Out With The Old. In With The Faith.

I realize that I haven't posted in two weeks. And to be honest, I really don't have an excuse other than just not getting around to it. I promise to do better though. Scouts honor.

 

Since October, we have moved twice. The first time was from Oakdale to Kingston. The second was from Kingston to Kingston...about 5 minutes down the road actually. It's a long story as to why we've moved twice in such a short period of time but we're not going to get into that right now. Since we've been moving and since we're about to move AGAIN, this time to a completely different state, we have been going through our storage unit and weeding out a bunch of crap that we should have gotten rid of a long time ago. We had tons of clothes, household stuff, a few small pieces of furniture, toys...you name it. We decided that we weren't going to take it all to Goodwill (nothing against it or anything) but instead to a church store called the Clothes Closet here in town. They take the money they make from the store and put it back into the church. Donating to a local church just seemed like the right thing to do. Not to mention it was within spitting distance from our house whereas Goodwill was a good 15- 20 minutes away. Any who, Justin and I cleaned out this huge pull behind trailer that was FULL of crap that we had accumulated over the past 5 years and took two truckloads of stuff to the church store. After we unloaded the last load, I got to talking to the guy that ran the store. I had seen him there every time I'd been in there browsing but we had never really talked other than just small talk. As Justin and I were looking around, I got to talking to this guy a little more in depth. We'll call him Bob. So, Bob and I got to talking about the store and he was telling me about all of the things that the store does other than giving the proceeds from the store to the church. Then, he started telling me his testimony. It was such an amazing story that I just can’t keep to myself so that's why I decided to blog about it. I know I'm going to leave some things out but I believe I can remember the high points of his story....well, the parts that stuck with me anyway. It goes a little something like this...

 

Bob had been living in Ashville and running his own business that he had built from the ground up. It was a remodeling company that worked for banks, fixing up and cosmetically repairing foreclosed houses and getting them ready to sale. He was a wealthy man with what seemed to be a seemingly perfect life. Big house. Nice stuff. Beautiful wife. He even had his masters degree in business management. All the things that most people only dream about. But then one day, his life fell apart and he lost it all. His long time friend and business partner took the company's entire client list, emptied the bank account and took off to start his own business, leaving Bob to fend for himself and pick up the pieces. As you can imagine, he lost his business and was broke. Almost immediately after losing his business, he got very sick and was admitted to the hospital for two weeks. When he was discharged, he went home only to find that his house had ironically been foreclosed on and he wasn't even able to get inside to get any of his belongings. Obviously, his things had been foreclosed on as well. In the midst of his life crumbling, his wife decided to leave him. This poor man had nothing. No business. No money. No house. And no wife. Nothing. Things became so bad that poor Bob became homeless. He was living under bridges and staying in homeless shelters here and there when he came across one. Bob's brother lived in Clinton and also didn't have much. He did however, have an old, run down car that he gave to Bob that became his home. He was always looking and asking for spare change so he could buy gas and food. One day, he came through Kingston (where the church store ministry is). And like I said, I can't remember all of the details, but somehow he came to the church store. They gave him something to eat, a clean change of clothes, and a warm place to sleep. In return, Bob volunteered at the church store since it was mostly ran by older church ladies and was on a volunteer only basis. He started attending church with them and they eventually gave him the manager position at the store...the only paid position there was. They helped him get back on his feet, helped him get into a low income apartment just minutes down the road and furnished it with donations from the store, replenished his wardrobe from donations, and helped him become financially stable again. This church and its ministry saved Bob's life.

 

I'm sure you're probably wondering why in the world I decided to post about this man's life and thinking that it's not even that big of a deal. But I haven't told you the best part of his story yet. The entire time he was telling me about the tough road he has been on for the last two years, he kept a smile on his face. He would tell me about something bad that happened, but directly after, he would say "But I knew God was with me". When he started telling me about how he came to be with the church and how they had helped him get back on his feet, he kept saying "God is just so good". So, the entire time I'm standing there listening to this man's amazing testimony, I'm thinking about how amazing his faith in God was during it all. After everything that poor man had been through, he never gave up. He kept his eyes on the Lord and had faith that he would be taken care of and that God would provide for him. And that's exactly what He did. God knew what he was doing when Bob's business went under and he lost everything. Bob's life may have been hard for a while and went in the exact opposite direction that he had planned, but the path that God put him on lead him to right where he was meant to be. All the hard times, all the heartbreak, everything that Bob had been through was all part of God's plan and he had faith in His plan the whole time. His faith in God never faltered and that's what got him through it all. He could have very easily given up. He could have turned to drugs and/or alcohol, or even worse, he could have given up completely and tried to end his life. But he didn't. Instead, he trusted to Lord.

 

The point that I'm trying to make is that if more people in the world had the trust and faith in God that Bob has/had, the world wouldn't be in the state that it is in today. If we would stop trying to fix things ourselves and stop going down our own path and just let God take the reins, maybe things wouldn't be so bad. If we would stop letting the devil interfere in our lives and let God come in instead, I know that the world would be a better place. God gave his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to save us from our sins and to keep us from spending eternity in a sinner’s hell. The least we can do in return is trust Him. When things get hard, it's easy to lose faith. It's easier to just give up instead of saying "Okay, God. Things are hard but I know you're in control. Just help me to keep my faith strong and to know that you're in control". Easier said than done but once you do, it's worth it. I have been working on strengthen my faith and becoming closer to God and I feel Him working in my life and heart every single day. Things that I use to constantly fret about and try to handle myself, I hardly give them a thought now. I'm not saying that my life is perfect by any means. I'm just saying that since I've given my heart to God and put my full faith in Him, I feel as if a weight has been lifted and that I can conquer the world with Him on my side. Wouldn't it be nice to always have someone on your side all the time? Someone that will never leave you or steer you in the wrong direction? You can. Just trust Him and know that he loves you enough to die for you. He is the best friend we could ever ask for. All you have to do is trust him. If God is for you, who can be against you? Think about it...