Showing items filed under “Testimony”
in Christian Living, Testimony
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I don’t know about you, but I love a plan.  It is so comforting to be able to look ahead and have a sense of what is going to happen.  Whether it is a to do list for the day, an outline for hosting a holiday party, a notebook full of lesson plans for the year of school ahead, or a 5/10/20 year list of goals for my life, I find security in having a plan. 

This part of my personality has wrestled with God more often than I would care to admit.  You see, while He definitely has a plan, and His plan is perfect, He rarely, possibly never, gives me the plan ahead of time,  at least not in it’s entirety.  He seems to operate on a “need to know” basis, and each step is shared when He decides the time is right.  So many times I have longed to know the plan, or at least the next thing RIGHT NOW.  Why, oh why, must I wait when that information could bring me so much peace?   

I know that God’s ways are not my ways, and that they are perfect.  Isaiah 55:8&9 says, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD.  And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts”.  In Psalms 18:30 we read, God’s way is perfect.  All the LORD’S promises prove true.  He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.  His Word is true ;therefore, I know that even when I don’t know what is coming next and think that I would be better off if I did, it is I who am wrong. 

God has a long history of relating to His children in this way.  Joseph was given visions of the end game for his life, but God chose to not tell him that first he would endure the betrayal of his brothers, slavery, false accusations, prison, and more.  God had a plan, and Joseph had faith in God.  Over the course of his life that plan was revealed and Joseph saw the goodness of God’s ways. 

Moses was told part of God’s plan as well – he was going to be used to lead God’s people out of slavery.  He didn’t know up front the details of the plagues, that he would part the Red Sea by the power of God, that the people would rebel over and over again, and that it would take 40 years of wandering to enter the promised land – and he would not actually be able to go in himself.   I wonder if Moses would have made different choices if he knew exactly what he was getting into from the beginning.  After all, he was reluctant even with the little bit of the plan he was entrusted with! 

What about Mary, the mother of Jesus?  The angel Gabriel delivered an amazing message to her.  He left out some details that she would experience, however.  Giving birth far away from her family in a filthy stable, running for her life with her little family to Egypt, and what her son would endure for her sake, for the sake of us all.  Would she have said yes if she knew all of that up front? 

My own story isn’t as big in the tapestry of God’s relationship with man.  I’m not a major player.  But I am no stranger to being given a vision for something the Lord is going to do that plays out in entirely different ways than I expected.  When I said “I do” to my husband I had no idea that I had just stepped into a plan that would include heartbreak, rebellion, addiction, betrayal, and more.  I believed God had spoken to my heart about using my husband and myself to minister to the broken.  I had no idea how broken things were going to get.   

Over the last year I have witnessed God breaking many of those chains and revealing more of His plans for our life.  It has been amazing and humbling, wonderful, and sometimes shattering.  As I see it come together, how God is indeed using all of those things that the enemy meant for destruction to bless and to heal. I can’t help but wonder if I would have said “yes” had I known what I would have had to walk through to get to this place.  If I had known the plan.  While I would like to say that I would have, I honestly don’t know.  And while in some areas I see such victory, there are other places that I am having to walk by faith and not by sight. 

Let me be clear, I believe God has a plan for me, just like He had a plan for Joseph, and Moses, and Mary.  And his plans, like his ways, are good and perfect.  He didn’t cause the sin that wreaked such havoc in my life, or in the lives of those historical figures.  He didn’t cause the sin that impacts your life, either.  He does use all of the circumstances we find ourselves in to fit us for the work He has for us.  To make us suitable for His plans.  His good and perfect plans. 

I don’t know where you find yourself today.  Perhaps you thought that God gave you a vision for your life and it doesn’t seem to be happening according to the plan.  Even when there is pain, and loss, and hardship beyond comprehension, I want to remind you that God’s ways are perfect and His plan is good.  Don’t give up!  Let’s keep our faith in Him, even when we can’t see the way.  He’s got a great view of what’s ahead and we can trust him! 

Posted by Denise Woodliff with
in Testimony
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Such is the case with a couple in our church - Sam & Karen Gibbs. I started attending FBC Wentzville in 1983. When I started attending this church Sam & Karen were both members. Sam always taught an adult Sunday school class, and Karen was always involved in the prayer chain ministry. They were both involved in other ministries as well but these 2 activities were like a constant in mathematics - these roles seemed to be fixed.
 
