God's Love and Power

Now there's a title! Growing up with Joyce as my mother, I learned much about God's love and power.  You'd think that knowing of his love and power would have made for a life free of trials.  But no, that's not the case.  You see being a believer in God means having a faith that takes one through even the most difficult of times.  One of those times came my freshman year in high school. 

That year my father was in a trucking accident.  During a normal work day a semi-truck driver accidentally rear-ended my dad's semi-truck, causing him to rupture one or more discs in his back.  It caused him much pain and much diagnosing before it was discovered that he would need surgery.  That surgery meant that he would not be working.  And in the 1980's much like today, hourly work was hourly work.  Which in translation means, no work- no pay.  So my parents had a decision to make and they opted for surgery.  Harder yet was the fact that workman's comp was refusing to pay for his surgery or time off and we were without money. 

I remember my mom getting up early in the morning to deliver newspapers.  She did this so we had enough money to get by.  Even with this extra work, it was not enough.  As a family we watched as our finances dissipated.  Yet my mom never lost faith.  She would always say, God will provide.  Now Christmas was coming and my mom was busying herself with the fact that we would likely not have Christmas gifts. She mustered up all of her know how and started making gifts with whatever she could find in our home. 

At the same time, I was needing a dress for our high school band concert and we could not afford one.  Now one might think that it would only make sense that I just use an old dress that I already had.  That would be logical however the dress had to be white and I did not own a white dress.  

My mom and I went "window shopping" as we often did.  You see even when my parents did have a full income, we had very little and we only got new clothes once a year.  We looked at dress after dress.  And I found my favorite.  It was this beautiful white dress.  I looked at the price tag and knew that we could not afford it.  The dress was $25.  This was half of my yearly allotment.  Oh man, was I heartbroken.  But then I did something. I selfishly and silently prayed and asked God for this dress.  I prayed that somehow, even though we had no money, that God would help us earn enough money to buy this dress.  Now when you are 14, you are not very smart about money.  What on earth was I thinking?  Really?!  We didn't even get an allowance! None-the-less, I hoped that something would fall in my lap.  

To my surprise it did.  I will tell you however, it was not at all what I expected.  After church one Sunday the pastor told my mom that there was a package for her in the back.  We went to the back of the church and the package had my name on it.  I was confused and so was my mother.  I opened the package and what did I find?  A dress.  Not just any dress though.  It was a white dress!  THE white dress I prayed for!  Wow!  What an answer to prayer!  But that's not all.  The wonderful person who purchased the dress for me, also bought my sister a sweater and a pair of pink corduroy pants.  We all sat there in awe.  My mom had tears rolling down her face as I said, "This is the dress I prayed for!"  

Now you may be a skeptic, and you may think this is all coincidence, but there is absolutely no way anyone would have known I prayed for this dress.  I told no one.  And there is no way my mother would have told anyone either because she and my father were far to proud to ask for a handout or to tell someone they couldn't afford a dress.  After all- my mom was the queen of saying, "God will provide."  And he did.  It was probably the first time I ever really had a prayer answered by God.  It was one of the first and many that he's answered. I since have learned to pray for things that are much less concrete and far more eternal.

 And with each prayer, I have the privilege of seeing his Love and Power unfold in my life.

On a side note- I cherished that dress so much that I had my senior pictures taken in it.  This is a special thanks to whoever listened to God that day and bought the dress!  

With that I share with you Pastor Joyce's word today on God's Love and Power. 

God’s Love and Power

God spoke to the people of Israel this timeless message through the Prophet Hosea when He said in Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” They had been told of His redemptive nature and shown His great love for them as nation that He chose to deliver from the jaws of the world.  Yet they did not call on Him nor did they heed His direction that would bring to them abundant blessings.  In other words they refused to believe in that which they could not see and were captured by the things they saw.

We then, body of Christ, are no different than those who failed to grasp how great the Father’s love for them is. We read about it and know about it but we tend to stop at comprehending that it is cast abroad in our hearts by Him who gave His only Son for our ‘once and for all redemption’.  “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.” (John 3:16)

He didn’t stop there; according to Ephesians 2:17-19 it states, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you, being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend…and know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Plus we are seated with Christ in heavenly places and given authority over all the principalities and powers and might and dominion.

No enemy can stand against us because we are one in Christ and from the throne of grace we have been given a position of authority.  When we by faith believe this truth we will no longer make petition to the Father from what we see in the world; but we will prayer the prayers of the Father from the position of authority where we are in Christ and pray the will of the Father from heaven to earth.

Stand on His word and know that the powers and principalities of this world have no dominion over us and we will not be destroyed because of our lack of knowledge.