{"id":4457,"date":"2012-10-27T00:35:51","date_gmt":"2012-10-27T06:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wnac.org\/twg\/?p=4457"},"modified":"2012-10-16T20:41:44","modified_gmt":"2012-10-17T02:41:44","slug":"bright-future-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wnac.org\/twg\/?p=4457","title":{"rendered":"Bright Future Ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>&#8220;Don&#8217;t envy sinners, but always continue to fear the Lord. \u00a0For surely you have a future ahead of you, your hope will not be disappointed&#8221;\u00a0 (Proverbs 23:17-18 NLT).<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve all done it. \u00a0We&#8217;ve grumbled about it, mumbled unkind things in reference to it and stood back scratching our heads in wonder. \u00a0Good things happen to the worst of people, and well, we don&#8217;t understand it.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve all sat in a waiting room. \u00a0Waiting, impatiently at times, for news on a believing loved one. \u00a0A biopsy result, a test finding or a surgeon&#8217;s report. \u00a0We&#8217;ve judged the answer we received against the one of the family on the other side of the room\u2014and well, to the best of our estimation, we got the bad end of the deal.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve been sidelined at work, in our families or in life in general. \u00a0Our dreams broken. \u00a0Our goals yet to be met. \u00a0And we&#8217;re called to applaud the promotion of the guy down the hallway. \u00a0To work under the unbeliever in the office.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve received what to us looks like a great role in the play of life, only to find our we&#8217;re the understudy to a less than desirable, foul-mouthed, never-darken-the-door-of-a-church star.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve all been handed a 2nd place ribbon at some time or another.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve all been announced as runner-up.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve all thought about throwing in the towel on this Christianity-thing. \u00a0After all, what&#8217;s it doing for us? \u00a0Where&#8217;s it gotten us? \u00a0Is anyone, anyone at all, noticing how we&#8217;ve put heart and soul into living in godliness? \u00a0All our best efforts are getting us nowhere.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t. \u00a0Don&#8217;t throw in the towel. \u00a0Don&#8217;t give up on walking the straight path. \u00a0Don&#8217;t envy the lives of those living without Christ, no matter what they seem to have going for them.<\/p>\n<p>Our bright future is not necessarily going to occur here. \u00a0All <em>they<\/em> have now, may in fact, be all they&#8217;ll ever get.<\/p>\n<p>Your hope, your commitment, your determination and your work for Christ will not disappoint.<\/p>\n<p>Malinda Edgell<br \/>\nIllinois<\/p>\n<p><strong>PRAY TOGETHER: <\/strong>Pray for Lee Ann Wilfong as she leads Missouri Women Active for Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t envy sinners, but always continue to fear the Lord. \u00a0For surely you have a future ahead of you, your hope will not be disappointed&#8221;\u00a0 (Proverbs 23:17-18 NLT). We&#8217;ve all done it. \u00a0We&#8217;ve grumbled about it, mumbled unkind things in &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/wnac.org\/twg\/?p=4457\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-devotional"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnac.org\/twg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnac.org\/twg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnac.org\/twg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnac.org\/twg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnac.org\/twg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4457"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wnac.org\/twg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4459,"href":"https:\/\/wnac.org\/twg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4457\/revisions\/4459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnac.org\/twg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnac.org\/twg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnac.org\/twg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}