It seems that a common tendency for many of us, myself included, is to seek the Lord more diligently in trying times than in times of peace and prosperity. In moments of testing and crisis, we often look more earnestly to the Lord for guidance, strength, and comfort—only to pull back and relax once things start working out and getting easier. We can become more self-reliant, and even lulled to sleep, confident that we’ve got things all figured out and under control, instead of abiding in and depending on Him as we are meant to.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot, especially since entering a long-awaited season of my life where some things that I’ve been praying and believing for over a period of time are finally coming to pass. A few of my greatest desires are being fulfilled, and I’m experiencing more success and fruitfulness in my ministry. As glad as I am for this, I’m also praying that I can maintain a healthy awareness of and dependence on the Lord, so I can avoid becoming laid back and apathetic. One thing that’s helped me through many a trying time in my life, and which I’m determined to continue walking in, is constant gratitude and thankfulness to the Lord for all of His blessings, both spiritual and physical. While I’ve made it a point to bless and praise Him during hard times, and I know He blesses us when we do this, my goal is to bless Him at all times, as it says in Psalm 34:1—not letting up on the praise and gratitude just because some things in my life are going better than they’ve gone for a while now. In the past several years, which have been full of lessons and tests, my hunger for God’s Word has truly skyrocketed. Having now passed some of those tests and learned some of those lessons, I’m striving to keep hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and maintaining a strong vacuum for the Word of God—not just because of my active ministry, but because it’s indispensable to my spiritual life. Regardless of my ministry or vocation, without God’s Word I’ll die on the vine, as is true of us all. Closely related to thankfulness is remembering the victories the Lord has given me in each battle and difficulty I’ve experienced. My outreach ministry allows for plenty of opportunities for this, as it involves spiritually coaching others in different situations, many of which I’m familiar with, having gone through them myself. When I share past lessons and victories with others, it not only helps guide and encourage them, it also helps me not to forget God’s unfailing, never-ending goodness to me. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (Psalm 103:2 KJV). One specific example from the Bible, which I’ve been studying and meditating on, is the Old Testament story of Elijah. Preacher Andrew Wommack offers some valuable perspective on Elijah’s life in his 5-part series, “Lessons from Elijah.” Here’s a summary of some of the main points. If there was ever a prophet with a glowing success story, it would certainly have been Elijah. During his ministry he saw some truly remarkable manifestations of the supernatural. He was miraculously fed by ravens; he spoke prosperity over a widow and her son who were about to starve to death, and they had plenty to eat through the famine. He raised the boy from the dead—something no one had ever done at that time in history. He also called fire down from heaven—winning a huge victory over the prophets of Baal, and proving that the Lord is God. He outran Ahab’s chariot, and at his word, the three-and-a-half-year period of drought was brought to an end and rain finally fell on the earth. It’s obvious that Elijah was quite pumped up and full of adrenaline, as well as pride, over all the success he was seeing in his ministry. We know this because he went so far as to boast, “I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord…” (1 Kings 18:22). But afterwards, when a messenger from Queen Jezebel came to Elijah with the warning that he’d be dead the next day, he fearfully escaped into the wilderness and became so despondent, he said to God, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers” (1 Kings 19:4). What’s evident here is that Elijah had just been thinking he was better than his fathers, which was not true. He thought he was the only godly man left in all Israel, which is why God told him, “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18). Elijah thought he was the one bringing about all the success and miraculous manifestations, when it was God doing so all along. As I see it, had he been God-dependent instead of self-reliant, he would have been able to capitalize on the great revival that had come about from his victory on the mountain, instead of fleeing from Jezebel. Abiding in, and depending on the Lord is sort of like flying in a plane. We ourselves are not the ones flying so far and so fast. Rather, it’s our position inside the plane that makes it possible for us to travel in such a way. This is why we have to stay inside the plane, both when it’s flying in the air and when it’s parked on the ground. Likewise, in times of success, victory, and prosperity, when we seem to be flying high, it’s important to remember that we are not the ones bringing these things to pass. The Lord is, and it’s our position in Him that enables us to partake of His power. We just have to abide in Him always, like a branch abiding in the vine. (See John 15:1–6.) If we do this, we will be far less affected by changing situations and shifting circumstances. Are things currently looking up for you? Are you seeing more victory, triumph, and success at this point in your life? If so, stay alert spiritually and keep abiding in Jesus always. – Steve Heart
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There is a delightful word in the English language: serendipity. This means a discovery of something wonderful or amazing when you least expect it, or as some would call “by accident.” Perhaps, as the late Bob Ross, an instructor in his Joy of Painting classes, always used to say, “There are no mistakes, only happy accidents.”
