Daddy nervously paced the floor just outside the Lee County emergency room in Ft. Myers Florida. Within the swinging doors lay his youngest child (only three years old), and his only son. The day before, my fever had been slowly rising, but overnight it soared to a dangerous 104o. At the moment, the team of physicians were immersing my tiny body in a tub filled with ice water; their hopes were that this sudden change in body temperature would slow the ever rising fever.
Outside the doors dad, mom, my older sister Cadi, and all the rest of my family had been praying that God might have mercy in this situation . . . ”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." (Prov. 3:5-6) . . .
My heart sank! I outwardly refused to believe that my granny might die, but inside I feared the worst. Just a couple of days earlier our family had spoken with her over the phone and everything seemed fine; now, however, she lay in the emergency room in Florida, while we were stuck a thousand miles away in Corbin Kentucky.
The doctors had told us that the chance of her having cancer was extemely high and she might not even live through the surgery it would take to try and remove it. But no matter what they said we were not going to settle for either option that man decided existed. Too often God had proved the doctors wrong because someone, somewhere, just as the women with the issue of blood, was touching the heart of God. This time, thank God, was no different. As the entire Nobles family awaited the results of the test, we prayed, pleading with God that he might remember the promise He had made to her some 20 years ago. Then to, the physicians believe cancer lay somewhere in her body, but through the prayer of an evangelist God removed it and promised her that cancer would never return to torment her anymore. With each waking moment we clung to this prophecy, crying out that God might have mercy . . . ”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." (Prov. 3:5-6) . . .
”Life," I thought, ”was moving to fast!" It seemed only last year that I turned fifteen and had begun high-school. Now I was nineteen, in my senior year, and contemplating getting a job. I didn’t know what had happened. I was not use to this kind of responsibility. Very quickly my mental state went from ”happy Christian" to ”angry adolescent", back and forth, back and forth, from one extreme to the other. Still, my own trials were not the only ones being faced; due to serious engine problems in our van, our family was being forced to buy a newer car. To do this however, would mean taking a rather large chunk out of the families savings, not to mention the loan. Yet to me none of our other problems seemed as big as me getting a job.
”What if God doesn’t want me to have a job? Perhaps I should pursue a ministry? What should I do Lord? What should I do!?" Questions such as these filled my mind when I awoke up in the mornings and in my prayers at night. I was concerned about keeping my grades up in school of course, but if I did something out of the will of God I would be sinning against Him; then the only thing that can come is death. Either spiritual or physical death I didn’t know, but there was one thing that I was sure of . . . ”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." (Prov. 3:5-6) . . .
In each of these instances our family was faced with hard situations, some of which seemed impossible. Yet it was only by the hand of God that we survived those trying days. Over my life God has done so many wonderful things, but as Christians’, we do not serve God because of what he has done or can do. We serve Him because He is the Almighty God, He created us, He formed all that is.
We do not serve God because it gets us an easier life; as a matter of fact, concerning the trials of this world, we have it no smoother than the lost soul down the street. During a Christian's life we will face many trials, yet through the grace that God has given us, we find comfort in the fact that if we "trust in the Lord with all our hearts; and lean not unto our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct our paths" (Prov. 3:5-6). |
