The Day of Many Miracles: God Supernaturally Reached Through During My Darkest Hour to Deliver a Message of His Everlasting Promise.
There is nothing as incredible or freeing within the human experience as obtaining an imperishable relationship with the only man in the entire universe who lovingly wipes away our tears. Even after we left Him hanging naked, mangled, and alone to die on a cross for our sins; Christ opened the doors of Heaven through His selfless atonement. Because of this, you and I are able to fulfill God’s original design for us; to receive His gift of eternal life; and to dwell "Where the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." (Matt.13:43). Similar to a software upgrade on a computer, when we receive Jesus as our personal savior and are born again, He miraculously removes our restless and stubborn hearts of stone and replaces them with ones which are tender and responsive. The unproductive applications are discarded and caringly replaced with those that are holy, profitable and fruitful.
One of the most precious gifts we are given is the helper and companion who comes to live and dwell within us — the Holy Spirit. He is a real, living, divine being (He is God!), not some impersonal force. He guides us, comforts us, and lovingly chastens us, training and raising us as future heirs of Christ like a parent would their child. When He is reduced down to a impersonal level we lose all honorable respect and intimacy; forgetting that our body has truly become God's temple. Scripture also reveals to us "The angel of the Lord is sent to encamp around the those who fear Him, and rescues them." (Psalm 34:7) — remember this the next time you feel anxious or alone! From this point forward, we choose to draw a distinct line in the sand between what is wrong and right, in accordance only with our Lord's truth; no longer banking on flawed and ever-changing human philosophy. There is one narrow path to life; on it, we find footprints paved by the Prince of Peace Himself, who lived an innocent and blameless life to be an example for all.
"I will listen to what God the Lord
says; He promises peace to His people, His faithful servants-but let them not turn again to
foolishness." Psalm 85:8
The Lord is faithful and holds true to His promises, but He does allow us to freely choose to leave the safety of His side. I can easily choose to crawl right back into the world that I was once saved out of and by doing so I personally fall back my oath and promises made to Him. When we begin doubting the scriptures and replace "that convicts me" with “that offends me", eventually the Holy Spirit’s voice of reason is placed on mute and His fire becomes quenched like a candle. The lines we had once drawn in the sand are blurred together over time, ultimately being lost at sea with each passing tide. We start pleading and crying to God about why he is ignoring our prayers and requests. However, not even 20 minutes afterward we are finishing up reruns of the 1st season of Game of Thrones; and for the second time that day curse like a sailor when we stub our toe on the bedside stand. Behaving for an hour each week inside a man-made structure with a steeple, is far from picking up our cross daily; it is simply not proof in and of itself of saving faith and regeneration of an individual. Scripture tells us "You will know them by their fruits (by what they do)." (Matt. 7:16).
My lax attitude kept me from obtaining the Lord's favor and inexpressible peace within my life. I may have been a "Christian" according to watered down American standards but was a false convert and far from the Lord's rightful expectations for His beloved future bride, (the church). His Word is what sets us free from bondage to sin and is the binding agent which links us together with our savior, producing a strong and inseparable relationship with Him. Jesus assures us that "If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love." (John 15:10). For any relationship to remain fervent, thriving, and intimate, each person must be fully committed in giving 100% of themselves.
Today, I can humbly and joyfully profess that I am officially a newborn babe in Christ, having dedicated my life to putting my past false piety on full display while bearing witness to others as an example on how not to live. God mercifully shook me out of a deadly slumber and I have dedicated to Him every square inch of me in return for this second chance. I am learning everyday and still at times slip up. The difference now though is that when I sin, the sorrow and regret feel like hot daggers to my heart. This is healthy evidence of successful regeneration, because the Holy Spirit is a light that shines into the darkest places of the heart and convicts us of any lurking viruses He finds. The longer our bodies successfully ward off these viruses the more sensitive and alert we become when they are reintroduced in small increments.
I awoke at little after midnight on November 12th and was immediately compelled to open my phone’s Bible app before falling back to sleep. My eyes lit up when I saw the daily verse on the front page, "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you." (Isaiah 54:10). It spoke to my heart intensely and I couldn't stop reading it. I ended up taking this screen shot because of the profound emotion I had felt. It was if someone were standing next to my bedside saying to me, "Remember this, Danielle. Don't forget this."
