God Has Not Left You
(A woman’s life is changed through the power of the Word.)
“Oh wow, look at the time! I seriously need a coffee break.”
Jill said that as she looked at her watch. She had been working feverishly on a project in the office and didn’t realize where the time had gone.
She stood up and realized that her whole body was stiff and sore from sitting for a long time without moving much. She tensed and relaxed her neck and shoulders, then she walked down a short passageway and into the kitchen.
As she arrived, she saw another employee from a different division making some coffee. She had her back to Jill so she wasn’t totally sure of who it was. Then she put some sugar into her coffee and turned around.
“Oh hi Gloria,” Jill said. “I haven’t seen you for a while.”
The two women had met each other a few times at office events or meetings, but aside from that they had never really talked that much. Jill looked at her intently then said,
“Are you okay? Sorry, but you look like death warmed up.”
As she looked at Gloria she could tell something was not right with her. When they had met previously she was usually bubbly and smiling. But today she had a frown on her face and her lips were pursed.
“I’m okay I guess,” she said. “I’m just tired of all the pressure that is coming against me right now. Everything is going wrong! I shared some of it with Andy, but he just brushed it aside and didn’t seem to care what I am going through. I feel like nobody cares right now, including the Lord!”
Andy was Gloria’s boss. Jill prayed quietly under her breath and said,
“Lord, please give me wisdom. How can I help her? I know you haven’t forsaken her.”
Just then she had a thought, so she turned to Gloria and said,
“Oh dear Gloria that is not good. I tell you what, why don’t I treat you to lunch today at Vince’s. Then you can pour your heart out and tell me everything.”
Gloria was silent for a short while, then she said,
“Thanks so much Jill. I would love that!”
“Good, see you downstairs as soon as lunch starts. We can’t waste any time.”
Jill got back to her project and once again the time flew. But this time she set her watch alarm to tell her five minutes before lunch was due to start, so that she could get downstairs quickly.
When she arrived Gloria was waiting at the main door already and the two of them walked to the little restaurant.
It didn’t take them long to get there. It seemed that all the traffic lights were working in their favor and they were soon there. They were also thrilled to see that not many people were there yet, so they could get served quickly.
They scanned the menu and a waitress came to take their orders. With that sorted out they could get down to the task of talking and sharing.
“So tell me what has been happening,” Jill said. “I do care, so don’t think that I am like Andy okay?”
“Thank you, that means a lot to me! Okay, well it’s not just one thing that has been coming against me. I think every area of my life has been affected and it is piling up all the time.
For a start my boyfriend Phil suddenly broke up with me. He didn’t tell me why. He just said it wasn’t working with us, so he probably found someone else. All the women think he is God’s gift to them.
Next my finances are at rock bottom right now. I had to pay a huge amount of money to get my fridge fixed after a power spike messed everything up. It was either paying that or getting a new one, but the repairs worked out to less so I went for that.
I am also not feeling very well at the moment. I am constantly feeling sick, have headaches and my neck is always stiff. Boy I am a real mess aren’t I?”
Gloria tried to give a feeble smile but her eyes misted over with tears instead.
“I understand Gloria,” Jill said as she gave her hand a little squeeze. “But you are not a mess. You can and will overcome this with the Lord’s help. Tell me, what are you doing spiritually about all these problems?”
“I am praying and praying, but my prayers just seem to hit a ceiling. I feel like the Lord is a million miles away and just doesn’t care that I have more and more things weighing me down.”
Their coffees arrived then, so they each took a sip. Gloria banged her mug down hard on the table, making some of the foam on the top of her coffee run down the mug and onto the table.
She realized that she was over-reacting and needed to calm down so she said,
“Sorry but I am really frustrated right now and I don’t know what to think. I don’t understand what is going on. It’s like I’m…”
She couldn’t think of the words to express her heart, but Jill knew what was going on.
“It’s okay,” she said, “You have just lost hope that your situation will ever change, right?”
“Wow, yes you put the words right in my mouth. That is exactly it!”
“Okay I have an important question for you,” Jill continued. “Do you believe that the Lord wants to answer you?
You see if you don’t know that then you don’t have a starting point. Up until now you haven’t had any success in your praying. But I want to tell you that He does want to answer you, and even greater than what you have asked for.”
Gloria looked slightly shocked at what she had just heard. She took another sip of her coffee then said,
“Well if He wants to answer me, then why hasn’t He? This has been going on for the last six months already and everything has got worse! Sorry but I don’t believe that.”
“I have a clear answer to that question. Have you heard this Scripture from Hebrews 11:6. It says,
But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God to receive something for himself must know without a doubt that he does exist, and that he is one who rewards those who are earnestly desiring to receive something from him.
