February 6, 2006 – ONCE I WAS BLIND, BUT NOW I SEE!
Job 42:5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.
You can know God and understand His power and great love through His mighty works in our lives. Have you really experienced God? (Experience is defined as “something personally lived through or encountered.”) Are you learning things about God from those experiences? I have had many say to me that they have never really heard from God through experiencing Him in their daily walk. Jesus said: John 10:3 The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I believe the key to a closer walk with God is “staying within hearing distance” of Him. We have to want to be close to God. In fact, it should be an all consuming passion! Our lives are busy and we are confronted with good and evil happenings, and our relationship with God will determine “victory or defeat.”
Looking back over my life, I shudder to think of my life without God in it. Because of Jesus Christ I have experienced things and been taught essential truths that I never could have known on my own. Every time satan has sent a flood against me, God has taken charge and out of it I have received an unforgettable experience. I prize my experiences with God more than any of the world’s treasures. God is not a respecter of persons. What He has done for me, He wants to do for you; even greater things will He do. He loves us all the same. Hebrews 10:16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” 17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful
I always thought I could never live alone. The fear of being alone had always pursued me. I have been married almost 60 years. And when the time came for my husband to be placed in a care home because of Alzheimer’s, I didn’t think I could stand it. God is all-sufficient and I have never been happier and less alone. God took charge and made a path for me through the wilderness. The path was filled with His blessings and goodness. I could never have accomplished on my own the things He did for me. His presence brings my greatest happiness.
God did some things for me I never dreamed possible. He sold my old home immediately and so I had to move. He gave me a home I knew I could only dream about. There was a list of 50 people wanting to own the house so they decided to have a drawing. All I know is that I received a call saying the house was mine. All praise belongs to God! He has met my every need spiritually and from the standpoint of everyday needs.
He also did another important thing for me. My dog was very old and I felt I should get another to keep me company. I pondered in my heart and talked to God about it. I could not come up with the breed of dog I wanted and would meet my needs. One day I was in my kitchen and a thought came into my mind telling me to look in the paper for a dog that was being given away. Out of curiosity I searched the ads and there was a single ad to give away a stray dog. I called the man and he said he would bring the dog to me (this was important because I could not leave my husband to go see the dog). I told Him I did not want a male dog and I wanted a small dog. Two hours later this man walked into my backyard with a male Australian shepherd (not female and not very small) and it was love at first sight. When God gives a gift, He gives His children the very best. I have never owned a dog like him or a more perfect animal for me. I look into his face and remember that he is God’s gift to me. God loves and cares for His children. He will supply our every need and He alone knows what we really need. Jeremiah 33:3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’
Human love can fail us. We can trust in a husband, a dear friend, or a relative and end up feeling betrayed, but you will never experience that with God. Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. 1Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. I can truly say that God has never disappointed me in the way He led me, the trials He put me through, or in any of the blessings or gifts He gave me. James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. Mark 7:37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
When God is in charge of your life, He makes your way perfect. Man never reaches perfection without God, but God in His very essence is “perfect” and He does a perfect work in us. 2Samuel 22:33 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.
GOD IS LOVE. Jeremiah 31:3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. When our first love is God we are under divine protection and blessings beyond our imagination. Psalms 91:14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. Hosea 11:4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.
Make Christ your hiding place from the storms and evil snares of satan. Psalms 32:7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah Psalms 119:114 You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. Psalms 68:34 Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the skies. 35 You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!
Anyone who trusts in the Lord will never be disappointed. Psalms 40:4 Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false Gods. Isaiah 57:13 When you cry out for help, let your collection of idols save you! The wind will carry all of them off, a mere breath will blow them away. But the man who makes me his refuge will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain .”
THE GREATEST ADVICE TO THE WORLD IS: Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
