Its just about time
(By: Mary E. Adams)
So true. Here in Alaska, the long winter darkness is giving way to an ever-lengthening daylight...there is stretching in the dens, pushing and shoving underneath the sod, flapping wings now nearing the glide-path from a long migration. Spring is here! The very air smells like LIFE!
The other day I dressed myself for Sunday church, then went to this computer to create a birthday card for Jody, a young man celebrating his 22nd. All of a sudden, I could not see. I was looking at things, but they were not there! Imagine how frightening that can be...suddenly you are groping around trying to find your way to the telephone. Well...I didn't go to church on Sunday, I ended up two days in Intensive Care at the hospital!
Here I was again...waiting on God to sort it all out. The blindness only lasted about an hour, and I experienced a brief headache, but then felt fine. And after lots of tests, it was determined I did not have a stroke, but had experienced my first migraine!
Most of you have been receiving these emails of mine for a couple of years while I went through two cancer surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, and last but not least... a hip replacement. Yet the Lord's grace was upon me and allowed me to spend four months overseas doing what I love the most...missionary evangelism!
One important thing I am always learning from these experiences is the truth of this statement:
"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all". (Psalm 34:19)
Sounds crazy...ridiculous, but what the Lord really says in this verse is that it is all "a matter of time". For no matter what our situation, how darkly we may grope about, how painfully we suffer, how exasperated we look at hopeless situations...God is at work to bring us deliverance. Every time!
Right now, at the end of my driveway, is a virtual lake! The big snow of winter is melting fast...faster than the ground is thawing; hence a body of water has formed... big enough to entice the returning ducks! Quite an inconvenience, but it will slowly go and be no more...then the road will get dusty again and we will complain about it. Then it will rain, and all will be happy for awhile....until it finally snows again and we put the car into 4-wheel drive and endure winter once more.
So you see, it is all a matter of time.
Solomon wrote about it in Ecclesiastes chapter 3:
"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace"
He adds this important note:
"I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it". Yet incredibly the very next sentence says: "He hath made everything beautiful IN HIS TIME".
So you see, you and I will always be living out the seasons of life... every moment we live awaits these unfailing cycles, as does nature itself.
Storms come...some of them so intense we wonder if we will survive. But oh the sweet smell of ozone that awakens our senses after it passes by!
Yes we can, just as this lovely mamma bear snuggles her new cub, sleep on in perfect peace, knowing that it's all a part of His plan to bring us out of the den.
It's just a matter of time...
DEAR READER: Thank you for taking the time to read this. If it has ministered hope, encouragement or insight to you in any way, would you please take the time to send Mary Adams a quick E-mail at meamin@mtaonline.net and share the blessing with her? She would love to hear from you!
If this testimony has touched you in some special way, would you please share it with us? Email us at: ptoffice@precious-testimonies.com
Are you at peace with God? If not, you can be. Do you know what awaits you when you die? You can have the assurance from God that heaven will be your home, if you would like to be certain. You can even have that assurance RIGHT NOW! Either Jesus Christ died for your sins, or He didn't (He did!). Are you prepared to stand before God on the Judgment Day and tell Him that you didn't need the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross to have your sins forgiven and get in right-standing with God? We plead with you...please don't make such a tragic mistake.
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Remember: All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-21 is our assurance)