Whenever we have a first-time visitor to our home, given the chance, we tell them a story. I’ll tell you that story too.
Mary and I were married for twelve years before we owned our own home. To be perfectly honest, while serving in missions, we didn’t think we’d ever own a home and we really weren’t concerned about it.
We had just moved back to our home area after serving in missions for eight years. We left the work that we were doing out of obedience to God to start a new child welfare agency. We rented a small apartment from my in-laws and were quite happy there. In time, we began looking for real estate only to be told by the bank that without any savings and a better paying job, we could not secure a loan. We really frustrated real estate agents because what we thought God had for us was always different from what they were showing us.
Then one morning in my devotional time, God highlighted this verse out of I Chronicles, “I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you.” That was it. That was all we needed. We began to proclaim and to speak the Lord’s favor; we would have a house and God would be the builder.
One day an older friend of my wife came to visit us. She announced she was selling her farm located just a mile from where our apartment was. She looked directly at us and said these words, “I want you to go out to the farm and see where you would like to build a house.” We were shocked…speechless. Wondering how much this lot would cost us she then said, “It is going to be a tithe of my farm; it’s yours free and clear.” She left and missed seeing Mary and I dancing around our kitchen, shouting loudly in thanksgiving to our Provider.
With the commitment of a very dear friend, he and I built that house from foundation up, nailing every stud, pulling every wire, plumbing and painting. Now almost 32 years ago, we still tell the story. We can’t stop telling the story because it’s the house that God built.
Even when man (or bank) says it can’t be done… Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.
On a recent prayer time away from my office, I carried John Wesley’s 21 accountability questions with me. I have gone through these numerous times and really enjoy doing so. I thought that if you were not familiar with them, you just might like to consider a look as well. On that note, here they are:
In 2018 I was able to enjoy several children’s dedication services. One was my grandson. That was special.
Benjamin’s faith followed him in all he set out to accomplish. Perhaps it was his father’s dedicating him to the service of the Lord that helped to hold him to that relationship. With the many trials and tribulations, losses and shattered dreams he encountered, late in the book he wrote, “I at present think that whoever attempts this aright, and is well qualified, can not fail of pleasing God, and of meeting with success.”
I was speaking with a friend recently about a specific governmental department that I obviously did not have a good word for. Later in a text message, I apologized for my negative expressions. And here’s the reason for my apology: Holy Spirit.
Three wise men traveled quite a distance to see the Christ child. There is a bit of debate about the distance they traveled, as well as the time it took to travel those miles. Some Bible scholars say He was a toddler and some say He was still an infant when they arrived in Bethlehem.
Before we said, “I do” we diligently worked at not having or experiencing differences with one another, at least not out loud. We wanted to be argument free and not allow anything to inhibit our communication. But not long after saying “I do,” for many of us that changed. We trusted our marriage vows to hold us together while experiencing differences, even when they became heated. What changed?
There it was, 15 feet up, stuck on a tree limb. My grandson’s favorite stuffed animal hanging and lodged by a single leg now out of his hands and his control. In his five-year-old mind it seemed permanent, so he cried and cried. He imagined it gone from his life forever and thus the emotion. We held him to console him and then said, “There’s no need to cry. Let’s work on a solution to the problem.” When asking him what we could do about the problem he shrugged his shoulders and whimpered, “I don’t know.” We asked him if crying could be part of the solution and he managed to shake his head no.
This is the week that America sets aside as a time of giving thanks. Why is that? Two past presidents of the United States made very specific declarations.
How much energy do you spend thinking about or trying to correct dead relationships? Perhaps you have a failed relationship from the past, a really bad break-up or even a divorce. In so many of these cases there is simply not a way to relieve the guilt or the false guilt one may feel. We can find ourselves playing mental gymnastics in order to somehow convince ourselves it will possibly one day work out.
Begin by praying about how you can better care for your friend. Put energy and thought into how to better love the person you are married to. Try daydreaming and fantasizing about your wife or your husband. To allow past, dead relationships your precious time just might be robbing, stealing in fact, from your present friendship or marriage relationship. And that might be considered cheating.
Steve Prokopchak 