Freedom in Thee - What God Gave Gladys Aylward

Gladys had wanted to be an actress since she was a little girl and though she had little in the way of money or education she was determined to make it work. Having to get a job as a maid did not change her plans in the least. She worked hard in the day and used her evenings to attend drama clubs and theatrical meetings. Though Gladys grew up in a Christian home and had been taught to attend church and read the bible regularly, she now found that she had little use for God and religion, and even less time for them. She had nothing against Christianity. She still believed in God but there were other demands on her time now. Church meetings, bible reading, and prayer couldn't be the priority if she was going to reach her goals!

Many of us have found ourselves in the same position as Gladys. We have demands on our time that can easily take priority over God. We may never say that we have little use for Him but our actions too often say it for us. It is easy to recognize when a person walks away from God completely, but when a person partially walks away from Him they sometimes don't even recognize it themselves.

"...Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." (Romans xii. 1)

Jesus presented Himself as a sacrifice and the punishment for the sins we had committed fell upon Him in our place. While He suffered and died we were made into the very children of God. We became spotless, blameless, with access to the Father's presence, and an inheritance preserved for us in heaven. Jesus gave Himself to us entirely. He gifted us the fullness of who He was and Paul tells us that it is our reasonable service to give ourselves back to Him.

This is not a new or profound concept to most of us, yet it is rarely applied. We esteem the idea of giving ourselves over to God, but do we practically do it?  Many of us live in a state of partial surrender instead of presenting our bodies as living sacrifices. Mistakenly we expect that we can both be a sacrifice and still hold on to our own expectations, pleasures, and goals. We are essentially saying, "God you can have my life but this is what it is going to look like..." We decide what job we are going to work, what country we will live in, how much money we need to make, or how many children we will have without ever asking if those are God's plans. Because we assume that certain decisions are ours to make.

One night when Gladys was walking home from a theatrical meeting, she noticed that the lights of a nearby church were still on. It was late for a meeting and her curiosity drew her inside. The part of the message that Gladys caught changed the course of her life. She did not become an actress; instead she spent her life as a missionary to China. For in that late night meeting Gladys realized that God had a claim upon her life. The lesson she learned was something like what Paul was trying to teach the Corinthians.

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies." ( 1 Corinthians vi. 19-20)

  Instead of continuing her education in drama, Gladys Aylward enrolled in the China Inland Mission Center. It was not an easy decision to make, but she was determined to follow God's plans instead of her own and He told her to go to China. Three months in to her time at the school, the committee decided that Gladys' qualifications were too slight,  she was too old - at 28, and her education too limited to warrant acceptance. "The Chinese language," they told her, "would be far too difficult for you to learn." Still Gladys pressed on, with that same determination, with which she had pursued acting. Only this time she was pursuing God's plan instead of her own and was depending on Him to make it happen. Gladys later paid her own way to China and went, not to fulfill her own dreams, but to further God's kingdom. She had offered herself to God as a living sacrifice and was prepared to accept the cost.

The word sacrifice indicates loss and usually the loss of life. When an Israelite brought an animal to be sacrificed to God that animal was lost to them. It was no longer counted among their flocks and no thought that they could make a profit from some part of it would have entered their mind. It was forfeited - given to God. God did not ask for partial sacrifices. The concept is no different when it comes to us. 

"For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew xvi. 25)

We cannot give our bodies and our lives as living sacrifices and still plan to use them how we please. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."(Luke ix. 23) A cross is a device of execution; a way of dying. That is what Jesus told His followers to take up daily. Dead men don't have plans for how they will spend their lives, nor do they count on attaining pleasures. It cannot be that we fit God in around other things, it must be that we do all unto the glory of God - whether we eat, or drink, or study, or work. These things must be held loosely, so that we can relinquish them if God asks us to do something different. He asks us for a heart of continual surrender not just minutes, or even hours, spent in bible study, prayer, or witnessing. This may seem like a great resignation but it is simply our reasonable service to the God who saved us.

