Sheltered

Basically speaking, humankind has three needs in life—food, clothing, and shelter. Food sustains us and allows our bodies to thrive. Clothing keeps us warm and safe from certain illnesses. Shelter protects us from the elements of nature.

In our Christian walk, we speak of God's Word being food for our souls. Clothing is described as attributes or qualities God wants us to exhibit to those around us. Shelter is God's protecting us from harm.

When we face events causing us to fear or feel helpless, God shelters us Whatever our need, He is close to us. All we have to do is call on Him.
We never know when our world will bring grief or stress into our lives. But we have a Lord who will guide us through and comfort us as we make our way. Sometimes we have great stresses that we can only share with God and He is always there to listen and to help.

Ted's Promise

Ted is at peace. He's in heaven with Jesus. He fought a good fight against Cancer. I attended his funeral last Thursday. Our pastor had a lot of good things to say about Ted and his relationship with Jesus. I wish I could have known him better.

In his obituary, his wife and family included a promise Ted made when he was first diagnosed in 1998. I quote it here. “When faced with a mountain I WILL NOT QUIT! I will keep on striving until I climb over, find a pass through, tunnel underneath–or simply stay and turn the mountain into a gold mine, with God's help!” I don't know if this is his thought or if he found it and quoted it but I like it.

In the fall of 2005, our church decided to go out into the neighborhood and knock on doors. Those walking the streets invited the people to our church and gave them free tickets to the upcoming chicken noodle dinner. That evening,our pastor and another gentleman decided to knock on one more door before returning to the church.

These two men knocked on this one particular door. Finally, a woman answered, listened and explained their plight. She and her husband received his diagnosis of recurring Cancer that afternoon. The two guests prayed with them, invited the couple to church and left. This was on Wednesday. On Sunday they church family was informed of the need and the circumstances of the pastor knowing of it.

Ted and his wife Jan have been appreciative of all the church family has done for them these three and a half years. Ted fought Cancer for a total of ten years. He lived a full life. After retiring from his job as a production control supervisor, he worked two other jobs.

What I will always remember about Ted is he always seemed glad to see people. When we greet people on Sunday mornings during the Worship Service, he always smiled, his eyes gleaming.

When I heard his promise, I thought he had such a courageous attitude. He gave us all something to ponder. I replaced my screen saver with the first part of the quote the afternoon of the funeral. The next day the Lord reminded me of the words I had input. I will always be grateful to Ted's family for sharing that promise with us.

Making a Discovery

As we progress through life, we make discoveries about ourselves and others. Some of these hidden gems enlighten us into how others view us. They also magnify any shortcomings we have. When working with others, we notice certain actions or reactions of those around us.

When this new information about us conveys something positive, we should be thankful to God.

Conversely, when the data shows a negative aspect of our attitudes, actions, or hearts, in order to move ahead to correct them, we are to turn those negative qualities and our hearts over to God.

This process involves leaving the items concerning us with Him. Another aspect of this is we don't dwell on the negative trait except in prayer.

In dealing with our discoveries we make about others, we need to turn what we feel over to God and also leave them there. By doing these two acts we also need to refrain from discussing the information with another individual.

Trust in His Heart

I heard a gospel song in 2001 that said “if you can’t trace God’s hand, then trust in His heart.” This spoke to me about life and all that it brings.
It told of the faith we have to exercise in order to continue on
when everything seems to say we should do otherwise. We never know what the next second will bring but we who know Him know that every thing is under his control.

In trusting God, we learn that He can be trusted. By this I mean if we trust God with the small daily things, we learn that we can trust him with the big things that we have to face. About the same time, in my Sunday School class my teacher was telling about how things seemed very difficult for them a little over ten years earlier but how the Lord had worked in the life of their daughter.

Then in Morning Worship that day we heard two ladies give testimony to God speaking to them through others. One had been a Nun and had asked for her vow to be excused. She ‘thought ‘ that she was right but it was pointed out in a question by a visitor to her home that she might have some issues with which to deal. She asked the young man to leave her home. But she still had doubts. She got her heart right with God and resumed playing the piano. She has been accompanying her friend since 1978, that was for 23 years at that time. She had talent that was recognized by her family at a very young age. And had won certain contests because of her talent. But God has blessed her anew when she surrendered to him and began to trust in him.

Sometimes we have circumstances come into our lives we can’t control. We have to trust others and we have to trust God for the outcome.

Faith

(Hebrews 12:1)

One of the basic virtues in our Christian life is faith. The writer of Hebrews tells us “. . . faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”(KJV) Another reading of the famous faith verse is “ . . . faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (NIV) But what does this mean to us?

Teachers of the Bible tell us trust is a large part of faith. Trust plays out in various ways. Dependability,reliability, and submissiveness all describe the trust relationship we strive to have with one another. These same words contribute to the prerequisite to define trust between us and God. He is trustworthy, we have to learn to relax and submit ourselves over to Him.

By submitting ourselves, we relinquish our lives to God's control. We find ourselves not as bothered about things that once concerned us. This is exactly what Jesus did in Gethsemane. He gave up control to the Father.

From time to time we have circumstances enter our lives that we have to accept and then deal with the hard parts of the situation as they come. As of this writing, my church family is very concerned about three different families who are facing traumatic events. Two of these families are awaiting the demise of a loved one. The third family is watching one of theirs is fighting for life. It takes faith for these people to stand by and watch those dear to them through these times.

As humans, we want life to read like a text book–no deviation from what we call normal. But life isn't like that. We will have trials and tribulations that sometimes vex us. We tire very easily of the stress placed upon us by the circumstances we face. But, it seems God allows these things to enter our lives in order to make us stronger. I know of several families who are facing the possible or impending loss of a loved one. There are others who have been fighting Cancer for a lengthy time. And there are those who face depression every day. All these dear souls rely on God for their strength.

Walking with the Lord

As we journey through life, we children of God call our time spent with Him our walk. The path we take can bless us or it can cause us to ponder our behavior. The pace of this journey is set by the Lord.

A friend, who taught our adult Sunday School class, more than once reminded us that we weren't to ’run before the Lord’. When she first said it, I had a mental picture of a person running very hard, wearing themselves out. I chuckled and thought, Yes, I have done that several times.

Sometime we get an idea we want to do. We start on it without consulting Jesus. Things don't work out as we would like. We have trouble finding the time to work on the project. We finally ask God to bless our labor.

We learn from hard experience that we need to walk with the Lord. We have to ask Jesus' guidance and direction before we begin any venture. Another former Sunday School teacher I had asked the questions, What would our world be like if we asked God for His guidance before we began a project? How would our families or our churches be different?

In the Presence of God

God's children find themselves in His presence each day. We hear of a friend's need and we pray with them. We, ourselves, face a trial; seek counsel from someone knowledgeable. Then we realize our need to approach the Mighty Counselor.

We allow Him to take over. We find ourselves more relaxed and able to think. Then we realize we aren't as worried about the circumstances and we are able to perform the tasks needed to reach the goal before us.

The telephone rings. The voice on the other end tells us some sad news. His wife has just left this earth for heaven. He's alone there in the home. We tell him we will be over in a minute. We tell our spouse and head out the door, crossing the street, an oncoming car has to slow down.

We ask if we can make any of the necessary phone calls for him. Basically we sit and wait with him until the hospice nurse arrives. In the mean time, their oldest son comes through the back door a couple of minutes ahead of your spouse. A lady from their church comes in a few minutes later.
During these times you feel God's presence and you feel thankful for it.