file: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db940901.txt
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OUR DAILY BREAD                    Thursday, September 1, 1994
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READ: Psalm 119:65-72


                        "ROCK BOTTOM"

             "It is good for me that I have been
                          afflicted,
               that I may learn Your statutes." 

                         Psalm 119:71


I was in my early thirties, a dedicated wife and mother, a
Christian worker at my husband's side. Yet inwardly I found myself
on a trip nobody wants to take, the trip downward. I was heading
for that certain sort of breakdown that most of us resist, the
breakdown of my stubborn self-sufficiency. 

Finally I experienced the odd relief of hitting rock bottom, where
I made an unexpected discovery: The rock on which I had been
thrown was none other than Christ Himself. Cast on Him alone, I
was in a position to rebuild the rest of my life, this time as a
God-dependent person rather than the self- dependent person I had
been. My rock-bottom exper- ience became a turning point and one
of the most vital spiritual developments of my life. 

Most people feel anything but spiritual when they hit bottom.
Their misery is often reinforced by Christians who take a very
shortsighted view of what the sufferer is going through and why.
But our heavenly Father is well-pleased with what He intends to
bring out of such a painful process. A person who knows the secret
of the God-dependent life can say, "It is good for me that I have
been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes" (Ps. 119:71). 

- Joanie E. Yoder

               Lift up your eyes, discouraged one,
                  The Lord your help will be;
             New strength will come from Him who said, 
                    "For rest, come unto Me."

                           - Anon.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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When a Christian hits rock bottom, he finds that Christ is a firm
foundation.

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 Chronicles 4-6

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Daily Bread, Copyright 1994, used by permission of Radio Bible
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