S3|Ep16 Preparing For Glory: For The Season That Feels Anything But Light or Momentary

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Oh, the changing of seasons. Every quarter, as creation shows a different variation
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of itself, something inside me instinctively reflects on the days gone by.
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Where I live, we experience all four seasons as you might imagine them in their
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extremes. Right about now, the hustle and bustle of summer is drawing to a close.
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Each night, the sun begins to tuck itself in a little earlier and in turn sleeps
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in just a bit later come morning.
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More darkness covers the days as briskness bites through the air and the greenery
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around begins to fade as shades of ambers and burgundy take over,
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as i look around creation just knows what to do there is a cadence to the year
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for the seasons as they change that none of us ever have to conduct,
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the movement of one season into another flows seamlessly like the song of nature's
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orchestra as its conductor has designed it to know how to perform from the start.
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In my own life for better or for worse i have witnessed a number of seasons
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changed this year that have nothing to do with the weather.
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I have watched people I love become parents. I have witnessed people I care
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for struggle with age and disease.
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I have seen tragedy strike families with loss, both in life and in broken covenants.
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I have been a part of answered prayers and tasted of God's faithfulness.
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I've known growth and I'm more aware of my need for discipline.
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I've been invited into new relationships and have felt a shift in some more familiar ones.
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Each moment a new chapter, every step a new season.
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Before you can enter one season completely, part of you must exit the other.
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The space between is a hidden season all of its own, and no matter your age,
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none of us are exempt from the uncertainty of the in-between.
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Bedtime has a way of bringing about some deep thinking in the minds of tiny humans.
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As the little people hop into bed, they will either find themselves immediately
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dehydrated or fully fueled and ready for a full-blown conversation.
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In our house, those conversations can range anywhere from Does the letter W
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start with a D all the way to Tell me about the Trinity.
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The other night, as I was tucking my seven-year-old into bed,
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she asked me if we could go to so-and-so's grandpa's funeral.
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I wasn't exactly sure how to answer this, especially because she had no follow-up
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information about it, only that her school friend invited her.
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It was unclear if the grandpa passed away recently, or at all,
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actually, for that matter, but I appreciate that she wanted to be there for a friend.
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My girls share a room, so that always adds an extra special layer to bedtime
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talk because they tend to feed off one another's stream of consciousness.
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The conversation bounced from death to life to why did Adam and Eve have to
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sin to how does someone know, like, for real, that they love Jesus.
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And we ended the conversation with the question, Will you still be my mom in heaven?
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I read somewhere that as a child begins to unwind for the day,
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their brain feels the safest at bedtime.
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As they are processing, even subconsciously, all that transpired over their
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day, all that they're marinating over or have experienced, they feel the safest
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to unload their thoughts before they fall asleep for the night.
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I try to always keep this little nugget in my mind when the rounds of bedtime
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apologetics begin, and all this mama theologian wants to do is say less.
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By the grace of God, though, and the help he provides, I answered their questions
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and then told them it was time for bed. Thankfully, it was a Friday night because
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there was a lot of ground covered.
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I laid in bed that night, and I couldn't help but think over that conversation.
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As my own brain felt relaxed and safe enough to unwind, I thought of how I am
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more like my children than unlike them.
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I remember being a child and entering different seasons of my life where I knew
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I had grown in knowledge, but I hadn't yet lived enough life to gain the full understanding.
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That season of intellectual limbo always made me feel uneasy. I never liked it.
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And if I'm honest, there are times and seasons where that is still the same.
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Whether a child or a grown-up, we can only understand as much life as we have lived.
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We can understand the words and comprehend their logic, but there is a difference
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in understanding when we are able to take the knowledge we have acquired and
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allow it to grow roots as it develops our understanding.
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Paul encouraged the church in Corinth to not lose heart, a charge each generation needs reminding of.
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Even in the midst of affliction, Paul set his eyes on eternity because he understood
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the external decay we experience as humans pales in comparison to the daily
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inner renewal Christ accomplishes in us.
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2 Corinthians 4, 16-18 says, So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self
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is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
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For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of
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glory beyond all comparison
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as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen
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for the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal,
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he writes to this church in the middle of the season that we all find ourselves
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in while we live in the body a season of preparation,
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our circumstances are only as good a teacher as we are students God purposes
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to use our circumstances here on earth to prepare us to carry the weight of eternal glory.
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Too often, if our season is hard, we question God. If our season is blessed,
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we quietly begin to qualify ourselves.
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Neither questioning God nor qualifying ourselves accounts for what he's preparing us for.
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What we see only distracts us from what is unseen and eternal if our focus is
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not fixed ahead toward our heavenly home.
