The abundant life just continues to become more abundant for me as I am intentionally seeking to know Him better and abide, (walk), moment by moment with Him!
In the last blog, I told only part of the story of how the overflow of walkiing the abundant life had been noticed by my plumber. I didn’t get to tell you two other parts that were equally exciting! After he shared how he saw God living through me, we talked further. I was so amazed that I was having this conversation with this particular man. He is an extreme introvert who avoids social interactions if at all possible. And now, here we stand talking about God!
I really had no idea he was a Christian for sure. Brought up in the Catholic church in Cozumel, Mexico, I didn’t know what his relationship to God had been. I asked him about his faith and commented that God must be at work in his life for him to even recognize and share that with me! For the next 15 minutes, he began sharing his testimony of his life. He said that he was such a mess all of his youth and had done so many bad things. He sees now, looking back, how God was so good to bless him anyway and bring him his wonderful wife.
He had struggled with addiction to alcohol up until 8-10 years ago when his first born son died just a month before he was to be born. It was at that point God began changing him and he walked away from alcohol with God’s help. Over the following years, he has been blessed in every way he could imagine! Beautiful wife and daughter, health, home, great career, financially blessed, not one thing could he add to his blessings. Yet there was still something missing.
The Holy Spirit drew him to God’s Word and since that time, about a year ago, he has been waking up around 4:00am daily to spend time praying and reading the Word, renewing his mind, and growing in his relationship with God! He was glowing as he told of God’s faithfulness to be ALL that he could ever imagine and fill him to overflowing so that his life is now full of the LIFE of God! Now his purpose and joy in life is truly sharing with those he comes in contact with through his work about his God! Can I hear an AMEN?!!
This man has found the abundant life in Jesus, that no other earthly blessing can compare with! Not only can you have this when life is overwhelming and hopeless feeling, but even when you think you’ve got everything and yet you’re still empty! He recognized the abundant life living in me through my challenges, and he was sharing his abundant life with me when everything was going as good as it could get! THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE for the abundant, purpose-filled life that Jesus came to give us! I was filled with awe as I realized how good our God is and the incredible love he has for each one of us. That even while we were in our sin, Christ died for us. Praise God!
Now for the final blessing of that day. Remember the three major repairs that were going to cost me over $2,000? Well, we were able to get all of the repairs done for half or less than half on each of the repair! Although that’s WONDERFUL, we still didn’t have the money for that either. God miraculously provided by having an unexpected check come in the mail that day from our 2006 state tax return for $800!!! It covered the needs almost completely!
Thanks be to God for being my Jehovah Jireh, my provider…His grace and mercy know no bounds and His love for YOU is inexhaustible and unconditional. In fact, it says in Romans 8:38,39 , "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nothings to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus."
No matter where you are in your life or what your circumstances are, God is there for you to meet your need, whatever it may be. The abundant life is surrendering your life to Him and letting Him live in and through you. Come to Him with your needs, your questions, doubts, fears, pain, whatever it is. Open the Word of God and He will speak to you. Ask God to meet you where you are and reveal Himself so that you will experience the abundant life He died to give you. Don’t settle for less…I had been a Christian my whole life and had still missed it! His Word is TRUTH and LIFE for you! I hope I lit a fire in your spirit today.
Abundantly living life,
Cheri
