Rising

"From the rising of the sun to its setting,

the name of the Lord is to be praised!"

~Psalm 113:3

Every time the sun is shining in the morning I am greeted by this as I come down the stairs...

 

Lord, I love the sun shining in the morning through our windows. I love how it cuts through the beveled edges of the glass of our front door, making a rainbow. I love the glow it gives. I love the awe it inspires. I love the magic it creates.

I am reminded of Your mercies, that are new every morning and of the covenant You made with us through the rainbow.

"...his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;"

~Lamentations 3:22b -23a

 

"I have set my bow in the cloud,

and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth."

~Genesis 9:13

 

Lord, thank You for the sun shining. And thank You for The Son that shines in us. May we let Him. From the rising of the sun to its setting, may we praise Your name...
 

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I will

I will follow David's example in times I don't know what to do. Here are some from the first thirty of his Psalms. I will...

"I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, You are my Son;
today I have begotten you."

~Psalm 2:7

 

"But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.

I will bow down toward your holy temple
in the fear of you."

~Psalm 5:7

 

"I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,

and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High."

~Psalm 7:17

 

"I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;

I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

I will be glad and exult in you;

I will sing praise to your name, O Most High."

~Psalm 9:1,2

 

"I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me."

~Psalm 13:6

 

"I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:"

~Psalm 22:22

 

"I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up

and have not let my foes rejoice over me."

~Psalm 30:1

 

"O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!"

~Psalm 30:12b

 

Lord, I will, but only with Your help. Help me Jesus!

 

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Blessed be the name of the Lord

I don't understand everything about God but I don't want a God so small that I can understand Him. But in those times in life when life is beyond our ability to comprehend we simply have to say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord". I don't understand this, but blessed be the name of the Lord. (J. Evans)

"Naked I came from my mother's womb,

and naked shall I return.

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;

blessed be the name of the Lord."

~Job 1:21

 

"Blessed be the name of the Lord

from this time forth and forevermore!"

~Psalm 113:2

 

Lord, I don't understand, but blessed be Your name.

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The hurt whisperer

This is what I heard yesterday. I want to share as it has been shared with me by my dearest, faithful friend.

 

 

Who told you that you were worthless?

 

Who told you that you couldn't succeed?

 

Who told you that you were nobody?

 

Who told you that God couldn't use you?

 

Who told you that God didn't love you?

 

Who told you that?

 

The devil uses pain and trauma in our lives as an opportunity to speak.

 

If we have unresolved hurts or life issues we have faulty messages within us. And most of us do. The pain isn't the worst part, the worst part is the thought, the message that came in that pain.

 

There is always a message in pain - rejection, abuse, disadvantage, disappointment, failure, sin, sickness, chronic sickness, trauma, loss - all of those things are opportunities for the devil to use those to deceive us.

 

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy."

~John 10:10a

 

Don't let the devil camp out in your brain. Don't let the devil use your pain as an opportunity to slither up and whisper a lie that's going to ruin your life.

"For though we walk in the flesh,

we are not waging war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh

but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion

raised against the knowledge of God,

and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

being ready to punish every disobedience,

when your obedience is complete."

~2 Corinthians 10:3-6

The devil knows that whoever controls our minds controls us. If we are not free in our minds we are not free.

It's amazing that a God who is so faithful can be so mistrusted and a devil who has never kept a promise could be so followed.

Lord, help me to take captive every thought that is not of You, that is trying to exalt itself against the knowledge of You. Help me to compare every thought in my mind to what You say to me. May I not hear through ears of pain but may all I hear come through Your filter. May I confess Your Word.

When God touches pain it doesn't hurt, when God touches pain, it goes away. (J. Evans)

Lord, would You touch my pain...

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The truth teller

"I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

~John 10:10b

God loves you.

Your life is precious.

He can use you.

And regardless of what has happened in your life He can redeem it and He will redeem it.

But He can only work with truth.

God loves you.

You are special to God.

Your life is precious. Precious enough to cost the life of Jesus Christ. How much does God care for you? He gave His Son. Just for you. He gave the life of Jesus Christ. That's how valuable you are. Even if you made mistakes in your past, He forgives it and forgets it. He doesn't use our past against us, He redeems our past. (J. Evans)

Lord, heal me and help me to understand the truth and to believe it in my heart to replace the whisper of the devil. I renounce the lies he told me. Holy Spirit speak to my heart and repair the faulty messages that are in me through the disappointments and failures in my life. I choose to listen to You, telling me the truth.

