Psalm 34:8-10 NKJV
2 Corinthians 9:8 NKJV
From the Beginning
When I speak with people who do not believe in God, it makes me very sad for a number of reasons. One earthly reason is that they don’t know about God’s goodness.
If I kept a ledger of how many times God has been good to me, the list would be very very long! See, I can get myself in terrible messes. I forget things I should remember. I’m more focused on studying scripture and praying than getting things done that I’m supposed to do. I do try to remember mundane things like getting groceries and paying bills, but those things simply do not matter much to me.
When I think about God’s goodness I often think about how He teaches me, speaks to me when I need to remember something, helps me when I study scripture, and guides me when I pray.
But, God is good to remind me when I need to call someone or to help someone who needs assistance. Nothing in my life is too trivial for God.
That’s why I am baffled by how people who don’t rely on God can get by!
I could write lists and lists of reasons and volumes and volumes of books about God’s goodness.
Even when I forget, God covers me.
Psalm 34:8-10 tells us, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.”
One of the biggest issues I have is my memory. I’ve never had a great memory. When I was in school and I needed to memorize things for a test it took forever. I didn’t realize how deficient my memory was until I had my four children. I was amazed by how quickly they could memorize and retain information! I have always had to memorize and re-memorize several times for tests. I spent an enormous amount of time in college for some classes (like Geology) memorizing. In Seminary my ‘nemesis’ was Hebrew Grammar. I worked harder for those tests than anything else in my life and I still didn’t get a wonderful grade. The good news is that I did pass.
It took years for me to understand why I have so much difficulty memorizing things. The truth is when I was six months old I had pneumonia and I had a steady fever of 106.2 degrees. The doctors told my parents I would probably not live and if I did my mental capacity would be severely damaged. I didn’t know until last year that I had pneumonia…a CT scan showed that my lungs were severely scarred. The nurse asked me when I had pneumonia. I told her I’d never had pneumonia. She said, “I’m looking at the scan and I promise you, you have had pneumonia.” Then it hit me. “Well, I was really sick in 1954.” There you have it, she said.
As far as I can tell, the high fever took its toll on my memory, my eyesight, and my hearing.
I laugh about it now because I had good grades in school, well above a 3.0 in college, and well above a 3.0 in Seminary. I don’t say that to brag. I say it because God did it. God covered me. God was so good about helping me think of things that would help me remember what I needed to remember for tests. I’ve always loved writing, so when it came to writing a paper and doing research, I was good to go. My stumbling block was always remembering things for tests. That didn’t matter to God. He pulled me through.
The other issue is probably with my eyesight and hearing. By the time I was in 4th Grade I was having trouble seeing the blackboard, so I’ve always had glasses or contacts. I’ve been told I have the beginning of two eye diseases that both cause blindness. I’ve noticed that my hearing is absolutely not what it used to be, but I’ve learned to read lips. If I’m in a crowd or if there is background music everything is muffled.
I wasn’t sure how much I relied on that until COVID-19 came along and everyone wore a mask. If someone is wearing a mask and they do not speak loudly, I usually have to ask then to repeat what they said because I can’t see their lips moving. But, once again, God is good about helping me see and hear what I need to know.
The other thing about God’s goodness to me has to do with how very gracious God has always been. When I forget important things and that causes me to make other mistakes, God either reminds me or is gracious to forgive me.
2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”
God gives grace so I can accomplish what He wants me to accomplish. Abundantly, God helps me.
God speaks to me through the scriptures.
Then God shows me questions than lead me to answers.
God gives me ideas about how to illustrate a point.
I’m not kidding myself…I know I’m not doing the writing on my own. If I was doing it alone I would sit and stare at a blank screen every day. As it is, I pray then I wait for God to tell me what to write. When I come to a point where I need to transition to another subject, I pray.
Then I wait. I wait for God to tell me which way to go.
His grace is sufficient. God never fails me.
I pray and listen and it comes.That’s the way it is because God is good.
Today’s Spiritual Practice is: Pray and Wait
Take time to pray, wait, and listen to God. Write down what He tells you.
In God, Deborah
acrazyjourney.com
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