A Different Take on Life

I awoke from a sound sleep this morning with a jolt, suddenly remembering that I had forgotten to get my wife some more milk for her cereal this morning!   After rummaging around in my brain for a while in order to discover a solution to the dilemma, an answer finally came and I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.  Well, that was a lost cause as I found my mind working overtime with my thoughts beginning to look toward the events of the day ahead.  I had actually gotten up about an hour before all this unfolded to take some Ibuprofen to ease a pounding head and aching neck and hoped to actually sleep later than normal after that in order to help make up for the pressure of the last few weeks, but an hour more was all I was destined to get! 

With that resignation, I flopped out of bed, stumbled into my study to turn on my desktop computer and headed to the coffee maker.  Having accomplished those prerequisites, I returned to the study and sat tiredly down into my chair with a prayer on my lips requesting the Lord for direction in my study, as well as for some family matters that were being forced upon me.  As I settled in, I noticed that my New King James Bible was opened up to the left of my keyboard.  My eyes settled upon it and I began to read from Philippians 1:9 where Paul’s prayer to his reader’s states: “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.”

That particular verse hit an instant chord due to the family situation that was unfolding around me.  I knew that I needed to be responding in love, but kept coming up against a wall of frustration and anger when the other individuals involved seemed to display a total lack of understanding and care toward the things that are shaking my world with my wife’s health.  This Word in Philippians pointed me right back to knowing and acting within the realm of the love of God, rather than responding to the knee-jerk reaction that my senses were calling me to take!

From there I moved down a few verses and was stunned as I read Philippians 1:12 where Paul announces, “But I want you to know brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.” (NKJV)  In a flash, the accusations, persecutions and lack of care that we have endured from a few close to us over the last three years flashed across the reaches of my mind.  I then remembered another verse found in 2 Samuel 22:29 where it says, “O Lord, you are my lamp.  The Lord turns my darkness into light” (God’s Word ©), and the light of understanding came on within me!

Yesterday afternoon I received a call from a relative of my wife’s and as I hung up the phone, I stood back and shouted “Yes!  It’s happening!”  I then ran into the bedroom where my wife was napping, woke her up, told her who had called and exuberantly declared: “Well, that hasn’t happened for at least three years!”  I won’t bore you with the details of the conversation, but it concerned upcoming holiday events.  It was a call that contained concern for my wife and was filled with enthusiasm and love.  This was a definite departure from the thought and feelings surrounding the planning and unfolding of family gatherings in the past where my wife and I were concerned, since our return from Oklahoma.

With that phone call I could see that the difficulties that we have been dealing with have “actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.”  There are also other signs of positive change in our interactions with these relatives that we have noticed over the last few months.  I can see where the scripture we looked at in yesterday’s post from 2 Samuel 22:31 is working in our midst where it unequivocally states that “The promise of the Lord has proven to be true.”  (God’s Word ©)

We choose to take a course of action when we returned home over three years ago now, that was based on clear directions that I has received from the Lord before we left Oklahoma and continued to unfold as we progressed through the first year back in California as my wife’s condition declined.  As I have mentioned in the past, it was not exactly a popular decision with some of my wife’s relatives.  There was some very negative feedback and responses to it, but nevertheless we continued to pursue what we believed the Lord told us to do.  Now it is as though God’s Word has been proven true in many of the steps we took, and the relatives having witnessed it, are changing their responses to us and the walk we endeavored to follow.

That is very exciting to me, because the path we have followed in the midst of working through the difficulties we have faced is working toward “the furtherance of the gospel” in others.  I believe it is working in demonstrating the love and provision of God, and is helping them to be set free in areas that were troubled in their own lives.  You know, I think that this is a different take on life!  It is a positive take on facing the rough times that the enemy of our souls sets before us.  Instead of thinking “poor me,” or on the more positive approach of learning life’s lessons through it for your own sake, consider these times as opportunities for the furtherance of the gospel as you follow His way where He is turning your moments of darkness into light for you and for those with whom your life makes contact with each day!

This different take on life recharged my batteries this morning and gave me the added boost I needed to make sure that I put aside my worldly, knee-jerk reactions to the other family situation that I am facing right now, and follow closely God’s well lit way which will ultimately work for the furtherance of the gospel in the other players involved.  This answered prayer for continued growth “more and more in knowledge and all discernment” gives me another reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving Holiday.  Not that I am thankful for the attack because my Bible clearly states that these hard times do not originate from the Father of lights, (John 10:10, James 1:17) but that I am thankful that my stand of faith in the truth and faithfulness of God’s Word will prove to be an eventual victory for us as well as for those who see our progress in it. (I Timothy 4:15)  Have a wonderful day.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”