Steven Furtick on Detours

Here's a clip from Steven Furtick’s blog post Detours to the Destination:

The single greatest thing standing in-between you and God’s plan for your life is not just your preconceived notion of what that life itself should be. It’s also your preconceived notion of the road you should take to get there.

Wow! How many times do we get bent-out-of-shape because we’re stuck on some road that we don’t think will take us where we’re going?

If God said we’re going to a place, we’ll get there... eventually... and usually after many God-ordained detours that He didn't tell us about up-front.

Be sure to read the rest of Furtick’s post Detours to the Destination.

The Litany of Humility

One of my wife's friends recommended this litany as a help during a trying time.

I think this is the first litany I've ever read. There's a lot to think about in these words.

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled ...
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted ...
From the desire of being approved ...

From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes ...
From the fear of being calumniated [i.e. slandered] ...
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
From the fear of being suspected ...

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I ...
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease...
That others may be chosen and I set aside...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should...