Yesterday‘s devotion was talking about going through hardships and being attacked. The challenge that it is to get through moments like that. It truly blows me away how God uses those moments to build us. A week or so ago, we talked about a video that was sent to me by one of our veterans. The narrator in the video was talking about praying to God for strength. And God answered his prayers by sending him difficulties to make him stronger. So true! But, I want to add to this strength building prayer. Another way that God does things to help us get through tough times. Help us get through difficulties. To keep us moving forward.
About a year ago, I was wrapping up work one day at the office and I got a phone call from an unknown number. I didn’t answer it. As I don’t answer most phone calls that I don’t know the number for. The caller left a voicemail saying that he didn’t want to leave me his name, but that he was somebody from my past. And that definitely caught my attention. So I called him. Ended up that he was a former student of mine. A kid that could’ve been a good basketball player. But, he chose to not stay in school. And quit before he graduated. I remember him. And I thought it was so unfortunate for him to do that. I never wanted to see any of my students quit school. But now let’s just say at this point, his phone call humbled me. It was pretty amazing.
Parker was calling me to tell me thank you for pouring into him years ago. To tell me thank you for caring more about him more than he did at that time. And he wanted to apologize to me for his decisions. Holy cow! Talk about humbling. That was over 20 years ago. He quit school in 1998. And he still wanted to let me know this many years later that he appreciated me. I like to call moments like these “God Winks“. They are moments like these “But God Moments” that can help you move forward. And that’s exactly what his call did. I don’t do what I do to receive phone calls like this. I don’t do what I do to get recognition for anything. I don’t do what I do to have somebody reach out to me. I’m simply trying to serve God. I say all that to say this, and I told Parker this as well, calls like this are God’s way of saying stay the course. It’s God‘s way of letting us know he’s there. Parker was God’s tool for helping me stay focused. And that is awesome my friends. So today, stay the course. Keep moving forward. Stay focused knowing that God has you. God has us all. He always has. He always will.