Later on that afternoon I went to town to pick up groceries for dinner. On the way back, just before I was getting ready to turn into our parking lot, I had a sudden flood of emotions overtake me and felt a sense of urgency to pray. I drove past our street and went up the mountain, eventually pulling into an empty gravel parking lot overlooking the slopes of a local ski resort. I searched my car and found two small cards and decided to write to God and leave the note outside. I began to write the only words that I could gather, words that had been consuming my mind for weeks until this point. I wrote "I Miss You... How is it possible to miss someone I've never met?". I looked at the note and was overwhelmed with embarrassment because it looked like a 5-year-old had written it. Frustrated with the sloppily written letter that I had tried so hard to make perfect, I tore it into pieces. On the last card, I slowly wrote again, "I Miss You...". It was just as messy as the last one I had written. I felt my face turning red with humiliation and scribbled on it before tearing it apart, tossing the pieces into the side door compartment.
The next day I went to the office and logged onto my computer. I noticed someone had changed the background image to a picture of a beautiful double rainbow overlooking green hilltops. I thought it was a bit odd but didn't think much of it because our computers had recently been updated. The following morning though, I opened my screen and the rainbow background had disappeared. Later that day, I was pumping gas when I decided to clean out my side door compartment full of trash. As I grabbed the last handful, I looked down and saw all of the little pieces of the prayer I had written a few days prior. I remember sighing to myself as I tossed them away into the bin. Little did I know, that the Lord had a life-defining and unimaginable surprise waiting to be revealed the very next day.
On November 15th, I decided to make a trip to Home Depot to shop for houseplants. It was a beautiful sunny day with crystal clear blue skies. As I was getting ready to turn into the store parking lot, a car drove by with a large plate attached to the front bumper that said "JESUS" in all caps. I remember smiling but really didn't give much thought to it. I pulled into a space with three empty rows in front of me. My car was already parked, but I decided to pull into the next row to be closer to the garden supply entrance. Just as I was getting ready to put my car in park, I felt compelled to pull forward yet again. I rolled my eyes because I knew it was ridiculous since I was already close enough to the entrance and was wasting time doing this over and over. I crossed over to the next row and parked for good this time.
A couple weeks later my husband and I were visiting with my brother in law and his girlfriend one evening. After dinner, the guys went downstairs to play games and she and I were enjoying girl time in the living room together. At one point she walked across the room and grabbed a book from a shelf saying "I've had this book for a while now and was waiting for the right time to give it to you!"
Although opinions these days are a dime a dozen, I believe one thing we can all agree on is that we are living in difficult times. Violence is escalating. There are wars and rumors of wars, and political divisions. The world’s economy is on shaky ground and there is a drastic increase in weather disasters. Many are losing their sense of peace and security for the future and in the process, losing their lifeline of faith. The world’s promise of peace and safety is fleeting and changes with mere circumstances that are built on a weak foundation of compromise. But one thing is certain and that is that God’s Word will never change, and His amazing promises will never fail. These perilous times were prophesied to take place and are being fulfilled with uncanny accuracy. However, when we turn off the world news and open our Bibles, we find insight and encouragement so that nothing that happens in the world can startle us or take us by surprise as we read of the beauty that is to come.
C.H Spurgeon accurately described the Lords goodness in a single quote, stating, "God has so closely twisted His own glory and our happiness together, that as we advance the one, we promote the other." How true this is, for I am finally experiencing for the very first time in my life, all of the benefits so many others have testified of when they made a decision to take their faith seriously; benefits like the indescribable feeling of wholeness, love, closeness, peace, and companionship that is better than any human on this earth can fulfill. The most incredible is the sensation of rushing water and heat throughout your body, although attempting to explain this to an unbeliever or false convert like I had been, would be like listening to a person attempt to describe all of the colors of Heaven after a near death experience. It is more fulfilling than any physical pleasure the world has to offer; nothing will ever compare to it because these are all temporary fillers that leave a lingering discontentment. They are flesh food and not soul food. The Lord made us for Himself in his image and to have fullness and completeness outside of Him is an impossibility.
