Presence v. Presents

I shared with you in an earlier post that I am reading a book titled One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life.  I learned about this book in an editorial written by a local woman in our area newspaper.  It must have been a God-moment, because my heart needed this book at this time in my life. If you have the opportunity to read this book, I would highly recommend it.

One of the quotes from the book that has been blessing me over and over again is this,

"God often responds to us with His presence instead of His presents."

The authors are explaining that when the storms of life come, often God will not give us the end result that we would choose (i.e. the present), but instead give us a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen while we go through these trials.

God uses these times in our lives to prune us, and I can see the fruits that are happening because what is going on.  While some days it can be hard to praise God, we must continue to serve Him even when we don't feel like it because the footing in our life seems so unstable.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock.  Matthew 7:24-25

When I read this scripture (which is in the same chapter as the quote above), I immediately thought of our current version of this verse:  Our pipes leak, my father-in-law has cancer, our cars break down, yet our house will not fall because we have built it on the rock.  I immediately let the tears fall and decided that although I do not like all these things going on, our house will not give-up or give-in.  I will continue to serve an awesome God.  I will continue to feed from His strength.  

Yesterday was a very emotional day for me.  As I drove home last night, I found an old CD in my car that is filled with slow Christian music.  The second song on that CD is called "Held" by Natalie Grant.  

Who told us we'd be rescued
What has changed and
Why should we be saved from nightmares
We're asking why this happens to us
Who have died to live, it's unfair

This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was that when everything fell
We'd be held

God continues to hold us up... when we face extreme loss, illness, or even the day-to-day annoyances like car repairs.  He will not let us fall if we have rooted our house upon the rock.  While I often want the present---  I want healing for my father-in-law.  I want to not have to go through repairs or inconvenience.  I want security--- it's then that I'm reminded: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.... He restores my soul." (Psalm 23: 1,3).