"And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’” (Luke xvii. 10)

Late in Gladys Aylward's life an author came to to her asking to get her stories. She told him that he must have been directed to the wrong person. She didn't think she had done any thing that was worthy of writing about. At his request however she began telling him of the 'simple' life she had lived with God. Her first job in China was to serve and preach the gospel to mule train drivers who came to stay at the missionary's inn. Later she worked for the Chinese Government as a "foot inspector" (to stop the tradition of binding, and so crippling, little girl's feet) and when she proved herself to be capable in this position, she was asked to stop a prison riot in which the inmates were murdering each other. This she succeeded in doing and then regularly went back to minister to the prisoners. When Japanese armies invaded China, Gladys saved the lives of a hundred children by traveling with them, over the mountains, to Siam. It is easy to see that this woman lived an incredible life, but that life was not for her own glory and was not even the life of her choosing.

"I have not done what I wanted to. I have not eaten what I wanted to, or worn what I would have chosen. I have not lived in a house that I would have ever looked at twice. I longed for a husband, babies, security, and love. God didn't give that. He left me alone for seventeen years with one book - a Chinese Bible. I don't know anything about your latest novels, pictures, theaters. I live in a rather out dated world. And I suppose you say, "well, it's awful miserable, isn't it?" Friends, I've been one of the happiest women that has ever stepped this earth. I have raised someone else's children, whom I have loved with a great love because Jesus Christ loved me, and who I am now receiving love back from. Lord, give us freedom. Freedom in Thee. That You might be able to pick us up and put us down. And use us when and where and how You like. That someone might know how much You love them." - Gladys Aylward

Living in obedience to God is our duty, but it is also the greatest privilege. When He asks us to give our plans up, this can be easy to forget. Yet His plans are exceedingly beyond any of ours!

"A Christian lady once expressed to a friend how impossible she found it to say, "Thy will be done," and how afraid she should be to do it. She was the mother of one, only little boy, who was the heir to a great fortune, and the idol of her heart. After she had stated her difficulties fully, her friend said, "Suppose your little Charley should come running to you tomorrow and say, 'Mother, I have made up my mind to let you have your own way with me from this time forward. I am always going to obey you and I want you to do just whatever you think best with me. I know you love me and I am going to trust myself to your love.' How would you feel towards him? Would you say to yourself, ' Ah, now I shall have a chance to make Charley miserable. I will take away all his pleasures and fill his life with every hard and disagreeable thing I can find. I will compel him to do just the things that are most difficult for him to do and will give him all sorts of impossible commands.'""Oh, no, no, no!" Exclaimed the indignant mother. "You know I would not. You know I would hug him to my heart and cover him with kisses and would hasten to fill his life with all that was sweetest and best." "And are you more tender and more loving than God?" Asked her friend. "Ah, no," was the reply "I see my mistake, and I will not be afraid of saying 'Thy will be done' to my Heavenly Father any more than I would want my Charley to be afraid of saying it to me."- Hannah Whitall Smith, The Christian Secret to a Happy Life

We need to submit ourselves fully to God's will, but remember that it is the good and perfect will of the one who loves us best. Even if He chooses to lead us on hard and difficult paths we can be sure that it is the best way and that He will walk it with us!

In Christ 

quiana

Ask - How Children Came to the Mueller's Orphanage

One summer day, when I was a small child, my family stopped at a garage sale. My siblings and I were eager to look through the plethora of kid's things while my mom looked over the other items. I found a shelf of books and one story in particular that I really liked and brought it up to my mom. She was talking with the lady who was holding the sale. I touched her leg and waited until I had her attention, then I whispered my question to her. Could we buy the book that I had found? Despite my hushed tone, the lady, who my mom had been talking with, overheard my question and generously offered to let me have the book for nothing. 

"Say thank-you." My mom said. That was when the problem arose - I wasn't usually a shy child but for some reason I decided that I just couldn't talk to that lady. She seemed to be very nice and my mom was standing right there with me, so I honestly had no reason not to thank her but I was determined that I wasn't going to. "If you don't say thank-you, you can't have the book." My mom warned me, still I remained silent. Long story short, I didn't say thank you and I also didn't get that book. 