The word serendipity has been voted one of the ten English words hardest to translate by a British translation company. What is serendipity? Julius H. Comroe described it as “to look for a needle in a haystack and discover a farmer’s daughter.” Let me tell of some of my recent serendipitous experiences. I was trying to take some snapshots of some exotic birds with bright yellow and red plumage. It was not an easy task, as they didn’t want me to get too close. But when I gave up trying and went about my business, they appeared outside of my hotel room window just a few meters away, which enabled me to get a photo. The same thing often happens when I’m chasing butterflies. Thoreau, the American philosopher, seems to have used those winged wonders as a metaphor: “Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.” As I was ready to fall asleep, I looked out my window and saw some people watching the many fireflies light up the night with their flash dance. I really wanted to see them, but alas, I was just too pooped to go out to catch the show. Amazingly, after all the lights were turned off in our room, they started. Our whole room became aglow with lightning bugs—blinking and cavorting all over the place in an erratic show of passion—looking for their soul mate. Like the search for birds, butterflies, and fireflies, I often am frustrated when trying to start a new project. It just doesn’t seem to go or glow or show, and I don’t know why. I seem to be doing all the right things. Then often just when I am about to give up on the darn thing, something magical happens. An answer comes to me, a missing piece comes into the puzzle—it was nothing I did, it just showed up. I love reading human interest stories where serendipity sprinkles her sparkling magic fairy dust on humanity—like the one I saw on the BBC news recently. A group of 35 Southern Yemeni fishermen heard from a friend that there was a dead sperm whale floating offshore in the Gulf of Aden. Knowing that between one and five percent of sperm whales have a precious substance in their belly, known as ambergris, they set out to investigate. When sperm whales ingest squid and cuttlefish with sharp beaks, their digestive system coats the invader with a solid substance to protect their intestinal lining from irritation in much the same way as a pearl is formed around a grain of sand that the mollusk had ingested. Like pearls, ambergris is extremely rare and valuable. Ambergris is much sought after for use in expensive perfumes. As the fishermen approached the whale, they recognized the strong musky smell and knew they could be on to something. After dragging the carcass to shore, they cut it open and found 280 pounds of ambergris inside. They sold it to a trader in the UAE for 1.5 million dollars. The fishermen all had lots to say about their find:
After sharing the money earned equally among them, the fishermen gave to those who had helped and to the needy in their village. They built houses, bought cars and fishing boats, and made plans to get married and start a new life. I found it amazing that in such a poor country where 80% of its people are undernourished, and that has been wracked by over six years of civil war, such a serendipitous fortune could be found. It shows how wonderful things can happen to anyone, anytime—maybe even you or me when we least expect it. What a wonderful mystery serendipity is! When it comes for a visit, like the unexpected angels did to Abraham of old (Genesis 18)—offer it some bread, a comfy seat, and a drink. “Would you like your coffee with or without milk? One lump or two?” And even if you don’t find that “needle in the haystack,” may you find the “farmer’s daughter” and fall in love with serendipity. -- Peter van Gorder By Johnny Walker
It is one thing just to shtick! As a good soldier of Jesus Christ, we need to endure during our times of testing if we want to bear fruit and win lost souls! (See 2 Timothy 2:3.) In four months of 2022, 35 souls were saved in Mongolia! During the two months we were together, my missionary partner Martin and I distributed 2,000 tracts in Mongolian and we won 25 souls. We brought smiles and healing to the children we visited in two different hospitals while performing our clown show using laughter and music therapy. Our first adventure of faith took us to three towns that we had pioneered previously. The Holy Spirit inspired us in our second adventure to go southwest to the towns of Arvayheer and Bayanhongor, where the words of Jesus that work wonders had never been distributed! In both of these towns, while distributing tracts in the black markets, we encountered people who were like a dry sponge soaking up the water of life! During our two adventures, God miraculously supplied food and accommodations. Mongolians were quite open and willing to help when we shared photos of our work and presented our need! News of our first hospital visit in the second-largest city of Erdenet was posted by one of the pediatricians on her Facebook page; it was viewed by 600 people. In another town named Moron, I was asked by the owner of the guest house where we stayed to help her teach three classes of English to a group of Mongolian children. In the third class, I showed video called “Be a Friend” after sharing about my Best Friend, Jesus. Ten children prayed to make Jesus their Best Friend! After Martin’s return to Europe, the best was yet to come! I was alone in Ulaanbaatar, which caused me to depend more