OUR DAILY BREAD                    Friday, January 20, 1995
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READ:  Mark 10:13-16

                 HUGS OF THE HEART

            "He took them up in His arms...
                 and blessed them."

                        - Mark 10:16

While Jesus lived on this earth, He took little
children in His arms and blessed them (Mk. 10:16).
And He is still in the child-embracing ministry
today.

My friend told me about a touching conversation
between her two grandchildren.  Five-year-old Matthew
said to Sarah, age 3, "I talk to Jesus in my head!"
She responded, "I don't -- I just cuddle with Him!"

Many other children of God, much older ones, have
experienced His unseen everlasting arms around them
and beneath them.  Brother Lawrence, the 17th-century
monk known for sensing the presence of God amid the
pots and pans of the monastery's kitchen, spoke of
being "known of God and extremely caressed by Him."
And Hudson Taylor, the pioneer missionary to China,
scrawled this note as he neared the end of his life:
"I am so weak that I cannot work; I cannot read my
Bible; I cannot even pray.  I can only lie still in
God's arms like a child, and trust."

God wants us to nestle close to Him in childlike trust,
whether young or old, strong or weak.  In response,
through His indwelling Spirit He draws us to Himself
to comfort and to bless.  Have you and God had a hug
of the heart today?

                               -- Joanine E. Yoder

       The Lord took children in His arms
           To bless them and to show
       That if we come in childlike faith
           His presence we will know.

                               -- Sper
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           THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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       Don't wrestle -- just nestle.

                       -- Corrie ten Boom

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THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:  Exodus 14-17
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Our Daily Bread, Copyright 1994, used by permission of
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