Jesus Doeth All Things Well
At church last night an opportunity was given, and missed by me, to give a testimony of what the Lord did in our hearts at the Wilds last week. Having now had a couple of good nights of sleep under my belt, and therefore am now able to look back on the week rationally, I'd like to tell what the Lord did for me while we were away. There are several areas that the Lord was tweaking on me last week. I can't even say "this is what I learned" because I in no way arrived at any sort of concrete lesson, but the Lord was definitely working in my heart in several intertwined compartments.
Many of the Family Camp sessions spoke to my heart. The speaker was Jim Binney, whom Josh and I had heard before when he did a pre-marital seminar at Bob Jones University while we were students there. (Ironically, we both attended that seminar though we didn't know each other at the time. And we both secretly wondered if our future mate was in the audience.) The one theme that the Lord just kept pricking my heart with was the thought that we are to be thankful always for whatever the Lord causes in our lives.
In Phil 4:4-9, when it talks about "Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests known unto God..." the with thanksgiving part is key. So many times we pray about something, trying to be anxious for nothing, but we forget to thank God for whatever the situation is. Even when we don't understand it! Jim Binney said, "God is not primarily looking for people to be thankful after they understand it! You need to be thankful even when you don't understand it, though you may never on this earth understand it." WOW! What a thought! Do you know how hard it is to be thankful for something that seems so bad? Something that doesn't go my way?
Take, for example, an entire week++ of not sleeping well. And I don't just mean a little bit shorter nights. We're talking worse sleep than when Noah was first born. And high-energy-expenditures during the day. On top of that, add the monthly hormonal crying swings that I go through (sorry to any of you men reading this!). I was a wreck! And I'm supposed to THANK GOD FOR THIS??? Yes. Even though it would have made much more sense to me to let me sleep well this week of all weeks? Yes. One reason I think the Lord caused this all to happen was so He could show me that He cares for me. "For I know whate'er befalls me, Jesus doeth all things well." Quite a few times during the week God showed me that He does care for me in ways that I never would have appreciated had I not been sleep deprived beyond belief.
One day, I was to meet Josh for dinner. I had Noah in the stroller and I had been walking around watching some of the activities taking place on the lower side of camp. For those of you not familiar with the Wilds, there are 99 steps from this part of camp up to the level where the Dining Hall is. There is one shorter way, but you have to go up a steep hill and then ascend probably 75 steps. Here's a little math problem:
1 Tired Lady + 1 Heavy Toddler In Stroller + 75 steps = Well Nigh Impossible.
But I had to do it if I was going to make it to supper! So I pushed Noah up the hill and decided to try to conquer the 75 or so steps. I said, "Lord, you're going to have to give me the strength! Please help me!" I got Noah out of the stroller with the plan that he would climb them with my help, and I'd carry the stroller. I had just said, "Okay, Noah here we go!" When I heard a boy say, "Do you need some help?" Startled, I looked up and there were 2 teen boys (maybe 14 years old?) standing there offering to help! The Lord is so good!!! I carried Noah up the stairs, and one of the boys carried my stroller. I thanked them profusely, and told them they had saved me probably 1/2 an hour at least. What a blessing!
Many of the Family Camp sessions spoke to my heart. The speaker was Jim Binney, whom Josh and I had heard before when he did a pre-marital seminar at Bob Jones University while we were students there. (Ironically, we both attended that seminar though we didn't know each other at the time. And we both secretly wondered if our future mate was in the audience.) The one theme that the Lord just kept pricking my heart with was the thought that we are to be thankful always for whatever the Lord causes in our lives.
In Phil 4:4-9, when it talks about "Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests known unto God..." the with thanksgiving part is key. So many times we pray about something, trying to be anxious for nothing, but we forget to thank God for whatever the situation is. Even when we don't understand it! Jim Binney said, "God is not primarily looking for people to be thankful after they understand it! You need to be thankful even when you don't understand it, though you may never on this earth understand it." WOW! What a thought! Do you know how hard it is to be thankful for something that seems so bad? Something that doesn't go my way?
Take, for example, an entire week++ of not sleeping well. And I don't just mean a little bit shorter nights. We're talking worse sleep than when Noah was first born. And high-energy-expenditures during the day. On top of that, add the monthly hormonal crying swings that I go through (sorry to any of you men reading this!). I was a wreck! And I'm supposed to THANK GOD FOR THIS??? Yes. Even though it would have made much more sense to me to let me sleep well this week of all weeks? Yes. One reason I think the Lord caused this all to happen was so He could show me that He cares for me. "For I know whate'er befalls me, Jesus doeth all things well." Quite a few times during the week God showed me that He does care for me in ways that I never would have appreciated had I not been sleep deprived beyond belief.
One day, I was to meet Josh for dinner. I had Noah in the stroller and I had been walking around watching some of the activities taking place on the lower side of camp. For those of you not familiar with the Wilds, there are 99 steps from this part of camp up to the level where the Dining Hall is. There is one shorter way, but you have to go up a steep hill and then ascend probably 75 steps. Here's a little math problem:
1 Tired Lady + 1 Heavy Toddler In Stroller + 75 steps = Well Nigh Impossible.
But I had to do it if I was going to make it to supper! So I pushed Noah up the hill and decided to try to conquer the 75 or so steps. I said, "Lord, you're going to have to give me the strength! Please help me!" I got Noah out of the stroller with the plan that he would climb them with my help, and I'd carry the stroller. I had just said, "Okay, Noah here we go!" When I heard a boy say, "Do you need some help?" Startled, I looked up and there were 2 teen boys (maybe 14 years old?) standing there offering to help! The Lord is so good!!! I carried Noah up the stairs, and one of the boys carried my stroller. I thanked them profusely, and told them they had saved me probably 1/2 an hour at least. What a blessing!
Another major blessing happened on the last day we were there. This was the day Noah was up from 2:45am to 5:45am, screaming. I finally got back to sleep around 6:30am, and bolted awake at 8:05 with the realization that I had missed breakfast. Not. Good. I very much need breakfast, and started worrying that I was going to be soooo hungry. I started fussing at the Lord for the events of the morning, with the main theme being "You know how much I need sleep and food!" What a foolish girl I am not to believe that God cares for me! We got dressed for the day, and opened our door to head out to the activities, and there on the floor of the hallway was a To Go box with breakfast in it!! And not just any breakfast; French Toast, my FAVORITE!! The Lord had provided yet again, this time through Melanie (my sister-in-law) who had happened to get that box of food and then not need it. Noticing that we were missing from the breakfast table, she delivered it to our room. Again, what a blessing!
Third, I spoke on the phone today with a former church member who moved to Nebraska a few months ago. This dear lady told me that the Lord had laid me on her heart all week last week and she had felt burdened to pray for me! Even in the midst of our trials, the Lord has our needs at heart and uses other people to bless my socks off! What a wonderful Lord. :)
Maybe another time I can blog about the other blessings from the week, mostly the truths that stuck out to me from the other sessions we attended. For now, it is bedtime and I can't wait to go to bed! This is another busy week for me, as I'm preparing to Lord-willing head up to PA on Thursday (barring this major storm Fay closing in on us). I'm bushed!
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