Remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience.

And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it. (1 Cor. 10:13)

When I was 19, I left the comfort of my home in central WI to go to nursing school at Lutheran Hospital in the big city of Milwaukee. With me I took my parent’s blessings, a suitcase of homemade clothes, a few hundred dollars I had saved working at Woody’s Cheese Co. for a year so I could afford school, and this passage from the Bible. I tacked it to my bulletin board where it remained the whole three years I was there.

To me that Word of God meant that whatever challenges or barriers or yes, temptations, would come my way, I could deal with them with God’s help. I could rely on God’s spirit and love to guide me in decision making in both words and actions. And I didn’t have to waste energy worrying that I would measure up to the high standards of my school.

Those Lutheran sisters ran a tight ship and students were expected to go along with the rules and expectations without complaint. Paul’s words gave me the serenity and peace of mind to know that I could meet the rigors of class work, clinical experiences and social mores if I paid attention to God’s direction and put myself in His hands.

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for being there for us in all of the difficult times in our lives. Help us to realize you are always there with a hand on our shoulder to comfort and guide us and we just need to listen with a quiet heart and a peaceful mind and then act according to your wishes. Amen.

Iva Richards
Mission Outreach Volunteer