Hope for the Suffering

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
that no flesh should glory in His presence.  I Cor. 1: 27-29

Just when I needed a gentle touch from the Lord, He blessed me beyond my dreams today.  I drove this gloomy morning to the assisted living center where Mom lives, feeling nervous and unsure of myself. Today was the first day I was to lead a small devotion time with some of the residents. It's to be once a week, but at the time I didn't know how it all would turn out. When I walked into Mom's room, she looked glum herself and said she didn't think anyone would come. But I didn't have time to stew over it, I needed to start knocking on some doors and inviting people.

The first door I knocked on was a couple doors down from Mom's. "Stan" was laying on his bed but when I asked him if he would like to come he got up right away and thought it would be a good idea. I knocked on another door, and thought at first he hesitated, "Jeff" said he would come along too.

"Not too bad," I thought, "At least there will be two others." I led them down to the room behind the big dining hall and started pouring coffees for people. An aide asked me if there were others. I thought of a couple more people and soon there were three ladies and two men, plus Mom and I.

For our meetings I will use my book, Sure Mercies: Hope for the Suffering  for our time together. Each of the forty chapters shares about a believer who suffered in some way, but overcame through God's promises.Today we naturally did Chapter 1 which concerned George Mueller, a true prayer warrior, orphanage founder, and preacher of the Word of God. I found myself not just reading the chapter word for word, but interacting with the sweet residents as we all sat around the table together. Smiles and bright eyes encouraged me that somehow God could use something small like this to help spread a little joy, a little hope.

I could tell the residents enjoyed hearing about Mueller, who is a true hero of the faith. One of the Scripture references from the chapter was from John 3 where Jesus talked to Nicodemus about being born again. I read the passage and the Holy Spirit prompted me to discuss what it meant to be born again, to look away from yourself trying to be good and to believe in the Finished Work of our perfect Savior, receiving His gracious gift of salvation.

When I said that we could not be good enough I looked over and there was Stan with tears in his eyes. He then stated that he was going to "try hard" to keep himself in the faith. I said that if he believed, then God the Father would hold him in His hands and no one could ever snatch him away.I had a feelling of joy telling about the gospel really being good news, that Jesus Christ came down here and lived a perfect life on our behalf and took all our sins on His body on the tree.  To have the residents listen and respond was icing on the cake.

When we closed our time, Stan started humming  Amazing Grace. He was a music teacher and plays the piano beautifully. Outside our room there  is a piano where he plays regularly so I asked him if he would play it for us. Without any hesitation, he wheeled over in his wheelchair and played it. We sang together and hearing the voices singing was among the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard.

I felt so blessed that God gave me this small opportunity to share the Word with  precious people who might sometimes feel forgotten. I'm not famous, but God opened a door for me to write my book and to share its  message of hope. Three weeks today will be the first anniversary of my father passing from this life into eternity. If he hadn't encouraged me and pushed me, Sure Mercies might not have beenbready to share with others.  How often he told me that it needed to come out because people needed to hear it. All  we see around us reveals just how desperate we are. Without Christ, there are no answers for the chaos in this world. But with Him, there is hope.

If you are born into this world at one time or another you will suffer, but with God's provision there is always  hope for the suffering.

 God 's promises affected forty people's lives, helping them not just to survive but to be overcomers. I think Dad would have been happy about today. Even if I am only one small person, I am helping to share the best news with people who long to hear it. A colaborer in the Kingdom of God.

If you happen to read this blog today and are not sure if you have believed in Jesus, you can be right now, wherever you are. Crazy times are upon us, but God's promises are sure and every one of them will be fulfilled. Jesus' promise to Nicodemus can also be His promise to you:

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

"that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."   John 3: 14-17