When Jesus returns (and He’s coming!) what will He find with you? Luke 18:8 asks:
“However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Have you given up on God? Have you grown tired in waiting for Him to answer you? The Bible also says 2 Peter 3:9:
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
Many of us feel hard pressed on ALL sides, especially in this day and age, but we have to hold on! God IS faithful, The problem is we tend to look at our circumstances and not keep our eyes on He who is above ALL circumstances. Blessed reader – GOD LOVES YOU. GOD SEES YOU. GOD CARES! This is where ol’ slewfoot puts doubt in your mind and causes you to respond to that with:
“Yeah, but…”
There are NO buts! If you are experiencing a Job moment in your walk with Him – God is RIGHT there beside you through whatever it is. Maybe there is a purpose higher than what you can see for what you are going through – I’m not saying that like one of Job’s friends – I mean maybe what you are currently going through is going to be used to glorify God. Let me give you a personal example: Twelve years ago I was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Stage 2. As anyone diagnosed with cancer may tell you, it came as a great shock. Eighty percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer come from families (like mine) who had NO history of it! (Early detection is key so if you see any lumps, rashes or changes on your body please get it checked out right away!). I will be transparent in my writing of this post and let you know that when I was diagnosed I was going through a prodigal time in my walk, so naturally ol’ slewfoot took the opportunity to do what he does best – accuse me. Whisper words of accusation in my ear telling me, “this is what you get, you have messed up royally and now you are being punished…”
Let me tell you that wasn’t true, but I believed it. The first night following my first treatment of chemotherapy, I dreamt of hell and could smell burning sulfur. I woke up bathed in fear and sweat. (But truly that was because chemotherapy is a power drug that was coursing through my veins, God used it and my oncology team to heal me of cancer) we live in a fallen world, sickness is the result of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden when they ate from the tree God told them not to eat. When they disobeyed God. (Read Genesis, Chapter 3). When God tells us not to do something, He has a reason for it. God DID NOT give me cancer, but He allowed my cancer experience to direct me back to a right relationship with Him. When we are in a prodigal state we have removed ourselves from His protection and ventured out on our own. Just like the father in the prodigal parable, God waits for us to turn back to Him. Let me say this again – God DID NOT give me cancer, but God IS greater than cancer and the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:12:
“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
When I share my cancer testimony with people, some have asked me: “Where you afraid you were going to die?”
Here is my honest answer… I was fighting too hard to live to think about dying. I am the mother of three children, it took every bit of my strength to fight to live, but in the back of my head I thought as in Philippians 1:21:
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
God tells us in Exodus 23:26:
“The number of your days I will fulfill.”
So, why should I worry about something that is up to God? God created me, Jeremiah 1:5 says:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
And Job 14:5 tells me:
“A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.”
So if my life was created and ordained by Him, then why would I worry? My life is in His hands. And by the way, so is yours…
The reason I am writing about my cancer experience, is because at the time I didn’t know how God would use it – but use it He has… Last week, I needed to get an infusion of iron, I went to the Infusion Room of the Oncology Hospital I go to, and I was seated across from a woman who clearly had breast cancer and was getting an infusion of chemotherapy. I smiled at her and introduced myself, and told her I was a twelve year survivor, she smiled back and told me, “I’ve been newly diagnosed with breast cancer, this is my first treatment.” I was able to encourage her, to share my experience with her and to pass my phone number on to her in case she had any questions and wanted to speak with someone who had “been there, done that. And God had brought me through.
You see? God sees the BIGGER picture. There could be a reason YOU don’t even know for the glory of God that God is allowing you to go through whatever it is you are currently going through. It MAY be to extend the right hand of fellowship behind you to help someone else – even maybe to bring them to Christ. They are called, “divine appointments” and when you are a vessel for God (part of God’s Called Remnant) you never know how God is going to use you, you just have to be open to it.
Looking back on my walk with Him over the last 34 years, I can see how God even used the mistakes I’ve made in my life, my prodigal time to humble me and to help me not only realize that it is NOTHING but God’s grace, God’s forgiveness, God’s mercy and God’s love that continues to sustain me. He TRULY is greater than anything we can go through or experience – we just have to continue to ask Him for guidance, to give us eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to receive ALL that He wants to tell us. So as you are going through whatever it is you are going through – TRUST IN GOD. PRAY! READ YOUR WORD and know that as impossible some situations seem – God IS bigger and He IS in control. He truly is.
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