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Insight
"Reflect on what I am saying,
for the Lord will give you insight into all this."
2 Timothy 2:7
(Dragonfly
Ministries
President, Mary Hamrick)
January 2006
"Faithful"
“I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your
faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.”
Psalm 40:10
I am reminded daily, it seems, of God’s goodness through His
gifts. God’s gifts come in so many shapes and forms – some are
touchable, most are not. His faithfulness came to me, gift
wrapped in peace of heart, for the care and well being of our children.
Years ago when our daughters, Aubrey and Kendall, reached the college
years, my heart struggled with the thought of cutting apron strings and
allowing them to grow up away from my touch – trusting them to make the
right decisions in an adult world that I wasn’t ready to release them
into – worrying that I had not adequately prepared them for the
struggle with worldly temptations. At a time when my heart was
burdened the most, I heard God whisper, “Give them to me and trust me
to care for them.” As I struggled to hold onto them tighter, the
whisper became stronger, until I realized that until I trusted God with
our children, I would not have peace. So in a tearful prayer,
with palms lifted toward heaven, I knelt before my Lord and God and
handed my children to Him – all four of them – to use for His purpose,
in His way. As my heart released these precious children, I felt
the peace of the Lord wash over me as a warm shower, and I left my
prayer time knowing that – no matter what – He was in charge of our
children – He would protect them, teach them, guide them through
troublesome and tempting times, and He would bring them to a place
where He would use them in the way He designed for them – the plan He
had ordained for their lives before they were born. (Psalm 139:15-16 “My frame was not
hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was
woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed
body. All the days ordained for me were written in your
book before one of them came to be.)
The peace He gave me in 2000 was still present in 2004 when we moved to
Maryland, 1,400 miles away, and Aubrey and Kendall stayed in Texas with
their new families. Oh, the gift of God’s faithfulness!
Over the 2005 Christmas holidays, I longed to be with our daughters and
their families. As I spoke to the Lord about this desire, He
reminded me that, though I won’t be physically present with them over
the holidays, I do have the confidence that I will spend eternity with
all of my children, because they have accepted Christ into their
hearts. Then, as though a fog were removed from my eyes, I
understood the bigger picture of why the Lord moved us to
Maryland. I heard a whisper in my heart that said, “My child, you
have the confidence of knowing that your children will spend eternity
with you because they know Me. Though you live far away
from your daughters and their families, you will have them with you for
eternity. You can rest in that knowledge. But, my child, I
can not rest in that knowledge, because all of my children do not yet
know Me. That’s why you are in Maryland – to build My Kingdom, so
that My children will come to know Me, and so that they may spend
eternity with Me.”
Though I long to spend more time with our daughters and their families,
I have a greater understanding of the phrase from the “Experiencing
God” study written by Henry Blackaby that says, “Obedience is
costly, to you and to those around you.”
The blessings of obedience far outweigh the sacrifices. Since we
have moved to the state of Maryland, our family has grown. God
has given us friends of all ages to love, and to love us. We grow
closer and closer to our daughters and their families, though the miles
separate us, and we take every opportunity to be together, to send
emails and to talk on the phone.
God has blessed our sacrifice to move here; He has filled our hearts
with a greater knowledge of who He is, and how He is the only One
worthy of our worship, praise and sacrifice. He has filled our
hearts with His presence, His love, His people. He has proven
faithful in the midst of our obedience.
May God bless your decision to follow Him, to obey His calling, to give
your all for His glory. Every sacrifice, every gift that you
present to him, palms up, will be honored by our Lord and Savior and
your life will be richly blessed. Don’t hesitate and don’t be
afraid to give your all to HIM. He is faithful. Our God is
faithful.
Mary
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