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MMM

MMM = Major Memorial Monday

I call today Major Memorial Monday.

I call it "Major" because it's not just ordinary one, but major (greater in importance) one for me. Two in a row. I like this pattern. Lord, I am still amazed at what happened last Monday. It's major because of the way God spoke to me through a life changing message I heard today and for the "major" changes I feel it's going to bring. And because it goes with the other M's in today's holiday - Memorial Day and today's day - Monday.

I call it "Memorial" because today is a Memorial Day and because of what I found out on dictionary.com the word means, as one of the entries said: something serving as a remembrance; involving memory; serving to preserve the memory of the dead or past event.

I call it "Monday" because today is Monday and because I like the M in Monday to complete and reinforce the M's in the two other words to make it a perfect collection of three M's.

Yes, today is a Memorial Day, a day of remembrance, remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

But I would like this Monday to be also a day when I expel the past events in my life that caused me pain and the lies it brought, the messages it came with; to remember not to let it "hurt" me any longer. To help me resolve it with the Lord and expose it to the "Light" where God can work. May the message I heard serve as a remembrance of the truth.

"...and you will know the truth,

and the truth will set you free."

~John 8:32

Jesus, help me to know the truth.

Lord, thank You. Thank You for making this Monday a day to remember. A day when You spoke to me and I "saw" the TRUTH.

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Need you now

Lord, I need you now.

"Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!"

~Psalm 27:7

 

Answer me when I call!

 

"Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;

according to your abundant mercy, turn to me."

~Psalm 69:16

 

Oh, I need You, God I need You now!

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Grow

I was always so disappointed with myself. The changing from glory to glory wasn't fast enough for me. I wanted to be done. Always striving, but unable to change. As I think about the time that has past since my last birthday I am so thankful for God's grace and the grace I now have with myself. In the past year I have come to an understanding and actually enjoy "the process" (yes, it is a process) and the journey God has for me.
I am growing...

 

Following Jesus is not about being perfect. It's about excepting our weaknesses and letting them make us more dependent on God's perfect love and power at work in us. (R. Swoope)

"And let us not grow weary of doing good,

for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."

~Galatians 6:9

 

"Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth

[in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly].

Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way

and in all things into Him Who is the Head,

[even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."

~Ephesians 4:15 AMP

 

Lord, may I not grow weary...

"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen."

~2 Peter 3:18

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Celebration

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

Today it has been seventeen years since I became the daughter of the Most High God.

I know it exactly because I wrote it down in a journal which my mother-in-law bought for me. Knowing the importance of journaling she encouraged me to write.

I am learning to live loved.

Thank you, my love for being courageous enough to share and bringing me into the Kingdom.

Lord, thank You for adopting me, for saving me, for forgiving me, for freeing me!

"...he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ,

according to the purpose of his will,

to the praise of his glorious grace,

with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

In him we have redemption through his blood,

for the forgiveness of our trespasses,

according to the riches of his grace"

~Ephesians 1:5-7

Thank You! I love You! Today is a celebration of YOU!

"I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation."

~Habakkuk 3:18

"...rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

~Luke 10:20b

"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine; he grazes among the lilies."
~Song of Solomon 6:3 

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Burdens

One of my dear friends is a type of person who feels very deeply about those that are in her life, which includes me and for which I am very grateful. But my "burdens" became too heavy as she took them upon herself. It brought great sadness to her and then to me upon finding that.

Lord, You ask us to bear one another's burdens...

"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."

~Galatians 6:2

"If one member suffers, all suffer together;
if one member is honored, all rejoice together."
~1 Corinthians 12:26

"Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep."
~Romans 12:15

 

...but what if the burdens are too heavy, too much to bear?

 

Lord, for a moment I regretted my openness, my honesty and sharing what I am going through and how I am feeling. I "never" wanted to do that again. But I don't think that's what You would have me do.

