What a thoughtful subject to look at today. In my own life, I believe that God wants us to have His best for us.
I heard a statement recently that made me stop and think. “ as long as you live in the past – you won’t know what your future could be.”
There is so much truth in that statement. I know that all of us have our daily trials and disappointments and sometimes the Christian life is more difficult than we had imagined.
“ To know Him – – and to make Him known” - - that was the mission statement at Columbia Bible college in 1962 when we attended. I was very impressed with that statement as I had grown up in a situation at our church where that really wasn’t expressed in that way. I don’t think I really knew what it meant when we said ‘to make Him known.’ It was a few years later when we started our first church that David had such a burden for the lost that he developed a wonderful soul winning plan so that he could teach other people and we had more success at making Him known.
We read in the Bible where Jesus said, “take up your cross and follow me.” That was a confusing statement for me because I really didn’t know what that meant. I knew Jesus died on the cross. I knew that He had helped carry the cross to Mount Calvary, and I knew what He did for us, but I did not understand what it meant for me personally.
I realized much later in my life when I came to know the Lord in 2005, that the reason I could not understand those things was because I did not have the Holy Spirit living within me. A few months after I accepted Christ – I found the verses in Proverbs 3: 5-6 to be such a straightforward verse. That explained how I could have victory in my life if I would just learn to TRUST Him. It tells us to trust in the Lord, with all of our heart, and to lean not on our own understanding. We are to acknowledge Him in all of our ways, and if we’re willing to do that, He will make our paths straight.
That became my ‘life verse’ for about 10 years, and I was always happy to share it, and let others know that I loved the Lord and that He loved me.
As my faith grew year-by-year, I began to understand more of what it meant to ‘take up your cross and follow me.’ The Christian life is not an easy life. We are asked to believe in a being we cannot see or hear. We are asked to trust Him with our whole life, laying our lives down and trusting Him to care for us. John 10:10 is a great verse for us to claim. This has become my life verse in the last 10 years. We are told in that verse that the thief, which is the devil, comes only to steal and kill and destroy; but He says I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly. Then He assures us that He is the Good Shepherd, and the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Sometimes, believing that is not an easy thing to do. Sometime we question the wisdom that would take someone from us that we love, and if it be for a specific purpose we do not know the purpose, but I have learned to accept that it was God‘s will and perhaps we will never know the reason this tragedy happened in our family.
I’m thankful for the many blessings that God has given us as a family. We were blessed to have four beautiful, healthy children. Now we are blessed to have 11 wonderful, loving grandchildren and on top of that — now the Lord has blessed us with six great-grandchildren. If we didn’t have anything else, that would be enough. I am so thankful for what God has provided for us through the years, always everything that we needed and more.
Instead of thinking of the trials and troubles in our life, let’s take today and be thankful for all the good blessings we have received from God. We celebrate tomorrow, July 4 —
Independence Day and we should be thankful also for those that gave their lives so that we could have independence and freedom. Let’s lay our lives out before Him, and say, Lord search me and know my heart and see if there be any wicked thing in me. Ask Him for victory in your life. Let’s claim VICTORY this week and start to PRAISE Him and THANK Him for His many blessings.
God bless you and I love you!!