I don't think I was any older than five at that time, but I still clearly remember the lesson I learned at that garage sale. My mom didn't keep me from having the book because she didn't want me to enjoy the story, but because she knew it was important for me to learn the proper way to receive a gift. She loved me enough to teach me about obedience and thankfulness. Both of which were of far more value than that little book. There is a certain way in which gifts are to be received and I needed to learn to use that method. Likewise, God has created a pattern for how we are to receive the gifts He has promised us. A pattern that we need to learn and apply. He has told us to ask. 

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew vii. 7-11)

Prayer is the method by which we ask God for His promises. It is a God established method. He is our provider and is perfectly capable of meeting our every need. Matthew vi.8 tells us that He knows our needs even before we make requests and yet He still commands us to ask. Why? There is more to be gained than just the thing we are asking for. There are lessons to be found in the asking itself!

What lessons can be learned by asking for God's provision?

1. A Knowledge of the Giver

In the regular business of life we all too often forget to give credit where credit is due. So many of the gifts God gives to us go unnoticed. Just think of how many millions of snowflakes He has created that melt away before anyone can admire their unique design. Or think of how He paints the sky, twice each day, and is not deterred in doing so if we forget to praise His work. God gives us many gifts without us ever asking for them, but when we have the opportunity to ask Him for something His answer is meant to remind us Who the source of our provision is. Every answered prayer should remind us that we have a God and that He is generous. His knowledge of us is perfect and He answers our prayers in the way and at the time that will help us to see Him best. As He meets our needs we are taught about His loving kindness and shown the thoughts that He thinks towards us.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." (James i.17)

2.  Learning to Trust rather than Worry

The people of Israel feared Goliath because he was greater than any of them; but when David looked at the giant he realized that God much greater than him. Nothing is too large or too small to be brought before our Lord. God tells us "don't fear", "don't doubt", "don't worry." He expects us to have faith instead. You must have faith in order to access any of the promises of God. Doubt, fear, and worry are all closely tied to a lack of faith and a lack of faith is sin. 

James i.6 says, "let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind." This may sound harsh or unfair but once we understand what faith is, it makes sense. Faith is simply a complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Therefore, when we say that we "cannot have faith" or " just don't have faith" we are actually saying that we "cannot trust God" or we "just don't trust Him" and we know that these statements are not true.

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." (Philippians iv.6)

We can be anxious for nothing by comparing our problems to Him rather than to us. Coming to Him for help, sets us free from the need to waste our time in worry.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (Matthew vi. 34)

Tyler Sheff was quoted to say, "When you give in to fear you are under the illusion that you can predict the future." We cannot predict the future and we do not have to worry about it because the future is in the hands of our God and it is He who will determine the outcome of every trouble and every circumstance. 

When Jesus was praying for Lazarus to be raised from the dead (in John xi. 41- 42) He said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” He thanked God for hearing Him before He saw His prayer answered in the physical realm because He knew that God always heard Him and He trusted His Father to answer.  Once we learn who our God is and how faithful He is, we should easily trust in Him. Thus we can easily have faith in the place of fear and worry. 


3. Learning What to Ask For

Another important lesson that is to be learned through asking is what we are to be asking for.

"You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." (James iv. 3)

When Jesus gave His disciples an example of how to pray He began by asking that God's name should be hallowed, which means 'honoured as holy'. That His kingdom would come and His will would be done one earth in the same way that it is in heaven. He continued to ask for other things such as bread, forgiveness, and deliverance but His greatest desire, and the first priority of His prayers was that God's will would be done and His purposes accomplished. God knows us and He delights to meet our needs. He tells us to bring our cares to Him because He cares for us. Yet it is God's will that needs to be accomplished, not ours.

"Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm xxxvii. 4)

As we come before God in prayer, seek to know Him, and learn His will He will show us what to want, what to pray for. He brings our hearts into alignment with His.

