Holding on to the promises

As wedrove to a church meeting last week, we emerged from a thunderstorm to a mammothrainbow in the sky ahead of us. As I took in its beauty, I was reminded of atime decades ago when I was high over the Atlantic on a trip to England and outsidemy plane window a rainbow arced across the blue. At the time, I dealt with aheavy situation in my life, but when that rainbow appeared, I heard in myspirit the Lord’s voice saying, “Haven’t I been faithful to this promise?”

                                            Photo used courtesy of Margie Hancock

Theclarity of God's presence shook me a moment, but I agreed, “Yes, Lord you have been.”And so, I was reminded again to release my doubts because God would be faithfulin my current situation to fulfill his promise that he would never leave me orforsake me.

As Iremembered that time long ago and reflected on a current particularlychallenging difficulty and God’s promise in it, another driver slammed their car into us from behind. Although it was quite a jolt, itdidn’t seem there was damage to any of us or to our cars, so we went on to thechurch.

But I’vecontinued to think about that jolt coming just as I was reflecting on thepromises of God.

Holding onto God’s promises does not mean we won’t encounter jolts. After my recentaccident, one of the verses I clung to most was from the apostle Paul, “We get knockeddown, but we are not destroyed.”  Thatphrase comes from 2 Corinthians 4, “We are pressed on every side by troubles,but we are not crushed. We are perplexed but not driven to despair. We arehunted down but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are notdestroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death ofJesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.”

Throughevery jolt in life, we continue to hold fast to God and his promises. Wecontinue to believe what is true—His word found in scriptures.

At times,we feel the challenge is so great that we will not be able to bear it, that itwill snuff out our light. I have certainly felt that way at times. But here’s thething—we can’t bear it on our own. We can only do it through Christ who givesus strength(Philippians 4:13).

So, if you’vebeen jolted recently, still cling to God’s powerful promises. Don’t let themgo. Let them be for you the lifeline that they are. Remember, God has beenfaithful to all his promises. 

var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-24260977-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();Beverly Varnado's most recent book is In Search of the Painted Bunting, a middle grade historical from Elk Lake Publishing, #1 in new releases in its category. She is also the author of several small town romances from Anaiah Press including her latest, A Season for Everything. All are available at Amazon. To explore the web version of One Ringing Bell, please visit bev-oneringingbell.blogspot.comTo sign up for her newsletter, go to http://eepurl.com/dHNdsX Beverly Varnado copyright 2023