“Nerdy Brain” – Grafacil by Paul and Boong of Bangkok, Thailand
There is more to the mind than neurons in a brain. God works through our minds to draw us to him, as He must, if we are to call upon the Lord and be saved. Through His Holy Spirit working in our minds with his Word, He uses his Word, and especially the words of the Gospels, and the New Testament, to draw us to Him. And as here, in today’s Our Daily Bread for July 31, 2018, he uses Edith’s mind playing tricks on her, to draw her to thoughts of Him and to Him. This happened to me and to my wife Susan, each in our own unique way. After Edith’s story, I share Susan’s testimony again which quite a few of my friends have read. I think it is an inspiring testimony. So is Edith’s brief story here:
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“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.“
I have a friend—her name is Edith—who told me about the day she decided to follow Jesus.
Edith cared nothing for religion. But one Sunday morning she walked into a church near her apartment looking for something to satisfy her discontented soul. The text that day was Luke 15:1–2, which the pastor read from the King James Version: “Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.”
That’s what it said, but this is what Edith heard: “This man receives sinners and Edith with them.” She sat straight up in her pew! Eventually she realized her mistake, but the thought that Jesus welcomed sinners—and that included Edith—stayed with her. That afternoon she decided to “draw near” to Jesus and listen to Him. She began to read the Gospels, and soon she decided to put her faith in Him and follow Him.
The religious folks of Jesus’s day were scandalized by the fact that He ate and drank with sinful, awful people. Their rules prohibited them from associating with such folk. Jesus paid no attention to their made-up rules. He welcomed the down-and-out and gathered them to Him, no matter how far gone they were.
It’s still true, you know: Jesus receives sinners and (your name).
The photo below is my wife Susan Larkin. Her testimony, which I have shared here before, and is one of the “Testimony” tab links above, and is very inspiring. Both of her parents committed suicide, her mother when she was 3 and her father when she was 28. When I met her in the late 80s, she was in therapy. In her testimony, Susan describes how God delivered her. Click Here for Susan’s Testimony.
BETWEEN TWO CITIES 
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