4. Persistence

God values persistence in prayer and wants to teach us not to give up easily. Jesus taught this lesson in parables more than once:

"Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”

Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said.  And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke xviii. 1-8)

When we pray we are literally waging warfare in the spiritual realm. As in physical battles, patience and perseverance are needed to break through to a victory. 

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." (Galations vi.9)  

Daniel fasted and prayed for three weeks waiting for an answer from God. God sent an angel to answer Daniel and when he arrived he told Daniel, "God has heard everything that you said ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in front of your God so that you could learn to understand things. I have come in response to your prayer. The commander of the Persian kingdom opposed me for 21 days. But then Michael, one of the chief commanders, came to help me because I was left alone with the kings of Persia. I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the last days, because the vision is about times still to come.” (Daniel x. 12-14) Daniel's prayer was answered long before he saw that answer but he had to have faith and continue to pray while the spiritual warfare was waging.

We know God praises the faith of men like Abraham and Noah but have you ever thought of how long they waited in faith? Noah was commanded to build the ark one hundred and twenty years before the flood came. For more than a hundred years he was building a boat on dry ground, in a world that had never before seen rain! There was more than twenty years between the time that God first promised Abraham a son to the day that Isaac was actually born - and Abraham and Sarah were already well advanced in years!

These are only a few of the many lessons we can learn by obeying God's command to ask. When George and Mary Mueller set out to start an orphanage they had God alone to depend on. They didn't have dishes, or clothes, or people waiting in line to help them, or money with which to purchase the building. It was only God who could provide those things. They learned to ask for everything and before long they realized that there was more to be gained by asking than just the things they were asking for. God was teaching them to be persistent and to trust in Him. God would not lack in faithfulness to provide...

'"Nobody?" Mary looked up at him as if she was going to cry. She sat on the parlor floor, surrounded by bolts of flannel and calico. He saw at a glance that she had been cutting out dresses for the little girls to wear. She looked like a forlorn child herself, asking him again, "Nobody at all, George? Are you sure?"

"Nobody came near 6 Wilson Street. Not a child. Not a grandmother. Not a city official. Nobody."

"Nobody applied?" She repeated dully, rolling the bolt of flannel back and forth on the rug. "Where were they?" The drabness of the parlor, the pitifulness of her evenings spent over the cheap flannel, all that they had sacrificed - it was overwhelming. 

"Maybe we had better ask ourselves - where was God?" He retorted. Mary's eyes widened in horror. "Alright, where was He?" George persisted, flogging himself as well as Mary with the tortuous thought. Then suddenly, he wanted to throw himself down beside the chair and beat it with his fists until the stuffing wheezed out, crying to God. "Mary, Mary!"

"Oh, George!" She pushed the flannel away and got to her feet.

"All the way home from Wilson Street, I've been praying. God, where did I fail? ' Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.' That's what He said, that's what Psalms eighty one says, I believed He would."

"He did. George, He did, Until..."

"Yes. I prayed for money." There were both bitterness and sadness in his voice. "He sent gifts larger than I dreamed about. From people I didn't know."

"I prayed for kitchen things."

"And a strange man came to the door with his arms full. I know, Mary. We prayed for cooks and teachers."

"And they came. You prayed for clothes and got them. You prayed for..." She stopped suddenly, her eyes widening. "Oh, George!" He was too preoccupied with his tragedy to see that her eyes were sparkling.

 "I believed He would go on giving me what I prayed for. I believed that, Mary. Until today."

"George, George, that's it!" What ailed the woman? There was a joyous lilt to her words that made no sense at all. "That's it, " she said again. "Everything you prayed for."

"Don't you understand what's happened, Mary? He gave me everything I prayed for alright. Except the children." She looked as if she wanted to laugh. "That's it, you didn't ask for children."

"Didn't ask for..." What was she saying?

"Well, did you? I didn't. We never prayed together for them. Did you, George?" He felt suddenly weak, as if he had awakened from a terrifying dream. She was right. They had prayed for everything - everything from plates to underwear. But they hadn't asked God to send the orphans. "Don't you see, George? You thought..."