 

Lord, help us not to take on something that does not belong to us, that is not ours. Help us to discern and be obedient to You in regards to each other. Teach us to guard our hearts, bear one another's burdens, BUT take them to YOU as You are the only one who can - bear them.

 

And yet again in Mike Donehey's words I, too, hope that we can - Call each other out while lifting each other up and point each other to the freedom we have. Freedom to fail. Freedom to change. I hope you are experiencing that freedom today.

 

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No comments:

Comments now possible...

Even though I have this blog for me and I am using it to maintain self accountability for my spiritual goals and priorities, I do sometimes wonder if somebody else is reading it apart from the people who tell me they do.

I was told that they are not able to comment so I went back again to "czech" and discovered that it was due to my negligence for which I am sorry. I would like to announce that "Anybody" is now able to comment and my hope is that I will get my "wish" and "get help" I was asking in the Welcome post:

But I need your help as well; any time a week, any time a day. So please feel free to share with me the TRUTH, the truth about God, the truth about ourselves, who we are, how are you renewing your mind, or any encouraging words. Anything that can help me to get the "old" me to die and to help the "new" me to live the life Jesus died for me to have.

That you would join me and let me know that you are reading it so I don't have to wonder anymore. Perhaps if there was ever time you wanted to post a comment, you can go back and do it now. I would like to hear/read what you have to say.

"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up,

just as you are doing."

~1 Thessalonians 5:11

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Heart of stone

I was with one of my dearest, faithful friends today, as we usually go Monday on a Mountain-to-Sea trail, when I found this. "A heart of stone," she said.

"And I will give you a new heart,

and a new spirit I will put within you.

And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh

and give you a heart of flesh."

~Ezekiel 36:26

Grace, only grace can roll your dead heart's stone away

Grace, only grace can move us to a rhythm that will change our ways

Lord Jesus, thank You for giving us a new heart. May Your grace move us to a rhythm that will change our ways...

(There is more to the story - see This is love).

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This is love

We came to our special place on the trail. We stopped and talked and prayed and praised... How God answered us. Should we go further? As we started to walk again
I saw the "heart" right there on the path. No, we didn't go further. We stayed.

As I was picking it up, realizing that we were right by our rock cross we made where we always stop and surrender, "lay our hearts down"; and that I was holding a heart that God supplied, that He let me see it, find it. In that moment I saw two insignificant women touched by so so significant love of God, ordinary women touched by an extraordinary love of God and I was overcome with emotions (I cried, I couldn't help it) as she prayed.

Then we "laid our hearts down." We laid the heart at the foot of the cross.

We then continued just a little further to another cross God made out of trees, where I had laid another rock a while back at it's intersection, which we had noticed the week before, that it is in a shape of a half-heart. She said, as we were leaving: "We did not make it further than the cross." And I said: "We don't need to go further than the cross."

I felt like I have experienced this verse today:

 

"In this is love, not that we have loved God

but that he loved us and sent his Son

to be the propitiation for our sins."

~1 John 4:10

 

Lord Jesus, even now when I think about that moment, I don't have adequate words to explain how it felt. Special, lovely, amazing, wonderful, incredible, marvelous, inconceivable. What a powerful moment. I was overwhelmed.

 

Lord, thank You for the meaning and significance in all this. Oh, how You know me. You know how much this means to me. Thank You for making my Monday a day to remember.
A day when You proved to me again that it is You who loves us.

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Report

It is with great joy that I would like to report what I just found out today which is that my friend who had the Bells Palsy I wrote about in the Welcome post is HEALED!

Praise God!
 
Thank You, Lord for healing my friend.

I want to have it as a special post to make a "big deal", to know that GOD IS OUR HEALER. And He promises to heal us. What an encouragement that is today. I am excited and want to put this down, so I can have another post just like this one. I am calling forth healing of my faithful friend's mom who has lyme disease (Please pray; cannot wait to post her healing date) and believing God's promise!

"For I will restore health to you,

and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord"

~Jeremiah 30:17a

 

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Worn

It was in the beginning of 2010 when I "discovered" this group called Tenth Avenue North as their song "By Your Side" was playing often... "why are you still searching, as if I'm not enough..."

