Face to Face > Devotions > Burial Of The Most Important Gift
Burial Of The Most Important Gift
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.
So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything,
but only God, who makes things grow.
(1 Corinthians 3:6, 7)
So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything,
but only God, who makes things grow.
(1 Corinthians 3:6, 7)
Read: Matthew 13:1-8, 18-23 - The Parable of the Sower
Several years ago I shared my story with Peggy, a childhood neighbor. I shared the account of my then recent experience of submitting to Christ, a humbling and freeing experience. Submission born of need, the need to know Someone more powerful than myself had my husband’s health in His control. I was unable to properly care for my husband and offer relief from a 104° temperature. The doctor seemed dispassionate to my desperate phone call in the middle
of the night. He said that as long as my husband was not dehydrated he would be fine. His response gave little relief to my fears and helplessness.
I explained to Peggy how the trial only lasted eight days, but through God’s grace I was literally brought to my knees. I recalled how on the sixth morning of my husband’s illness I forgot to eat breakfast, and after nursing my newborn my body gave out. I barely had the strength to lay my baby down and crawl to the kitchen and retrieve leftovers from the bottom shelf of the fridge.
I described how out of this seeming defeat I reached out to my mother-in-law, who had been begging to come and help care for my husband. I explained how I called my sister-in-law to come take our three year old, and how I asked my Mom and sisters for help with errands. I recounted how when my sister-in-law arrived she asked if there was anything else she could do. It was then that I realized my need for an all-powerful God and I humbly asked that Steve be put on the prayer list at our church.
I turned to God, in Whom I needed to trust. My pride and self-dependence crumbled, I surrendered my inadequacies, and trusted God. I knew that God was not only capable of carrying my burdens, but that He was patiently waiting to do so. I released my husband, our three week old, our three year old, and my own weakened body into the hands of God.
God faithfully received me and comforted me as our family rallied to care for us. Within a few days my husband’s fever broke and he quickly recovered.
Motivated by gratitude for God’s loving care and for Christ’s selfless act on the cross, I joined the church I had sat in for sixteen years. God responded with giving me a passion to know Him and study His word.
Peggy rejoiced with me as I told my story. Then she reminded me of a young girl who had pledged her faith to Christ many years ago at her church’s Vacation Bible School. She said that I had heard the good news of salvation through faith in Christ and that I had read the sinners prayer. She carefully uncovered what I had buried in my remembering.
An infant baptism and an act of faith as a young girl, yet I had still chosen to live many years denying Christ. But the Lord gave me perspective of a
life that was guided by His love and care despite my burial, my rejection of the most important gift.
I received understanding and began to look upon my life with new clarity. I could see for the first time how God placed two wonderful Christian families in my childhood to live out an example and expose me to the message of salvation in Christ alone. Seeing God’s hand guide my friendship with a young man and use it as a foundation for a life together. I saw how God used my respect for my husband to attend church regularly, despite my unbelief, and exposed me to the truth of God’s word.
Several years ago I shared my story with Peggy, a childhood neighbor. I shared the account of my then recent experience of submitting to Christ, a humbling and freeing experience. Submission born of need, the need to know Someone more powerful than myself had my husband’s health in His control. I was unable to properly care for my husband and offer relief from a 104° temperature. The doctor seemed dispassionate to my desperate phone call in the middle
of the night. He said that as long as my husband was not dehydrated he would be fine. His response gave little relief to my fears and helplessness.
I explained to Peggy how the trial only lasted eight days, but through God’s grace I was literally brought to my knees. I recalled how on the sixth morning of my husband’s illness I forgot to eat breakfast, and after nursing my newborn my body gave out. I barely had the strength to lay my baby down and crawl to the kitchen and retrieve leftovers from the bottom shelf of the fridge.
I described how out of this seeming defeat I reached out to my mother-in-law, who had been begging to come and help care for my husband. I explained how I called my sister-in-law to come take our three year old, and how I asked my Mom and sisters for help with errands. I recounted how when my sister-in-law arrived she asked if there was anything else she could do. It was then that I realized my need for an all-powerful God and I humbly asked that Steve be put on the prayer list at our church.
I turned to God, in Whom I needed to trust. My pride and self-dependence crumbled, I surrendered my inadequacies, and trusted God. I knew that God was not only capable of carrying my burdens, but that He was patiently waiting to do so. I released my husband, our three week old, our three year old, and my own weakened body into the hands of God.
God faithfully received me and comforted me as our family rallied to care for us. Within a few days my husband’s fever broke and he quickly recovered.
Motivated by gratitude for God’s loving care and for Christ’s selfless act on the cross, I joined the church I had sat in for sixteen years. God responded with giving me a passion to know Him and study His word.
Peggy rejoiced with me as I told my story. Then she reminded me of a young girl who had pledged her faith to Christ many years ago at her church’s Vacation Bible School. She said that I had heard the good news of salvation through faith in Christ and that I had read the sinners prayer. She carefully uncovered what I had buried in my remembering.
An infant baptism and an act of faith as a young girl, yet I had still chosen to live many years denying Christ. But the Lord gave me perspective of a
life that was guided by His love and care despite my burial, my rejection of the most important gift.
I received understanding and began to look upon my life with new clarity. I could see for the first time how God placed two wonderful Christian families in my childhood to live out an example and expose me to the message of salvation in Christ alone. Seeing God’s hand guide my friendship with a young man and use it as a foundation for a life together. I saw how God used my respect for my husband to attend church regularly, despite my unbelief, and exposed me to the truth of God’s word.
So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
(Isaiah 55:11)
but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
(Isaiah 55:11)
God led me to a Christian counselor, who gave me hope without preaching, a much needed perspective which saved my marriage, and later instruction that I
desperately needed as a young mother.
Each experience grew the fragile faith that lay beneath, the faith that had been buried so many years earlier, a tender faith that had been nurtured by committed believers over the years and had slowly taken root. Finally that faith had burst forth into a personal relationship with Jesus Who is “…the way and the truth and the life…” (John 14:6)
Thank You Lord, for never leaving that young girl, thank you for guiding me despite years of arrogant denial and rebellion, praise You Lord for loving me enough to bring me to my knees and wake me from a life of pride and self-dependence. Thank You for the gift of faith given to an undeserving sinner like me. May I diligently share the good news of salvation through faith in Christ and encourage others like so many have done for me, in Jesus’ name I pray,
Amen.
desperately needed as a young mother.
Each experience grew the fragile faith that lay beneath, the faith that had been buried so many years earlier, a tender faith that had been nurtured by committed believers over the years and had slowly taken root. Finally that faith had burst forth into a personal relationship with Jesus Who is “…the way and the truth and the life…” (John 14:6)
Thank You Lord, for never leaving that young girl, thank you for guiding me despite years of arrogant denial and rebellion, praise You Lord for loving me enough to bring me to my knees and wake me from a life of pride and self-dependence. Thank You for the gift of faith given to an undeserving sinner like me. May I diligently share the good news of salvation through faith in Christ and encourage others like so many have done for me, in Jesus’ name I pray,
Amen.
By: Kathy Dork
September 9, 2013
September 9, 2013