Worry, fear, anxiety, depression - all of these had dominion over my life for as long as I can remember. When I began taking my relationship with the Lord seriously, by taking HIM seriously, He was finally able to break me free from this awful bondage in a way that no therapist or medication could. Jesus is the only perfect peace for anxious souls like mine. He is an almighty watcher, a sleepless guardian, and a faithful friend. When you allow the Jesus to transform you and draw near to His side, the most amazing thing you will experience is that when you tug on the rope to Heaven, He will tug right back. When I finally flipped the switch from religious autopilot to manual, my relationship with the Lord became my ecstasy, and His supernatural peace is the only sedative I can no longer live without. “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and reveal myself to them.” (John 14:21). When you grow close to the Lord, I promise that you will experience His amazing signs and wonders. For our God is a God of miracles who never tires of redeeming hope and strength to His faithful children!
In the midst of walking through dark and stormy clouds of fear and loneliness, Jesus stepped in to remind me that nothing will snatch us from the safety of His loving arms. He is creating something beautiful from the ashes of my past and gifted me with a peace that surpasses human comprehension. Most memorable of all, God has provided me with a miracle wonderfully captured within a photograph that I can now share with the entire world as a message of hope. Even if we can only gather up faith the size of a tiny mustard seed, the mountains standing in our path will be moved. As the day of the Lord draws near, all of creation will increasingly groan and writhe together like a woman with labor pains; and we who have the first fruits of the Spirit will longingly groan as we await our official adoption. We are individual members that make up one body; each believer is a colorful strand of silk woven together to form a magnificent tapestry.
To those of you who are reading this testimony, I pray that God may draw you in so close that your heart beats in rhythm with His because there is no sweeter place in the universe to be hidden than within the shadow of His gentle and righteous hand. There is no safer place to take refuge, especially in troubling times as these that were foretold to manifest in the last days."Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the battle is not yours, but God's." (2 Chronicles 20:15). No matter how discouraged you become, or how tempting at times it may feel to throw in the towel. Never give up and never forget the everlasting JOY that lies ahead for those who persevere until the very end. When you begin to feel like you are drowning in life, don't worry — our lifeguard walks on water!
Despite being a minister’s granddaughter with
regular church attendance for nearly three decades, over the years I
regrettably became overly comfortable in my standing with God. I was blind to
the true sincerity of my faith and slipped into the perpetual
"lukewarm" lifestyle Jesus gravely cautions of in Rev. 3:16. I
praised Him with my lips but was living a life fueled by a lethal cocktail of God’s truth mixed with my own. Subconsciously, I found
subtle ways of tinkering with scripture to fit what I felt was "fair"
or "realistic" in our rapidly changing moral culture. Saying things like " I follow Jesus only and not stuffy Biblical doctrine. God
knows my heart so don't judge lest you be judged!" was the typical
sticker that I slapped on everything. However hypocrisy, not righteous judgement, is the problem. Scripture also tells us "The
heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick, who can
understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). If we do not literally believe and follow God's living Word (the Bible), than we literally do not truthfully believe or follow Jesus Christ. Jesus boldly disclosed that He came not to abolish the Law or the Prophets, that is, the Holy Scriptures, but to “fulfill them" (Matt. 5:17).
The Lord is faithful and holds true to His promises, but He does allow us to freely choose to leave the safety of His side. I can easily choose to crawl right back into the world that I was once saved out of and by doing so I personally fall back my oath and promises made to Him. When we begin doubting the scriptures and replace "that convicts me" with “that offends me", eventually the Holy Spirit’s voice of reason is placed on mute and His fire becomes quenched like a candle. The lines we had once drawn in the sand are blurred together over time, ultimately being lost at sea with each passing tide. We start pleading and crying to God about why he is ignoring our prayers and requests. However, not even 20 minutes afterward we are finishing up reruns of the 1st season of Game of Thrones; and for the second time that day curse like a sailor when we stub our toe on the bedside stand. Behaving for an hour each week inside a man-made structure with a steeple, is far from picking up our cross daily; it is simply not proof in and of itself of saving faith and regeneration of an individual. Scripture tells us "You will know them by their fruits (by what they do)." (Matt. 7:16).
