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No matter the discouragements, shortfalls, tragedies or trials that come
our way, we can rest in the hope that is the Lord Jesus Christ. With Him
in our lives all will be well. Do not allow the fear of this world to take
root in your heart. Stand strong and confident knowing that God holds this
earth in the palms of His Hands and nothing by any means shall harm you.
If we allow our circumstances to cause us to worry or become anxious about
what the future holds, then we are not showing our steadfast faith in God
Almighty. The Lord Jesus has promised that He would never leave us nor
forsake us. In Him is life and there is no death. No matter what may be
going wrong in your life today, know that God loves you and wishes for you
to trust Him. The Bible tells us to rest in the Lord as we read in Psalm
37:4-6 “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and He shall give thee the
desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him;
and He shall bring it to pass. And He shall bring forth thy righteousness
as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.” (2 Timothy 1:7) (Jeremiah 32:17)
I hope this message ministers to your heart to trust in the Lord at all
times. Many instances in life we do not fully understand why certain
things happen the way they do, but if we trust that God has our best
interest in mind, our hearts can rest easy knowing that we are in good hands.
JACK'S LILY
A barking dog in the distance brought Jack out of his sleep and back into
consciousness. He lay in the prison cell and curses the emptiness, the
loneliness, the blackness around him. Morning was about to dawn, ushering
in the anniversary of Lily's first visit. Lily had been all that mattered
to him in the world. From the day when she was born, she was fragile and
sweet like the morning breeze blowing through a field of lilies. No other
name would have done her justice. But Lily never had a chance. When she was
two, her mother walked out, announcing that she did not want to be tied
down to a crippled child.
Jack wiped the cold sweat from his brow. Hatred and self pity overcame him
out of the depth of his conscience. He never knew where his wife went, but
his life hit a downward path--too much drinking and gambling, too many
fights. He recalled with an oath that the last fight over a game of cards
when tempers and blood ran hot together. He was doing time now on a
manslaughter conviction.
Lily had lived out her days in a crippled children's home. She never walked
in her five short years of life. The only kind spot in Jack's heart was for
the nice elderly couple who had cared for Lily in the home. Jack stared at
the ceiling remembering every detail of Lily's last visit. Her yellow straw
bonnet stuck up just right on top of her yellow curls, making a frame for
her doll-like face. Eyes, blue like sapphires, flashed at him behind the
wire screen that separated them in the visiting room. Both dimples showed
when she smiled. A dress of yellow ruffles and ribbons hid the thinness of
her body and made her look every inch of living Lily that she was.
Jack sat up, cringing at the memory of the spotted lily his own Lily had
brought him. She had hugged the clay pot before she let go of it. Then she
said, “Daddy, this is me. I am going to be with you all the time. Every
time you see this lily think of me, for I am your Lily!”
Lily soon had to wave goodbye, but the blooming lily remained to brighten
his world of gloom, filling his cell with the slightest suggestion of
perfume, so light, so alive, so pure! Not even the foul prison air stifled
it! A thousand times a day Jack had stared at the blossom, looking though
misty eyes into the face of Lily, “Daddy, this is me,” the silent blossom
cried into his heart. Tender care kept the plant alive. Jack dreamed of the
day when he would walk from this prison a free man. He would take her away,
down south where the sunshine would bring color to her cheeks and a smile
to her face.
However, one night Jack's world caved in. The chaplain had tried to soften
the shock with words of hope, but it was no use. Lily had died. Pneumonia.
Jack folded the telegram and stalked out of the chaplains office with head
held low. From that night on he was like a man walking in his sleep.
Nothing had mattered anymore. Nothing.
The next day, as he moved the fading plant to a sunny spot, his hands
trembled and he dropped it. The stem snapped as the pot smashed into pieces
on the cement floor. Jack was stunned--too stunned to move for a long time.
Then, dropping to his knees, he gathered the fragments of clay, earth, and
plant and molded them into a mound in the corner of his cell. Lily was
dead--the mound of dirt was her grave. “daddy, this is me.” Jack turned
away. He could not endure the sight of her lonely grave.
A buzzer brought Jack out of his memories and to his feet. Lights blinked
on as he listened to a shuffle of feet. Then he remembered. There was going
to be a sunrise service in the chapel. It was still dark. No service for
him he thought. Never! Lily was dead and with her had died all his hopes
and dreams. There was only one thing left for him to do and that was to
hang himself. As he walked toward the window Jack glanced down and froze in
his tracks. The lily, which had lain in its grave for a year, had burst
into life! A lily blossom stood in triumph on the dirt tomb. “THIS IS ME,
DADDY, THIS IS ME!” The words rang like a silver bell in Jack's heart. He
bowed his head as hot tears rolled down his face and dropped to the floor.
Jack found a seat in the chapel just as the chaplain rose from behind a
bank of lilies, opened his Bible and began to read, “Jesus is the
resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believeth in Me shall never die.
Believest thou this.” John 11:25-26
Jack leaned forward. He did not know the Bible said this. In fact, he never
read the Bible. The chaplain explained the way to receive forgiveness of
sins. Suddenly Jack felt his sins heavy as mountains weighing down upon
him. Would God forgive him? “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8, explained the chaplain. Jack fell on his knees in earnest
prayer and confessed his sins to God and trusting the Lord Jesus Christ who
died for him. Romans 10:9 When he rose to his feet, he knew his load of sin
and guilt was all gone! He was forgiven! He was filled with peace and joy!
Later tears of joy filled his eyes as he knelt to pray beside the blooming
lily in his cell. Someday he would meet Lily in Heaven. Jack was not alone
now. He felt the sweet presence of his Savior who promises to “Never leave
you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5
Author Unknown
Read and meditate on these scriptures:
Psalm 84:11-12 “For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give
grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk
uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee.”
Romans 8:14-17 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons
of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of
God, and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,
if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
1 Peter 2:9-10 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy
nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who
hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light: Which in time
past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not
obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”
Proverbs 3:5-8 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto
thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall
direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart
from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.”
All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible.
Today’s Selected Poem: GOD IS ALREADY THERE
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/enpoem107.htm
Today’s Selected Testimony: GOD IS FAITHFUL
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony118.htm
In Christ’s Service,
Dwayne Savaya
God’s Work Ministry |
