Worthy Brief - 4/7/2016
Friend, believe it or not!
Luke 18:27 And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
True story! In 1940, a large and wonderful Christian family, the Rudolph's, announced the birth of their 20th baby! Though the baby was not expected to live, having been born prematurely and with polio, she defied all odds. She did live, but by the time she was four she had suffered polio, pneumonia and scarlet fever. This little girl was badly crippled with hardly any use of her left leg. While her brothers and sisters enjoyed running and playing outside, she was left confined to braces.
"Will I ever be able to run and play like the other children?" she asked her parents. "Honey, you only have to believe," they responded. "If you believe, God will make it happen." And she did! Now and again, she would practice walking without her braces with the aid of her siblings. On her twelfth birthday, she surprised her parents and doctors by removing her braces and walking around the doctor's office unassisted. She never wore braces again.
Her next goal was to play basketball. The coach only agreed to let her play as a means of getting her older sister on the team. She was given an outdated uniform, but she was allowed to work out with the other players. One day she approached the coach and promised him if he would give her an extra ten minutes of coaching each day, she would give him a world class athlete. He laughed, but seeing she was serious, half-heartedly agreed. Before long her determination paid off. She became one of the team's best players.
Her team went to the state basketball championships. One of the referees noticed her exceptional ability. He asked if she had ever run track. She hadn't. He encouraged her to try it. So after the basketball season she went out for track. She began winning races and earned a berth in the state championships.
At the age of 16, she was one of the best young runners in the country. She went to the Olympics in Australia and won a bronze medal for anchoring the 400-meter relay team. Four years later in Rome she won the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash and anchored the winning 400-meter relay team -- all in world-record times. She received the prestigious Sullivan Award as the most outstanding amateur athlete in America.
This is the amazing story of Wilma Rudolph, an Olympic gold medalist, who believed the promises of God.
Friend, we must never allow our circumstances to dictate what we can accomplish or who we can become! Let's believe the promises of God for our lives and be encouraged to move forward for him! All things are possible to them that believe!
Your family in the Lord with much agape love,
George, Baht Rivka, Elianna & Obadiah
Negev Desert, Israel
Editor's Note: Watch George's message: Which voice will you listen to in the last days?
Around the World
Swiss police raid UEFA as Panama Papers scandal spreads
Swiss police raided the European soccer body UEFA on Wednesday to seize information about a contract disclosed in the Panama Papers that was signed by Gianni Infantino, now head of the global soccer body FIFA.
Diabetes cases have quadrupled in just over 3 decades
The number of people living with the potentially fatal disease has quadrupled since 1980, to more than 400 million, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Cologne Police Reveal 'Cover Up' Of New Year's Eve Rape Attacks Ordered By Government
A leaked cache of confidential emails and notes passed between the North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) state government and local police has revealed the extent to which the force were placed under pressure to cover up the migrant sex attacks at New Year's Eve.
US Vows to Block New Russian Arms Sale to Iran
The Obama administration is vowing to stop Russia from selling to Iran advanced fighter jets, saying that such sales would violate United Nations resolutions governing the comprehensive nuclear agreement, according to comments by a top State Department official to the Washington Free Beacon.
Israel-Palestinian Conflict
Abbas Tells Palestinians Entire State of Israel 'Occupied,' Calls for Peace When Addressing Foreign Audiences (VIDEO)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaks in "two languages" when articulating his policies on Israel, a Jerusalem-based research institute reported on Wednesday.
Abbas to meet Hollande to discuss French plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will meet French President Francois Hollande in Paris later this month to discuss France's recent push to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
Israel, Palestinians making progress on talks to limit IDF activity in West Bank
Israelis and Palestinians are inching closer to a possible deal that would limit Israeli military activity in areas of the West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority, Israeli officials and Western diplomats familiar with the secret talks told Haaretz.
Israel warns: Europe flooded with hundreds of jihadists planning to strike
There are 'hundreds of jihadists planning to strike Western targets on European soil,' already present on the continent, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon told his Polish counterpart, Antoni Macierewicz, in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
Inside the United States
GAO: Debt will grow to three times the size of the economy
The national debt is on pace to keep growing over the next 20 years and eventually become three times the size of the U.S. economy, the government's top auditor warned lawmakers Wednesday.
California law enforcement officers seize Planned Parenthood videos, activist says
Agents from the California Department of Justice raided the home of an indicted anti-abortion activist and seized undercover videos allegedly showing Planned Parenthood officials arranging to illegally sell fetal tissue for profit, the activist said late Tuesday.
Economy may not have grown at all in first quarter
It may turn out the economy did not grow at all in the first quarter.
Americans spend more on taxes than food, clothing, housing combined
A tax advocacy group on Wednesday revealed that Americans spend more on taxes than their whole budget for food, clothing and housing.
Obama Claims Power to Make Illegal Immigrants Eligible for Social Security, Disability
Does the president of the United States have the power to unilaterally tell millions of individuals who are violating federal law that he will not enforce that law against them now, that they may continue to violate that law in the future and that he will take action that makes them eligible for federal benefit programs for which they are not currently eligible due to their unlawful status?
Ted Cruz's campaign stop in the Bronx is a complete dud
There are more than 1.4 million people in the Bronx -- but Ted Cruz couldn't even muster 100 at a campaign event in Parkchester with state Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., a conservative Christian minister.
State Dept. on Iran sanctions relief: 'It's complicated'
The State Department insisted Wednesday that it is not 'coaching' foreign banks on how to avoid U.S. sanctions on Iran, and said it's only advising these banks.
Senate Dem: National debt is not 'a threat to our country'
Senate Democrats on Wednesday couldn't agree that federal debt is a national security problem, in a hearing aimed at assessing the long-term strategic implications of the government's $19 trillion debt.
U.S. Politics
Fallout: Donald Trump Will Fall 50-100 Delegates Short of 1,237 Needed to Clinch Nomination
Sen. Ted Cruz's overwhelming victory in Wisconsin on Tuesday makes it all but impossible for GOP frontrunner Donald Trump to win the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the nomination ahead of the RNC convention in Cleveland.
Cruz has won more delegates than Trump since Rubio dropped out
Sen. Ted Cruz has won more delegates than GOP front-runner Donald Trump since Sen. Marco Rubio ended his presidential bid, helping to validate his argument that he could beat Trump once the race consolidated.
Christian News
Muslim Family Converts to Christianity after Mother is Miraculously Healed
A Muslim family in the Middle East gave their lives to Jesus after Christian missionaries prayed over their sick mother and she was miraculously healed.
Turkey Seizes Six Churches as State Property in Volatile Southeast
After 10 months of urban conflict in Turkey's war-torn southeast, the government has expropriated huge sections of property, apparently to rebuild and restore the historical centre of the region's largest city, Diyarbakir.