You can see from this Scripture that the Lord wants to reward you with the things you desire. However in order for that to happen you must believe it and put your faith in Him.”
Jill waited for this concept to sink into Gloria. Once again Gloria was quiet for a while as she thought about it, then she said,
“Okay, I guess I have had a whole lot of wrong mindsets up until now. I thought the Lord sometimes withheld things or even wanted to make your life miserable in order to teach you something. That is crazy.”
Jill smiled and nodded her head. Then she said,
“Yes, there is a lot of wrong teaching out there, but I have learned a lot of different things that always work. Let me ask you another question. How much time do you spend reading the Bible?”
“Umm, no time,” Gloria responded. “I don’t have time in the morning, and in the evening I am too tired to have a long time digging in the Scriptures and looking things up.”
“Who said anything about spending a long time reading? All you need is 10 or 15 minutes and you just read out loud. If you don’t understand it, it doesn’t matter. It is the Word and it will still begin to change your mindset for the better. Can you make time for 15 minutes in the evening when you get into bed? I’m sure you can.”
“I guess I can do that. I just don’t know what to read. Some of the stuff is so boring. To read the whole book of Chronicles and stuff like that makes me want to fall asleep. I tried really hard to read through the whole Bible before but it got really tedious.”
Their food had arrived at this stage and Jill cut a piece off her juicy steak. When she had eaten it she said,
“You don’t have to read from the beginning to the end. I know that is really boring! I tried it myself but there is a much easier way to do it.
I use an online Bible that has a reading schedule that you can use and go through as fast or slowly as you want to. There are 7 different groups that you can go through and rotate every day. It keeps a record of what you have read, so you don’t even have to remember anything.
Some groups are from the Old Testament, others from the New so you get a good spread of Scripture. I will let you have the link and you can start using it if you would like to.”
Gloria nodded her head and said,
“Sounds interesting.”
Jill then continued. “Also do yourself a favor. As you read, when you see something that speaks straight at you and gets you excited, make a note of that Scripture. These can become Scripture promises that can help you to build your faith when you stand on them.
I did that a long time ago and started to put the Scriptures into categories. I want to tell you that it gets so exciting that you won’t want to stop reading and finding promises that speak to you. I have 400 of them that I collected over a long period of time.”
“Wow, that is crazy!”
She put her fork down and looked at Gloria, and for the first time Jill saw a glimmer of hope coming back into her.
“So are you up to the Scripture reading challenge,” Jill asked with a smile.
“Yes for sure,” she replied.
“I know you can do it. And I promise that you will start to feel more encouraged as you do this. Because you see the Word will start to go deep inside your heart and will begin to build your faith up.
You must know without a doubt that the Lord will answer you. You see you don’t know that yet even though you have prayed. You must begin to trust the Lord and know that He has given you the answer already in the spiritual realm.”
Gloria was becoming more interested in what Jill was saying. She took another spoon of her creamy chicken pasta then said,
“I understand what you are saying Jill, but how do I get that reassurance of faith? I have tried so many times to get it, but when nothing worked I just gave up and stopped trying.”
“It is actually so easy to develop your faith. You see you need to know that Jesus is the one who will give you the answer right away. You don’t always get the answer immediately on earth, but He gives it to you in the heavenly realm.
I always battled with the concept of faith. Then one day I found that Scripture I shared with you now and it changed my whole faith walk! I knew that I had to look to Jesus to give me the answer.
When I discovered this I had lost a really important document that I needed to get some paperwork done. I had renovated and repainted my bedroom and friends of mine helped to move everything out. I didn’t know where I put the document and I had a knot in my stomach about not finding it.
That is when I prayed and said, Lord I know that you are the one who rewards me for my faith. Now Lord I desperately need to find that document or I am in big trouble. I am looking to you to help me to locate it now. Thank you that you have done it Lord.”
In my mind I saw the Lord giving me that document and I trusted Him to give me the answer. A few days later I decided to look for something in our middle cupboard. There was a box in the middle of the top shelf and it kind of attracted me to it. I was curious to see what was inside, and would you know there was the document I was looking for.”
Gloria shook her head in amazement.
“Wow,” she said, “for the first time in my life I have hope that things can change. I believe that the Lord can do anything now and He hasn’t left me in the dirt.”
“Yes, He has absolutely not left you in the dirt! I want to tell you that Satan has been trying to lie to you. He has been trying to lead you astray so that you won’t get the victory in your life and the blessings you desire. As I am speaking to you I see that the Lord does in fact have a very big work for you to do.
I believe your life is about to take on new meaning and things are going to begin to change. I believe that the Lord has a husband for you and that the two of you are going to do amazing things together for Him.