on the Lord and prayer! The insane traffic problem, plus the in-the-city spiritual warfare, made it a real fight of faith. Fifty-three percent of Mongolians believe and practice the self-centered religion, Buddhism, and a small percentage practice Shamanism, the worship of the creation more than the Creator, which can be seen as the practice of idolatry. I had to endure obstacles and hindrances to God’s mission. The Holy Spirit led me to a new ministry—teaching English with a Japanese baseball player who became a good friend! After teaching meaningful classes to Mongolian children in a private school, we played baseball with them, which made learning fun! Another ministry the Holy Spirit led me to was participating in the Paralympics Festival, which was held from the 14th to the 19th of September. I received a recommendation from the Mongolian National Paralympics Committee to continue coaching the sight-impaired and disabled Mongolian athletes! My last great adventure was a five-day hitchhiking trip to the northeast of Mongolia to the birthplace of Chinggis Khan. I traveled 600 kilometers to the village of Dadal. There I distributed tracts to the humble villagers, camped out a night in the nearby forest, befriended a Mongolian couple and then hung out with them a day and a half, and then traveled another 600 kilometers back to Ulaanbaatar over rough, bumpy, almost nonexistent country roads with helpful Mongolians! It was a faith-building and fruitful experience! The last two victories, as I persevered for four months, were the salvation of a New Zealand traveler, who was an atheist, and two Mongolian university students, who were wooed with music! I thank Jesus for making me “His instrument of peace and love”! Hallelujah! The Book of Ruth is a neat little nugget tucked away in the historical part of the Bible. It’s only four chapters, told in the narrative. One of the interesting things about this book is that while the characters in the story mention God, the book doesn’t include anything prophetic, nor does it tell us what God says or thinks.
The story tells how God wove His purpose and His plan into ordinary people doing ordinary things. Ruth is the daughter-in-law of Naomi, whose Jewish family migrated to Moab when Israel was going through a famine, and in the years since, her husband and both of her sons have died. So far, no luck for Naomi, and now alone in the world, she decides to move back to Israel. Ruth chooses to go with Naomi, promising to make Naomi’s people her people, and Naomi’s God, her God. When they get back to Israel, they’re just trying to survive. Ruth goes to the fields to pick up the grains of barley the harvesters have left behind. The field belongs to a man named Boaz, who is impressed by her integrity in not leaving Naomi, and marries her. Boaz and Ruth become the great-grandparents of King David, and ancestors of Jesus. There are no miracles in this story, nor any supernatural events, but God’s hand is clearly in every part of the story. As Naomi and Ruth try to survive, as they live godly lives, God’s purpose for them was accomplished. I believe that it’s often much the same for us. God’s will isn’t usually something that falls on us with great fanfare; it’s a purpose that is accomplished as we do our best to live according to God’s truth in our ordinary circumstances, doing everyday things. Some lives, like that of the great spiritual reformer Martin Luther, are interrupted with a sudden specific calling or mission, but for many of us, we will see God’s hand on our lives as we take each step daily, committing each day to His care. -- Marie Alvero By André & Crystal
Thank you so so much for your recent gift! We couldn’t say enough how much your love and support are a huge encouragement for us to carry on! We pray that all is well for you and your family! We have been blessed these past few weeks to host old and new friends from France, Switzerland and presently from the Czech Republic. All of them have been so eager to help out and to participate to our social endeavors. Below are a few pictures of our activities together. In the month of July is the feast of Adha, an important Muslim feast. For us it is the opportunity to manifest God’s love to our neighbors. We prepared hundreds of food parcels that we are distributing to needy families. Only a few hours before their flight back to France, Antoine and Muriel (along with Crystal) did a last performance at an orphanage located 1600 meters high in the mountains. This place is isolated and the children very much enjoyed the show and games! Our dear Swiss nurses, Alexis and Marie-Pauline gave meaningful ‘First Aid’ classes to groups of students (here at a Palestinian camp) during their two weeks’ stay in Lebanon. We distributed this week 140 parcels of basic foodstuff to the community of the Dom, in cooperation with Tahaddi, an NGO that we are working closely with. The Dom community (formerly gypsies coming from India near 200 years ago) is very much ostracized by many and we are glad to be able to assist them as much as we can. Love has no borders nor boundaries! Thank you dear friends for your help and prayers. You are very much part of our team here! Through this journey called life, we experience good, bad, ups, and downs, and often we haven’t got a clue what’s ahead. We make the best choices we can and try to live caring, honest lives, but every day, we make decisions that could affect our future, and it’s not always clear how.
