Out of the ashes of my life came God’s beauty. Grab my hand as I take you to the Cross to show you the great and mighty things that the Lord has done. “Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not.” Jeremiah 33:3
If you haven’t read Part 1 of How to Lose Your Dream Home Not Just Once, But Twice, you can read it here.
Although for many months our situation looked bleak, let me remind you of something: the Hand of God is never bleak!
God did many miracles during that time of our lives. (You can read my post here called, Uncertainty in Difficult Times when my Beloved was rushed to the Emergency Room last October)
In this post I want to tell you about a full week in the month of December that I like to refer to as “The 5 days of Christmas”. Each day as I opened my door, it was one unexpected miracle after another.
- · On the first day of Christmas this is what Jesus did for us: Two sisters in the Lord came by our house unannounced. They came bearing gifts and singing a Christmas carol. They left us with some candy treats and $100.00. God’s faithfulness: money for groceries.
- · On the second day of Christmas this is what Jesus did for us: Dear, old friends came by to drop off several boxes of their old household items for us. They thought we could sell the items on Ebay or Craigslist and receive the profits. In addition to the smaller items that they gave us, they informed my Beloved that if he was willing to spruce up and fix some broken items on their old van and then sell it, they would give him 50% of the profits. We were grateful for their hearts. God’s faithfulness: The next day we sold some items and my boys got new shoes!
- · On the third day of Christmas this is what Jesus did for us: Some new friends asked if they could stop by and see us. “Of course, I said, we would love to spend some time in fellowship with you!” God’s faithfulness: They showed up with wrapped presents for the boys and a card for my Beloved and I. Guess what was wrapped in those boxes? Yep, Legos! Is God cool or what! My Beloved opened the card and inside was cash totally almost $1,000! My eyes filled with tears. I couldn’t believe how gracious and generous this family was towards us…they hardly knew us! Later my boys told me they saw the money and their eyes welled with tears too! Jesus was providing for us and my young boys were starting to see the Body of Christ at work.
- · On the fourth day of Christmas this is what Jesus did for us: Our dear, old friends came by again and told us to keep all of the proceeds from the van when it sells. God’s faithfulness: They also handed us an envelope filled with $400 and said that it was from one of their friends that we had never met. Our sweet friends told their friends our story and God put it on their hearts to bless us.
- · On the fifth day of Christmas this is what Jesus did for us: Some dear friends gave us a gift card worth $500 to shop for much needed necessities for our family. God’s faithfulness: shoes and clothing.
When I think of Christmas now, I can’t help but be reminded of God’s faithfulness to us. No amount of money in our bank account can teach us, nor our children, of how great and faithful our God is. "There is no one like the God of Israel. He rides across the heavens to help you, across the skies in majestic splendor. The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you.” Deut. 33:26,27
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| Every present under the tree came from someone else. My boys said it was the best Christmas ever! |
Now here's the part of my story where God emerged as the main character of my life.
Page after page, month after month, His story for my life was unfolding, yet during this time, I could not read most of the language that Jesus was writing in. The language that I understood was called:
- · Heartache
- · Disappointment
- · Self-Pity
- · Uncertainty
- · Fear
- · Doubt
- · Throne-horder (that’s my new word!) Here’s what I mean by that. Jesus is the one who is seated on the throne, being that He is the King of Kings and all. He is in control of every situation, including your life and mine; the good, the bad and the ugly. But unfortunately there are times when I want to scoot Jesus off of His throne, and that is when I become a ‘throne-horder’. There may be days that I nudge Him ever so gently with my rear or days when I even ask Him very kindly if He could move over just a bit so I can have a seat. I am most certain that I stepped on the train of His robe a time or two, as well. Now, the Lord is a gentleman, He won’t make a fuss.
That’s just what happened. I sat on my throne and ruled my kingdom. Now, I ruled it a little bit differently than most kings because I wasn’t harsh nor mean towards others. Instead, while I sat on my throne I was filled with all the things listed above, even while I believed in the Christ, the Son of the Most High God. My perspective was wrong and I wasn’t listening to the Lord’s language as He wrote my story.
It wasn’t until a year later that the Lord taught me a new language, and I would have to say, IT IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL and well worth the heartache and pain in order to hear it!
This language is known as:
- · His Presence
- · His Faithfulness
- · His Sovereignty
- · His Miraculous Hand (Watch me daughter and I will show you many great things)
- · His sufficiency (and not my own)
- · His grace and mercy
- · His plan for my marriage to be stronger than ever
- · His spiritual gifts that He has chosen to give me
- · His desire to want to use me
- · His shaping of my children’s character
- · His perfect plan for my life
While I was reading this story, even though I had a hard time understanding most of the language that God used, there was one thing I did understand, and that was who the main character was. It was me!
After I finished reading this story, however, I realized that God was and is the main character. He is the leading man and star of the show. Oh how I wished I could have read that language when I first started reading the pages of this book. I think my life would’ve been easier if I just had a different perspective.
For now, my book/story is not over. Hopefully as more pages unfold of my life, I will get out of the way and let God take center stage; so He can be lifted up for all to see. "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." John 12:32
My encouragement to you dear sister: When you face trials and tribulations, move off the throne and let God take center stage of your life as well. You won’t regret it!
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