Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Week 1 • Wednesday

God's Blessing to Me
by Janet Elms

Psalms 1:1-3 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit at the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night.

In 1997 I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. That was a lot to deal with emotionally. At that time, I was volunteering on Saturdays to work with teens at Five Pines Ministries. Because of my diagnosis, I decided to take a break from volunteering. I really felt like I needed to spend more time praying and studying the Word. I needed answers. I was going to have to start treatment for my MS and I wasn't sure if I would be able to afford it. The shots were about $1000 for a month. During the couple of months off, I felt God laying it on my heart that I should share my testimony with the teens. I had never done that before. I don't like speaking in front of people. But I went with how I was being led. I spoke with the leader, Jim, who set a date for me to speak. I spent a lot of time in prayer beforehand and nervously shared my testimony. Afterward, Jim told me that they wanted to share something with me. One by one, ten teenagers came up and told me how they appreciated my testimony. But what I hadn't known was that while I was away, they felt led to bless me. They had raised money while I was gone. Each of those ten teenagers handed me $100 to use towards my treatments for a total of $1000! My first month paid for! I was blessed in more than monetary ways that day. I knew that both God and those teenagers cared for me.

Prayer: God, help me to delight and meditate on Your Word day and night.

5 comments:

  1. I'm alway amazed at what God does in the circumstances of life. I think God wants to bless us even more than we could imagine but like Janet we need to LISTEN and OBEY God's leading.

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  2. WOW, so many lessons. Pray when life is overwhelming. Pray before life becomes overwhelming. Blessing follows transparency.

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  3. Awesome story of God blessing you through your obedience to Him. God help me to be obedient and to trust in You in life's difficult situations.

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  4. I love (but also find it difficult and humbling) how God uses the areas we feel weakest- so He can shine through. You did not like speaking in front of people, but God carried you through and others were blessed by your testimony, in turn, God also blessed you in a way you did not expect. I pray I will be open to hear God's voice in times that are difficult, like you did Janet.

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  5. Janet~

    I had no idea you had MS. I'm so sorry you must suffer this terrible disease :(. Your faith in spite of such a cross to carry is inspiring!

    How ironic that the world would scoff that you were anything but blessed by God for your service to Him. Thank you for being an example to us of the true blessing He has in store for us - delight in Him and His provision to rise above the trials He has allowed. It is not a comfortable concept for the blessings we want, yet is more than all we need.

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