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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

God's providence=our good!


4:11 p.m. Today's project was to get up by 6 a.m. so that I could not only get to Bible study by 9, but bake and take a layered egg/bread/sausage/cheese dish for our opening fellowship time. Several of the ladies brought special "Hammentaschen" or Haman's Ears" cookies made from a recipe in our Bible study workbook on Esther. This jam or fruit-filled cookie is traditionally enjoyed by Jews during Purim to commemorate the deliverance of their people from the wicked courtier Haman, and to cheer the courage of Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai. So I felt led to make something of a hot breakfast style, and it was well received. Just as the Jews make gifts of food for one another at Purim, Ecclesiastes 11:2 reminds us to treasure good times: "Give a serving to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what evil will be on the earth." How true that is!

We are naturally prone to praise God profusely for times when our lives and the lives of our loved ones are going smoothly! We are warned about dwelling on thoughts of something bad happening soon by sayings like, "don't borrow trouble." Whether I choose to sit around dreading disaster or not, God is in control. Whether it is an event He allows in His providential will, or a deliberate act God uses to perfect us, His children, SETBACKS, ILLNESS, LOSS AND DEATH ARE GOING TO HAPPEN. As I tell my daughters who tease me about the distresses of menopause, "just keep living, girls, just keep living!"
I certainly choose to live as many days as God has for me here on this earth, no matter what difficulties I have faced in the past, like cancer; trials I face right now, like my husband Steve's Alzheimer's disease; and future trials I may have an inkling of should God be gracious to me and reveal them to me; or future trials that will hit me blindsided. (And you, too!)
Every fear-filled trial faced and fought manifests itself as a season of growth and the basis for dynamic testimony if we will pray through, trust, and act only as God gives us His wisdom day by day (or hour by hour if need be). His grace is sufficient, His guidance sure, and His glory is the goal!
Christians are not stonefaced stoics! We weep, get scared, and sometimes have doubts that the light will shine in the darkness, ever again. But when we go to prayer, when we look into the Bible, and when we spend time with other believers, we realize that we can rest, because we have chosen to stand on the solid Rock, Jesus Christ!
No doubt whatsoever, the devil goes about like a roaring lion, I Peter 5:8 tells us, seeking whom he may devour. But here's the good news--Satan's teeth were pulled at Calvary! Hallelujah!

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