I spoke with a young lady who longed to be at rest in her spirit despite an unpleasant circumstance. “The struggle is wearing me out,” she sighed. “I tend to think that if the situation would change, I would have great joy, but I need to be able to say, ‘If I have God’s will, then I have great joy.’”

Jim, an IV drug abuser and a homosexual, was dying from AIDS. The nurses, medical students, and doctors all agreed Jim was an unusually obnoxious patient. When someone entered his room, Jim would turn his back to him. If he did answer any questions, it was with contempt.

In a women’s ministry conference, Dr. Pamela Reeve, a faculty member of Multnomah Biblical Seminary, told that in one period of her life she worked under a supervisor who sought to stifle her vision and to constrict her work. Her natural desire was to retaliate. She prayed much and thought surely God would change the man’s mind, but He didn’t.

“If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here,” pleaded Moses when God called him to lead the Israelites. “What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:15, 16).

“Today is our 34th wedding anniversary!” wrote a friend. “As I was thanking the Lord this morning for keeping us together, I realized that it has been only by His grace and mercy that we have remained together. There were many times we would have walked away, many times we didn’t feel love or loving, and many times we didn’t want to see or talk with each other...Having four children added disagreements about care and discipline.

Brother Duan, a house church leader in China was traveling through Henan Province when his bus broke down. On a whim, he left the bus and began walking toward a village. He was depressed and lonely. His wife had died years earlier, and the thought of his son brought an even darker cloud over his heart.

I’ve become convinced that people often sense our spirits when we haven’t said a word. When our daughter Arla was small and needed to be disciplined, I scolded her until we were both upset. She went to her room and I went to my study wanting to calm my own spirit. I knelt down and prayed, “Jesus, give me the mind of Christ for Arla.” Suddenly I was filled with love for her. I was amazed at the tender compassion that simply overflowed in my heart.

The Lord spoke to Mahesh Chavda and his wife about calling their church to a twenty-one day fast. They asked the people to come together at 5:00 am for two hours each morning. Only a handful of people showed up the first two mornings.