This week, I was talking with someone about how God is always doing more than we realize. Sometimes He partners with us to help others and sometimes He helps others in spite of us.
Either way, God gets His work done.
This is a very comforting thought. If we are following God the best we can and place our trust in Him, He will move Heaven and Earth to help us. That does not always mean He helps us have all our wants and Christmas list. It DOES mean He's working to meet every one of our needs.
Hope you enjoy this story from my travels "In the Wild" this week...
On a particular street in a particular suburb, two widows lived side-by-side. One was an atheist the other was a Christian. Every morning, they would meet at their mailboxes for a morning chat. While the topics of conversation were varied and seasonal, they often ended up talking about faith. The Christian did not like to debate theology and cared little about solving the world's problems. She loved Jesus and cared about her friends. Her life was simple and she liked it like that. The atheist hated the Christian's childlike wonder, and her contented life. She would often try to bring up topics of debate. She would even criticize the Christian's worldview and end the conversations with the Christian in tears. What made things even worse for the atheist was that the Christian prayed every day with the windows open. She would hear the Christian pray for many different things, including the atheist. One day, she heard through the Christian's prayers that the Christian was having financial troubles. Due to unexpected bills, she didn't have enough money to buy groceries. Over the next few days, the prayers continued. As the cabinets were growing increasingly bare, the atheist started becoming frustrated and worried for her friend. Every day, she heard the Christian pray, "God, I thank You for knowing the situation I am in. Thank You for always being faithful. Thank You for already working on a solution and for bringing it in your own time." This was so frustrating for the atheist. Did the Christian not realize there was no one coming to help? At this rate, the Christian would die of starvation, and then who would the atheist have to talk to every day?
Finally, the atheist had an idea. She would go and buy more groceries than the Christian could hope to eat. She would buy more groceries than her cabinets could hold. Then, the Christian would realize there was no God. It was the atheist who came to her rescue. So, she went to the store and spent hundreds of dollars. She found herself enjoying the shopping spree and bought all her favorite items. She was going to show the Christian once-and-for-all all she needed to know about God.
Once the shopping trip was finished, she brought all the groceries to the Christian's house, laid them out all over the front lawn, and rang the bell. All of the bags filled the whole front yard. She had outdone herself. When the Christian answered the door, the atheist said, "I bought you a bunch of groceries. What do you think about that?"
To the astonishment of the atheist, the Christian started to praise the Lord. She said, "Thank You Jesus for buying me groceries and using the devil's money to do it."