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I've always found the wording Paul uses here to be quite curious.
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He describes our afflictions as light and momentary.
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How often do we feel that to be true? I think of some of the things that we
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deal with here on earth, some of the things that I myself or others I love have gone through.
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I think of the heartache, the disease, the pain, and the brokenness.
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I'm grieved of the anger and violence, abuse, and discord that has stricken humanity.
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I wonder why there has to be so much evil and sin.
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My heart is burdened for the persecution our brothers and sisters around the
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world face for their faith.
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And yet we're told all of this is light and momentary. The words Paul chooses
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don't diminish how hard it is to carry the heaviness of these afflictions.
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They just revive our perspective as we face these hardships and refocus our minds on things above.
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As I reflect further, I realize the difference between the heaviness of a burden
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and the continual weight one carries.
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In the world of weighted vests, of which I myself have, so no shade here,
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I think of this idea of picking up and putting something on that increases the
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natural weight you normally carry.
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The moment you pick up something substantial, you feel its heaviness.
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It might make you sweat, it may cause you to breathe heavier,
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and depending on the strenuousness of your workout, it may make the muscles
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you exerted sore the next day.
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But it is preparing your health for future success.
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It increases your bone density over time and it ups your heart rate as you walk
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to allow your body the opportunity to work harder in the moment as you prepare
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for a healthier, better stewarded self in the long run.
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In the moment, your body is afflicted with a burden and may become weary for
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the purpose of future good.
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Afflictions are not glorious or to be minimized. They are hard and require perseverance.
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But they are forming something in us that can only be accomplished through trials.
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Eventually, our vests come off, and the results of what endurance accomplished will be what remains.
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One day, we will enter into an everlasting glory and then be able to see in
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full what each momentary affliction prepared for us.
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Eternal glory is weighty it is significant to stand in the presence of a holy
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god it is no small thing to be granted everlasting fellowship with the savior of your soul,
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it may be hard to comprehend what exactly this means with our limited capacity,
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but scripture makes it clear that it is something we need to be prepared for,
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we were created to know god to love god and to make him known.
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In a world where the fall and sin never entered in, I think of how much of God's
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character I would not be able to fully know or appreciate without the permission for sin to exist.
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So I wonder, in a world touched by sin and affliction, am I coming to know facets
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of God's character that I simply couldn't have known otherwise?
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Would I genuinely be able to love God fully and with all my heart,
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without knowing the depths of who He is?
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And how would I know the different layers of His character without having an
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understanding of what life void of His presence looked like?
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In a perfect world, I would have no framework for grace without knowing my need for it.
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I would have no understanding of forgiveness, mercy, or steadfastness without
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realizing how little I deserve it.
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I would have no knowledge of what a just judge our God is without witnessing inequality?
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How can one understand compassion to its fullest, or how endlessly patient he
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is without witnessing life removed from these virtues?
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How is one to experience true love without seeing the depravity of evil?
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I would simply have no structural comprehension for so many facets of our good
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God and His character without knowing what life looks like to be void of His goodness.
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To know something good is one thing, but to know something good and taste the
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absence of that goodness is another thing entirely.
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Maybe you're in a season that feels anything but light or momentary.
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Maybe you are stepping out of one season and into another.
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Maybe what you're up against has you wondering why.
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Whatever season you find yourself in, you can rest assured that none of what
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you carry goes to waste. Every bit of what you bear is purposeful.
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And not one season you go through will you be told to shoulder it alone.
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Instead, we are being moved from one season to the next in preparation for an
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eternal glory that holds a weight beyond all comparison.
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Before we go out today, I would like to read some more of God's Word together.
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Let's hide it in our hearts today from Romans chapter 8. I'm going to read verse
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18 and then 26 through 28.
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It says this, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not
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worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us.
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Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray
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for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
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And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit because the
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spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of god,
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and we know that for those who love god all things work together for good for
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those who were called according to his purpose,
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amen thanks be to god for the gift of his infallible word.
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Thank you for being with me today. I'm Gianna, your host for the Scent Beyond
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Podcast. If you were encouraged today, I'd love it if you join me again next
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time. So don't forget to subscribe and to tell a friend that they might be encouraged as well.
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You can find the various ways of how to get a hold of me down below in the show
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notes. I always love to hear your feedback.
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Don't forget to also check out below some scripture references from today's episode.
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But until next time, I hope that you know that even when the afflictions you
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face feel anything but light or momentary, they are never wasted.
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They are preparing you for the weight of glory someday that is comparable to absolutely nothing.
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I pray you remember that all of your days, this good news was meant to be shared.
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See you next time, church.