God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help\u00a0\u00a0in times of trouble.
Psalms 46:1 NLT<\/p>\n
When I was fit and spending all my spare time in the gym, I was strong. But it all fades away sooner or later. Human strength is like that, and it’s not always there when it’s needed. Not only that, it’s often not enough even when it is there. What can even\u00a0the strongest man achieve in an earthquake?<\/p>\n
Even though I’m not as strong as I used to be, even though I will almost certainly never be that strong again, I am truly blessed! All the strength I will ever need is right beside me, always available, always ready whenever I need it! I have so much to be thankful for – there are just so many good things in my life. But it’s not just in the good times that I can be thankful. Even when my whole world is shaken, even when everything about me is falling down, crumbling, even then I can be thankful because I know that God is my refuge and strength, there beside me, ready to help. Even then, I can be still and be at peace, because I know that He is God!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help\u00a0\u00a0in times of trouble.Psalms 46:1 NLT When I was fit and spending all my spare time in the gym, I was strong. But it all fades away sooner or later. Human strength is like that, and it’s not always there when it’s needed. Not only that,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","category-5","description-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfWaLo-W0","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7329,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2023\/03\/19-words-mean-everything\/","url_meta":{"origin":3596,"position":0},"title":"19 – Words Mean Everything","author":"Robert Pender","date":"12\/03\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"If you have been following my blog you will know that in November last year I was diagnosed as having terminal cancer. In episode 8 of this series, I described how the oncologist told me that if I did not get chemotherapy I would have two or three months to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pender.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/words.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pender.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/words.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pender.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/words.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pender.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/words.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pender.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/words.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3915,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2018\/02\/compared-to-others-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3596,"position":1},"title":"Compared to Others (2)","author":"Robert Pender","date":"22\/02\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Hands up anyone who is imperfect \u2026\u2026. Of course, anyone who didn\u2019t put a hand up is full of pride and has therefore fallen from a state of perfection, so you can put your hand up too! Now that we all have our hands up, I thought we would just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7406,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2023\/06\/22-questions-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":3596,"position":2},"title":"22 – Questions, Questions","author":"Robert Pender","date":"01\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"So, did I buy the turbo trainer, or didn't I? Well, the answer to that is easy - it's yes. Yes to both questions!","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4337,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2019\/04\/all-in-the-head\/","url_meta":{"origin":3596,"position":3},"title":"All in the Head","author":"Robert Pender","date":"25\/04\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_single_image image=\"4338\" img_size=\"full\"][\/vc_column][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_column_text]Anyone who knows me knows that I've got a head. I think it's to do with the lack of hair. My head is very visible because of that. There is no hair to hide it. The thing is, though, that it's not what's on the head\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7131,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/10\/7-the-big-sea\/","url_meta":{"origin":3596,"position":4},"title":"7 – The Big Sea","author":"Robert Pender","date":"27\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7132\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\"][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]For most of the first 20 years of my life I lived next to the Clyde, a beautiful river with stunning scenery around it. Where I was, the river was very wide and was for most of the time calm. Occasionally the wind would get up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7389,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2023\/05\/to-buy-or-not-to-buy\/","url_meta":{"origin":3596,"position":5},"title":"21 – To buy or not to buy","author":"Robert Pender","date":"07\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7390\" img_size=\"large\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\" css_animation=\"slideInLeft\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=\"\"]To buy or not to buy, that is the question. But before we get to the answer, it would be a good idea to let you now how I actually got to the question. 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