One of the great things about going away for a retreat is the abibility to leave behind all that stress and worldly things. Sometimes I get so bogged down in day-to-day life that I forget exactly why we are really here. And that's why I love working at my church. It helps keep me a little more focused on God.
I remember when I was a young married, my mother-in-law Ella used to try to get me to go to church with her. She also worked at her church as a secretary and sometimes when they had functions there, I would go with her. I didn't mind those kind of church goings, but the idea of getting up early on Sunday (my one day to sleep in) was just out of the question. I remember telling her many times that just because one didn't go to church did not mean you weren't a Christian. You didn't neet church to believe in God and live your life according to the Bible. Oh, the folly of youth!
It took me living the majority of that youth and making so many mistakes to make me realize the folly of my words. When you don't live the life of a Christian and seek the fellowship with other Christians, it is too easy for the enemy to lead you astray. Oh how my life would have been so different if I had heeded the Lord's call much earlier.
My mother-in-law, though, did just that. She told me not too long ago that she prayed for 60 years for her husband Jack to be saved. Talk about persistance in prayer! Jesus teaches us to be persistant in our prayers. That is hard sometimes. God answers prayer in His own timing, for His own purpose and in His own way. We may not understand how this works, but perseverance can bring unexpected blessings.
1 John 5: 14-15 tells us that God does hear our prayers. “And we can be confident that He will listen to us whenever we ask Him for anything in line with His will. And if we know He is listening when we make our requests, we can be sure that He will give us what we ask for.” Did you notice that part of “in line with His will”? Therein lies the problem. People often pray for things that they want instead of what God wants for us. After all, God wants the best for us, but we just want material things.
Getting back to my mother-in-law. Wanting Jack to be saved had to definitely be in God's will. After all, that is his will for all of us. But He has this bothersome rule about not interferring with man's will. He doesn't want robots. He wants to lead us gently, not push us. I think there are some people who need a push once in awhile, while there are some who need a giant shove (and I am thinking of one person in my life in particular).
Well anyway, Ella quietly prayed and persevered and God granted her the desire of her heart and Jack was saved and went on to be quite active in their local church for several years before his death. I have a desire of my heart, but I don't think I have 60 years left to wait. I keep praying that God's timing for me might be just a little bit quicker than Ella's.
So, here is my layout that I scrapped for Ella. It was also for a challenge at Heritage Scrap using Vicki's new kit called Faith, and I think it turned out pretty good. I will also include it in Ella's Life Book I am doing for her 80th birthday this summer.
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