I have a story about God’s way of interacting in my life. HE orchestrated an elaborate series of events and providential circumstances just to show me that "HE HAS GOT THIS!" This true story happened in the fall of 2023, and I have told several people about it, but was encouraged recently to share it here.
Those close to us know that my Craig, who has pastored since the 1990’s was called to a little church in 2018, here in Jasper, NY. We packed up and left our 11 year ministry in NH, and by faith, came to serve in this new place. There was no parsonage, which was odd for us as we had been living in church provided housing for so many years. We searched for a place to rent, or a place to buy, but we had little savings. A local bank had a program where they would pay for the closing costs if we did not sell the house for 3 years and very amazingly a beautiful house became available and was reduced to a price that the bank was willing to give us. ( It still feels like a miracle!)
After 10 months, it was clear that the church was not a good fit for us, we ended up leaving, and it was a very painful time, as during that turmoil I was being treated for breast cancer and now had no church family’s support. We felt alone, dejected and we were very concerned that we had a mortgage for a house we could not sell for 3 years. Our heart to serve in ministry, would have to be set aside while we searched for jobs and waited on the Lord to help us figure out what was next. There were many miracle provisions during this time, as it turns out that a Masters in Ministry degree did not help Craig in finding good steady work at secular jobs. But God kept meeting our needs in ways we could not imagine.
So here comes the part of the story that is the AMAZING thing. During that heartache of 2019, we received 6 different messages or cards, from various friends from bible college, or previous churches we had served at etc. and they all had written this verse. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Psalm 23:5a This really flaked me out and I said to Craig, “Why are so many folks sending us a verse said at funerals?” And he said it was because God was going to do that very thing. I had our daughter Noel go down to the barn and get an old board and we painted it with that verse and put it up in the house.
This was to be a reminder that God was going to take care of us right here on the main street of the town that rejected us. That is exactly what HE has done.
Craig eventually was called to be the associate of a sizable church 30 minutes from here. We found a place that we FIT and we have loved serving. At that church we do lots of youth ministry, including running their AWANA club. It was there that a family from the previous church started bringing their beautiful kids, and I have to admit that I was both delighted and fearful about that. I loved seeing the kids, how they had grown, and I wanted to pour God’s word into them. But, I guess in my flesh, I was fearful that this family would cause trouble for us here in our current ministry, because of the history we had with them at the little church in Jasper.
One little girl, who had been a baby that would go to Craig (but not me!) and he would carry her all around, was now 5 years old, and was still so very cute. One evening at AWANA, we had many news kids and were a little short staffed, so I popped my head into the room where the SPARKS (k-2nd grade) met for handbook time, and asked if they could use another helper. The leader said, “Yes. Please come help this little girl with her handbook as she is further ahead in her book than this group of kids at this table.” So I sat down with this little girl, and thought to myself… “It had to be her… of all the kids… I get assigned to her.” I asked her to open her handbook and show me what verse she is working on memorizing. She opened it to this verse-
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Psalm 23:5a
I almost fell out of my chair or started to cry, but I held it together. In my heart, I said, “Lord, I take note of this. I just happened to pop my head in to see if this is the class that needed help? I just happened to be assigned to this little girl? She just happened to be learning this verse? No, Lord this is all from You, and I see it. I see that You have done it. You have taken care of us.”
How healing! I could look at this little girl and her family in a different way. I never had really thought of them as enemies, but there surely was an uneasiness about being near them. Now I can proclaim like David the Psalmist-
The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? 27:1
Whatever comes, whoever rejects me or hurts me, however the finances fall apart or the cancer attacks, I know that HE is very aware of where I am and what I need. He is a personal God who loves to such a degree that He has even paid my sin debt by the shed blood of His Holy Son. He is my salvation.
Dear reader, walk with Him. Entrust all that you are and have to His loving care. He is a Good Shepherd. Follow Him closely and see what He alone can do.
Little Lamb, Little Lamb, Follow Close
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