The world around us is changing every day.  You can’t blink without something being different.  Business can be booming one second, and the bottom falling out of the bucket the next.  In these uncertain times, how can we be certain about anything?I think every generation has asked that very question, and you’d think after all this time people would learn to look how history seems to repeat itself.  People keep making the same mistakes over and over, but somehow expecting a different outcome, and it just doesn’t make any sense.  You’d think we would wise up as we get older, wouldn’t you?

Instead of getting up in the morning and thanking God for all He has blessed us with, we are still suffering from the “half empty glass syndrome”.  Just last night my computer crashed, and I mean, big time.  I had every opportunity to get real upset and lose my peace.  But in the past when that happened and I came unglued, it didn’t help fix anything.  As I said, history seems to repeat itself.  This isn’t the first time I’ve suffered a major computer crash.  The only thing different about this time is that I just started praising God and didn’t let it bother me.  Oh, it was a big issue with me, but this time I wasn’t going to lose any sleep over it.  I did everything that I knew to do in the natural about it, and when that didn’t work, I just praised God some more that everything would be ok, and went to bed.  Believe it or not, I got a good night’s sleep.
 
This morning I called Todd, our web host, and Mr. Cool Hand Luke told me how to fix it.  He turned what could have been an absolute panic situation into a minor inconvenience.  It’s nice to have someone dependable in my corner when I’m in way over my head in computer doo-doo.  Know what I mean?  Which brings me to what I want to write about today….

When times are hard, we need something to turn to.  Even Batman, when times are hard, turns to Robin…   (pun intended)   Have you ladies ever noticed when you’re traveling in unfamiliar territory that your husband never seems to be lost?  I remember years ago traveling from Missouri to Greencastle, Indiana to see my Mom.  No way to get lost, just go East.  I’d made the trip many times.  My Beloved and I were talking, and at one point she asked my if we were on the right road.  Sure we were.  I knew my way home….  Then she asked why the sign said Springfield (Illinois).  Beats me!  Maybe somebody moved the sign? I could have kept driving north and never have gotten to Mom’s.  But instead of continuing on the wrong road, I got out the map, rather than trying to convince my wife that north was the closest way to east.  Sometimes you just gotta admit you messed up and lick the pie off your face and go on.  Why is it though, that some people are just too stubborn to change direction?

With the economy going sour and people losing their retirements and savings, you’d think they would stop asking for people’s advice, and start asking someone who knows more than they do…GOD.    Proverbs 14:12 says, There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Instead of going into panic mode, and asking every Tom, Dick, and Harry what to do, we need to be going into the Throne Room and asking GOD what to do.  He knows, and I believe He would have YOU know, too.  Do you think God gets any glory out of His kids being broke or losing their life savings?  Nope, not at all.  He would much rather you go to Him and say, Father, what do You want me to do?  Your next best course of action would be then to obey Him.

Today’s uncertainties would make us want to hold onto what money we have, but yet the Lord told me this week to give to another ministry that is struggling, so I did.  Never mind that we needed that money for our own ministry expenses.   But I felt good about doing it because I knew it was from the Lord.  And guess what?  I don’t have to worry how our bills would be paid, because the Lord will see to it.  How?  Don’t know, and don’t care.  That’s not my job.  But how many of YOU are willing to give when you are staring at the “bare”, meaning bare cupboard, bare refrigerator, bare bank account?  It becomes a matter of trusting God, and so many of us trust ourselves more than God.   Are you on God’s “TRUSTS GOD” list?

Let me tell you what the LORD told me years ago, it will help you.  “When you are driving down the road and another car is coming toward you in the other lane, do you pull off the road and wait until they pass by?  No, you just keep right on driving, and they pass by you just inches away from your mirror.  Don’t you realize the person who is driving that other vehicle could be drunk, or on drugs, or suicidal, or they could be about to have a blowout and lose control of their vehicle?  They could end your life in a heartbeat, and yet you put your very life in a stranger’s hands hundreds of times a day and never give it a thought.  If you could trust Me just that much, I could work wonders in your lives.  That’s all I’m asking for, just trust Me like you trust that stranger!”  I’ve learned to do that, and it has changed my whole life, and my whole outlook on God’s leading.

EVERYTHING WE HAVE BELONGS TO THE LORD, whether we’re willing to admit it or not.  So when we decide we will do thing OUR way, we’re not seeing the big picture that God sees.  Truth be known, all we are is stewards of what God puts in our hands.  That means God owns it, and He alone has the right to tell us whether to keep it, spend it, invest it, or send it elsewhere.  But stubborn ole us, we think we know better than God how to take care of our finances, or for that matter, everything else.

When my computer crashed, I could have panicked and took it to the shop and spent a bunch fixing it.  After all, I had a deadline to meet with my newsletter, and I could have stayed up all night working on it, but the Lord had another idea, just let Him deal with it.  My flesh wanted to do it my way, but thank God, I listened to the leading of the Holy Spirit instead.  Boy, you’d think after all these years I’ve been in the ministry, that would be so easy.  But the flesh will always be at enmity with the Spirit so long as we live.  God was trying to save me time and money, but my flesh was trying to be boss.  I came out ok, but it could have been worse, much worse.

There are those of you out there who for one reason or another have not been listening to God as carefully as you should have been, and maybe you’ve been trying to use your own logic, and it’s cost you dearly.  When will you ever learn that if you continue to do that, you’ll always have the same results?  Listen!  This is no time to be listening to ungodly counsel or your friends who are as broke as you are.   This is the time to get on your knees before God, and stay there until He tells you clearly what to do, then just do it!  Do it even if it defies your logic.  After all, we’re not as smart as we think we are.  If we were, we would be so rich we would have to be sending out shiploads of money every day just to get it out of our way here.

God has all the answers, and the only way we will get them is by knee-mail.  When times are hard, you have to remember one thing….times are never hard in heaven.  God is never in recession, and they’re not laying off the Angels.  Jesus is not on strike for more money, and God has not wrecked His chariot.  Nor has He had to hock the Pearly Gates to pay the note on the Throne Room.  He seems to have a handle on things there as the Creator of the Universe.  I’d say He well qualified to lead every one of us through hard times in such a way that will astound the rest of the world who is not listening to Him.

On a positive note, I’d like to let you know about my PhD…. I’m PAST HAVING DOUBTS.  I’m no longer relying on my own experience or wisdom to light my path, and you shouldn’t either.  That’s the LORD’S job.  All we have to do is listen to Him, and we will all do just fine.   I have no doubt God will lead all His children through the valley of the shadow of death.
 
He has specifically told me, Though you may go through the valley of the shadow of death, DON’T FORWARD YOUR MAIL THERE.  YOU’RE NOT STAYING THERE!  YOU’RE GOING THROUGH….NOT MOVING THERE.

 I believe that’s a word for whosoever will seize it and run with it.  We have a choice before us today, and that is to try to work things out on our own, or let God work them out for us.  As for me, I see the wisdom in letting God lead me, because frankly, I’m just not that smart.  If I can get lost going to Mom’s house, I can surely lose my way in other areas of life as well.

I saw a bumper sticker on a car recently, “DON’T FOLLOW ME, I’M LOST.”
GOD SAYS, FOLLOW ME…I’M NOT LOST