God's Faithfulness In Times Of Change
"Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:30-31). God still gives us "signs" of His presence in our lives.
In November 19921 was asked to give a devotion to our Leaders Council. As I began praying about what to share I sensed that the Lord wanted me to talk about His faithfulness in times of change. At that moment this subject seemed to have little relevance in my life and I thought I should probably talk about some other topic to which I could more readily relate. But as I continued to pray about it, God still impressed this same subject on my heart.
As I was finishing preparations for the talk my husband, Les, arrived home early from a business trip. I told him I was preparing for a devotional I was to give the following morning and asked about his trip. He suggested that I give him my devotional first; then he would tell me about his trip.
When I finished Les had tears in his eyes. He said, "God gave you that devotional for me. I lost my job today." When I gave the amended devotional the next morning, I learned that the husbands of two other women had also lost their jobs the previous day. That was God's first miraculous sign, nearly five years ago.
Les determined that he would get up at his usual time each morning and go through his normal routine; then he would work on his search for a job. This he did faithfully, but month after month passed and still no job.
It seems that God does not supply us with a reservoir of grace but waits until we need it, then gives it lavishly. The next "sign" came the same month Les' severance pay ran out. He received a totally unexpected letter from the parent company of the subsidiary he had worked for, asking how he would prefer to receive his retirement pension. That same month he was contacted by a business acquaintance who asked if he would be interested in doing a project for his company on a consulting basis.
When other companies in the industry learned he was consulting, they began asking him to do work for them as well. At that same time a company Les had worked for years earlier contacted him to say that he was now eligible for their pension benefits!
Because the Lord had prepared us so well, I was able to carry on with unwavering faith - until almost 18 months had passed. Discouragement is one of the enemy's weapons and one morning he hit me with this weapon. When I sat down for my quiet time with the Lord, I asked Him: "Lord, why are you letting this go on so long? I don't understand." I opened my devotional book, and the Scripture reading for that day was, "'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"'(Jeremiah 29:11). I went off to Leaders Council with a lighter heart. The devotional given that morning was from Jeremiah 29:11! Surely this was no coincidence. To put the icing on the cake, when I went to a luncheon that day, our Coordinator handed me an envelope and said, "This is your birthday card. I'm sorry it is so late." I took one look at the card and said, "Oh, no, Robin. You are not late; God intended for you to give this card to me today." The verse which was printed on the front of the card was Jeremiah 29:11! Three times in one day the Lord brought that verse to my attention. He was reassuring me that He had plans for our future; I simply had to trust Him. To me this was another "sign" from the Lord!
My husband was without a steady job for four years, yet all the while he was busy with interesting and valuable work. He even did one project for the government of Egypt when they decided it was time to update the river transportation system Cleopatra had used.
God is so good! There were only two months during the entire four years when we had no earned income. But even that was a gift because He used those two months to show us clearly that He is in control; it is He who provides.
Back in the seventies Les bought some stock in a private company to help a friend out of a financial bind. During one of those two "incomeless" months, an envelope arrived from that private company and inside was a check, a special dividend due to record earnings. During the second such month, Les opened the mail and told me with a lump in his throat that the Lord had done it again! This time it was a check for his share of some bonds his mother had owned and of which we had no prior knowledge!