I was in a friend's garden taking pictures of her roses that had just been watered and were covered with little drops of water on them. I was trying to capture my reflection in the dew drops. I just so enjoy roses. Their big heads, petals that fold so delicate and  the fragrance is amazing.

As I was observing the roses I happened to notice some bugs on the stem of a bud, APHIDS! There they were in rows doing what they do best. Afides are a rose's enemy. They suck the life out of the rose and eventually kill it.

 notice the straw like sucker!

What a LIVELY picture this is for us of sin.

Sin sucks the life out of us, separates us from God, entangles us and weighs us down. Hebrews 12 states it perfectly after Paul talks about people of faith he encourages us with a warning call!

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

If you are saying to yourself right now "I have sin!" Praise God and rejoice. You would not even see your sin apart from His grace. God is at work.... So

~Repent, confessing your sin remembering that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble James 4:6

~Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for  you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in the faith...1Peter 5:6-8

~Submit and draw near to God! James 4:7-8 "Submit therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

Remember we all sin and fall short of the Glory of God. If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves. This is one of the reasons Christ died for us! So if you are a believer struggling with sin, or a non believer immersed in habitual sin and are sitting here right now AWARE of your sin, REJOICE! Today is the day of salvation.

"And you were dead in your trespasses and sin which you formerly walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us ALIVE together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So that in the ages to come He Might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one can boast" Ephesians 2:1-10

What a glorious God we serve to show us so much in all that He has made. "For His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made" Romans 1:20

Dorene Vandermeer