"There'd be too many."

"So you didn't"

"I didn't. Mary, I didn't." Now he wanted to laugh and take his wife in his arms and kiss her and praise God all at the same time. 

"George, aren't we stupid?"

"Terribly stupid."

"And isn't He an incredible God!" What they did next was the only logical thing to do in George's mind. There in the parlor, they bowed their heads and in a few simple sentences made the request they had forgotten.' - Excerpt from George Mueller by Faith Coxe Bailey.

“It is not enough to begin to pray, nor to pray aright; nor is it enough to continue for a time to pray; but we must patiently, believingly, continue in prayer until we obtain an answer; and further we have not only to continue in prayer unto the end, but we have also to believe that God does hear us, and will answer our prayers. Most frequently we fail in not continuing in prayer until the blessing is obtained, and in not expecting the blessing.”  — George Müller

Let us not forget to obey our Lord's commandment to ASK. For when we do we will find that His answer exceeds our every expectation! 

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians iii. 20 -21)

In Christ

quiana

The Desire of the Jews - A Journal Entry from the Warsaw Ghetto

Is there any reason that can justify suicide? That is a hard question and yet we are living in a society where suicide rates are high, so it is a question that people are wrestling with. In several countries the governments are trying to convince the people to legalize Euthanasia and there are many that already have. As a result, we know the arguments for why people should be allowed to end their own lives even if we don't agree with them. Suicide is easily justified and while sad we often choose to see it as good for those who chose it. "It was just too much!", "They couldn't take it any more.", "At least they aren't still suffering.", "We couldn't expect them to go on living in pain!". Is that the right response? Is hope for such situations to be found only in escaping from them? 

"No single determinant, including mental illness, is enough on its own to cause a suicide. Rather, suicide typically results from the interaction of many factors, for example: mental illness, marital breakdown, financial hardship, deteriorating physical health, a major loss, or a lack of social support." - Statistics Canada  

These are the primary reasons that people are committing suicide. Of course there are others factors that could be added. Euthanasia is meant to 'serve' those who are struggling with a physical disability or even multiple disabilities. There are many cases where a person commits suicide due to having witnessed or experienced a trauma. Other's had a family member or friend who took their own life and made the same decision. I in no way want to diminish these situations, or any combination of them, for they are trials that are extremely hard to bear. However, I believe that hope can displace despair and that those who offer death, including doctor assisted death, are causing harm to the person and in no way doing them a service. I have not personally experienced many of these circumstances, so it would be correct to say that I can not fully understand just how difficult they are. Which is why I want to direct you to the perspective of people who have!

During the Holocaust, the Nazi forces moved the Jewish citizens of occupied territories into ghettos. For many, the ghetto was the precursor to the concentration camp or the gas chamber. The conditions in these places were horrific. Among other things, the population that was forced to live there far exceeded the capacity of the space, families were often separated, disease was rampant, and the dead were left in the streets for days sometimes. The following is a journal entry, written by a man who was living in the Warsaw ghetto, in which he further describes their circumstances. In his writing, he made note of a remarkable resolve that was present among the ghetto's inhabitants:

"...One of the most surprising side-effects of this war is the clinging to life, the almost total absence of suicides. People die in great numbers of starvation, the typhus epidemic or dysentery, they are tortured and murdered by the Germans in great numbers, but they do not escape from life by their own desire. On the contrary, they are tied to life by all their senses, they want to live at any price and to survive the war. The tensions of this historic world conflict are so great that all wish to see the outcome of the gigantic struggle and the new regime in the world, the small and the great, old men and boys. The old have just one wish: the privilege of seeing the end and surviving Hitler. I know a Jew who is all old age. He is certainly about 80. Last winter a great tragedy befell the old man. He had an only son who was about 52. The son died of typhus. He has no other children. And the son died. He did not marry a second time and lived with his son. A few days ago I visited the old man. When I left – his mind is still entirely clear – he burst out crying and said: "I want to see the end of the war, even if I live only another half an hour!"Why should the old man wish so much to stay alive? There it is: even he wants to live, "if only half an hour" after the last shot is fired. This is the burning desire of all the Jews." - Journal Entry of Avraham Levin, Jewish Virtual Library

These people were facing cruel treatment and intolerable living situations every day and yet they were not willing to throw their lives away! Instead they were "tied to life by all their senses, they want(ed) to live at any price. These people had no way of knowing how long it would be before the war would end, or if they could even survive to see that day and yet they hoped to. In the midst of suffering they were clinging to a hope of seeing its end.

