God Understands Our Need
Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. Isa. 65:24, NIV.
All her life Virginia had enjoyed the closeness and comfort of family and friends. Then her husband died, and her own disabilities worsened. Her son brought her north to live in a nursing home near him. Even though she helped choose the facility, she still hated it. She felt angry at her husband for dying, and angry at God for letting it all happen. Her only solace lay in corresponding with old friends and family.
One day, checking her calendar, she noted five birthdays were coming up. She had no cards—no way of buying any. It seemed the ultimate proof of God's abandonment. Angry and depressed, she cried out, "God, don't You even care? Here I am in this place needing just five birthday cards, and I can't even get those!"
The next day, still discouraged, she returned from lunch to find a large envelope from a woman she'd not heard from in more than 10 years. The woman had visited a mutual friend. From her she learned that Virginia was in a nursing home. "Thought maybe you can use these," she wrote.
Inside were five birthday cards and a book of stamps. "Shivers just went up my spine," Virginia said later. "Especially when I checked the postmark and saw they'd been mailed five days earlier!"
She accepted it as proof that God had not abandoned her or turned against her. He'd chosen the very thing she thought too small to ask of anyone to demonstrate that He, the Creator and Lord of the universe, does care.
That event did not take away all her loneliness or solve her physical problems. But it helped her accept her situation better just by realizing that God knows her needs and wants even before she realizes them herself.
"Keep your wants, your joys, your sorrows, your cares, and your fears before God. You cannot burden Him; you cannot weary Him. He who numbers the hairs of your head is not indifferent to the wants of His children" (Steps to Christ, p. 100).
Have you felt as if God has abandoned you or turned His back on you? Why not talk to Him about it?
All her life Virginia had enjoyed the closeness and comfort of family and friends. Then her husband died, and her own disabilities worsened. Her son brought her north to live in a nursing home near him. Even though she helped choose the facility, she still hated it. She felt angry at her husband for dying, and angry at God for letting it all happen. Her only solace lay in corresponding with old friends and family.
One day, checking her calendar, she noted five birthdays were coming up. She had no cards—no way of buying any. It seemed the ultimate proof of God's abandonment. Angry and depressed, she cried out, "God, don't You even care? Here I am in this place needing just five birthday cards, and I can't even get those!"
The next day, still discouraged, she returned from lunch to find a large envelope from a woman she'd not heard from in more than 10 years. The woman had visited a mutual friend. From her she learned that Virginia was in a nursing home. "Thought maybe you can use these," she wrote.
Inside were five birthday cards and a book of stamps. "Shivers just went up my spine," Virginia said later. "Especially when I checked the postmark and saw they'd been mailed five days earlier!"
She accepted it as proof that God had not abandoned her or turned against her. He'd chosen the very thing she thought too small to ask of anyone to demonstrate that He, the Creator and Lord of the universe, does care.
That event did not take away all her loneliness or solve her physical problems. But it helped her accept her situation better just by realizing that God knows her needs and wants even before she realizes them herself.
"Keep your wants, your joys, your sorrows, your cares, and your fears before God. You cannot burden Him; you cannot weary Him. He who numbers the hairs of your head is not indifferent to the wants of His children" (Steps to Christ, p. 100).
Have you felt as if God has abandoned you or turned His back on you? Why not talk to Him about it?
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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