Welcome to the July Edition of the 2013 Christ United Methodist Church Women’s Ministry Daily Devotional. God asked us to share our stories of finding Him through grateful hearts, which inspired us to put together this “Living a Life of Gratitude” daily devotional. Since January 1^st, we have been guided to live our lives learning how to find something to be grateful to God for each day. Some days we have been blessed and inspired by stories from many of the faithful women in our congregation, other days the entry has simply been a scripture about being grateful. We have also had days that the devotion was a creative idea one of our members has shared to help them be thankful or a book recommendation that has motivated them. Other days the words from well-known authors and saints as well as hymns have blessed and guided us.

Each day this month we hope you will begin to look forward to reading the entries as an addition to your faith journey and that it will inspire you to find endless ways of seeing just how good the Lord really is and how much He loves each one of us.

If you are just beginning this journey of thankfulness and wish you could read some of the back entries from January, February, March, April, May and June you are in luck. There are no more printed versions of the devotionals, but you can see all the entries when you visit our “Living a Life of Gratitude Daily Devotional” blog.

Go to Gratitudedevotional.blogspot.com. You then have the capability to “scroll back in time” to read all the entries from day one. You can also receive these same daily devotions directly to your email by entering your email address in the designated spot on the blog. After your initial entry, the devotionals come directly to your email.

Pass this information along to your friends who might need or enjoy daily inspiration from women right here at Christ United Methodist Church.

CUMC Women’s Ministry

For July 1st:

“Then God said to Noah and his sons, ‘I solemnly promise you and your children and the animals you brought with you--…--that I will never again send another flood to destroy the earth. And I seal this promise with this sign: I have placed my rainbow in the clouds as a sign of my promise until the end of time, to you and to all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the clouds, and I will remember my promise to you and to every being, that never again will the floods come and destroy all life. For I will see the rainbow in the cloud and remember my eternal promise to every living being o the earth.’” Genesis 9:8-17 (The Living Bible)

Although He is not named in this story from the Old Testament, Jesus is in the midst of it. When we reflect on the redemptive act of Jesus dying on the cross in our place to take away our sins in the New Testament, we can see Him in this memorable story of God’s covenant with Noah after the flood.

In the Old Testament story God sent the rains to flood the earth because man- kind was so sinful. In Jesus’ redemptive act God rained down the Passion (Crucifixion) of Christ because mankind was (and is) sinful. In Noah’s story, God makes a covenant with him that He will never again flood the earth to punish mankind for his sins. Jesus’ sacrificial act of dying on the cross in our place and then being resurrected from death is God’s covenant with mankind that He paid the price for our sins for eternity.

God sent Noah the sign of the rainbow in the clouds when storms come as a reminder of His covenant.

God resurrected Jesus from death on a cross as a sign that our sentence has been served. We are forgiven.He is our rainbow in life’s storms.

Rainbows remind God of His promises. They remind us to be thankful for this forgiven life we live and the sacrifice that was made for us. “Life is sweet…Pass it on.”

CUMC Women’s Ministry