I visited their site and learned about their songs as they shared the story, meaning behind the music in video journals, which I enjoyed greatly. As I was listening to them again yesterday, I came across this one from their album The Struggle called Worn:

 

And I know that You can give me rest
So I cry out with all that I have left

Let me see redemption win
Let me know the struggle ends
That You can mend a heart that's frail and torn...

 and the video journal:

It's not your circumstances that needs to change, it's you.

Our God is a God who brings beauty out of pain

Our God is a God who brings art out of chaos

He brings life out of death even His own Son

If He can bring redemption out of the most horrific act that has ever happened then maybe just maybe redemption is waiting in a wings for you and me.

 

Lord, I can testify to that. That everytime I went through something hard I never liked it, but I was always glad and thankful when You "brought me to the other side" and opened my eyes so I could see...
 

Lord, help us! Help us not to look to our circumstances, but to what You are doing in us, through us.

Lord, it's a struggle. But we are not struggling to be free, we are free to struggle. In Christ there is a freedom to fail and there is a freedom to change. There is forgiveness for our sin and there is liberty from our sin. (M. Donehey)
It's a struggle. Life in general. It sometimes wears one out. But it's okay. It's okay to be worn. Lord, let our weariness create habitual use of Your grace and reliance on YOU. Change the meaning in our minds to "wear" - let us prevail by persistence, overcome, for we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us (Romans 8:37); because we can, we can do all things through You. May we confess that for ourselves as Paul did:

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

~Philippians 4:13

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There is nothing

In Christ, there is nothing I could do to make You love me more; nothing I have done that makes You love me less. ("Gospel Prayer" by J.D. Greear).

God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is not a man that He should lie or change his mind.

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

~Hebrews 13:8

"God is not a man, that He should tell or act a lie, 

neither the son of man, that He should feel repentance  

or compunction [for what He has promised]. 

Has He said and shall He not do it? 

Or has He spoken and shall He not make it good?"

~Numbers 23:19 AMP

If there is nothing I can do to make You love me more and nothing I have done that makes You love me less, why do I hear people say, I have to do this and this and this; you have to do this and this and this?

"God shows his love for us in that
while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us."
~Romans 5:8

 

I am reminded of the words I heard Mike Donehey the lead singer of Tenth Avenue North say, God demonstrates (present tense) His love...How?...while we were still sinners, Christ died (past tense) for us.

 

Stop looking what you can do for God and fix your gaze upon what God has done for you. And let that motivate you to love Him back.

 

It's not about what we do for God, but what He did for us.

 

If I am not loving God, if I am not performing at a level that I feel I should, I don't need to try harder, do better, lift myself up by my bootstraps, be all I can be. What I need to do is look back to the cross, because 1 John says we love, because He first loved us. So, if you not loving Him well, you don't need to try harder, you need to believe that He loves you more. Keep gazing on Jesus.

 

We love - Why? Not to gain the love of God but because He has already and does love us.

 

"We love because he first loved us."

~1 John 4:19

 

Lord, You do. If our feelings are different from when we first got saved or when we felt closer to You, it's not because You love us any less. Help us not to try to get good enough for You to get them back. Don't let that mentality put us right back into works and right out of grace.

 

Papa, let the love You have for us, what You did for us, motivate us to love You, to know You, to know Your Word, to be like You.

 

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Revealed

I have never "seen", "known" this verse until now as my dear faithful friend shared it with me and it's interpretation that came from a devotional she has called "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. (Thank you!)

"We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus,

so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body."
~2 Corinthians 4:10
 

This is what it said about the verse: 

"We have to form habits to express what Gods grace has done for us. It is not a question of being saved from hell but of being saved in order to manifest the life of the Son of God in our mortal flesh. And it is the disagreeable things which make us exhibit whether or not we are manifesting His life. The only thing that will enable me to enjoy the disagreeable is the keen enthusiasm of letting the life of the Son of God manifest itself in me. No matter how disagreeable a thing may be, say "Lord, I am delighted to obey Thee in this manner," and instantly the Son of God will press to the front and there will be manifest in my human life that which glorifies Jesus. Our circumstances are the means of manifesting how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure the Son of God is." 

She shared with me that she is trying to see every disturbance, every terrible day, every inconvenience, devastation, etc. as a way to learn and grow and be more like Christ. Her hope and prayer is that her life gives God glory, and the best way to test that is how she responds in difficult times! (So proud of you!)

