Waiting Quietly and Faithfully
My First paragraDay 3 Waiting Quietly and Faithfully
Lamentations 3: 21-26 CSB Steadfast Love Yet I call this to mind, And therefore, I have hope. “Because of the Lord’s faithful Love We do not perish,” For his mercies never end. They are new every morning. Great is they faithfulness! I say, “The Lord is my portion, Therefore, I will put my hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait. For him, to the person who seeks him. It is good to wait quietly. for salvation from the Lord. I recently attended my 50th High School Class reunion in September. Go Class of 1975! I grew up in a small farming community in eastern North Carolina. My senior class had sixty-seven graduates, and we had gone to school together since the first grade. This was the first time I had seen many of my classmates since graduation. I, like some, had attended college and then moved away from my childhood community for work.
The reunion was all I had anticipated and more. Within five minutes we were like old class buddies all over again, most of us guys with less hair and more weight. Typical of such events we had a mixer, a sit-down dinner, and group pics. Then our acting emcee suggested that we go from table to table talking about our lives since 1975, if we so desired. My table was first and the three of us classmates sitting there took turns standing and talking about our families, places we had lived and careers.
When the attention moved to the second table one of my middle school classmates was there, Debbie Lynn. Way back then, she was cute as a button and could give Marsha Brady a run for her money. Debbie Lynn popped up and fighting back tears spoke of how good God had been to her. I had heard earlier from relatives that she had been through some rough spots; so, this caught me off guard. Debbie Lynn spoke about losing one of her sons on his prom night in a car wreck where he was at fault, and another boy in the car had also died. She then spoke to how she had lost her youngest son at thirty-four years old to a drug overdose after several stints of rehab with him and over a decade of drug abuse. Then finally, Debbie spoke to how just a year ago she could no longer live in her marriage with an unfaithful cheating spouse, and she had gone through a terrible divorce, splitting a big family farm business and calling it quits on a marriage of over forty years.
Near the end of her stand-up, solid as a rock, Debbie Lynn lifted her right hand, looked slightly up to the ceiling, and calmly and profoundly said “My God, I could have never made it through all this without your steadfast love. You have been with me through all this, and my hope and plan to serve you all the rest of my life. It was a Holy Spirit moment, clear as day, and everyone could sense it.
Debbie Lynn sat down, and our Reunion had become a Revival. Her stand-up moment was a celebration of her personal relationship with a God that was there with her in the “forever” bad, and now, in her late sixties, is with her as she heals, mends, and redirects her strength to do his work. We had at least ten more personal testimonies after Debbie’s, and our venue ended up telling us we had to vacate because it was clean up time. It was a night I will always remember.
Reflect: Do I lean on the God I profess to love? I know God loves me and I love God, but do I truly share my life with my God every waking hour? Instead of me being consumed with worrying about both the little and the big things, why can’t I let God oversee all the worry? Then I could hear God direct me to the next steps in my life so that I can do God’s work. God loves me - I can lean on God.
Prayer: Help us merciful Lord to release the self-torture we put ourselves through. Help us to follow you instead of culture and to be willing to lean on your strength. Open our eyes and ears to see where you are at work and guide us so we can engage in that work.
Ron Worley Finance Chair ph with bold text.