Sitting in the quiet of morning in my daughter's loft as the river flows quickly by the trees in my view from a beautiful window which overlooks the James River. I am giving thought to this morning's devotional...pondering the real purpose of my life. As a seven year old child I recall inviting Jesus into my little heart and promising to always trust and obey the scripture found in my new bible. Sunday was a day filled with happy songs and pretty outfits as well as patent leather shoes and an ever so stiff petticoat under my scratchy starched Sunday dress.
Not a day has gone by in my sixty three years without my giving thought to the promises I made within my heart those many years ago. I wish I could say kept close the hope I eagerly anticipated would be mine forever. Alas, as life stretched before me it seemed there would be plenty of time to focus on becoming the person I thought I needed to be to measure up to perfection. Truth is, we will never find hope in our dreams without the One who offers it so freely. Seems for some of us the cycle of problems and weariness hold our minds captive.
2 Corinthians 1: 3-4 offers hope! "All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." Oh the joy which comes over me when I take in the truths found within these verses. I do not have to be otherwise gifted in order to be useful to Him.
My dear friend recently asked me to consider sharing my testimony with a group of ladies at her church. It became clear to me it is not enough to simply hold the trials of life within our hearts ...we are to be as one traveler to another. Sharing bits and pieces of God's grace with others who desperately need to know another woman understands what it feels like to know pain so deep it nearly caused her to give up on life. And yet....God took this broken heart and fit all the pieces together with His everlasting promises to never leave me or forsake me.
"You will be o.k." he said to me.. you have your faith in God and He has never let you down." These precious promises came from the lips of my dear husband just weeks before heavens gates welcomed him home. Cancer may have claimed his earthly body but heaven had a hold on his soul! And here I sit, in my daughter's loft recalling testimonies of a dying man whom my heart adored. Tears flow from a broken heart as the mere whisper of his name opens my aching heart. He loved me, and I loved him. The good news is God loved us both!
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not parish but have everlasting life. John 3: 16". On this we can depend!
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