A divine opportunity

2 Kings 4:1 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha. your serant my husband is dead and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.

What I note here in humor is that the creditor is her dead husband's but that the two boys are hers. Doesn't that sound just like a woman?

In any event it is obvious the widow did not know God but that she did know Elisha and knew that he did know God. I wonder if people turn to us in desperation because they don't know God but because of how we live, they know we do. Do we see them as a person in pain or as a problem we don't want to deal with.

This woman was desperate, destitute and absolutely determined to save her two sons. She had no where else to turn, no plan B. God was her only hope. It wasn't the time to do a financial assessment with her or determine how much sin she had in her life. No, it was a divine opportunity to show her that Elisha was not her answer, but God was. And he still is.

It was also an opportunity to move her from religion to the reality of God - to actually experience the power of God for herself.

I am so glad that our darkest moments are God's greatest opportunities to show Himself strong, faithful, sufficient, able and always enough!

Learning God's faithfulness

After having come through another very hard year, I can honestly say I have found God absolutely faithful, loving and merciful. I am so thankful that He always accepts me as I am and not as He wants me to be or expects me to be. I am so glad that He is always a safe person, never condescending or condemning. I am so thankful that He always knows exactly what to say to me, when to say it and how to say it. I am so glad that he feels my pain and sees my tears and greets me with open arms.

It seems the older I become the more I desperately need Jesus. It isn't quite the spiritual giant concept that I had imagined. I am so glad Jesus never outgrows us or abandons us or stops loving us.

Finding myself in the Old Testament

As I was reading in Genesis 50 today which is where Joseph's dad has died and now his brothers are afraid that Joseph is going to really give them what they deserve, I experienced God speaking to me and saying Terry - like these brothers you don't trust me after all I have done for you and all that I have healed you from. If you read the scripture when Joseph's brothers mistrusted him after all he had done, it says Joseph wept. I wonder if I make God weep when I refuse to trust him no matter how many times he shows Himself to be absolutely faithful and trustworthy. What is it in me that refuses to trust? Does the past still somewhat control my future because I find it extremely difficult to trust God in some areas of my life?

I admitted my mistrust to God and asked Him to make the change in me because I know I cannot. And I know that He will because He has enabled me in the past to finally believe he loved me after 9 l/2 years as a Christian and still believing that I was unlovable. These walls we put up are sure hard to tear down and in my life I have found usually God is the only one who can.