Don't Give Up!
Today i was privileged to see one of my grandsons get baptized. He is ten years old. Now I have attended baptisms of my other grandchildren, and I pretty much had the same reaction as I did today – weeping with tears of joy at the witness of God’s handiwork. Today however, my heart was particularly touched as I remembered sitting in my kitchen in a former house – looking outside at a garage roof falling in – and then going around the house and seeing a barren wasteland on every side of the house. How my heart was heavy that day – I couldn’t see how even God could transform that situation!
And yet, I got up from that slump- and probably put on some music – and I kept going, I kept praying, I kept being faithful at church, I kept trying to teach my children the things that God had revealed to me in His Word.
I don’t know when it happened, and I don’t know how it happened – much of the years of God’s answering my prayers were embedded in the joy of their growing up, going to school, getting married, and beginning their families. But after a few years I knew – that God had indeed heard me – that all those years of asking God, not for riches, or fame, but to save my children – had become a reality. One by one – I began to see the manifestation of what had only been a dream – I began to hear their testimonies, I saw their lifestyles – I knew God had indeed come and made His abode in them.
And so today as I watched my grandson – once again I knew of the faithfulness of a God who would let me see my children’s children give their hearts and lives to the Lord. The words of the Psalmist are ablaze in my heart:
1 O my people, listen to my instructions. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past— 5 For he issued his laws to Jacob;
Open your ears to what I am saying,
2 for I will speak to you in a parable.
3 stories we have heard and known,
stories our ancestors handed down to us.
4 We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
about his power and his mighty wonders.
he gave his instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children,
6 so the next generation might know them—
even the children not yet born—
and they in turn will teach their own children.
7 So each generation should set its hope anew on God,
not forgetting his glorious miracles
and obeying his commands.
8 Then they will not be like their ancestors—
stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
refusing to give their hearts to God.
God brought me from a pagan background and showed me He is faithful to perform those things that He promised – I say to you, don’t you ever give up!
God Bless You,
Maria
Praise God!