All Is Well

She was beginning to get it. God’s message was clear. The week had been one of rest and retreat from the world. The only time she had gone out was with Carolyn to a local church. There was an hour during the day when the sanctuary was open for those who wished to pray. Mary and Carolyn had gone.
It had been an answer to prayer that morning because Mary felt she wanted to be closer to God but the distractions of home prevented her from this goal. This particular Wednesday Mary had phoned Carolyn in error. She had dialled Carolyn’s number by mistake – at least that is what she thought at first. However, when the day was done and Mary looked back at it she realized God orchestrated the event. There were no signs and wonders during her prayer time that noon hour at the church. The only thing special was a feeling of closer intimacy with God.
What was coming that week seemed to be the recognition that God was in control. God gave and took away, God made rich and God made poor as Robin Mark said in his song “All is well”. Mary sang along morning after morning “all is well with my soul”. Was she getting to the place that all was well with her soul? Perhaps, but more importantly Mary was beginning to see that God could give but He also took away.
Hadn’t she been learning that through the financial situation they were in? It seemed since before Thanksgiving no matter how hard she tried to keep within her budget something came up to force her to use her visa. First, it was Bernie’s operation, then the new kittens neutering, and now just this week Molly, their Jack Russell needed to go to the veterinarian. She had been limping around for a couple of days after chewing and itching her four feet. It looked like she had allergies.
However, when they got to the vet it turned out she had not only allergies but one of her pads was raw from where the dog had been chewing on it. The doctor said she had possibly a callous or blister she had opened. Mary was amazed at that because she herself had been limping around suffering with a callous on the bottom of her foot as well as a bunion. Was Molly’s condition just a reflection of Mary’s? Who knew. At any rate Mary felt not only physical pain but an certain amount of angst at not being able to do her walking anymore.
Mary began to take authority over her sore foot. She spoke in to the spiritual realm some scriptures promising that “by Jesus stripes we are healed”. However, as the week progressed she began to see that perhaps God was sending a message. He was God; to God belonged the glory, honour, and praise. As it said in Romans 11:36 (NLT): “Everything comes from Him; everything exists by His power and is intended for his glory”. The scriptures spoke to Mary: everything was meant to be for God’s His glory. Had everything she had done been for God’s glory? In her prayer that day at the church she asked God to give her the grace so that whether she did nothing but stay at home or if he put her back in the work force that she would do everything for God’s glory.
“God giveth and God taketh away”, thought Mary. “You are in control, Lord “she continued,” and all power and glory are yours, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,” she finished. Mary had come into a place of rest that week to hear from God. Out of His grace and mercy He had brought her into His presence to remind Mary that He was God and He gave and took away.
Finally, on the Thursday morning the words of scripture that had been whispered to Mary over and over that week were life. “By grace she was saved through faith and not by works”, she had heard. It fit in with the message that had come her way. God was God and He who foreknew her, predestined her, called her, justified her would also glorify her. Mary had little to do with her salvation and her calling. God was speaking loud and clear that week. It had humbled Mary. As God spoke to her heart Mary recognized that God humbled and He exalted. Mary so desired to be content in all things, as St Paul had wrote, so no matter how long God kept her in this place she was in she would learn this lesson.
Mary considered Moses who had been in Midian for fourty years before hearing God speak in the burning bush and calling him to his ministry to lead out the Israelites from Egypt. “He must have learned contentment waiting for his call,” Mary told herself. All in all Mary knew his call had come because God’s plan for Moses’ life was set in stone before he was born. So was hers, she thought to herself. She must learn to be content in all things. God was God and could do what He wanted. Hadn’t He been showing her that this week? Whatever would transpire in Mary’s life whether it would riches or poverty, position or de-positioning, she heard God say all came from Him, everything was for His glory and it was by His grace alone, through faith, she was saved.
Mary read that morning from Streams in the Desert:

The pressure of hard places makes us value life. Every time our life is given back to us from such a trial, it is like a new beginning, and we learn better how much it is worth, and make more of it for God and man.

Mary wanted the lesson of this time to last. She knew in her heart of hearts she wanted her life to be lived out for God’s glory and not her own. She couldn’t even do that, though, she realized, without God’s grace and mercy. She could not rely on herself only on God to do this. God alone could and would bring her through the hard place of this financial situation. No matter what happened, she would trust and believe: all was well with her soul, all was well!