My lax attitude kept me from obtaining the Lord's favor and inexpressible peace within my life. I may have been a "Christian" according to watered down American standards but was a false convert and far from the Lord's rightful expectations for His beloved future bride, (the church). His Word is what sets us free from bondage to sin and is the binding agent which links us together with our savior, producing a strong and inseparable relationship with Him. Jesus assures us that "If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love." (John 15:10). For any relationship to remain fervent, thriving, and intimate, each person must be fully committed in giving 100% of themselves.
Today, I can humbly and joyfully profess that I am officially a newborn babe in Christ, having dedicated my life to putting my past false piety on full display while bearing witness to others as an example on how not to live. God mercifully shook me out of a deadly slumber and I have dedicated to Him every square inch of me in return for this second chance. I am learning everyday and still at times slip up. The difference now though is that when I sin, the sorrow and regret feel like hot daggers to my heart. This is healthy evidence of successful regeneration, because the Holy Spirit is a light that shines into the darkest places of the heart and convicts us of any lurking viruses He finds. The longer our bodies successfully ward off these viruses the more sensitive and alert we become when they are reintroduced in small increments.
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"I'll Never Be Good Enough..." |
Apart from sin drawing us far from Gods
peace, the most persistent and dreadful are the lies and deception from the enemy’s
fiery darts trying to fill us with lies of insufficiency, fear, and crippling
anxiety. I ended up trading in my victory in overcoming strongholds of sin, but
instead gave the enemy a foothold in my life in an alternative area — an all
access key to a jail-cell inside of my mind. Despite the great headway I had
seen God work within me, and my excitement for the brand-new life and future He
had gifted me, I still struggled with letting the guilt from my past go. I suffered
with intense bouts of depression knowing that I had wasted away 90% of
my life in vain and useless pursuits. The chaos that is flooding our news channels, the constant fighting
and drama surrounding me from every corner, and loneliness resulting from no
longer having the same forms of entertainment and interests as those around me
all added fuel to this fire. Most of all though, there was a gnawing heartache because
I am not nearly as perfect or productive as other
Christians.
Although Jesus is number one in my heart,
mind, and spirit. I still had this lingering distress of having nothing to
offer Him from this life. I saw what others around me had accomplished in one
month for the Lord’s Kingdom that would honestly take me an entire lifetime to
complete. Thoughts would plague my mind day and night, "I'll
never produce as much fruit as that Christian. I am shy and they are a bubbly
extrovert. I am weak and they are strong. They are intelligent and I am the
dullest crayon in the box. They are graceful and I am awkward. That person has
a lovely speaking voice and I sound like a stuttering hillbilly every-time I
open my mouth. They are more beautiful, useful, confident, and seem perfect in
literally every-way. God will love them way more now AND in Heaven."
I began wondering if I was fooling myself for assuming I was one of His own. Would I end up somehow miserably failing Him in the end like the apostle Judas? There were a few times over this past year where I stopped eating or sleeping for days at a time; crying and praying were the only activities I could manage to accomplish throughout the day. While driving alone I would often have to pull over from sudden anxiety spasms. My Bible pages became filled with watermarks from my endless fountain of tears. I would write little prayers and letters to God and leave them in random places wherever I went. I begged for Purpose, “Lord, please give me purpose." I was wasting my life away and needed something, anything, to give back to Him. There were many moments I could sense His loving hand reaching through the darkness to lift my chin and make me smile; but I would just let my heavy head and eyes pull me like a magnet downwards further into hopelessness within myself.
I began wondering if I was fooling myself for assuming I was one of His own. Would I end up somehow miserably failing Him in the end like the apostle Judas? There were a few times over this past year where I stopped eating or sleeping for days at a time; crying and praying were the only activities I could manage to accomplish throughout the day. While driving alone I would often have to pull over from sudden anxiety spasms. My Bible pages became filled with watermarks from my endless fountain of tears. I would write little prayers and letters to God and leave them in random places wherever I went. I begged for Purpose, “Lord, please give me purpose." I was wasting my life away and needed something, anything, to give back to Him. There were many moments I could sense His loving hand reaching through the darkness to lift my chin and make me smile; but I would just let my heavy head and eyes pull me like a magnet downwards further into hopelessness within myself.
"For
you do not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but
you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry "Abba, Father!"
