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Speaker 1: For more resources to help you in your walk with Christ,

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Speaker 1: please visit us at BibleStudyHeadquarters.com. You're listening to Daily Devotions

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Speaker 1: with Pastor John. I'm John Stonge, and today's devotion is

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Speaker 1: inspired by Isaiah 46, verse 4, which says, Even to

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Speaker 1: your old age I am he, and to gray hairs

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Speaker 1: I will carry you. I have made and I will bear,

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Speaker 1: I will carry and will save. During the years of

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Speaker 1: our lives, there are things we become more gradually convinced of.

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Speaker 1: One such thing should be our confidence in the Lord

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Speaker 1: to carry us through every trial or calamity we face.

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Speaker 1: We don't have the ability to predict what may come

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Speaker 1: our way. We may currently be experiencing a season of reprieve,

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Speaker 1: or we may be in the midst of one of

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Speaker 1: the greatest trials of our lives. But just as the

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Speaker 1: Lord carried His people in the past, so too can

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Speaker 1: we be confident that He is present with us now.

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Speaker 1: We can lean on Him. We don't have to rely

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Speaker 1: on our own strength. That's particularly helpful for us to

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Speaker 1: remember as we age. When our bodies are at their

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Speaker 1: peak strength, it's sometimes too easy for us to become

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Speaker 1: overly self-reliant. But as we mature, one of the lessons

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Speaker 1: we learn is that our body has the capacity to fail.

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Speaker 1: But the Lord can be the source of strength we

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Speaker 1: find refuge in. Our Lord delights to save His children.

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Speaker 1: In Jesus we find help and hope. In Him we

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Speaker 1: find comfort and salvation. Regardless of the season of life

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Speaker 1: we may currently be in, Jesus is the rock we

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Speaker 1: can come to and the hope we can trust. Let's pray. Lord,

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Speaker 1: we thank you for your word. And we thank you

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Speaker 1: for the privilege that it is to be able to

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Speaker 1: look at this portion of scripture from the book of

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Speaker 1: Isaiah today. And Lord, as we look at this portion

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Speaker 1: of your word, we see that you carry us even

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Speaker 1: in our old age. And Lord, this is such a

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Speaker 1: helpful reminder. It's so easy for us at times to

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Speaker 1: become overly self-reliant. We over-depend on our strengths. We over-depend

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Speaker 1: on our wisdom, and we forget that we truly do

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Speaker 1: need to be carried by you. But Lord, over time,

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Speaker 1: our physical limitations start to become a bit more apparent

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Speaker 1: to us. And as they become apparent, we're reminded more

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Speaker 1: and more of our need for you. We need you

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Speaker 1: to carry us. We need you to guide us. We

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Speaker 1: need you to lift us up when we're in the

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Speaker 1: midst of seasons that feel dark and depressing. Lord, we're

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Speaker 1: grateful for seasons when you allow us to experience a

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Speaker 1: reprieve from our trials. But we're also grateful for the

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Speaker 1: things that you teach us while we're in the midst

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Speaker 1: of our seasons of trials and testing. And again, in

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Speaker 1: those moments, you show us, just like you've shown us before,

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Speaker 1: that you can be trusted to carry us. And in

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Speaker 1: your Son, we find the salvation that we crave. So Father,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for the privilege that it is

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Speaker 1: to know you and the blessing that we experience as

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Speaker 1: you lift us up and carry us through every season

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Speaker 1: of our lives. We commit ourselves to you now, and

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Speaker 1: we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.