"I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." (Psalm xxvii. 13)

The had hope of seeing good again and they were persevering in the midst of trial. As Christians,

"...We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Romans v. 3-5)

"My Brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." (James i. 2).

Many of us have learned to view tribulation, or suffering of any kind, as a bad thing; something that we should try to avoid or escape from. Yet God's word tells us that if we are willing to walk through tribulations we will learn patience or, as Romans v. said, perseverance. Trials are not a test of how fast we can run but rather how long we will be able to walk. People are in need of God's grace to walk through difficulties, for if they rely on their own strength they will soon falter. Those who are suffering without God resort to running away because they know that they don't have what they need to bear the trial they are facing and they want to get as far away from it as they can while their strength lasts. They want to escape. Escape can come through a variety of means, including suicide, but God has asked us to look to Him instead of trying to escape through our own means.

"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." (1 Corinthians x. 13)

You may not have realized, but God actually promises us a way to escape trials! That escape doesn't mean turning and running in the opposite direction, or that the trial is going to instantly end. Instead it is a form of escape that allows us to endure the trial. To stay the course. To walk right through it!

 In His word, God is revealed as the one who gives life, which doesn't only mean that He gave it to you when you came into this world, but that it is He who is sustaining you each and every day (Acts xvii. 28). Therefore, if you wake up tomorrow morning you can rightly assume that God has chosen to have you live another day. If you are questioning the wisdom of that decision allow me to remind you that the bible also says that God is omniscient, which means simply that He knows all. So lets apply that information to tomorrow morning when you wake up: God knows exactly what you have been going through up to this point and what you will have to face in this new day. He also knows your breaking point; how much you can take. After all, it is He who created you, who literally knit you together in your mothers womb (Psalm cxxxix. 13). So with all this knowledge at His disposal, God has chosen that ________ (insert your name here) is going to live another day! You may not like this decision, but it was God who made it. With the trial, or the temptation, He will be faithful to provide that which is needed to steady you. He will help you through it. In the end, He has promised that a trial, however difficult, will strengthen you and teach you perseverance. The trial will not destroy you if you accept God's way of escape instead of trying to find your own. Walk through it trusting in Him.

These promises and facts are not for you alone but are meant to be shared to encourage others who are struggling. There is no reason sufficient to justify suicide because God is infallible - He doesn't make mistakes. If He doesn't decide to end someone's life it is for a reason. It isn't a mistake that He has given that person another day to live. Even the trials will be for good so we need to trust Him to provide what is needed to bring us through! Christians have been given a hope, that we will see goodness in the land of the living, for even in trials we have the goodness of God to sustain us, and that hope was meant to be shared with a struggling and dying world!

In Christ 

quiana

Susanna Wesley's Apron - Recognizing Prayer as the Saving of Time

Susanna Wesley had born nineteen children in same number of years. Her husband, Samuel was often away from home, so she usually found herself alone with the children. There was never any shortage of things to do in the Wesley household with meals to be cooked, lessons needing to be taught, rooms that needed to be cleaned and children who needed attention. Besides those things, every week Susanna made a point of spending an hour alone with each of her children. Often she struggled with her health and on top of this there were many trials to bear. It seemed like there was always a weight upon her shoulders. First she had been separated from her husband for a year due to an argument they had over politics. In the course of those nineteen years nine of her children had died in infancy. They had lost two houses to fire and lived in state of constant poverty for Samuel had little understanding of money and would not accept her help with the finances. He was put into debtors prison twice due to the large amounts of money they owed! It was a difficult life she faced yet she did not walk in it without grace. The grace of knowing her Savior.

