The next week began with a little redecorating; Mary and Robin had put up the Christmas tree. It was important, Mary felt, that life go on despite no movement on the sale of the house. No one had even looked at it for at least a month and half. So Mary had decided to deck the halls with all the trimmings. Along with this Mary had washed some of the curtains in the downstairs bedroom and re hung them in the dining room where they added a lot of Christmas pizzazz to the room because the curtains were a bright red and just looked so festive. The bedroom curtains were replaced with some pretty blue check valances Mary had purchased at a garage sale for the cottage. Since they weren’t moving there Mary dug them out to add some crisp freshness to this little bedroom. They went very well and complimented the other blue check pillows and bed skirt Mary already had in that room.
The third thing that happened was a large pine buffet and hutch Mary had in her possession since Toronto finally sold on Kijiji. Mary had emptied the cabinets of their contents months ago so they were just sitting there taking up space. Once the cabinets were gone it left the dining room looking much bigger. Mary was glad for the $300 from this sale. She was going to deposit the money in the bank to help pay her visa bill.
During this time the message that kept repeating itself to Mary was to trust in God with all her heart. She was not to lean on her own understanding but in all her ways acknowledge God and He would direct her path. Further the message was to commit her way to the Lord and trust him, or as one translation put it to “roll upon Jehovah your way, trust upon him and he worketh”. “Trust, trust, trust”, that was part of the message. But Mary felt she was not only to trust but seek God’s wisdom at a time when she wasn’t certain what the next move was. Oh yes, they heard they were to move to Windsor but doubts had begun to crawl in suggesting maybe she had once again drawn her own conclusions from what she read. Mary felt she was at her “wits end”. The more reason to trust God and seek His wisdom, Mary told herself.
And Mary was trusting God, wasn’t she? No doubt she was as she was living in the moment and doing what was at hand to do and waiting daily for direction. Each day came and each day went. What tomorrow would bring she didn’t know – today had enough worries of its own. As for this house and the sale of it and the purchase of another one in Windsor: what of it? She didn’t know and had decided to roll all these cares and her ways onto God, as God directed her to do and just trust Him for the next step. There was nothing more to say for the moment but to live in it and wait. And so she did.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
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:
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!
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