The stadium lights lowered and to 25,000 or so women waited
in eager anticipation for the speaker to take the stage. It was the last day of
the Joyce Meyers Women’s Conference, September 2012. My sister-in-law Ann reached across her
friend, Charee, to ask what time it was. Grabbing my phone and it lit up 11:11.
“Wow it is 11:11” I said. Ann you are probably not going to believe this but
every day for the past year or so this number keeps popping up. Every morning
and every night I will pick up the phone or look at the clock exactly at 11:11.
I buy stuff at the store and my change will be $11.11. A customer’s bill will
come to $1,111.00.” Looking at me with wonder and curiosity without hesitating
she asked if I knew what it meant. I said “I don’t know. Do you think it means
something or I am a creature of habit and check the time morning at night
exactly at 11:11?” She shook he head and said “No, it definitely means
something.” As soon as the words past her lips the speaker
announced “please
turn your Bibles to Hebrews 11:11.” All three of us nearly fell out of our chairs.
We wanted to start praising Him but we were too anxious to hear what it was
about. I had searched the internet briefly and a few scriptures but not Hebrews
and I certainly did not know what this scripture was about. I knew that I was
about to learn something profound and life changing.
“11 Through faith also
Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child
when she was past the age, because she
judged Him faithful who had promised.” Ann instantly thought it was about
me having a baby past my prime but I knew in my heart that I even though I had
asked for a child it had not been promised to me. It was the second part of the
scripture that surely I had heard before but until that moment not had ears to
hear. God is Faithful.
Sarah received her blessing because she “judged Him Faithful” This was news to me. I had been taught that we needed
faith and that we are given faith, we need to keep the faith. It always seemed
to be something that I needed to do. The concept of faith eluded me. How does a
person have faith? Yes I believed in Jesus with all my heart. I believed that
he died for my sins and was my Savior. But
should I bother him with my little problems? I had been running around trying
to prove myself to Him, to myself, to the world. I had been trying to force
Gods plan to go the way I thought it should go forgetting all the time that it
is God’s plan not mine or David’s or the Pastor’s, etc. I knew that I had done some things lead by Him
in my life and they didn’t always go easy. But now this was a whole new world. God is Faithful. He will do His part.
It is not all on us. In fact a minuscule small part of everything is on us. We
pretty much just need to show up. God takes pleasure in fulfilling His Promise.
This concept changed my entire life. All my
endeavors were for the Glory of God therefore they were His endeavors and He
was Faithful so He would see them through. Changing my point of view from keeping
the faith to knowing He is Faithful made my yoke light. I instantly let go of
the wheel and everything changed.
28Then
Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and
I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you,
because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30
For my yoke is easy to bear, and the
burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
My relationships became sweeter, my
business was more productive and lucrative, my health improved drastically. I
became 100% cured from chronic Migraines.
But mostly I was happier and more fulfilled knowing and seeing what God
was doing around me at all times. We have so many examples of God’s Faithfulness they
are too many to list now. This is the first in a series of blogs that will show
just how Faithful our Lord Jesus Christ has been and is right now in our lives.
That day on that last day of the conference,
the tears of joy flowed as the speaker, Christine Cain spoke about all the ways
that God is and has been Faithful. We
only need to Trust Him. Expect that He will be Faithful. Our expectations do
not cause Him to be Faithful for that He already is. But we will SEE it. We will have eyes to SEE. Today as you go through your Earthly worries remember that He is Faithful. It is like being able to read the code in the Matrix. We see the world as it really is, a world where God is Faithful. The world wants us to see darkness, tragedy, cruelty, murder, disease, insanity, merciless, unreasonableness, fear, anger and believe that that is all there is. But the real world, God’s world, for those of us who have eyes to see is Bright, Beautiful, Kind, Generous, Gracious, Peaceful, Free, Open, Joyous and Loving. Remember Him and that He is Faithful.
Often 11:11 still pops up in my day and every
time I smile and remember what it is so easy for us, self-reliant humans to
forget. God is Faithful.
No comments:
Post a Comment