The Spirit Himself testifies with your spirit that we are God's
children." Romans 8:15-16
I awoke at little after midnight on November 12th and was immediately compelled to open my phone’s Bible app before falling back to sleep. My eyes lit up when I saw the daily verse on the front page, "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you." (Isaiah 54:10). It spoke to my heart intensely and I couldn't stop reading it. I ended up taking this screen shot because of the profound emotion I had felt. It was if someone were standing next to my bedside saying to me, "Remember this, Danielle. Don't forget this."
Later on that afternoon I went to town to pick up groceries for dinner. On the way back, just before I was getting ready to turn into our parking lot, I had a sudden flood of emotions overtake me and felt a sense of urgency to pray. I drove past our street and went up the mountain, eventually pulling into an empty gravel parking lot overlooking the slopes of a local ski resort. I searched my car and found two small cards and decided to write to God and leave the note outside. I began to write the only words that I could gather, words that had been consuming my mind for weeks until this point. I wrote "I Miss You... How is it possible to miss someone I've never met?". I looked at the note and was overwhelmed with embarrassment because it looked like a 5-year-old had written it. Frustrated with the sloppily written letter that I had tried so hard to make perfect, I tore it into pieces. On the last card, I slowly wrote again, "I Miss You...". It was just as messy as the last one I had written. I felt my face turning red with humiliation and scribbled on it before tearing it apart, tossing the pieces into the side door compartment.
I sunk back into my seat in silence for a
moment, before a feeling of stillness came over me. I looked out the window up
at the sky, and prayed aloud, "Abba... I could sit here and gripe about
all of my shortcomings and my awful handwriting like I have done in the past.
Instead, I want to thank you for my physical and mental struggles because they
have not only made me humble but kept me humble. I am more compassionate
and empathetic to others because of these shortcomings. According to human
standards, I am weak and inefficient in many ways. Because you told us that your
power is made perfect in weakness, this gives me hope that you can use even
someone like me for something good. You are the potter and I am the clay; you
made me this way for a good reason. I am also thankful because these trials and
weaknesses have brought me close to you, something I may not have ever had
without these embarrassing struggles. I would choose to keep my sloppy
handwriting even in Heaven, if that meant I could be closer to you."
The next day I went to the office and logged onto my computer. I noticed someone had changed the background image to a picture of a beautiful double rainbow overlooking green hilltops. I thought it was a bit odd but didn't think much of it because our computers had recently been updated. The following morning though, I opened my screen and the rainbow background had disappeared. Later that day, I was pumping gas when I decided to clean out my side door compartment full of trash. As I grabbed the last handful, I looked down and saw all of the little pieces of the prayer I had written a few days prior. I remember sighing to myself as I tossed them away into the bin. Little did I know, that the Lord had a life-defining and unimaginable surprise waiting to be revealed the very next day.
A Day of Miracles
On November 15th, I decided to make a trip to Home Depot to shop for houseplants. It was a beautiful sunny day with crystal clear blue skies. As I was getting ready to turn into the store parking lot, a car drove by with a large plate attached to the front bumper that said "JESUS" in all caps. I remember smiling but really didn't give much thought to it. I pulled into a space with three empty rows in front of me. My car was already parked, but I decided to pull into the next row to be closer to the garden supply entrance. Just as I was getting ready to put my car in park, I felt compelled to pull forward yet again. I rolled my eyes because I knew it was ridiculous since I was already close enough to the entrance and was wasting time doing this over and over. I crossed over to the next row and parked for good this time.
I stepped out of my car and started walking
towards the store, when I noticed the vehicle parked next to mine had a plate
with a rainbow on it that read "No Jesus, No Peace. Know Jesus, Know
Peace". I literally grabbed my face and began to laugh. I thought of my daily Bible verse and the rainbow on my computer background a few days days prior . I went inside to look for plants, but I couldn't
stop
thinking about that car’s plate. After a couple minutes of browsing
around, I
decided to leave the store empty handed. On my way out I noticed the car
was still
parked next to mine. No one was around, so I walked over to it and
quickly
snapped a picture with my phone before hopping into my car and swinging
by Target on the way home. When I arrived at the store, I sat in my car
for a few minutes processing how cool
these "coincidences" were. Before I left my car, I decided to check
out the picture I had snapped a few minutes prior just to reminisce on
it for a
moment. When I opened the photo, my jaw hit the floor.
