KEY TO LIVING GOD'S WILL

      There was a woman named Mrs. Horton who had faith, not as deep as it could have been, but a devout lady nonetheless. Her husband died without having provided for her livelihood, leaving her almost destitute. She prayed with what she thought was faith that some miracle might happen whereby she could keep the house she was so sentimentally attached to after all the years of having lived there. Financially, she had to sell that house to survive, or so she thought. She prayed that God would cause something to happen that she would not have to sell. In praying for this, she didn't ask for God's will or faith to know God's will. She simply prayed that she wouldn't have to sell the house.

      Nothing happened and a few months later she had to sell. Cleaning out the attic in preparation for the sale, she found an old, old stamp collection that had been in her husband's family for many years. She almost threw it on a pile of rubbish, but finally she put it aside to save. A year later when she moved into a smaller apartment, she was still bitter because God hadn't answered her prayer. She had loved that home.

      One day she happened to see a newspaper listing of the value of certain stamps. She remembered that stamp collection she had saved, found it and took it to the stamp dealer. She walked out of that store with a check for $11,000. Then she realized that that old house had been too big for her anyway. God had taken away the burden of having to care for it; and she now had enough money to pay her expenses. What had appeared to be her unanswered prayer turned out to be an answered prayer. Sometimes our plans fail in order that God's plans for us might succeed.

      Including death. We pray for healing and God gives us death instead, the ultimate healing. Pray for faith that believes basic truths like Romans 8:28: "To those who love God, all things work together for good." Such faith is much deeper than that which says, "Lord, I know you're going to heal me." It is the faith that can say," Lord, if you don't heal me, whatever is going to happen is going to be for the best. If you do heal me, then that's for the best."

     In the next installment, I will begin a short series on "Success Through Faith."