|
Trust God's Timing
|
Trust God’s Timing
This story is a message of hope for all Christian women living with men who are un-churched or unsaved. Danny says, “Never give up hope. Just keep praying and trust God’s timing.”
I met Danny at a campground. (See her picture in the Photo Gallery under Florida – Destin – Camping on the Gulf.) She was sitting in her bathing suit outside a giant camper enjoying the ocean. She is a Christian nurse whose mission field is a dialysis ward in a hospital. “God gives me messages for my patients,” she told me. “The messages are always His words – words directly from the Bible. God often sends me Bible verses for my patients. Timing is critical because if you give a scripture at the wrong time, they can’t receive it. I write them down and hang on to them until God tells me to pass them on.”
Danny has been married to the same man 40 years. She has been involved in church for their entire marriage. She took all of her children to church - alone. Just two years ago, her husband, Chuck, finally asked Jesus to be a part of his life, accepted baptism, and joined the church. Now they serve God together.
“He was always a good man,” she said. “We had a good marriage. I just wanted him to know the Lord. I knew he’d been baptized as a child but he’d never moved beyond that. Early in our marriage, I invited him to church but he was never interested. Then I realized that I shouldn’t push. I needed to wait and trust God’s timing. I prayed for him constantly. God sent me a scripture that brought me peace.” .
2 Tim 1:12
For which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. KJV
“I knew God was able so I committed Chuck to Him and I waited. We had a good marriage except in that one area. One morning, 10 years ago, God sent me that same scripture again. I opened my devotional book to read that same scripture. Written below those precious words was a promise – ‘The best is yet to come.’ I knew God was promising me that my husband would come to know my savior.”
“Later that same day, I got a call that Chuck was in the hospital with a heart attack. It was serious. My son was a paramedic and after he talked to the doctors he said, ‘Mom, we’ve got to face it. Dad probably isn’t going to make it.’”
“My response to him was, ‘Yes he will. I haven’t gotten my promise. The best is yet to come.’ Chuck lived and didn’t come to know the Lord for another eight years. The day my husband walked the aisle in my church, our son walked the aisle behind him. It took his father to lead our son, who I was also praying for, down the aisle. God was right – the best was yet to come.”
“Now that you see how good serving the Lord together is, do you ever regret all those lost years?” I asked.
“No!” she said emphatically. “It’s strange but it’s as if he was always there.”
“May I write your story?” I asked. “I meet many women who are worried about their husbands.”
“Of course,” she beamed. “Tell them not to push, to keep praying, and never lose faith. Some women get mad at their husbands about not going to church. I never did. I just kept praying. God is able.”
|
|