Lord, I am forever grateful for these words. How true. How lovely. How inspiring. What a revelation. Lord, thank You for showing me this, for opening my eyes to the truth in this verse. May I form habits that express what Your grace has done for me. Jesus, may Your life be revealed in my body, manifest itself in me.

Lord, I am delighted to obey Thee...

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Intimacy

I was made for intimacy.

 

"But if one loves God truly

[with affectionate reverence, prompt obedience,

and grateful recognition of His blessing],

he is known by God

[recognized as worthy of His intimacy and love,

 and he is owned by Him]."

~1 Corinthians 8:3

 

Lord, may I affectionately revere You, promptly obey You, and gratefully recognize Your blessings.

 

Intimacy is what I need, intimacy is calling me...

 

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HMD

Vsechno Nejlepsi, Maminko. Miluji Te!

Happy Mother's Day!

"Honor your father and your mother,

as the Lord your God commanded you,

that your days may be long,

and that it may go well with you

in the land that the Lord your God is giving you."

~Deuteronomy 5:16

 

Lord, thank you for my mom and my mother-in-law. Thank you for making me a mother, for blessing me with a wonderful girl and boy. Thank you for my husband "helping" me to become a mother.

 

Lord, thank you for mothers. May the beauty of Your Spirit be evident in us...

 

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What if

 

We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering and all the while

You hear each spoken need yet love us way too much to give us lesser things.

 

What if trials of this life are your mercies in disguise.

 

"What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own Son

but gave him up for us all,

how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?

It is God who justifies.

Who is to condemn?

Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that,

who was raised—who is at the right hand of God,

who indeed is interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,

or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

As it is written,“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors

through him who loved us.

For I am sure that neither death nor life,

nor angels nor rulers,

nor things present nor things to come,

nor powers, nor height nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us from the love of God

in Christ Jesus our Lord."

~Romans 8:31-39

 

What if my healing comes through tears... Treasured Tears

 

What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy.

 

What if...

 

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But if

My faithful friend sent me lots of pictures of animals and nature - God's creation and these really touched my heart,

 

and made me think of this verse:

 

"No man has at any time [yet] seen God.

But if we love one another,

God abides (lives and remains) in us

and His love (that love which is essentially His)

is brought to completion

 (to its full maturity, runs its full course, is perfected) in us!"

~1 John 4:12 AMP

 

Lord, let this knowledge - If we love one another, God abides - help us to love one another, so You will. Let that give us the strength to love those that are not so easy to love all the time.

 

Lord, help me to see these images every time I don't feel like loving...let me see unconditional love. Let Your love be brought to completion, to its full maturity, run its full course, be perfected in me. May I see You and the love You have for me and let me feel You close as these creatures are to their "parents", for I am Your child.

 

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Choice

C H O I C E
By Petra Budarz 

You gave me a choice

You left the choice to me

And if all it takes is choice

I give the choice to Thee 

You gave me a choice

And I try to understand

What You’d have me do

To make Your will come true 

You left the choice to me

And I’m often overwhelmed

Trying to decide

And to keep You on my side 

If all it takes is choice

I need You to help me

To know the wrong from right

To be blameless in Your sight 

You gave me a choice

You left the choice to me

And if all it takes is choice

I give the choice to Thee 

 I give my choice to Thee

                                                Written on the sixteenth day of June two thousand and five

Lord, I surrender. I surrender to You. Because You know best and have the best in mind for me. Guide me.

"The Lord is my chosen and assigned portion, my cup;

You hold and maintain my lot." 

"You, Lord, are all I want! You are my choice, and You keep me safe."
 

"My choice is You, God, first and only. And now I find I'm Your choice!" 

~Psalm 16:5 AMP, CEV, MSG

"No longer do I call you servants,

for the servant does not know what his master is doing;

but I have called you friends,

for all that I have heard from my Father

I have made known to you.

You did not choose me,

but I chose you and appointed you

that you should go and bear fruit

and that your fruit should abide,

so that whatever you ask the Father in my name,

he may give it to you.

~John 15:15,16 

Lord, thank You for choo-choo-choosing me. I choose You. And if all it takes is choice...

I give my choice to Thee...

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