes back in November. Apparently the Department of Transportation is in charge of DST because it affects many modes of transportation across time zones. The practice started in the early 1900’s as a way to conserve energy, assuming people would use less lighting in the evening if the sun was up longer when they came home from work (although that is debatable now.)

There are often times in our lives that we wish we could “spring forward” in order to skip over something we dread and to get to something we enjoy faster. Who wouldn’t want to “save energy” by getting to the good stuff without as much worry and effort? Unfortunately, that’s not generally how life works. Trudging through life’s challenges actually helps us appreciate the good times more. We have to take the steps and put in the work in order to reap the benefits of reaching the goals. Worrying about it won’t help, but neither can we skip the work. The good news is, we have a God who will walk us through it all.

There is one prize that many worry about which no one can earn, no matter how hard we work at it. Every one of us is sinful and cannot attain eternal life without the actions that were taken by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He took the sins of the whole world on himself to the cross where he was crucified in our place. For Jesus there was no skipping over the steps of his agonizing torture and death in order to get to the ultimate end, his resurrection and ascension into heaven.

Because Jesus took the steps for us, we can “spring forward” to eternal life with him in heaven by grace through faith in Him. While there is no work for us to do in order to obtain salvation, we do good works because we are so thankful for all He has done for us. While daylight saving time is supposed to save energy by moving the clocks forward an hour in the spring, Jesus saves us from the punishment of sin and helps us “spring forward" to eternal life with Him. We cannot add a single hour to our lives by worrying about something God has already handled, and He handles everything in our lives!

Matthew 6: 25, 27 and 34 (NIV) “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life… Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?… Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”

Dear Father in heaven, thank you for handling everything in our lives so that we do not have to worry. Help us to remember most importantly that you handled our salvation through the gift of your Son so we can spring forward to eternal life when we die. Send us your Holy Spirit to give us stronger faith and the ability to share that faith with those around us who so deeply need to hear about your free gift of salvation in Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.

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Song:

SPARROWS

Jason Gray