Tag / life

by In Light Of The Cross

Luke 4; Purpose for Every Life

William

I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

Luke 4:28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 
 4:29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. 
 4:30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way.

  

From the moment Jesus was born, Satan used Herod and countless others to try and destroy the life of Jesus, thus trying to prevent Him from accomplishing His purpose in this world. We can be sure too, that in this world of uncertainty, Satan is also trying to destroy our lives before we accomplish God’s purpose for us in this world.  However, like Jesus we can be sure that if we belong to God that He will preserve our lives until we have accomplished His purpose for us. Below is a remarkable account of Ellen Harmon, a young girl, no more than eighteen years old. She is on a steamboat leaving Portland Maine that has just run into a very dangerous storm. While many were fearful for their lives, read the wise response of this young girl when asked by an older woman why she was not afraid like everyone else. “ I told her I had made Christ my refuge, and if my work was done, I might as well lie in the bottom of the ocean as in any other place; but if my work was not done, all the waters of the ocean could not drown me. My trust was in God, that he would bring us safe to land if it was for his glory. “Life Sketches, p. 241

  

God did indeed have a work for Ellen to do. He has a purpose for each of us. Our goal in this world should not necessarily be to live a long life, but to live a faithful life. As long as we have the assurance young Ellen Harmon had, that we are in God’s care and doing God’s work the longevity of our life is non consequential, and we shall be prepared to walk away from this world either by death or the Second Coming at any time.

  

Each has his own experience, peculiar in its character and circumstances, to accomplish a certain work. God has a work, a purpose, in the life of each of us. Every act, however small, has its place in our life experience.  – Testimonies Volume 3 Page 541

by In Light Of The Cross

My Most Precious Memories

Tampa 003

I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

This morning I got a call from my doctor. He sounded very cheerful and told me he had good news! Immediately I thought he must have just saved a bunch of money on his car insurance by switching to Geico. He laughed and told me no, that he had better news than that! My CPK blood count which had been as high as 1400 over the weekend was now at a perfect 78! He told me all of my blood work was perfect and that I have totally recovered. My hand is even writing good now or at least as good as it did before all this started.

 

Again I can’t begin to thank everyone for all their prayers and concerns! As I have stated in a previous blog from a few weeks ago I have always enjoyed good health and have rarely been sick. Having been so sick I now have a greater sympathy for those who are sick. While this sickness came and went very fast (Thank God!) it has left me with several lessons which I shall not soon forget and the first one is sympathy towards others. I hope to be more caring and sympathetic with those in pain.

 

I have also been very humbled at the calling God has given me to share the gospel. Many of you have shared with me that your concern was not for me alone but even more so for my ministry and the gospel. I have been very touched and humbled by people’s appreciation of the gospel ministry and their earnest desire for me to share the gospel with others. This is a trust that I have always treasured but now I treasure and cherish this calling ten times more than I ever have before.

 

Ever since I was four years old I knew I would be preaching the gospel. I grew up seeing myself as a public speaker. In the darkest hours of my sickness I had a personal revelation. Of course now that I have recovered I laugh at myself now for thinking that I may not recover, but there were a few hours there where I was not sure what was going to happen and when I thought the worse may occur, what I was most afraid to say goodbye to was not publicly preaching but rather all the families and individuals I have made friends with in personal one on one Bible studies. I have always enjoyed those personal studies, and the people I have met doing them, but I had no idea just how precious they were to me. In my darkest hour those moments in people’s homes, with our Bibles open were the most precious memories I had!! Thank God by His grace there will be many more precious moments to come!!!

By the way, the doctor says it was most likely a bug bite.