I heard a story of a young woman you felt called to the ministry and was accepted to a well known seminary.  There were only two other women who attended this school.  Things did not go as she had expected.  Her presence seemed to make her male classmates uncomfortable.  She felt isolated and on display at the same time.  To make matters worse her professors were doing their best to destroy her faith instead of building her up.

At Christmas break she sought her father's counsel.  "How can I be strong in my resolve and straight in my theology with all that I face there?"  she asked.

Her father took a pencil and put it in the palm of his hand. "Can that pencil stand upright by itself?"  he asked her.

"No," she replied. Then her father took the pencil and held it in an upright position.  "Ah,"  she said, "but you are holding it now."

Daughter, "your life is like this pencil.  But Jesus Christ is the One who can hold you."  The young woman took her father's pencil and returned to seminary.

Whatever difficulties you may encounter today, remember that God holds you in His loving hands.  His strength will hold you and enable you to face anything that comes your way.

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