SPLASHES OF…HOPE! 14th JUNE 2013
Well my dear Sister Soldiers here we are on our life’s journey, already halfway through June! And life, if I know it well enough by now, in my 69th year, will be as “predictable” as I expect it to be in that some of us will have had a jolly good week, and others will have felt like the bottom of their world has fallen out, and slap-bang in the middle of an horrific hurricane-like situation! Right?
So how can we take God’s Word, if we look back at last week’s Splashes.. of a ‘life of living in His favor’, and not feel the doubts or unbelief creeping into our souls? How do we not begin to feel hope-less instead of hope- filled? +++ The purpose of my Splashes of..HOPE is to encourage you, and help you to keep on ‘doing life-God’s way, so I remind you that Jude vs. 2 exhorts US to be “..building yourselves up on your most holy f a i t h..” which means that WE have to do something about it. . . BUT GOD J has given us His Holy Spirit, our Helper, Who will be just that to us if we let Him!! And I know you will! So, my dear strong Yahweh Sisterhood, will you determine in your heart that you will never give up on GOD, no matter what! Okay? Good!
Now let me splash you with encouragement, enough to restore your hope, not only with a few Biblical examples, but also from one of my long-time favorite Authors = Joni Eareckson Tada = as I share some of her story with you. +++Therefore, today’s splashes.. will be longer than usual, but I feel it’s necessary.
Can we even begin to imagine what it must’ve been like to live in a time when Kings had the ‘right’ to throw you into a den of lions? That’s what happened to Daniel = check out Dan. Ch. 3 for his story. BUT GOD’s favor was on him and even though **GOD did not stop them from throwing him into the lion’s den, but God made sure that HE shut the mouths of those lions so tight they did not even as much as lick him!! J And what about those 3 young Hebrew young men who were tied up and flung face down into a fiery furnace because they refused to give in to the command to worship other gods or idols = Dan. Ch.3 tells you their story; Once again, although **GOD did not stop this from happening to them, HIS favor was over them, and even more than that…I get goose bumps just reading verses 24- 25! =“Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast 3 men, bound, into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said “True O King”. “Look” he answered I see 4 men, loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God”. Wow! What do you think of their stories dear sisters?
** GOD did not stop the bad things from happening, but He had His eyes on them every split second, and long before these things ever happened, He knew how He was going to rescue them! He’s your God, isn’t He? So, if you have ‘landed’ in a ‘scary’, or bad place lately, hold fast to your “most holy f a i t h” and wait for your Rescuer….at exactly the right time He will do it!! I promise you that…and He does too!!
Because we are so “human” I find that we are usually impacted by “real life” stories, as we can relate more easily to them than we do to Biblical events, no matter how dramatic these are. This is where I bring Joni’s story into today’s Splashes and I hope it will encourage you in your f a i t h journey…..
Some of you may not ever have heard of her, some of you may have but not read any of her books and devotionals, but in 1967 at the age of 17, Joni dived off a raft into shallow water in a Bay and broke her neck. She has been in a wheelchair ever since, and is a quadriplegic, unable to move or feel anything below her neck. And what had she been praying and asking God, before the accident? “What do you want me to do for you”? Did she ever think God’s plans for her were so huge that the only way He could accomplish them was if he allowed her to become totally disabled? I bet not!
Apart from raising her up from “the ashes” of despair into a World-Wide Ministry and Author, she also became an accomplished artist song-writer and singer = ALL to the Glory of God and the extension of His Kingdom on earth!! Once more **GOD did not stop this seemingly bad thing from happening, but turned it around = Rom. 8:28 “All things work together for good…according to His purposes”. And what’s more, when she was in her early 30’s she met a young man and they fell in love and, in spite of her situation, they got married, and recently celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary!
At the moment I’m reading their book “An untold love story” = a different kind of love story, which I find truly inspirational and very encouraging. I doubt you would think of their marriage as “normal” in any way, when you consider a healthy, athletic, outdoors kind of man, who loves fishing etc. with a quadriplegic wife who has many and varied needs! It would be very challenging and demanding on you in every conceivable way…and reading their story, it is exactly that!
Having a Nurse, and her husband Ken, do absolutely everything for her, daily, also in the night when she has to be turned a number of times, all this day after day, year after year, the same endless routine, it just boggles the mind!! And on top of all this, 30 years later in 1997, she develops chronic pain in her body that goes beyond anything she has ever experienced, leaving her wondering if it would “swallow her up completely”! Check out this list : PARALYSIS. CRUSHING PAIN ON TOP OF PARALYSIS. CANCER ON TOP OF CRUSHING PAIN. RADICAL MASTECTOMY ON TOP OF CANCER. CHEMOTHERAPY. PHEUMONIA ON TOP OF CHEMO….AND INTENSE SPIRITUAL WARFARE WITH DARK, MALEVOLENT SPIRITS ON TOP OF IT ALL! And then suffered a broken leg as well!! Ken pondered over what someone had said about “the Christian life becoming harder the further you go”!! Joni questioned : “God, You are the One allowing this. You are Sovereign. That means You have screened this and decided You would allow it to touch me, hurt me, tear me up like this. How can You permit this in addition to my quadriplegia?” How could she go on trusting in Heaven among these Splashes from Hell she wondered? Then she writes this, in agreement with British Pastor/Author Alan Redpath, who said : “THERE IS NO CIRCUMSTANCE, NO TROUBLE, NO TESTING, THAT CAN EVER TOUCH ME UNTIL, FIRST OF ALL, IT HAS GONE PAST GOD AND PAST CHRIST, RIGHT THROUGH TO ME. IF IT HAS COME THAT FAR, IT HAS COME WITH GREAT PURPOSE”.
Referring to our Sovereign Heavenly Father God, Author Corrie Ten Boom said : “NEVER BE AFRAID TO TRUST AN UNKNOWN FUTURE TO A KNOWN GOD”.
What are you thinking / feeling right now? Unless you e-mail me and tell me I will never know!! I can’t even guess which way you’re processing the profound statement by Alan Redpath! Two profound statements here, we would do well to remember them when we are in one of those ‘bad’ places.
However, Joni’s story isn’t over yet……and neither is yours . . . or mine!! J
Therefore I splash you with hope and encouragement by reminding you that because you are His, “you obtain the favor of the Lord = Prov. 8 : 35, and Psa. 30 : 5 assures us that “His favor is for life”!!!
That’s enough to get us back on track and ready for a Friday doing a few of our favorite things isn’t it? Off you go then….
With love and hugs to “Daddy’s favorite” Girls!
Rose
xoxo