One for Reader's Digest

[faithofjob777]

but it is not to brag, but to show that though I have so many sins I still disgustingly enjoy, God still used me to do a little bit of good.

The last few weeks was a special time for me to be inspired in praising two nurses in the hospital for their dedication and good work. For the years I have worked with them, they showed to me how well they took care of their patients. I thought that during this recession, it would be most helpful to bless them materially as a way of expressing my gratitude to them.

But I hesitated for days, because I thought it might cause a ruckus among other hospital staff for not receiving the same thing from me.  But I finally decided yesterday afternoon to just do it.  So I wrote the checks, and drove to the hospital to give the checks to those two nurses.

Walking towards the nurses' station, I saw a book on a table.  It was by Dave Ramsey, and I wondered who was reading it.  I asked Peggy, one of the nurses I intended to give a check to,  about it.  Peggy said it was the other nurse Lindsey who was reading i; but she was told by Lindsey that she could also gain from it.  Then something surprising happened:  Peggy jokingly said that I could just give her 500 dollars, as her start-up capital.  It was an obvious joke, and she quickly said she was just kidding.  She laughed heartily while I stared at her quietly, handing her the envelope that contained the check for 500 dollars.

She burst into tears, as I shed some tears too.  It was one of those "coincidences" that exhilarated both of us regarding the loving touch of God.  She asked if she could mention it as a testimony she could share in her church, and I told her to make sure and mention that it was God who was blessing her because of her devotion to the patients' welfare.  This situation warmed up my heart with the truth that God always give the increase, and all that we need to do is to be His co-laborers in the harvest and comfort of souls.

Jaime

[Threshing Flora]

That is wonderful.  Thank you for sharing.

The story helps to put into perspective the last few hours in which I have been plotting how to catch a thief who has been stealing packages (BOOKS!) from my door. Maybe God will use those books (and that Indelible Grace CD!) to convict them of their sin and need of a Savior.

(I’m still thinking about a peephole camera, though.)

[faithofjob777]

Sorry to hear about the thefts, TF.  Perhaps it is God's way of telling you to move somewhere else safer, like a rural place in North Dakota.  

I also did not mention that it was the same day that I found a little baby bird at my back porch.  All of the furniture were tossed here and there, so I guess the bird was also thrown off from its nest during a recent storm.  It was chirping, and I really did not know what to do with it.  

So I asked God what lesson I could get out of it.  I invented one quickly, and said to myself that this little bird will die without its true parent/s whatever I choose to do.  There are just things I can't control, and things I can't save.  But instead of being too worried about this little bird, I must be more concerned about people I can actually help.  There are so many who have been flung far away by their turbulent enjoyment of sin, from the refuge that they can have only in God.  It was after that "contemplation" that I thought again about the nurses I wanted to encourage.

And of course after the check was given and the nurse and I thanked God for the unexpected blessing, I immediately prayed to God that after this blessing, I know He would also chastise me.  Chastise and humble me he did, and quite quickly too, for an hour later, I spoke to a patient in a nursing home.  It pricked my heart with regards to what I felt as substandard quality of care I had given to her.  I thanked God for never failing to humble me after inspiring me about what little good I may have done that day.  It is all for good though; I won't stop praying at night that hopefully I will do better the next day.

Jaime

[stumblinsheepie]

I can't help but think that Threshing Flora's book thief is disappointed every time he/she steals a package.  Although if it keeps up, maybe you will have a classically educated calvinist revolutionary neighbor that won't vote because they don't own property...

 

[faithofjob777]

I deleted a post I made because it sounded too morose.  Instead, I would just post one to share that I may have too many faults and sins, but hanging on too tight to money and personal property is not one of them.    It can be argued that I do not have a family of my own so it is easy for me to do it.  Then again, it is for the reason of family (translated, taking care of my father with cancer who is now deceased, now taking care of my widowed mother, my sister who recently had battle with cancer, and her family, and other relatives too) that I do not wish to hoard either money or property just to make myself feel so secure and special.

I also recently gave a gift (an undisclosed amount) to our receptionist who is a single mother, to help her get another car to replace the dilapidated one she had that was practically beyond repair.  My prayer and desire when I do this is that people would be inspired to also give to others in need, because that is what our lives should be all about.  Of course there is that struggle of worrying that one is giving too much to others, and unwisely to the point that he no longer invests to provide more help to others in the future.  Then there is the danger of being manipulated and defrauded, and not having sufficient personal funds when it is one's own turn to be in distress. 

But those are challenges that come along with the proper use of personal property as Christ has commanded, and it takes both wisdom and faith to keep giving anyway.  So far, everytime I gave, God would hand a bonus check or another kind of financial blessing as if to always outdo what I was doing.  That to me is a blessing, that beyond the talent He had given me to help heal people, I could also be more encouraged by Him with the virtue of personal generosity, which would touch people with the love of Christ.  I still have a very long way to go in understanding further and performing more righteously, and my time is getting much shorter each day (especially with what God has revealed to me about my frail body).  Hopefully in time this becomes a national renewal greatly imbued by the power of Christ, so much so that it consequently demolishes the need and pretense of socialistic programs that operate by brute force and deception.

Jaime

[faithofjob777]

One caveat though:  It can be easily accused that I only get monetary gain from the very same socialistic systems I claim to despise and pray for God to destroy.  Isn't that like biting the hand that feeds me?

Perhaps, or it can be the hand of God at work.  Working to possess personal property is for enjoyment, as it is an avenue for generosity.  As Scripture says,

Ecclesiastes 2

24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

The sinners, namely the pagan and pseudoChristian politicians and businessmen, and their lackeys who blindly follow them, will always want more of socialism, not less, and call it something else.  They may very well be in the business of "gathering and collecting", but the endpoint is that it will all be given by God to the one who pleases Him.  So Joseph had gained much authority and wealth during his stay in Egypt, while Daniel and Mordecai had their own prestige during the kingdom reign of Persia.  It may not happen in my generation, or even the generation after mine.  The stubbornly unrepentant pagans and pseudoChristians will have to be further deceived they have won the day, so that their punishment would be truly justified not only to last a day, but forever.

For all the legalized stealing that has so far rampantly happened to exalt the false religion of socialism will be like the spoils of Egypt: they shall all be rightly taken by the true children of God.  The elect will properly and unitedly put all such spoils to righteous use in honor of Christ, and to the shame of all who thought they could create a utopian world by sheer force, deceptive use of Christ's gospel, and idolatry of pagan names.

Jaime