October 31, 2019
No matter what happens or what seems to go wrong or to fail, I will never fail, and I am always there. I will not leave My children behind, but I will carry them and tend to them, as a loving and patient Father. I love to bestow good things on My faithful children.
I am the healer and the restorer of broken hearts, broken hopes, broken dreams, and broken lives. I never leave My children abandoned or destitute. The answers to your prayers and supply of your needs sometimes come through unexpected avenues, or by a different route or longer timetable than hoped or prayed for, but I always answer. I do not leave My children in want.—Jesus, speaking in prophecy
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I have a dear friend who told me about something that happened on his birthday. His car was in for repairs, and on this particular day he was driving someone in their own car on an all-day excursion. Planning to pick up his car from the shop after his long day’s drive, he had brought along a substantial amount of money to pay for the repairs.
However, when he went to collect his car, he discovered to his horror that the envelope with the repair money wasn’t in his bag where he’d carefully put it. With that sense of panic that comes when you find that you’ve lost something valuable, he quickly called the owner of the car that he had chauffeured to see if the money might have somehow fallen out of his bag inside the car.
“No, I’m very sorry, I don’t see it,” came the answer.
My friend said that the terrible sinking feeling, combined with the exhaustion after a long day of driving, was overwhelming. He was already short on funds and didn’t know where he’d be able to make up the money that must have fallen out somewhere or been stolen during their travels. There was nothing to do but to cry out desperately to the Lord that somehow the money would be returned. Yet the chances of that looked too small to even hope for.
Fortunately, with the money he had received for his day’s work, he was able to pay for enough of the repairs to take his car home.
He was heavy of heart and beset by a bad migraine, and his birthday, of all days, had turned into a disaster. Struggling with the migraine and worry about finances, as well as blaming himself that he had somehow allowed that money to be lost, he spent several hours trying to figure out why this had happened. Finally he chose to give the whole thing to the Lord and trust that the person who had the money now must need it more desperately than he did. He prayed that the Lord would use those funds to somehow draw that person to Jesus.
He went to work the next day feeling a peace that somehow the Lord was working everything for good. Midmorning he received a call. It was the woman who he had chauffeured the day before. “We found the envelope with the money when we looked again in the car,” she said. “So we have it here safe and sound for you.”
What a relief and cause for praise to the One who had returned what had been lost. My friend was glad that he had chosen to entrust everything to the Lord’s care.
He could have been tempted to give in to despair and anxiety. But he made the choice to praise the Lord no matter what circumstances he faced. It wasn’t about what God did or didn’t do for him or whether it looked like God was being “good” or “bad” to him. What mattered was that he trusted in Jesus to do what would somehow be best for him. He knew he could always trust in God’s love, regardless of what challenges or losses he faced, because Jesus had given up everything—even His life—for him.
Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t guarantee that everything will always work out the way we want it to. Nevertheless, once we’ve done what we can, we can leave it with the Lord to do what He knows is best. Even if something is lost or taken away, God will always supply, or redirect us, or show us how we can do without something we thought was needed. Through it all, we just need to trust that He never fails and that He works all things to our good.—Maria Fontaine
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There is a story of shipwreck which yields an illustration that comes in just here. Crew and passengers had to leave the broken vessel and take to the boats. The sea was rough, and great care in rowing and steering was necessary in order to guard the heavily-laden boats, not from the ordinary waves, which they rode over easily, but from the great cross-seas. Night was approaching, and the hearts of all sank as they asked what they should do in the darkness when they would no longer be able to see these terrible waves. To their great joy, however, when it grew dark they discovered that they were in phosphorescent waters and that each dangerous wave rolled up crested with light which made it as clearly visible as if it were mid-day.
So it is that life’s dreaded experiences carry in themselves the light which takes away the peril and the terror. The night of sorrow comes with its own lamp of comfort. The hour of weakness brings its own secret of strength. …
The lesson is that we cannot get along on our life’s pilgrimage without Christ; but having Christ we shall be ready for anything that may come to us along the days and years.—J. R. Miller
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There was a dear saint of God in whose home the minister was taking tea. While she was in the kitchen he picked up her much-worn Bible and rather absently began to turn the leaves, when he noticed here and there along the margin these two letters, T.P. When she came back in the room with the tea he said, “Auntie, I was enjoying looking at your Bible, but what do these letters mean that you have written here so many places? T.P. And here it is again, T.P. And here.”
“Oh, Brother,” she said, her face lighting with joy, “that means tried and proven. In the time of some great need I have taken those promises and claimed them as my very own. They are the ones that I have tried and proven true.”
How precious, indeed, and that’s exactly the way the Lord intends us to use them. He wants us to prove His Word, use it in our time of need. “Prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord,” until with strength, faith, and sweet confidence we can write on the margin beside many a verse, “tried and proven.”
God’s Word says, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.” Abundant supply! Limitless resources! “Streams that never run dry.” “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”—Virginia Brandt Berg
Published on Anchor October 2019. Read by Jon Marc. Music by Michael Dooley.
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