Eleven Cents

                                                               

It was late December and Richard was in the hospital.  I had fallen asleep but woke up with a dread that I could not get rid of.  I reached out and touched his hand but he slept on.  I just had this feeling that my husband was not going to live much longer.

I decided to text a friend who always seemed to be awake late and asked for prayers and told her of my fears.  She texted back almost immediately with words of comfort and compassion.  She also prayed. We texted back and forth and suddenly Richard started talking.

He was talking in his sleep.  I can't remember exactly what he said but it had to do with Jesus dying on the cross.  He kept telling me that I needed to give an offering to Jesus because Jesus had died on the cross.  Without thinking I told him that I didn't have any money.

That was the wrong answer!  He started telling me that I should give at least eleven cents and again I told him that I didn't have any money.  What was I thinking?   I should have just said, yes I will give at least eleven cents.  He started lecturing me on what a terrible person I was because I didn't want to give to the Savior and how on earth could I not have eleven cents.  I learned that night to not ever try to reason with a person that is sleep talking.  I also learned that a person can go from fear to laughing pretty quick.  For some reason this struck me as funny and  I could not stop laughing.

The next morning he did not remember anything but it is etched in my memory.  Even in my husband's dreams he was dreaming about Christ and how He died and rose again for us.  I also need to remember, even though Richard was dreaming when he called me a terrible person, that I am a terrible person!  I need to offer not just eleven cents but my life! Only with Christ as my Savior am I worth anything!  Christ paid my debt!

Has Christ paid yours?

Wow!

I was reading in Nehemiah the other day and one of the scriptures that I read made me think wow.  I don't ever remember reading that part before though I know that I have read the book of Nehemiah several times.  I was reading in chapter nine about the people confessing their sins and praying.  Their prayer praises God for leading His people and their ancestors out of Egypt and  for never abandoning them even when they made an idol shaped like a calf.  The prayer also remembered how God lead them by a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, and sent them manna and water.  God gave them everything that they needed,

Now for the wow part, God not only provided everything for them but also their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell while walking around in the wilderness for 40 years!!

I don't know how that slipped past my eyes without my stopping with wonder and awe!!  I don't know about you but if I walk to much there are times that my feet swell up and hurt!  I can't even imagine keeping a garment for 40 years much less wearing it everyday.  If I did wear a garment for 40 years I can only image that it would be ripped and tattered.


God was provider then and He is provider now!  He has provided a way for me and for you to live eternally in Heaven!  His Son died a terrible death on a cross and three days later rose again for sinners and we are all sinners!  The ripped and tattered parts that are carried by sinners can be made whole because Jesus paved the path for us to live eternally with Him.

God gave us everything we need!

John 3:16-17New International Version (NIV)

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him

Nehemiah 9:19-21New International Version (NIV)

19 “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. 20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. 21 For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.

I used to play-------

                                                   

How many people used to play a musical instrument?  I used to play the piano.  Now I am not saying that I played well but maybe when I practiced I played good.  I played good enough that when the pianist was not available I would fill in as a teenage and actually later on was the pianist for a small church, which was quite a while ago.   I must tell you though the more I practiced the gooder I got.  I don't think I ever got to the excellent level but I did get gooder!

Today for some reason I played the piano.  Wow, I am not even close to gooder. In fact it sounded quite terrible.  The dog even started howling!  I just told him to hush and kept going.  He eventually quieted down.  I probably played for thirty to forty minutes and I must admit that even though I didn't sound gooder,  the sound was a little better than when I first took a seat at the piano.


Then the thought hit me, I am only gooder through Christ!  I am not good on my own!  I am only gooder because Christ died and rose again!  I might get gooder at playing piano by practicing but I only had to accept Jesus as my Savior to know that when I die I will be in paradise with my Savior.

I also had the thought hit me that I did need to get gooder at reading my Bible, praying and listening to the Holy Spirit!  God will take my gooder and make it excellent!

Only through Christ can anyone be excellent!

John 3:16-17 (NIV)

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.