Last week had been a bit of a discouraging one before the broken arm even happened. One of the things the pastor had said last Sunday was how sometimes you feel you just can't get ahead, referring to finances. He didn't have a specific answer to that problem except to follow the wisdom of the Bible. It explained how we feel sometimes though.
Silly things catch me off guard. Last week it was a simple photo of someone we know. In the photo, the person was wearing very nice clothes, clearly not from a second-hand store. The person was also on a trip, traveling on a whim to meet up with some other people just because he happened to be "in the area" (out of the country!). I couldn't believe how badly this photo made me feel! In my mind, I started thinking to myself, "Sure would be nice if I could shop in nice stores, too!" or "Must be nice to just jump on a plane and visit someone just because you are already out flying around". Not good things to be thinking. I had to reel them all in really fast. As soon as the comparison game starts, I'm done for.
The only thing, and I mean, ONLY thing that works in getting rid of those awful thoughts is to start looking around me and being thankful for what I have. Immediately I see how I've fallen in the devil's trap and how dangerous it is to compare! However, Satan is relentless and if he can't get me, he'll go after my husband.
RM came up to me last week a little bit after I had gone through my discouragement and it seemed like he was feeling a similar attack. The "tyranny of the urgent" was upon us. We were both starting to feel the pressure of the trip coming up and how much we had to do to prepare our house. We have friends coming that will be watching our house for us and we have a list a mile long that we had hoped to get done. RM was feeling so overwhelmed by all that had to be done and how it was all on his shoulders. Even if he got one or two things done on the list, there were so many other things still to do. And none of the things on the list were small. They were huge, such as "side the house" or "fix basement" .....not little projects, to say the least.
One of the things that got us through those two stressful situations was a verse I had read earlier on in the week, "God... calls things that are not as though they were." Romans 4:17. It's an interesting verse basically suggesting that as Christians, we can "boldly declare what God says you have and He will accomplish what you believe" (from the devotional I'd been reading). Living by faith means believing even when we aren't seeing. All the discouragement we were feeling proved we had temporarily stopped trusting God..... again. So weak!
When RM was particularly discouraged, I told him about that verse, how we needed to be like Abraham. He was called the "father of many nations" even before he had a child. It was because he believed God when God told him it would happen. We are called to trust God and His promises. It occurred to me that we needed that reminder, too, to "call things that are not as though they were". So I tried to apply the verse to ourselves. I thought of a promise in the Bible. For example, we aren't out of debt, but my husband is working diligently, so I reminded him "the diligent will eat the fruit of their hands". The "things that are not"? We still have the debt and the long list of things to do. But, "as though they were"? We are believing He is helping us as long as we do our part. It still feels a little bit like walking on air when you step out in faith believing He'll actually do His part, but that is faith!
So, off he went, back to work. That was about midweek. Then on Friday, miracle deposits started showing up in our bank account. He got his first commission cheque from that course he wrote a while back. We knew it was coming, but we were shocked at the amount! (I can still hardly believe people watched his course on electronics! Who watches these things?!). Then some money back from the government which we also knew was coming, but it happened the same day! Then there was an order for hay. It just seemed like it was one thing after another, all on the same day and all after hours which kind of makes you feel like it was from heaven. I can't even remember all that came in, but there were at least 4 surprise sources of money on Friday. I couldn't believe it.
We had stepped out, believing God's promises and He sent reminder after reminder that He was faithful. I went back and read the devotional. "If He has spoken, will He not fulfill it? If He has given you His word - His sure word of promise - do not question it but trust it absolutely. You have HIs promise, and in fact you have Him who confidently speaks the words. 'Yes, I tell you.' (Luke 12:5). Trust Him!"
So, once again, we saw God's provision. Once again, we got through our discouragement. Once again, we've learned another lesson in the school of faith. I feel like such a bad student sometimes, but fortunately our teacher is so patient with me, with us.
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