Circumstances

I have been watching this thistle growing in a crack in the concrete just outside of Woolworths shop at the Mall. Now if this seed that germinated into this plant had been you or me we would probably have said “this is ridiculous we can’t grow here”. Well it did grow, and I suggest that we take a good hard look at it and learn a lesson in making the most of our circumstances no matter what they are or how they may change. 14 years ago my lovely wife and I had just settled into a new farm with nice sheep and cattle, good pasture and a nice home when suddenly Audrey succumbed to dementia followed by 3 small strokes and I had to “drop everything” and go and look after her in a Nursing Home. All we had worked hard for and all we had planned disintegrated over night. I cried and felt very depressed until I thought about the Apostle Paul’s statement where he said: “I have found that in whatsoever situation I find myself, therein to be content” and he was in prisons and dungeons most of the time because the authorities didn’t like his Christian teaching. He could have just got “the pigs” and sat in the prison and sulked and said “why me? Poor old me”. However he realised that there was Christian work to be done there so he preached Christ to the guards and the authorities whenever he got the chance. I bought this watering can from

“Typo” in the Orana Mall yesterday because it sums up the situation perfectly. (The inscription reads: “Grow where you are planted”).

 If Paul hadn’t been in those positions we wouldn’t have the instructions he wrote from there telling Christians how to behave; for example there are millions of copies of his letter to the Philippian Christians scattered around the world in many languages where he tells us to “Rejoice in the Lord always” and says “finally brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things” (what wonderful positive instruction from inside a jail). By Following Pauls statement above I have found that if I “Rejoice ever more, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks” God then turns what looks like defeat into victory. The well known example of this in the New Testament was when Paul and Silas were whipped and placed in the inner dungeon. Did they moan and groan? No “they sang praises to God at midnight”. And didn’t that change the situation? Within the hour they were released miraculously, their wounds dressed and the Jailor and his family had become Christians, none of which would have happened if they hadn’t trusted in God.

In my own case, after looking to God I felt His definite guidance to write these articles which I give to people and place on a “Blog” on the internet and they have been looked at by people in Australia, the U.S, Russia, India, France, South Korea, Ukraine, Singapore, China, Germany, Canada, Netherlands and Romania I assume people are being encouraged and it is for sure that I would never have done this if my circumstances hadn’t changed the way they have. I am now a Cert 1V Aged Care Nurse & attend to Audrey’s every need when she is not asleep in bed. She cannot move or talk but enjoys a Donut for morning tea at the Mall in her wheelchair & occasionally gives a big smile. The full picture is this: Jesus has prepared a mansion in Heaven for you therefore there is no real need for you to do the same down here. Let me put it like this: Years ago I had a friend who was a Methodist minister. The church paid him a modest salary and supplied a modest house. He ministered in Wilcannia, Cobar, Nyngan and in the Hunter valley. When he retired they supplied him with a nice home in a retirement village in Sydney. Our life is similar to that; we have a nice home awaiting us in Heaven for when we retire from this earth, meanwhile whilst we do our chosen occupation down here our main aim should be to assist others in all sorts of ways but particularly to know that Jesus died for their forgiveness so they need to believe on Him.  Now if for some reason you lose your job or your business collapses or such, that is not the be all and end all; God is still our sponsor and assures us that “All things work together for good to those that love God, the called according to His purpose”. At such times we should pick ourselves up, brush off the dust and say “What now Lord?”    Some food for thought. Best wishes,  Tom.