I GASPED when I saw an unmistakable rainbow arched across the
entire photo from underneath the vehicles bumper! My heart began to dance inside my chest; I
could hardly believe what I was seeing. There was no rainbow to be seen
with the naked eye when the photo was taken. The ground was dry as a bone, the sun
was shining, and there was not a single cloud in the sky. I zoomed in on the picture
and noticed a soft glow resonating from the top left-hand corner; cascading
down from it and into the rainbow were distinct individual rays of light.
I became dizzy and lightheaded from a sudden head-rush. To avoid the potential embarrassment of passing out in front of a
crowd of people, I stayed put until it went away. Just as I was calming down, a
thought popped into my mind. I suddenly remembered those sloppy little prayers
I had written to God a few days prior. I now deeply regretted that I had thrown
them into the trash, and I reached my hand into the car door compartment
sliding my fingers slowly across the bottom in disappointment. As my fingers
ran across the sides, I felt a tiny piece of paper wedged sideways against the right-hand
side of the compartment. I pulled it out, and what I saw gave me chills.
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| "and peace" |
 |
In that moment while holding this tiny piece
of paper in my hand, everything around me disappeared. I felt a presence inside
the car with me. It was as if Jesus was looking at my face while pointing at
the card and the rainbow, saying "Can you see now? Don't fear, I'm
holding true to the reins. Smile, little sheep!". The anguish I had felt
prior to this day perforated so deep I could scarcely breath; but in that moment,
I realized He was redeeming everything. I felt tension release, like
the body giving up its spirit after death. It vaporized and peace moved in
resurrecting me, radiating into all of the dark recesses of my being.
"Jesus was more brokenhearted, scarred, and betrayed than anyone in history. Yet, He did not shut Himself off from us. Instead He calls you unto Him. If you cannot trust anyone right now, please trust Him. His scars are proof that you are loved more than you know." T.B. LaBerge
A couple weeks later my husband and I were visiting with my brother in law and his girlfriend one evening. After dinner, the guys went downstairs to play games and she and I were enjoying girl time in the living room together. At one point she walked across the room and grabbed a book from a shelf saying "I've had this book for a while now and was waiting for the right time to give it to you!"
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| "Enjoying Peace in His Presence" by Sarah Young |
I sat with my eyes fixed to the cover in
astonishment, before opening to the middle and letting the book fall open into
my lap. I looked down, and on the page was a verse saying "Peace, I
leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27).
That evening I spilled the beans to my friend about the prayer card, computer
background, daily Bible verse, the rainbow, and how her special gift was all
orchestrated into God’s miracle from the very beginning. I realized that when
the Lord gives us something extraordinary and special, we should share His gift of encouragement as a testimony for
others. It supplies hope and inspiration to share their own
amazing experiences in the future. As a result, God’s glory is multiplied and
is spread across the nations.
There are profound moments which mark our
lives, moments when we realize nothing will ever be the same, when time is
divided into two parts — before this and after this. In my life personally, the
first and most important moment was an encounter I experienced on the early morning of July 6th, 2017.
This day is etched into my innermost being as the beginning of my process of
regeneration with the Lord. The second was a miracle which occurred two and a half years
later, on November 15th, 2019, while sitting inside my car in a busy shopping
center parking lot. I often think back to those days when I was in my weakest
and most disheveled state, when God secretly started working miracles the very moment
I began writing that tragically dispirited prayer of merely three words, a
simple "I Miss You..."
Although opinions these days are a dime a dozen, I believe one thing we can all agree on is that we are living in difficult times. Violence is escalating. There are wars and rumors of wars, and political divisions. The world’s economy is on shaky ground and there is a drastic increase in weather disasters. Many are losing their sense of peace and security for the future and in the process, losing their lifeline of faith. The world’s promise of peace and safety is fleeting and changes with mere circumstances that are built on a weak foundation of compromise. But one thing is certain and that is that God’s Word will never change, and His amazing promises will never fail. These perilous times were prophesied to take place and are being fulfilled with uncanny accuracy. However, when we turn off the world news and open our Bibles, we find insight and encouragement so that nothing that happens in the world can startle us or take us by surprise as we read of the beauty that is to come.
