Good Morning! I am sorry for not getting this reminder out sooner, but this week has been a whirlwind of activity. To say the very least, this week the cup bearer remembered me.
Back in October, I had written on a notecard a bible verse that seemed to be coming my way several times at the end of September. It was 1 Peter 5:10, “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” I had taped that notecard to my dash and would try to say it out loud when I would feel discouraged. It stayed there until about a month ago, when my dog knocked my coffee over on it and I threw it away. I had kept it as a promise from God.
Sometimes in my prayer time, I would ask, “Lord, how long is a little while?” Thursday, his answer came. Twelve months, almost exactly to the day I had to place my things into storage and live on the road, he has kept his promise. I was called by my EVP to a meeting to talk about my future here. What he offered me was shocking. Unbelievable!
They gave me my former position with guaranteed income and safeguards I never imagined possible. But that was just the start… after I return from San Francisco in just about 2 weeks, I will be home. And it gets better still! I asked him why they would place so much confidence in me, knowing that most companies would distance themselves from an employee with so much volatility in their personal lives. He replied, “we have been watching you go through all of this for the last couple of years and we are amazed that somehow you have managed to keep going and not given up. You’ve kept your faith in your Christianity and we need that kind of persistence in here.” That is God at work! I know that it is certainly not me, but I thank God for showing me a part of his purpose.
But it’s better still!
As I was preparing to enter the meeting, I received a text about a church in Craig, MO that was in need of help in moving its things and the pastor’s things from the parsonage due to the impending flood of the Missouri River. I had asked for permission to take a day off because I knew some of the people affected and thought I could at least help. Instead of just permission, they donated the use of a tractor-trailer to help! I was and still am overwhelmed!
When I arrived in Craig with the trailer, I was met by a pastor there who said, he didn’t know what he was going to do. They were hoping to get a small rental truck and make a few trips but they assumed they would have to abandon most of their own belongings and some at the church. He kept saying, “this is just an answer to prayer.” Then about an hour after I arrived a team of volunteers from all over the state showed up, maybe 20 in all. With their help, we not only moved the pastor and the church’s items, we also were able to move an elderly women with no means of her own, and we also moved a neighboring church! WOW! Praise God! What an awesome, awesome 2 days!
In a decisive move, He has restored me, He has strengthened me, made me firm and steadfast. I am reminded of a speech that Winston Churchill gave to a school he visited during WWII. On October 29, 1941, U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Harrow School to hear the traditional songs he had sung there as a youth, as well as to speak to the students. When he was invited to give a speech, Churchill stood before the students and said:
But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period—I am addressing myself to the school—surely from this period of ten months this is the lesson: Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
The Lord has commanded me to pray for my loved ones and to never give in until He declares victory. I hope you are encouraged and able to join me today in prayer and thanksgiving and praise to the King.