Sam was an engineer by training and preparation was always important to him. He liked to run transparencies of his lesson material, and the overhead projector was a fixture in his classroom. The material was hashed out verse by verse, and everybody had an opportunity to offer an opinion, make a point, ask a question or initiate a discussion. He was pretty good with his material, but if he ever hit a snag about some issue Karen could generally offer a very lucid comment or point which would clarify everyone's thinking.
 
I think what impressed me most about these two people was their attitude. Faith was a career; to be practiced one's entire life. With Sam & Karen one never felt that their ministry was an obligation they did for awhile and then hoped somebody else would take over. Their ministry was genuine and you always sensed that they received a greater blessing for having undertaken it than those that received the fruit of their efforts.
 
At those times in worship when the pastor asked for a personal testimony about how God might have met a need, provided direction, or given comfort you might hear Sam or Karen share. You listened to their testimony and you had an overwhelming sense that they knew God was sufficient for every situation.
 
Another neat thing about Sam & Karen is that though both loved life and each other. It wasn't all church; they had activities they did together and which they both enjoyed. They both liked golf, they traveled together, they would sometimes fly to a destination (Sam was a pilot), and they enjoyed each other's company.
 
Sam worked for McDonnell Douglas Corporation which was purchased by Boeing Corporation and during that early transition, a number of senior employees got forced out of their jobs. Sam was one of those employees that probably retired a little earlier than he expected but he took it in stride and went on with his life. Later those employees received a cash settlement as a result of an age discrimination lawsuit. For Sam that might have provided a little bonus, but it might have been the providence of God that he received an early exit. He got to spend extra time with his wife and grandkids and had some free time he otherwise would not have had. Sam had a congenital heart defect, and in later life it caused some health complications. He was hospitalized a number of times, but always seemed to rebound but ultimately complication from a surgery produced his death.
 
When Sam left Boeing he and his wife both worked at a local funeral home part time. It gave him a little extra money for flying, golfing and doing other things he enjoyed. I got to know Sam best from flying. We would sometimes fly together and I am probably a better pilot for flying with Sam. He always had an extensive checklist and was very thorough about every aspect of flying - preflight, weather, radio frequencies, navigation, etc. He also had a genuine enthusiasm which was easy to like. I sensed this with his flying and also of his interest in end time prophecy. He had a good sense of humor, and shared a story which I consider a classic.
 
He had signed up to give airplane rides to young kids as part of an Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagles program. (a program to get kids interested in aviation). The event was staged at a local airport, but more kids had arrived than was anticipated. He, rather than disappoint the kids, was forced to rent the aircraft for additional time which needless to say is not cheap. With reference to his funeral home job he remarked to me, " I had to bury a lot of bodies to pay for that flying." I guess flying is even more expensive than I first thought.
 
Sam's death was hard on Karen but she persevered. It put a big hole in her life because Sam was such a big part of it. That apparently is something that is not easily filled. Karen had her own health issues but overcame breast cancer. In spite of that, she is still active in the church. Karen is still doing the prayer chain and now is working in the church library. In spite of recent events in her life, she has a peace and dignity about her. She can still offer a warm smile and enjoy a hearty laugh. Her confidence in the Lord is unshaken.
 
One of my favorite recollection of Karen is of her most forgiving response to my weird sense of humor. On one of the occasions when Sam was hospitalized they thought he could possibly have a brain tumor. They were going to do a scan of his head. I saw her in the hall at church and I asked her about the brain scan on Sam. She replied that they didn't find anything. She got a real look of consternation when a smile started to crease my lips, and then she did a double take. She said, "I should have known with your weird sense of humor that you would laugh when I said the scan of his head found nothing." I confessed I couldn't help it, but then added that I was glad it was not a brain tumor.
 
As a younger man, you couldn't get me in a church. I did not have a desire to go. Now I know that it is the place that I ought to be. The word of God touches my life, and the people you meet are a blessing as well.
 
Hebrews 10: 22. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
23. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
24. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
 
Posted by Vance Poland with

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