Where You're Meant To Be

The Stone Cutter

This story will really make you think about where you are in life and where you wish you were. Maybe where you are right now is exactly where you're meant to be.

There was once a stone cutter who was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life.

One day he passed a wealthy merchant's house. Through the open gateway, he saw many fine possessions and important visitors. "How powerful that merchant must be!" thought the stone cutter. He became very envious and wished that he could be like the merchant.

To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever imagined, but envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself. Soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession. "How powerful that official is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a high official!"

Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around. It was a hot summer day, so the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. "How powerful the sun is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the sun!"

Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and laborers. But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. "How powerful that storm cloud is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a cloud!"

Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone. But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind. "How powerful it is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the wind!"

Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, feared and hated by all below him. But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it - a huge, towering rock. "How powerful that rock is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a rock!"

Then he became the rock, more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the hard surface, and felt himself being changed. "What could be more powerful than I, the rock?" he thought.

He looked down and saw far below him the figure of a stone cutter.

Member Profile - Brenda Wood: Senior Pastor of Word of Life Ministries International

Have you ever had to persevere and overcome great obstacles to accomplish what God has willed for your life? Pastor Brenda Wood has and continues to be a person who overcomes whatever the enemy puts in front of her by the blood of the Lamb and the word of her testimony. At age 28 she dedicated her life to serving our Lord and has never once looked back. She would say that "serving Christ is an adventure worth taking".

Brenda was born September 24th, 1961 at Patrick's Air Force Base, Florida but she grew up on the West side of Ft. Worth, Texas. There were not many female role models in church leadership when she was growing up and was not offered the opportunity for mentorship in the church but she did not let that stop her from pursuing the will of God when she gave her heart to the Lord. Her husband, Ross, encouraged her to complete her Bachelor's of Science degree in Psychology from Cal State University, San Bernardino and then continue her post graduate work at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena CA where she earned Master's degrees in both Theology and Marriage and Family Therapy.

Brenda is the Lead Pastor/Founder for Word of Life Ministries International in Riverside CA and has been a senior pastor for fourteen years. She oversees over 150 Word of Life churches in Nigeria, Cameroon, India, Kenya, Uganda, Pakistan, Benin, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Togo, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

Brenda is the Riverside/San Bernardino Area Director for International Convention of Faith Ministries and has been instrumental in organizing the National Day of Prayer events for Riverside CA. Today she encourages all believers to continue to stand in the faith knowing that what God has promised he will bring to pass.

Devotion

"But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God." 2 Cor. 4:2-4

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For all members or friends of members who have your own ministry...

You can now create your own private or public ministry group on GFB!

Using the GFB system you can easily communicate with your congregation in a variety of ways:

You can create ministry specific events (bake sales, special gatherings) where you can easily email this information to your entire congregation or specific individuals;
You can create topics of discussion which allow for your members to comment, discuss and learn from;
You can easily upload pictures and link videos into your photo and video albums;
You can post your ministry bulletins that can then be sent to your ministry with a simple click of your mouse if you desire;
You can even upload your own ministry logo to better define your group.

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Special Events

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Message From Richard

Greetings my brothers and sisters and welcome to this edition of Gods Faith Book's weekly newsletter. And a special welcome to all our new friends and members from all over the world. If you enjoy this newsletter, please forward it to your friends and ask them to join us at the fastest growing Christian Social Network on the internet.

If you send me an email and I don't respond in say in 10 days, please feel free to "rattle my cage," as sometimes I'm just inundated with emails, such as yesterday. I have 100 unread emails this morning as I put together the newsletter.

I have received many messages from our members from all over the world asking how they can help in the development of this site. And as you all know, we are constantly developing and more and more new and exciting content for GFB. We have recently switched to a new and faster server which has been giving us some problems, but now seems to be under control.

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"Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." - Daniel 12:3

It's easy to take the starry heavens for granted. But walk outside on a cloudless night and the sight can be breathtaking. The brightest object discovered so far in the universe emits about 5 million-billon times more energy than the sun. (1) With six billion people on earth we seem to live in a universe of humanity. But God promises that the brightest stars are those with "insight," who point others in the right direction. Constellations, planets and individual stars are essential for navigation. The same is true spiritually. People who know God and His ways are able to help others discover direction and destiny.

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