That’s not easy even in simple times, but the times we live in now are anything but simple. We can safely assume this is an interesting age for scholars of culture and history, but the reality for those of us who are living it is that each new year seems to introduce new uncertainties and risks. One thing that we can hold on to, though, is God’s love and care for us, even in the darkest, most difficult times. “God has said, ‘I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.’” In 1939, a young preacher and musician named Ira Stanphill married Zelma Lawson, a minister’s daughter who had a lovely voice and played the piano. Unfortunately, that marriage ended in 1948, and his ex-wife was killed in a car crash not long after. During the years between their separation and divorce, and then her death, Stanphill is said to have sunk into a deep depression. He was driving one night when he began to hum a song about not knowing what the future held and trusting God under circumstances he didn’t understand. Upon arriving home, he rushed to his piano and jotted down the words to the song “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow,” which have resonated over the years with so many who face an unknown future. God doesn’t promise that walking with Him will be easy, but what He does promise is that every day of our lives is in His hands! In these uncertain days, what a comfort it is to realize that the one who loves us the most knows the way and will walk through it with us. By Dom and Marie
We would like to thank you for your continued faithful support. We are so thankful, and we pray these highlights will warm your hearts. The country continues to face enormous challenges: the war in the east and the plundering of mining resources by armed groups, crime and corruption, lack of respect for human rights, the economic crisis; malaria, typhoid fever, and other life-threatening diseases; the collapse of houses in poor neighborhoods during floods, the loss of human lives. We applaud our local partners who, in the face of such difficulties, continue to sacrifice their time, energy, and resources to aid the most destitute, and thus change their part of the world. Here are some projects we have been able to accomplish. (The goals noted are from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.) Goal: Zero Hunger and No Poverty Distribution of goods: food (milk, rice, meat, canned fish, spaghetti, maize flour, sugar, tomato puree, salt); household and sanitary products, and occasional toys and clothing to underprivileged children and mothers. Distribution of snacks and hot meals to the children. Distribution of baby clothes, milk, basic food items, and diapers to needy mothers who deliver their babies in our clinic. Farming (growing fruit trees and vegetables). Training women in the field of tailoring to enable them to learn a trade and earn a living. Goal: Quality Education Schooling of 396 students: 225 in primary school and 171 in secondary school, including 194 boys and 202 girls. 98% of our students advanced to the next grade. Distribution of notebooks, pens, schoolbooks, and library books. Distribution of sanitary products to teenage girls, which enabled them not to miss school. They excelled in their exams; 97% of the girls passed! Monthly inspections by the Ministry of Education, which has chosen our school as an examination center year after year. Scholarship for Ana, who is starting her second year for her doctorate in medical school. Goal: Good Health and Well-Being Medical care for 1,500 patients, including 70 orphaned and underprivileged children in Kikimi. Pre- and post-natal care for 76 women, including the delivery of 110 healthy babies. Two surgery operations. Goal: Sustainable Development Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, and Other Improvements. Maintenance of the solar bore well, including thorough cleaning of the solar pump, pipes, and water cisterns; lab analysis of the water, and the replacement of the controller, which was damaged by a lightning bolt. The solar bore well has continued to be a blessing to the population of Kikimi, greatly minimizing waterborne diseases. Regular maintenance of the ambulance. Children’s Ministry Flourishing children’s ministry using the Character-Building STEPS Program in various parts of Kinshasa. Special Christmas programs for underprivileged children in several parts of Kinshasa. Youth Ministry Monthly fellowships and seminars for the youth. Seminars for the youth leaders and Bible teachers. Road trips to other provinces to hold youth seminars. Hospital visitation and distribution of goods in the General Hospital. I have been reading an interesting book that has various chapters about dreams, premonitions, and psychic warnings of future events. (The author takes a scientific approach to these supernatural events, trying to come to the most realistic conclusion.)
