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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We're glad to

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Speaker 1: have you listening with us. Today's topic is on finding

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Speaker 1: the ultimate blessing in life. We'll return with the devotional

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Speaker 1: after a brief message from our sponsors. Finding the Ultimate

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Speaker 1: Blessing written and read by Kelly Balari. Moreover, when God

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Speaker 1: gives someone wealth and possessions and the ability to enjoy them,

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Speaker 1: to accept their lot and be happy in their toil,

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Speaker 1: this is a gift of God. Ecclesiastes five nineteen. Walking

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Speaker 1: around the soccer I observed the soccer moms. We looked

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Speaker 1: the same, puffer jackets, white shoes. Wild. I bought these

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Speaker 1: clothes hoping to look good. Maybe they too wanted to

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Speaker 1: look good. Maybe they too saw images of what moms

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Speaker 1: should look like flash up on social media. Apparently I

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Speaker 1: wasn't alone. We all clicked the buy button. The moms

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Speaker 1: walked past me on the concrete sidewalk. Did they also

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Speaker 1: unconsciously ask themselves the same thing as me? Namely, am

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Speaker 1: I enough? One woman's shoes they were newer than mine.

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Speaker 1: Another woman she had the cutest fleece jacket, her car newer.

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Speaker 1: Sure I knew these women looked good. On the outside.

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Speaker 1: But how did they feel on the inside. I honed

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Speaker 1: in on a woman's face. Was she happy? Not? Really?

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Speaker 1: I knew better than anyone that superficiality breeds in security.

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Speaker 1: Why because one can never match up? Someone else always

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Speaker 1: has something better, is prettier, is richer. What a waste

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Speaker 1: of time? This endless pursuit of wastefulness is not my inheritance.

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Speaker 1: In Christ Jesus, God has better for me. Contentment is

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Speaker 1: God's best portion for me. The resolute knowing that what

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Speaker 1: He gave me is good, The understanding that I already

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Speaker 1: have more than enough in Christ Jesus. The realization that

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Speaker 1: competition and striving never ends, the joy found in a

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Speaker 1: day well done, the hope gleaned in a relationship worked out,

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Speaker 1: The powerful steadiness of peace that can't be shaken. My

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Speaker 1: abundant portion in Christ Jesus is unshakable and unbreakable. You,

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Speaker 1: my friend, as a believer in Christ, have the same

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Speaker 1: portion too. Solomon, the wisest man ever, summed up contentment

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Speaker 1: in one's sentence. He says, Moreover, when God gives someone

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Speaker 1: wealth and possessions and the ability to enjoy them, to

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Speaker 1: accept their lot and be happy in their toil. This

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Speaker 1: is a gift of God. Ecclesiastes five nineteen. Contentment is

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Speaker 1: a gift to accept our lot, to be happy, to

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Speaker 1: be able to enjoy. These things are from God. This

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Speaker 1: is a gift from God. The world can never steal.

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Speaker 1: Our greatest gift is not having what our neighbors have,

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Speaker 1: Nor is it looking the same or one upping somebody else.

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Speaker 1: It is not getting more, looking better, being wiser, having

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Speaker 1: something we always wanted. God's truest gift for us. It

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Speaker 1: is a simple things. It is delighting in the face

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Speaker 1: of a child eating a lemon. It is appreciating the

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Speaker 1: car you own and the music it plays. It is

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Speaker 1: relishing in the growth of your own garden. It is

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Speaker 1: no iyeas with you. It is liking and appreciating little

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Speaker 1: of special things. It is joy cultivated. No one can

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Speaker 1: compete that intersecting faith in life. Where might you be

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Speaker 1: striving and working hard to prove your worth? Where do

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Speaker 1: you try to present yourself as more than you are?

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Speaker 1: How do you try to fit in rather than allow

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Speaker 1: yourself to stand out? Striving is hard work, Resting is contentment.

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Speaker 1: What would it look like for you to give up

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Speaker 1: all this striving in exchange for true, joyful resting in

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Speaker 1: Christ Jesus. Thanks for listening to today's devotional. If you

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Speaker 1: liked what you heard today, we want to make sure

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Speaker 1: you know about our sister podcast, Your Daily Prayer. When

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Speaker 1: you follow your daily prayer in your favorite podcast app,

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Speaker 1: you'll get a brand new prayer and devotional each day,

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Speaker 1: so your days begin in conversation with God. If you're

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Speaker 1: looking to grow in prayer or start your day with

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Speaker 1: your heart focused on the right things, search for your

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Speaker 1: daily prayer in your favorite podcast app and be sure

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Speaker 1: to follow this sh so you get a new prayer

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Speaker 1: delivered straight to you each morning