Deuteronomy 8:17-18 “And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.”
Too many times, we do not give credit where credit is due. We tend to pride ourselves on the works of our hands as if we did it all by ourselves. Recently, as was widely published, those of us in the South endured an unusual snowstorm! One which caused many of us to lose power and even access to water due to pipes freezing and bursting all across the region! Never in our lives have my husband and I went without taking a shower or a bath for 6 days at a time! Thankfully, the Lord allowed us to have power at 30 minutes on and 15 minutes off for 3 days during the worst of the power outages. Unfortunately, many across the Lone Star State went ‘without a lick’ of electricity for several consecutive hours or even days at a time!
Psalm 121:1-2 “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.”
Once God sovereignly allowed the temperatures to stabilize and the unwanted white stuff started to melt, we were finally less apprehensive to begin washing clothes and dishes once more! It was then that my husband and I realized what a luxury it is to have functioning indoor plumbing again! As the saying goes, “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Truth is, you knew what you had; you just never thought you’d lose it!”
Basically, as a whole, we tend to take for granted all of the blessings that God allows us to have in this life. For instance, just simple things such as the air we breathe, our valuable eyesight, our precious hearing, our palatable taste, definitely for our overall health. And let us not forget all of the modern-day conveniences we have too! Truth be told, the list could go on and on indefinitely, for that is how wonderfully gracious our Indescribable Creator is!
1 Timothy 6:17 “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.”
Even when one of our copper pipes behind our laundry room wall busted and water started spewing and flooding our house, God was there! For He was there guiding my husband out in the freezing snow that blanketed the ground, helping him to finally turn off the water supply to the house before the flooding became out of control! Abba Father was already there in the sense that we readily had a Shop Vac to help catch up most of the standing water in the 3 tiled rooms that it affected.
No doubt, by this time, all of the Local Plumbing Companies were booked up for the unforeseeable future due to ‘everyone and their dog’ experiencing the same disastrous issue! Yet, God was providentially working out a way to restore running water to our house by sending our neighbor over to help my husband replace the busted segment with a new flex pipe and shark bites. Out of the 5 Plumbing Companies that we called, only 2 called back. One at 24 hours later and another that was finally available after 2 whole days! Needless to say, we were beyond grateful for our awesome neighbor’s help and God’s wonderful providence that we did not have to endure how grueling it could have been!
Isaiah 41:10 “Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
Being a child of God does not mean that we will not have problems or catastrophes arise, but it does mean that Jesus will be right there with us every step of the way! It also means that we will be better equipped mentally, emotionally, and spiritually through the comfort that God’s Word provides for those of us who believe.
For example, just knowing that Jesus did not leave Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego without His Presence while they were in Nebuchadnezzar’s ‘seven times hotter’ Fiery Furnace is a huge consolation to me. Also, just reading about the time when God sent His angels to shut the mouths of the lions while Daniel spent all night in the Lion’s Den is beyond reassuring to me as well. Finally, just meditating on God’s Word when it says that He will never leave us nor forsake us is a type of healing balm that soothes my soul like no other remedy can!
Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”
Let us then ask the ‘Million-Dollar’ question, shall we? “Where does our help come from?” Sadly, some people attribute their help to such things as Luck. Guess what? Luck has nothing to do with it! It has always been by God’s Grace, for He is the One who allows all things to happen to us (whether good or bad) ultimately for His Glory and our inevitable good! Therefore, it is up to us to decide if we will believe that God is Sovereign and that He knows what is best for us. To believe in the alternative is for us to keep on thinking that we are on the throne, only to struggle, falter, and grapple at all of the things that come our way in this ‘Devil’s Playground’!
Once again, God does not force anyone to believe in Him, for He gives us all something called free will. Throughout our lives, we will have made thousands upon thousands of choices, and included in that is the most important one we will ever have to make for all of Eternity! It is beyond incredulous to wrap one’s mind around the reality that such an Eternal Choice is literally left up to us to decide! It is clear that God does not want Robots to mindlessly love Him. This is why He gives us free will; He wants us to make the choice to love Him because we want to, not because we have to!
Like my husband and I, you may have raised your kids to know the Lord, but heartbreakingly they have chosen to turn their backs on God to go their own way. Also, like us, you may have been tearfully praying for years on end for your grown children to come back to the Lord, yet to no avail! Once again, God does not want even our kids to love Him just because we tell them to. He wants them to love Him because they choose to on their very own!
Joshua 24:15 “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
All we know is that we are not in control of anyone, much less of anyone else’s eternal fate, except for our own. To dive into this a little further is to acknowledge the inconvenient fact that we are virtually not in control of anything! Although we may think that we are in control of certain things in this life, the ultimate hard reality is that we are not! Therefore, as for me and my husband, we choose to accept that God is Sovereign, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and to serve the Lord with our very lives! For God’s Pure Word states that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that no one can come unto the Father except through Him!
John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Until next time… Maranatha!
JESUS = THE WAY, THE TRUTH, & THE LIFE!
Jesus Will Come!
Candy Austin is an Ambassador for Christ/Christian Writer/Freelance ASL Interpreter, just passing through on this Narrow Path with her Beloved Husband and Best Friend Doug along with their 2 fur baby cats Harley (12) and Dallas (9).