Have you ever experienced a loss so painful you described it to yourself as "That just knocked my props right out from under me and where do I go from here?" I have, a few times, but somehow something better followed the devastation, sooner than later. Often the something better came quietly, without trumpets and flashing lights, but quietly, gently, unnoticed unless you're expecting it and watching for it. So, Child of God, lose that "rained on, poor me" attitude and watch, wait for your Father to show you the next step, but don't sit waiting for a roadmap from where you sit all the way Home.
God has given me a few extra years and a long memory, enabling me to sit, looking back over time and see the path I blindly followed, not knowing how things would end up. I found a few surprises that gradually increased the strength of my faith and understanding of the God I was born to serve.
The term "double trouble" hardly describes my early 40s--losing my 62-year-old mother to cancer while struggling through a 7-month-long divorce, not something you bounce back from, but gradually I realized new independence and confidence going forward with two daughters in high school and college and then their marriages, then continuing not quite alone, with God.
I had always been reluctant to quit a job, never trusting the unknown for a better future--sort of a bird-in-hand rule. I had left my first adult job when I married and moved out of town, left the next when my first child was on the way, and post-divorce, I certainly depended on the job I had, despite the worldly culture and unfairness there, so my next test a few years later was being laid off right before Christmas, along with a couple of other over-40 ladies, replaced with younger girls we had trained! No Panic!
As I cleaned out my desk (after the past 14 years), I remembered God had once solved another unsolvable problem. We three had needed a more dependable car but had no room in my budget for a car or for repair bills--and found a 3-year-old Dodge Charger, only 12 miles out of warranty. Needed a new car, couldn't afford one, got one--and somehow it was paid for before having a single repair bill. Can you say blessing?
Clutching that last paycheck in hand, I deposited it and went directly to the unemployment office, then to a temp agency, where I worked for several weeks until they sent me to Abbott Labs, who offered me the position, at a slightly lower salary than I was used to, but in faith I took it, and began moving toward a debt-free life, finally achieved before retirement at 65.5, including home mortgage! One day I thought I was knocked off my feet, a few weeks later was safely ensconced in a dependable job where respect, trust and security reigned.
My future turned a new page as I followed blindly, trusting my gradually increasing faith, even today, approaching my 90th birthday joyously. I began this praise devotional series to my Father in Heaven in 2015, which will continue so long as I can get to the computer and record what I know of His thoughts and His presence. Of course, I look forward to the end of this journey, but even now He is present with me every day. Blessed!
No matter the future, whatever circumstance or mischief from our enemy Satan, never give up. Plant your feet, stand on God's promises, count on His love, and leap over any obstacles in your path, because His path will lead you Home at last.
Never give up. Give it to God.
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. James 1:2-3
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”–Psalm 91:2
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