John and I get up before breakfast (that’s “extremely early” in Darlene terms) every day to have our devotions and prayers together before we walk out the door. This time for us is our Lifeline for the day and we know that when we leave our “sanctuary”, we have taken everything for the day ahead and placed it confidently in the hands of Almighty God, knowing that He is in charge, that His plans are the best, that our ways are committed to Him and He has the Pilot’s seat. It’s not always easy, but we know that we walk by faith and not by sight.
Several years ago, we went through one of the most difficult spiritual battles we’ve ever encountered and EVERY day for over a month was a tremendous test. We shed many tears, cried out for mercy and we didn’t “feel” like God was hearing, but our journey continued by faith. I believe we felt a lot like Naaman must have felt when he was told to go wash himself in the Jordan seven times. If you read that story in II Kings, you’ll know that Naaman was not all grins and giggles trotting down to the Jordan to plop in and out and whoot, whoot he’s done; no!!! the man was ANGRY!!! I’m sure after the first 3 or 4 times, he came up rolling his eyes because the leprosy was still there; PROBABLY even after the 6th time, but when he went down that 7th time and came up clean as a whistle, his faith hit the blast off button because he knew….he knew. You see, we, like Naaman, wanted an immediate fix, but God had the perfect plan, the perfect timing and like Naaman, when God showed, He showed out and OUR faith hit the blast off button because We knew.
Psalm 56:11 says “In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid….” And remember, Even a stamp takes a licking before it reaches its destination. Never, never, never give up. GOD IS ON YOUR SIDE!!!!
With love,
Darlene