“The
Lord their God will save His people on that day as a Shepard saves his flock.
They will sparkle in His land like jewels in a crown.” (Zechariah 9:16)
For
me to finally experience peace that
surpassed all understanding, I had to make a decision to give up my
right to
understand. For by grace we are saved through faith; without having
faith and
trust it is impossible to please the Lord. This life is one giant trust
fall, at the end we will turn around and finally be face to face with
the one who held us during those leaps of faith.
We are encouraged in Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on You. Because he trusts in You." When a Christian
trusts, he is happy; when he doubts, he is miserable. I used to say, "show
me, then I will trust you", but God says, "trust me, then I
will show you." The most important thing I have learned in my journey is that no supernatural peace was found in Christ while I was living
in superficial peace with my sin. I have also learned that in this life as
Christians we will grieve and have tribulation, but not in the
same way as
those who have no hope. Life with God while on earth is not immunity to difficulties,
but peace in difficulties. When you kneel before your Heavenly Father,
He stands up for you; and when he stands for you no crisis will
overthrow you.
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| "Way of the Cross" Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem. |
C.H Spurgeon accurately described the Lords goodness in a single quote, stating, "God has so closely twisted His own glory and our happiness together, that as we advance the one, we promote the other." How true this is, for I am finally experiencing for the very first time in my life, all of the benefits so many others have testified of when they made a decision to take their faith seriously; benefits like the indescribable feeling of wholeness, love, closeness, peace, and companionship that is better than any human on this earth can fulfill. The most incredible is the sensation of rushing water and heat throughout your body, although attempting to explain this to an unbeliever or false convert like I had been, would be like listening to a person attempt to describe all of the colors of Heaven after a near death experience. It is more fulfilling than any physical pleasure the world has to offer; nothing will ever compare to it because these are all temporary fillers that leave a lingering discontentment. They are flesh food and not soul food. The Lord made us for Himself in his image and to have fullness and completeness outside of Him is an impossibility.
Worry, fear, anxiety, depression - all of these had dominion over my life for as long as I can remember. When I began taking my relationship with the Lord seriously, by taking HIM seriously, He was finally able to break me free from this awful bondage in a way that no therapist or medication could. Jesus is the only perfect peace for anxious souls like mine. He is an almighty watcher, a sleepless guardian, and a faithful friend. When you allow the Jesus to transform you and draw near to His side, the most amazing thing you will experience is that when you tug on the rope to Heaven, He will tug right back. When I finally flipped the switch from religious autopilot to manual, my relationship with the Lord became my ecstasy, and His supernatural peace is the only sedative I can no longer live without. “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and reveal myself to them.” (John 14:21). When you grow close to the Lord, I promise that you will experience His amazing signs and wonders. For our God is a God of miracles who never tires of redeeming hope and strength to His faithful children!
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The TRUE Meaning of the Rainbow: God Keeps His Promises! |
In the midst of walking through dark and stormy clouds of fear and loneliness, Jesus stepped in to remind me that nothing will snatch us from the safety of His loving arms. He is creating something beautiful from the ashes of my past and gifted me with a peace that surpasses human comprehension. Most memorable of all, God has provided me with a miracle wonderfully captured within a photograph that I can now share with the entire world as a message of hope. Even if we can only gather up faith the size of a tiny mustard seed, the mountains standing in our path will be moved. As the day of the Lord draws near, all of creation will increasingly groan and writhe together like a woman with labor pains; and we who have the first fruits of the Spirit will longingly groan as we await our official adoption. We are individual members that make up one body; each believer is a colorful strand of silk woven together to form a magnificent tapestry.
To those of you who are reading this testimony, I pray that God may draw you in so close that your heart beats in rhythm with His because there is no sweeter place in the universe to be hidden than within the shadow of His gentle and righteous hand. There is no safer place to take refuge, especially in troubling times as these that were foretold to manifest in the last days."Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the battle is not yours, but God's." (2 Chronicles 20:15). No matter how discouraged you become, or how tempting at times it may feel to throw in the towel. Never give up and never forget the everlasting JOY that lies ahead for those who persevere until the very end. When you begin to feel like you are drowning in life, don't worry — our lifeguard walks on water!
"Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is Near." Isaiah 55:6
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