John 15:4-5: ‘Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing’.
How does one tap into the power of God? To realize the full value of this union we have with our Creator, we must ‘abide’ in Him . . . meaning to dwell or remain; so that we are always in a conscious union with Jesus. He not only becomes a part of us, but when you abide in Him, you can feel his presence in your life. Personally, I talk to God like I talk to my husband. I ask Him for wisdom and guidance, and in all sorts of supernatural ways, he provides it. Then there are times of silence . . . there can be many things occur in your life that cause you to ask, "Where are you, Lord?"
When my father died so tragically last October. I was on my way to visit him. After our 2,000 mile journey, we were only 20 miles from my parent's home when he died. Why couldn't I have gotten there sooner? I had an uneasy feeling but circumstances prevented me from getting there in time. Why? I have asked God this question 100 times! Yet in spite of the tragedy, our family has experienced the presence of God like never before during our time of grief. Through this I have understood the supernatural power of abiding in Him and Him in me, like never before. Knowing he was there . . . in every detail has brought us great peace. He has certainly been in the details of my mother's illness, from the diagnosis to getting her to the right doctors to her remission.
But lately I have been very, very busy . . . trying to wrap up my real estate business before I returned to Atlanta to take care of Mother. My niece and I have flexible schedules and have been taking turns. Hey, something's gotta give . . . it was my prayer life that was giving. But I knew that God understood.
Over the past few weeks I have hit some bumps in my life . . . just little things, but distressing things. Why? I realize now it was because I was not tapping into this holy union . . . to his power. I have been so busy that I have felt overwhelmed. Oh, I didn't stop praying altogether, but I have been too busy to really concentrate on my prayers. They were became perfunctory, not earnest. In the last few weeks, I complained that God seemed far away . . . distant. But guess who moved? Not him!
And things happened when my intimate conversations with him were cut off. An example is my granddaughter's school tuition. Each year I pay for it because it is more important to me than it is to her parents that my granddaughter attend a Christian school. Since California real estate has slowed down this year, my available funds for her tuition were extremely low, so at the first of the year, I asked my nephew to suggest a stock that might provide the money by August.
Sure enough the stock he suggested soared, even in this dismal market. My $1,000 investment grew and by the first of August, I had enough money to pay the tuition. The very morning that I was taking the stock out to pay the tuition, I was stunned to discover that the stock had dropped drastically the last 24 hours, due to a loan not being funded for the company. By the next day 50% of the company's work force had been laid off. I couldn't believe it . . . . I just missed the money for the tuition by a day. Why Lord? Why couldn't have you prompted me to take it out earlier? Maybe I wasn't listening?
Then the next few days brought disappointment in other little ways. Nothing as drastic as the tuition loss, but I lost little things, had a car problem, missed a deadline, things didn't work, a minor error on my taxes resulted in my paying a penalty . . . just little irritations that suddenly became insurmountable.
Yesterday was the worse! A friend of mine had lost some very expensive diamond earrings in her condo, her second home in California, that I was selling for her . . . we're talking $25,000 earrings, here. Anyway, I found them when the movers were there. She asked me to hang onto them until she completed another move on the East Coast, so I put them away in safe place, and I was still holding onto the earrings when I finally spoke to her a couple of weeks ago. She gave me her new address and asked me to mail them to her.
Since I was leaving to care for Mother, I was trying to get everything done before I left, so I found a box for the jewelry and dropped it in my purse to take to FED-X. As I was going out the door, I realized that I forgotten the earrings. I ran back inside and grabbed them in my hand to take them to post office. I had planned to put them in the box when I got in the car, but outside my door my phone rang . . . always a major distraction for me, because for a real estate agent, the telephone is my lifeline. My conversation continued as I got inside the car. I put my call on the speaker in the car and drove away, still talking.
A few feet down the road, I suddenly remembered . . . the earrings!!! Where were they? Not in my hand! I slammed on the brakes and stopped the car. I looked everywhere inside the car. Still no earrings. I turned the car around and went back home, and checked all around the place where the car was parked in front of my house . . . the earrings were nowhere to be found. Although I was late for my appointment, I took the steps up to home, and there in the middle of one step was an earring . . . but only one! I looked everywhere for the other earring . . . all around the sidewalk, the steps, in the grass, and the ivy. The second earring simply wasn't there. I had to leave for my appointment with only one earring in the box. Keep in mind there was no way, I could afford to replace the earring that I had lost. I didn't even have enough money for the school tuition, which was due in a few days.
I completed my appointment and later met friends for dinner. The evening was not enjoyable for me because I was distracted and worried about the earring. Sarah, my dear friend offered to come home with me to search for it, but i knew she needed to get back home to her little daughter. When I arrived home, I searched for the earring until 2:00 a.m. with no success.
Before I went to sleep, I begged to God to help me find the earring. I set the alarm for early the next morning. First, I looked around the house, retracing my steps, looking under the bed, furniture, and in the trash cans. Maybe, I had dropped them in the house? When I didn't find the earring, I went outside, begging God to guide me. And guess what! I found the earring! It was as though I had a radar in me . . . I went right to the earring. And believe me it was not easy to find, but it was for me. I found it at the bottom of the steps, at least two feet from the steps on a hillside, covered in ivy hidden in the dirt at least a foot down in the ivy. I literally found it in less than 20 seconds! Talk about praising God!
I came back in the house thanking him. And then I checked my stocks and guess what? No, not enough to pay the tuition, but it had recovered enough to pay for the first semester! And I am confident that God will provide the rest of the money by the time January arrives!
Without him, I realize I am truly nothing. Just like the branch when chopped off from vine, I cannot bear fruit if I'm not abiding in him. Just like the baby who cannot live outside her mother's womb. The message to me is . . . SLOW DOWN, SUSAN!
I am convinced that the greatest detriment to our union with him is busyness! I had been really busy wrapping up my real estate business since I was leaving for the East Coast, so I hadn't taken the time to focus on my prayer life or really listen to him. I can remember as a small child washing my face, my mother would order me to give it more than a "lick and a promise." That pretty much sums up my prayer life of late . . . a lick and a promise.
And to think that I asked "Why?" DUH! If we do not take the time to plug into the outlet if how can we expect to have the power? So my prayer is "help me slow down, Lord . . . help this hopeless queen of multi-tasking slow way down!" The meaning of the Scripture, "Seek you first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added until you," resonates within my soul today. First things first! And the first thing in my life . . . God! Amen!
