PROVISION

For all of my Christian walk, I have been aware of the word, provision. I have seen God’s faithfulness in providing for me whether it is for my physical needs, wisdom, direction, protection, faith, strength, encouragement…the list goes on.

Jesus told His disciples that God provides for the sparrows and that they were even more precious to Him; why wouldn’t He take care of them as well?

But how do you deal with disappointment? We’ve all experienced it.

The lab report wasn’t what we had hoped for. The job we thought was perfect, didn’t come through. That promising relationship fell apart. The dream we were so excited about, is dashed and crashes to the ground. People we counted on, let us down. Loved ones die too early. It’s often hard for us to see that God provides for us when the bottom drops out and we’re left standing there holding the broken pieces. When we're hurting that deeply, we question where He is, and wonder if He even cares.

I've been walking with the Lord almost 43 years and there are still times when I wonder why God allows the things that He does. In most things, after time passes, I'm allowed to see how God's way was clearly the best way. Other times, He gives me no explanation, and I just have to trust, that "His ways are not my ways". God's faithfulness to me isn't conditional, it's not determined by how intimately I am walking with Him at the time, and thank goodness for that! God's character is absolute and never changes; unlike the world we live in today where people determine their own truth, which is usually dependent on society or their own feelings. The Old Testament Prophet, Jeremiah knew that "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" How blessed we are to have a road map to true happiness and joy, that we are not left to navigate our way through this life relying on our own abilities.

King David tells us in Psalm 34, to “taste & see, that the Lord is good.” It's during those times when God appears to be silent that I choose to remember how good and faithful He has been to me in the past. God is not required to prove Himself to me and yet He does just that. Many years ago, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that my testimony is not limited to that day on a calendar when I surrendered my life to Jesus and gave Him permission to be in charge. Instead, my testimony is a living, daily experience, of how the God of the universe walks beside me and guides me into a better way to live. While the book of Revelation deals with future things, the verse, "And they overcame him, by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony;" is applicable for today. I am an overcomer because of the blood of Jesus and my testimony, (those God encounters/experiences) remind me that God has not forsaken me.

I have hope and joy, even when things are hard, and that means I am indeed truly blessed.