Encouragement

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A few weeks back I was being transported from one hospital to another for a heart catheter test. I had spent four days in ICU due to a heart problem I have suffered with for most of my life. As I rode in the back of the ambulance there was a man about my age there. I was joking with him about life and its great expectations. He asked, “Are you always this jovial?” I replied, “Well most of the time.” He said it was refreshing to be with someone who enjoyed life so much. As the ride tarried on he asked me what kind of work I do. Sharing my ministry with him he began to feel a little convicted and literally hung his head as he said, “Well, I can’t remember the last time I was in church.” He went on to explain how he took his children to church when they were young. He really enjoyed it then, but life got busy and he left God behind.

It was then I shared with him the truth that God doesn’t care about his church attendance. God isn’t into religion, He is into relationship. Then I asked him, “Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ?” Needless to say, that day for me was such a blessing. I realized that God allowed me to go through my trials with the “o’le ticker” so I could share Jesus with this man.

As he and the driver rolled the gurney into pre-op surgery area, we were laughing at something when the driver said, “I wished we had more patients like you!”

A few days later I was home and began to have a severe reaction to something when my entire body began to break out in a red rash that was so itchy it almost drove me crazy. The doc put me on high doses of Prednisone and sedatives so I could get some sleep. As I was speaking with my mother she and I laughed about how God brings us through with the two "P's" Prednisone and Prayer! I have definitely become more empathetic with people who suffer from extreme fatigue. We suspect mine is due to lack of oxygen in my lungs via the heart but the verdict isn’t in yet, so we wait for yet another test this week.

Some may question, “How could such a loving God allow you to suffer so much?” Well dear friend, I don’t blame my problems on God. I don’t even blame them on Satan. I know God has a purpose for everything I have gone through in life. My responsibility is to make sure He is glorified, magnified and lifted up. Jesus said,

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” John 12:32

I thank Paul for speaking these words that have encouraged me and caused me to press onward:

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4: 8-10)

Do I know what the future holds? No, but I like the old cliché that says, But I know WHO holds the future. Life has never ceased to be a challenge for me. At times I have often laughed at the face of serious trials that could have convinced me to give up. Instead I stand today and tell you I am an overcomer. I have overcome because One greater than me has overcome all I will ever fear or encounter on this earth. I stand not in my own strength, but in the Strength of the Lord my God. I speak not words of my own learned wisdom, but Living Words of Him, who lives in me! I fear not tomorrow, because I serve a God who is the same Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow! He never changes! He has been my Rock, my Fortress and my Deliverer. He has carried me when I was too weak to take another step. His love is unconditional. Who is He? His Name is Jesus. Oh how I love that name!



Copyright © 2005 Passion House Ministries, Jane E Morin
www.passionhouseministries.com

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