During one of our prayer meetings recently, I asked people to write on one side of a 3X5 card a time in their life when they cried out to God. On the other side, they were to write how God answered. The response was incredible. So many people wrote about a time when they were desperate for God and how he responded to their plea for help. As we read these out loud during the next prayer meeting, it led us to a wonderful time of praise. The one that caught my attention the most was one I did not read out loud. I kept it on my desk because it causes me to stop and consider how God keeps us through the storms of life. On the front, the note said, "My Prayer: I've prayed for the strength to live again after my fiance's death." On the back it read, "God's Answer: I don't know - but I'm still here, and life comes one day at a time." What an honest and open response. It's a three point message:
1. I don't know. There are times we don't know. We don't know the right answers to give and we don't know how we are going to make it. Like the Psalmist saying, "How long oh Lord will you hide your face from me?" We don't know what God is up to.
2. But I'm still here. Erwin McManus, in his book, "Unstoppable Force" describes a time when he was talking to a friend who was going through a time of restoration and renewal. When talking about his future he said, "I don't know the path, so I'm choosing the environment." McManus concludes, "More times than we care to admit, we simply don't know what the next step is. But if our hearts are bound to the heart of God, we are never lost." What a thought!
3. And life comes one day at a time. That's all we can do, take one step at a time. Living our life as a Christian means that we walk with him daily. We can't predict the future and we can't live in the past, so we must live life today - living in his presence, experiencing his love and enjoying his company.
I don't know who wrote this note, but I am grateful she did.
Ephesians 3:20,21 "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (NIV)