Don’t give up hope Gloria. Even though you may feel as though you are in a heap on the ground, know that the Lord will lift you up and set you on your feet again. As you look to Him now He will lead you along a solid path of much blessing.”
Gloria began to cry now and the tears rolled down her cheeks. She looked up and said,
“These are happy tears, Jill. I don’t know what to say to you or how to thank you. You have given me so much hope. Sorry that at the beginning I was so snappy.”
“I just have the Lord to thank because He led us in our conversation today. Thank Him because He is leading you to get the answers you have been desiring.”
Jill looked at her watch and said,
“Oh dear it is getting late. We had better head back to the office.”
She signaled the sweet lady who had been so efficient in serving them and said,
“Can we have the bill please.”
A few minutes later Jill paid the bill and gave the waitress a nice tip.
“Thanks for such good service, Edith. God bless you.”
“God bless you! Wow thank you. That is just what I needed.”
“My pleasure. Praise the Lord. Have a blessed rest of the day.”
Soon the two ladies were zigzagging their way back to the office through the busy city streets. As they walked into the main office building, Gloria said,
“Hey, I have an idea! I haven’t taken any leave this whole year. There wasn’t really any reason to do it, but Andy said I have to take a week off or I am going to lose it. So I think I’m going to take next week off and spend it waiting on the Lord, reading the Word and getting my promises.
It was perfect timing for us to meet and for you to tell me those things. I feel for the first time as though there is hope on the horizon, not just a sense of doom and gloom.”
“What a great idea,” Jill said. “I know you will really get a victory in your spirit as you just get into the Word. And I know that the Lord will start doing things for you. No more thinking that the Lord never does anything for you and never answers you, okay.”
They reached the main corridor a short while later and each went a different way to their offices.
“Thanks again,” Gloria said, then she gave Jill a big hug. She turned to go back to her office, but Jill suddenly shouted,
“Wait! Before I get engrossed in my project again and forget, I need your email address to send you the link to the online Bible.”
She opened her bag and pulled out a small notebook with a pen attached to it. Then she handed it to Gloria so that she could write her address on it.
The following week Gloria was on her leave and Jill kept wondering how things were going. She was tempted to contact her but felt that the Lord was saying not to do it. He was doing something special in her life and she needed time with Him alone.
When she heard the Lord giving her that answer she just prayed and said,
“Lord, thank you for moving in Gloria’s life in a powerful way. Thank you that you are revealing your love to her. May she begin to see you working in her life so that she can’t deny that you want to bless her.”
A week later Jill had another big project to tackle so she didn’t immediately have time to find out what had happened with Gloria. But once again, when she went to get a quick cup of coffee, Gloria walked in. It seemed that they always needed a coffee break at the same time.
This time Jill saw a huge change in her. She was smiling and looked like 10 years of age had disappeared from her face. She had such a peace on her, not like previously when she looked like she was carrying a backpack of rocks around with her.
Jill stopped in her tracks when she saw her and said,
“Wow, you look absolutely amazing! You have such a look of peace and serenity on your face. Clearly something good happened while you were away.”
“No kidding,” Gloria said. “I already got one of the answers I have been looking for with regard to my finances. I was rock bottom up until now as I shared with you. Sometimes I barely had enough money for basics like food, electricity and things like that.
Well I got the biggest surprise of my life on the third day of my leave. I received a big check in the mail. It was compensation for the accident I had almost ten months ago.
It has taken such a long time to process and there has been so much red tape. To be honest I gave up hope of ever getting it, and it was the furthest thing from my mind that this was a way of me getting extra income in.
I can now pay off three small debts that have been hanging over my head, and it will make everything so much easier financially every month now.”
“Thank you Lord,” Jill said as she raised her hands. “I was praying for you that the Lord would come through and show you that He wanted to do good things for you. So tell me, did you find some good promises as you started going through the Word?”
“Yeah, I actually got a lot already – probably 30 or more and I started making some categories. You are right; it is exciting stuff. I read for about 45 minutes on and off each day; some in the morning and some in the evening so I got through a lot of Scripture.
By the way I loved the 7 different chapter readings on the website link you gave me. It made it so easy to just read and not have to remember where I was. I am feeling excited and hopeful for the future now. The next thing I’m working on is my husband.”
“Wow that is so awesome. Listen I would love to talk more but I have to go because I am on a tight schedule and have deadlines as usual. Please keep me posted about what is happening in your life and share anything you want to. Looking forward to when you meet that man.”
She gave a chuckle and Gloria said,
“For sure I will.”
Then she finished making her coffee and walked out of the kitchen with a bounce in her step. Her future looked brighter than ever and the Lord was becoming very real to her. As she headed to her office she prayed softly under her breath,
“Thank you Lord for your continued blessings in my life!”