Did you know that Abraham Lincoln had a dream of his coming assassination ten days before it happened? Lincoln dreamt that he was in bed and awoke with an awful death like silence around him. But he noticed a sort of moaning or mourning sound coming from somewhere in the White House. He got up and proceeded to search for the source of the sound. Finally, he entered the East Room and saw a casket with a dead body with a sheet draped over it. A military guard was standing around the casket while mourners were weeping nearby. “What has happened in the White House?” asked Lincoln. A soldier replied, “The president has been assassinated.” Lincoln is reported to have shared the dream with his wife and a friend three days before his death. Strangely enough, Ulysses S. Grant, the military general and leader of the northern troops was scheduled to attend the fateful theatre event with Lincoln the night of his assassination. Grant, however, missed the show on the insistence of his wife, who had a premonition that something terrible was going to happen. Was God trying to warn Lincoln, and he missed the warning or was reluctant in heeding it? In another account, Army Captain A. B. MacGowan promised his two boys a night at the theatre. The boys had never attended the theatre. Tickets were bought and the boys’ excitement raised. However, on the day of the event, the captain kept hearing that inner voice of conscience saying, “Don’t go to the theatre, take the boys to the city.” How could he do that after having aroused the boys’ imagination over the activity? His best friend chided him on hearing he was having doubts about taking his sons to the event. MacGowan almost relented, but that voice of conscience was too constant, too persistent to shake. In the end, they traveled to the city instead, much to the boys’ dismay. But that very night in 1876, the Brooklyn Theatre caught fire and more than 300 lives were lost. Had MacGowan not followed the voice of conscience the story might have had a totally different ending. MacGowan’s sister, who had attended the show, left early because her brother and nephews were not there. Leaving early probably saved her life. In October 1966, a landslide or avalanche from a coal mining operation in Wales led to the death of 144 people, including 116 children. A young girl of ten, the very morning of the accident, had recounted a dream she had had the night before where “something black” had covered her school. Hearing of the girl’s dream, a national psychiatrist used the press to poll the public to see if others had had a similar premonition or dream. Some 60 similar responses were found. One person had even written down his dream and mailed it to a friend a month before the accident. Was God sending a warning message, a message that wasn’t heeded? My own life has been marked by similar occurrences. As a young child I remember my mother impressing upon us kids some of her spiritual experiences. One night she had a dream where her godfather, who was terminally ill, came and stood at the bottom of her bed. He said, “Honey, I’m going now. I love you.” The next morning early, my mom received a telephone call from her auntie. “Sophie, your uncle has died.” My mom already knew before the phone rang who it was and what the message would be. My wife had a similar experience, though more akin to Lincoln’s dream. She dreamt that her father had entered a hospital for an examination and had died. It was December, a very busy time for us, but thinking that maybe her father’s death was imminent, we promised ourselves that we would go for a visit to her parents as soon as the Christmas and New Year’s period was over. However, with a handful of young kids to attend to, January soon turned to February when we received the sad news. Her father had been having difficulty climbing stairs without getting a pain in his chest. His local doctor advised him to visit the city hospital for a more thorough examination, and an appointment was made. He was 72 years old at the time. He entered the hospital on the morning of the appointment. The doctors decided he needed a more complete test, and he signed the affidavit confirming that he took the medicine knowing the risk involved. The medicine would enable the doctors to get a more accurate look at his heart and arteries. He died a short while afterwards. We were stuck with the feeling that had my wife communicated her dream to her father, had we visited him in time, had we not procrastinated, his life might not have ended at that moment. Just recently, a friend of mine had a vivid dream in which I had gotten into a fight with a man dressed in white and he was getting the better of me. After relating the dream to me, my friend prayed for my protection and against such a thing occurring. Later in the day, while delivering humanitarian aid in the form of fruits and vegetables to a soup kitchen in the city, I parked our vehicle on a ramp. The ramp was located behind a large church near where we needed to unload the donated goods. Suddenly, a man began approaching us yelling that we couldn’t park on that ramp as it was a priority ramp for the handicapped. I was stressed from the hurried 50 km ride into town to make sure we arrived before the kitchen closed for the day. I yelled back at the man, “I will park wherever I want to!” Astonished at my reply, he shouted out, “What did he say?!” Thankfully, he was on the passenger side of the car. My friend, who was sitting in the front next to me, looked at me sternly and said, “Remember the man in white!” It was then that I realized that the man was dressed in white clothes, like the man in the dream. He was obviously a man of authority, possibly the top priest of the church, so I got control of myself and started to remove our vehicle from the handicap ramp. By then, the man’s assistant, realizing we were making a delivery for the soup kitchen that the church operated for the homeless and poor, intervened, and we were allowed to park on the ramp. I apologized to the priest, and he apologized to me too. A bad situation didn’t develop into something worse because the Lord had warned us in a dream. I wanted to add another message the Lord gave my wife in a dream. We were involved in a court case for custody of our children due to our homeschooling activities. My wife was very anxious because we knew the prosecuting attorney was going to ask us a lot of questions. About a week before the trial date, she had a dream that the prosecuting attorney would ask her a question about why the children hadn’t been vaccinated. During that week she researched and found good arguments to be able to rationally defend our position to not vaccinate. On the day of the court trial, that was the very question the attorney asked. God had revealed to her how to prepare, and she did and was able to give a coherent reply to justify our position. The judge sided in our favor and God got a great victory out of a seemingly impossible situation. I am learning that we need to tune in to the spiritual realm and not neglect our time with the Lord. Please take those dreams and premonitions seriously. They may keep you safe or save a life. -- Dennis Edwards It all started when my brother called me early in the morning to tell me that my mother had been rushed to the hospital in a sudden emergency. Later, he called to tell me that my mother had passed away. After learning about this, I was crying and shocked!
