Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Daily Devotional
We were burdened beyond measure, . . . so that we despaired even of life. ?2 Corinthians 1:8
When I was a child, kids on the playground jokingly quoted Shakespeare?s famous line: ?To be or not to be?that is the question!? But we really didn?t understand what it meant. Later I learned that Shakespeare?s character Hamlet, who speaks these lines, is a melancholy prince who learns that his uncle has killed his father and married his mother. The horror of this realization is so disturbing that he contemplates suicide. The question for him was: ?to be? (to go on living) or ?not to be? (to take his own life).
At times, life?s pain can become so overwhelming that we are tempted to despair. The apostle Paul told the church at Corinth that his persecution in Asia was so intense he ?despaired even of life? (2 Cor. 1:8). Yet by shifting his focus to his life-sustaining God, he became resilient instead of overwhelmed, and learned ?that we should not trust in ourselves but in God? (v.9).
Trials can make life seem not worth living. Focusing on ourselves can lead to despair. But putting our trust in God gives us an entirely different perspective. As long as we live in this world, we can be certain that our all-sufficient God will sustain us. And as His followers, we will always have a divine purpose ?to be.? ? Dennis Fisher
Lord, give us grace to trust You when
Life?s burdens seem too much to bear;
Dispel the darkness with new hope
And help us rise above despair. ?Sper
Trials make us think; thinking makes us wise; wisdom makes life profitable.