Devotions

I was reminded recently about the seasons of our life. We are each in differing seasons of life. Some of us are right where we want to be. Some of us are not. Some don’t particularly like where we are now, we want it to be different, something new or exciting; or we want it to be what it used to be.

A verse in Ecclesiastes 9:10 helped me through a particularly difficult season of life a while back: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” 

That verse carried me through what some have described as a “dark night of the soul.” It was a time when I could not sense God’s presence at all. I did not hear His voice. The heavens felt like brass when I prayed. I had no friend nor family near me. I had left a ministry I loved and had nothing to take its place. I wondered what I had done wrong to be where I was at that point in time.

But I did what the verse in Ecclesiastes 9:10 commanded. When I saw a need, I tried to fill it. When I saw someone struggling, I spoke about the love and beauty of the LORD.

I don’t think anyone knew what was going on in my own soul then—I felt that this was between the LORD and me. I somehow knew that if I remained faithful to “do what my hand found with all my might,” one day the dawn would break, and that dark night would be over.  And, of course, it did.

We may not be where we want to be at this moment – maybe yearning for something new and exciting or desperately wanting to go back to when things were different – but we can be assured that wherever we are, God is with us. We just need to do whatever our hand finds to do – with all our might!

September 9, 1966, I remember this date well. I was living in California working for the State of California Nursing Board. It was a holiday for us – California Admission Day, the celebration of the date California was admitted to the Union.  It ended up being more than that.

I had met a young man, a former Marine, handsome, funny (he was 26, I was 19). We had our first date on August 11. On September 9 we went out to dinner and then up to Folsom Dam overlook to watch the sunset. As the night fell, we decided to get married. It wasn’t a formal proposal, no ring yet. In fact, Bob claims I asked him. I thought he asked me. After a few years of marriage, we figured out no one had really asked anyone, it was all a misunderstanding.

(I did ask him to marry me 25 years later when we celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary – so I guess after 52 ½ (now 54 ½) years we can no longer claim it was a misunderstanding!)

In Christianity, there are different views about how we become part of the family of God.  The two main views (and there are dozens of sub-views) are Calvinism and Arminianism. Simply (very simply) defined, God chooses completely whom He wants—man has no part in it (Calvinism); or God invites “whosoever will” – and man makes a choice (Arminianism).  I have had people come unglued if I mention something that they do not consider part of their viewpoint. One man became so angry he threw his Bible on the floor and stomped out of a Bible Study.

So, if you meet me on the street one day and ask me what view I hold, I’m going to tell you that I don’t know, and honestly, I don’t care who started it, I am just so thankful someone did! God may have asked me, or I may have “found God” and asked Him. Maybe it all happened at once. But, it’s a bit like my “engagement,” it doesn’t really matter after all this time; I am just so thankful that I am a child of God.

1 John 3:1: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”