Well, the election in the United States is over.  Finally!  After months of negative ads and attacks, now we know who will hold seats in Congress.  I am personally dismayed because most, if not all, of the candidates forgot in whom they should have their hope and seemed to strike out on their own to claim their own victory.  My prayer is that I will never seek my own will and my own victory, but I want to always have my hope in Him who holds my future in His hands.

One of my favorite Christian musicians, and the last concert that I attended before my stroke, is Steven Curtis Chapman.  His testimony is one of unbelievable trials and mountains to climb, yet his faith has not wavered.  That is what I want to be like, not blown in the wind with every new thing that tries to attract me, but steadfastly holding on to the Lord.  I know that most everyone knows the story of Abraham.  Do you realize that he waited over a decade for the Lord’s promise to be fulfilled, for his son Isaac to be born?

While Abraham waited, he also got off track, much like many of us do.  He accepted Sarah’s offer of her servant girl Hagar, impregnated her and had a son Ishmael.  His impatience has led to a lot of wars in the Middle East since Ishmael’s decendants are the Arab nations, whereas the true heir that God promised, Isaac, beget the Hebrew nation.  But I am getting off of my topic.  Just so you know, God did not just abandon Abraham since Abraham decided to “do his own thing.”  No, God blessed Ishmael too but He clearly told Abraham that he would be the “father or many nations” through a son that he would have with Sarah.  Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac was born!  But, he waited and he received.

I I love this Scripture verse in Hebrews!  I know that I have read it many times before since I read through the Bible annually.  But this time during my devotions, this verse jumped off the page at me.  I have taken my refuge in the Lord, the One who cannot lie.  Since He told me that He will take care of me, my hope lies in Him.  After all, He sent His Only Son to die for me, so I can rest in His great love for me.  Do I sometimes make poor choices?  Yes, of course I do.  But I always return to my rock and fortress, my refuge through all the storms of my life.  I reflect on my life and I can see God at work during each stressful move to a new place.  He provided friends, a church, activities for me to be involved in, and in most places a job for me to do that used the skills that He has blessed me with.  In Arkansas, I was unemployed for a year, but I got involved with the other officers’ wives and ended up learning how to crochet.  I made blankets for newborns at the military hospital.  And I used that skill to make blankets for several of my grandchildren.  In Maine, during that first winter when I was unemployed and feeling very bitter about being in the coldest place I have ever lived, I sat in front of my window, watched it snow and poured out my dismay to the Lord as I crocheted a blanket that would fit a king-sized bed.  I call it the “blanket of the winter of my discontent.”  I was not a happy camper there!  But God showed me His favor my giving me the only Spanish teaching job in the county.  The teacher there retired the year I arrived, so I got the job the following fall.  But that was not all God did for me.  As I told him in my complaints to Him, I did not think that I could drive on those icy, snowy roads in the far north, so getting a job would have its own challenges.  God sent Joanne, a chaplain’s wife who taught math at the same school and who lived very close to me on the base.  Joanne offered to take me to school each day.  Unexpected blessings came into my life many times!  I would be willing to guess that many of you have unexpected blessings from your Heavenly Father who is your refuge and strength. Many times, God blessed me when I felt totally unworthy because all I had been doing was complaining.  But God loves me enough to listen to my whining and then bless me beyond what I could ever hope!  And you know what is amazing?  God loves you the same way…enough to bless you and give you hope.

Steven Curtis Chapman lost his little girl when she was only five years old.  It was a double tragedy because his teen-aged son did not see her in the driveway and ran over her with the family car.  Mr. Chapman could have thrown up his hands and said, “That’s it!  I’m done!  It’s too much, Lord!”  Instead, he poured his heart into his music.  His lovely wife wrote a book about this testimony and what their family went through.  Check out the book CHOOSING TO SEE by Mary Beth Chapman if you need inspiration for the tough times in your life.  Mr. Chapman continues to write beautiful worship songs to the Lord, knowing that one day he will see his beloved daughter again.  The song that I have included here is one of his newer ones and totally expresses what I am trying to say.

God has been faithful; He will be faithful.  Just believe and tell Him how you are feeling.  God can take your complaints and turn them into prayers from your heart.  Then, He can fulfill your heart’s desires even while you are afraid to reach out and believe any more.  I am not saying in any way that God is a fairy godfather, waiting to grant your wishes.  No!  There were many times in my life when I didn’t get want I wanted and was praying for, but instead I got what God wanted me to have, what was best for me at the time.  When I couldn’t find a job teaching in a public school in Pennsylvania, I taught in a Christian school there.  I stil feel the touch of two of the young teens I taught there:  Jamie and her brother Brandon were special students who loved the Lord but who struggled academically.  I was there for them because God sent me there.  He doesn’t just know my needs; He also knows the needs of others.  I was blessed beyond measure by being able to meet students like Jamie and Brandon and touch their lives just as they touched mine.  Yes, God is faithful. He is good!  His love for me will never end!  My confidence is in Him.  I pray that you know the freedom that comes from knowing God’s faithfulness and love for you.