Then I began to pray, and I received the most wonderful vision. I saw my mother smiling with the most beautiful and heavenly smile. She was so full of joy! It was like she was telling me, “Don’t worry. I am in heaven now, and I’m happy to meet my sons who are here.” After seeing this vision of my mother in heaven, exuding joy, I was at peace and didn’t cry anymore. Her memorial service resulted in an extraordinary testimony. We were able to reconnect with several family members and friends that we had not seen for a long time. I was able to speak and share some thoughts about my mother. I told those present at the service about heaven and eternal life, emphasizing how Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, and how we will also be resurrected when He comes again, and explaining that the dead in Christ will be raised first. I also spoke about the reality of the afterlife as presented in the Bible and in many experiences and books on the subject. At the end I invited everyone to pray to receive Jesus, and about 50 people accepted Jesus in their hearts. But the story does not end there. After the service and my talk, a lady from another chapel where another person’s wake was being held approached me and asked me if I could come to speak and pray at her sister’s memorial service, as they didn’t have anyone there to do that. I agreed, and my wife Lorena and I went into the other chapel. I proceeded to also give a talk there about heaven and pray for the family of the deceased, and about 40 people accepted Jesus in their hearts. They were so grateful that we came to pray for them. At the end they hugged each other. They were crying as they were very moved after the prayer. They also thanked me profusely. All in all, my mom’s departure to heaven resulted in a great testimony for my relatives, friends, and these other dear people who were unknown to me, but not to the Lord, who wanted us to reach them with His love. -- Alfredo Carrasco They’re not coming back! I remember how I felt when it finally hit home. Alone. Afraid. Unsure. For years I had been working on a social service project in an impoverished South Asian nation. I was busy and made a contribution to the work, yet it didn’t depend upon me; I was a cog in the overall machine, and that suited me just fine. I felt secure benefiting from others’ years of experience, not to mention their financial backing. There wasn’t much for me to worry about.
Then, over the course of one summer, everything changed. Suddenly my coworkers’ plans were radically altered due to health problems and their children’s educational future. They moved away, and the projects were left in my hands. That is, if I could keep them going. I knew I would have to take a hard look at the situation and reflect on the future of the work we had been doing. The next few months were secure—they had left resources enough to make sure of that. But beyond? I had no idea. Around the same time, I fell sicker than I had ever been. For over a month, I was mostly bedridden, barely able to eat. In some strange way, my state of complete incapacity because of the illness prevented me from succumbing to hopeless worry, as I would normally have done. I was simply too sick to give in to fear. It was all I could do to make it through each day and night; I had no strength left over for worrying. And while I was incapable, God remained strong and He worked on my behalf. As time passed, there were no major changes or interventions, but there was always enough. Donors to help with the social projects. A job when I needed it. When one door closed, another opened. I had always valued security, but in this time of change and newfound independence, I discovered a different kind of security and happiness. I finally came to a firm decision: For as long as I could—as long as God helped me—I would keep the work here going. Life is challenging and unpredictable, but I am happier than I’ve ever been. I believe that God can work things out even when there’s nothing we can do to help Him. How could I not believe this, when that’s what He did for me? - Lily Neve |
AuthorThe goal of the blog is to provide interesting, motivational, soul feeding material. All to help remind us that God loves us all and wants a personal relationship with each of us and will take care of us in times of trouble. I aspire to be a force for good by providing you with positive input. I encourage you to share the blog with others. Archives
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