Faith Through the Journey

This past Sunday morning my husband and I went to church, the one we have belonged to since 1987. This isn’t an unusual occurrence, but in fact it was a “return” for me, since I hadn’t been since I had surgery 5-1/2 weeks ago. My husband had been interviewed by one of the local TV stations on their Sunday morning news program, so we were late in arriving. As we slipped into a rear pew, our pastor opened his Bible and began the message God had led him to preach. As he began to read, my husband and I turned to look at each other, incredulous at what we were hearing. The passage was Deuteronomy 28, God speaking to Israel as they were getting ready to enter the land of promise. The blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience were being given to the people, and God left no room for excuses in His expectations. In summary, the first verses state that “If you honor God, God will honor you”. Verse 13 specifically says:”The Lord shall make you the head, and not the tail”.

The significance of these verses, in light of the events of the last few days in our lives, was great. The political pressure has been greatly turned up on my husband, and as we continue to move forward with his campaign for the Republican National Committee, the race is becoming more challenging each day.  Right now we’re putting one foot in front of the other, doing whatever the next thing is that needs doing. While it would be very easy to become angry at people and circumstances, we know that we want, above all else, to honor God with all of our words and actions. We want to react correctly to every situation, not allowing ourselves to say or do anything that dishonors our Lord. To win an office at the cost of our witness for Christ would be no victory at all.

We know why we needed to be in church last Sunday morning, and even if no one else was spoken to by the message, we know it truly had our names written on it. My husband said he definitely felt as though a giant weight had been lifted off of him, that he heard the Lord’s voice telling him that it was going to be OK. We will continue to honor God first, last, and always, and leave the outcome with Him.

About 100 years ago (or maybe closer to 30!), a contemporary Christian group, The Imperials, recorded a song entitled “He Didn’t Lift Us Up to Let Us Down”.   The refrain goes like this: “He didn’t bring us this far to leave us, He didn’t teach us to swim to let us drown. He didn’t build His home in us to move away, He didn’t lift us up to let us down.” God’s promise to never leave or forsake His children is one of the most comforting ever given.  We have known His presence and fully believe that He will NOT leave us in this place, either. His Holy Spirit indwells us and will empower us to stand for Jesus in the most adverse of circumstances.