"He is so infinitely blessed, that  every perception of His blissful presence imparts a gladness to the heart. Every degree of approach to Him is, in the same proportion, a degree of happiness." She said. 
If anyone could claim to be too busy to pray it would be Susanna Wesley and yet she made no opportunity for such an excuse. Instead she knelt before her God for two hours every day. There was no place in the little house for her to go to be alone, no where that was silent or free from distractions, so she would kneel wherever she was and simply flip her apron over her head. Her children knew this meant their mother was praying and even the smallest did not disturb her. In the midst of a life that produced constant demands on her time Susanna Wesley made a place for her God. She guarded those hours to meet with Him against all distractions because she knew that He alone could give her what she needed to do everything else.

There are two problems that most of us face when trying to pray. The first is that we find ourselves to be "too busy to pray". This is a trouble to which Susanna Wesley was no stranger. Yet she did not accept that estimation to be true. Yes, she was busy, but she could never be too busy to pray!


"Sometimes we think we are too busy to pray. That is a great mistake, for praying is the saving of time. You remember Luther's remark, "I have so much to do today that I shall never get through it with less than three hour's prayer." ... If we have no time we must make time, for if God has given us time for the secondary duties, He must have given us time for primary ones, and to draw near to Him is a primary duty, and we must let nothing set it on one side. Your other engagements will run smoothly if you do not forget your engagement with God." - Charles H. Spurgeon

Even in our 'busy' lives there are numerous things that we manage to make time for just because we believe we have to. Stopping at the gas station in a perfect example of this. Even when you are in a hurry to get somewhere important you will stop to get gas if you notice that your tank is on empty, or even near empty. You do this because you know that, though it takes time, it is saving you time as well. It would take you so much longer to get where you are going if you had to walk or if you were waiting on the side of the road for someone to bring you gas. This is just common sense and you apply it everyday. The same is true of prayer. Why are you saying that you don't have time to pray when you waste hours trying to accomplish what only God can? As Susanna Wesley modeled pray and you will find that you have time for it. 

The second detriment to a life of prayer is distraction. This can come in many forms yet all, if entertained, cause us to forget our appointment with God. You may be on your knees and still not be praying if you entertain the distractions that come. You would count it strange if you were having an important discussion with someone and they suddenly forgot all about you and walked off to attend to something else. It would be even more surprising if that person returned to you and apologized, but then did the same thing all over again - perhaps even several times. You would very likely take offense at such treatment, or at the very least deduct that the person does not care very much about the discussion. They could not even be bothered to give their attention to it. Unfortunately this is exactly what we do to God when we allow ourselves to be distracted from prayer.

In a sermon I listened to several years ago, the pastor spoke of a season when he found himself distracted every time he would try to pray. As soon as he closed his eyes, all of the things he had forgotten to do would suddenly come to mind. He would continue praying but his attention was diverted for he was busy trying to keep from forgetting those things again. After struggling to pray on several occasions he finally came up with a practical solution. The next time he went to pray he laid a pad of paper and a pencil beside him. As usual he was reminded of a task that had slipped his mind earlier in the day. This time he was ready. He paused his prayer.

 "Thank-you Satan for reminding me of that, I will take care of it as soon as I finish talking to God." He said aloud, making a note of it on the pad of paper. Returning to prayer he finally found freedom to focus on his God. This became his regular habit.

“Don’t pray when you feel like it.  Rather, have an appointment with the Lord, and keep it!” - Corrie Ten Boom 

Distractions will come. You are responsible only for how you handle them. We are supposed to be "...bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians x. 5) That can apply to thoughts that are idle as well as to those that are sinful -  either one can hinder us from being near to our God. 

Ultimately Susanna Wesley prayed because she knew her need for God. She refused to make excuses or allow distractions because she was desperate to access the supply of grace that she knew He had for her. We also need to recognize our need; to see the mistake we have made in allowing prayer to go unused and ask God to help us to pray.

“Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer.” — D. L. Moody

In Christ

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