A Page In My Journal:11/29/14 We can all relate to the comedian who jokes, Money talks - it says, Goodbye! I remember when every day was counted in dollars and cents and I would lament that there were never enough days in the month! With 40 per cent of America living pay check to paycheck, as a Gallup poll recently stated, I think its time we rethink this cruel task master. I was thankful, that for fourteen years, Terry had a very secure job as a UPS man with fantastic benefits. You better believe; those came in handy! Keen mental and physical condition was key to completing each day under their time restrictions. Any injury or ailment could impede progress thus causing the entire day to back up. Regardless of the stress, Terry enjoyed the job. His customers became like family and he was often given prayer requests. The small, war torn, New Testament Bible in his front pocket served as a daily reminder to every friend and foe that God came first. Its not a wonder that Hells fiery arrows would come flying. Terry began waking up, on many mornings, with a severe upset stomach and nausea and would fall asleep still battling one. Determined, to make light of this illness; he rarely talked to me about it. On the other hand, he would make it a point to hear all the teaching he could get, on the subject of healing. Like a star in the sky, he knew it was out there, he could even see it, twinkling in its brightness, he would just have to find a way to lasso it. Our kind pastor, at the time, understood Terry s dilemma and admitted, he too, wanted a deeper understanding of this phenomenon except that he was taught in seminary that, Healing was not available to every child of God. At the time, we were very ignorant of truth and grace, hence, we interpreted this nuance as having a stroke of good luck, liken to winning the lottery. Terry was not the type of guy, who, as a young boy, carried around a rabbits foot and rubbed it every now and again. He was going to have find out, who, in this day and age, was actually eligible to be touched by God. Together, as time would allow it, we would listen to tapes and study the scriptures. I should have suspected that something was still ailing him when he wrote several healing verses on index cards from the Old and New Testament and taped them to his sun visor in his UPS truck, but I was none the wiser. Sad to say, because he kept his symptoms so secretive; whenever he would mention,Calling in sick something evil would trigger in my head, Hes playing hookey! ( It takes one to know one!) On the other hand, I may have enjoyed his days off if I hadnt taken on the character of Wimpy from Popeye who bought a burger on Tuesday and planned to pay for it on Thursday. So, like a coach on the sidelines, I would desperately try to convince him to, Shake it off.. Try and go to work. To my dismay, half the time, he would object and stay home. Because, I spent all the money; I was responsible for paying all the bills. I would immediately deduct in my head the new amount to be paid on next Fridays paycheck and totally stress about it. Its a wonder I didnt come down with the same lying symptoms and climb into bed beside him. But, I refused to encourage this behavior. I know, Poor guy! For months, this went on. Terry struggling to work through a forty hour-work week while I remained oblivious to his pain. Finally, after a year of hiding his ulcers from me, Terry confessed. We scheduled to see a doctor and he ended up prescribing him a chalky, acid reflux medicine that would end up, definitely, not being the antidote. He may have lost hope on modern medicine but not on God, even though he decided once again, to hide his symptoms from me ! Month after month, after a long day, delivering well over three hundred packages, in the Georgia humidity, Terry would come home at dusk and without drawing any attention to his arrival, quietly park in the driveway, so that he could privately go to the bushes and lose his lunch. He would weakly walk through the front door, sheepishly greet the four of us and sit down at the table. Then hed take a few bites of supper and with little to say, politely push the plate. With every meal of mine, being Made with love, his conscience was wearing thin while my female intuition was kicking in. Terry knew he would have to trust me and come clean. This time I didnt feel led to to call a doctor . The Word of God would have to show us what to do. As a priority, we continued our study on healing scriptures with BIG open hearts. We humbly, without any preconceived ideas, asked The Lord for clear understanding. A light went off! It started occurring to us, that like his wonderful UPS benefits, we were indeed eligible, and healing wasnt the only earthly provision! We read that because we were His children, that He was more than willing to give us ALL things that pertained to life and godliness! If you dont believe me, ask Him! Jesus will gladly show you that He never EVER turned down a sick person who believed. NEVER EVER! Our hearts were bursting at such good news! Now, with a new pep in his spiritual step, Terry would drive, all day, it may have been winter time but it was still summer time in his heart! He would boldly confess the faded scripture verses above his head! He spoke those verses in faith, he meditated on them, and when revelation exploded in his heart; he believed ! And we all know that BELIEVING is SEEING! Terry does not know when - exactly, but before the second year of this fight, he finally got back his appetite ! He would no longer push away his favorite Cornish hen and stuffed mushroom combination. I would sit and watch him eat every last bite, as if he were my precious child! His dear, praying mother even noticed that he was gaining weight! My UPS man would start waking up glad to put on his browns. Did we suddenly get ahead of this cruel task master? Yes ! In more ways than one! Financially, we still had to budget and plan accordingly. I had to stop pulling out plastic and use cash instead. Thank God, my heavenly Father had already calculated my past mistakes, as I gladly developed contentment and self control. Spiritually, we learned how to start resisting stress and the fear of the unknown. Most importantly, we stopped believing that UPS was our source, as we started believing Jesus as our provider - Jehovah JIREH. Last but not least, when the next trial of sickness came uh knocking on our door, we sent Jehovah Raphah our HEALER to answer, and He still does! God is not a respecter of persons. Oh, how He loves YOU & ME! He is an incredible, doting Father who wont give up on US! His love should be our resting place! Perhaps, you dont know that His will for you today, is that above all things; you be in good health even as your soul prospers. Our storms are very real, but The Sapps are learning that when the storms rage on, we must all clear our throats, lift our heads, and all together- now, just SING IN THE RAIN !! Verses on Terrys visor: Isaiah 53:3-5 I Peter 2:24 Psalm 103:1-5 Matt. 8:17 IIIJohn 1:2
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 12:57:19 +0000