NOTE: The reason for the late post today is because there were internet outages in over 22 states this morning, but we’re back up and running now.
Yesterday in Words for the Day I described an inmate whose father and brother both had recently committed suicide. He was faced with serving decades of time in a hellhole of a prison and had become greatly discouraged and was on the verge of committing suicide himself. But after hearing that he could use the strength of Jesus Christ to make it through the day and not be left to fight his battle alone, he found his reason to live. He changed his mind about hanging himself, put a smile on his face, and determined to move forward with Christ in his heart.
One of my subscribers read that piece yesterday and responded as follows:
Dear Mr. Williamson,
I needed to hear and absorb the words you wrote for today. While I’m not prone to whine or blame others for the circumstances in my life, I’m sure the heck in a mood to do so today. I spent Saturday visiting my son at one correctional facility and, Sunday visiting my husband at another.
Upon returning from my visit Sunday, I was given the word that I must leave my son’s house where I’ve been staying for the past month by Friday, (THIS Friday). Seems my daughter-in-law’s son wants to move in and there’s no room for me here. I had plans to go to Minnesota to stay with my daughter, but the tickets are priced above my pocketbook this week.
Don’t know where I’ll go or what I’ll do, but I know God is ordering my steps, that He loves me, and has a plan for my life. I am starting over at 63, and whatever God has planned for me is better than the plans I had, (and subsequently screwed up). Whatever job I can get, whatever ministry I become a part of, is all in His hands and I will praise Him.
I am grateful for your WFTD. I was pretty sure that today would be my last on this earth. I’m tired, getting weary of the struggles, and feeling alone and useless, (to myself as well as others). I just wanted to go “HOME”. Instead; I’ll stop crying, put my big girl panties on and put one foot in front of the other ‘til God Himself calls me home. For today . . . I can go on. Thank you for your honest words this morning.
It is my custom to call my father every Sunday afternoon. I didn’t get home until late Sunday evening and after flying all day and changing planes at three different airports I was exhausted. When I called my dad, he was in a foul mood. I asked him what was wrong and he responded that “everything was going all wrong”. I asked for specifics and he told me that his cherished Ole Miss baseball team had lost their game to a team that was inferior to them; he was having trouble balancing his checkbook because his hand shakes so badly from his Parkinson’s disease that he has trouble writing; and he had gone to eat and spilled his milk all over the table and made a mess.
Hmmm . . . I’d just spent two days in one of the worst prisons in America and talked to men who lived in 6X9 cells in hellish heat, ate food that was unfit for a dog, and lived in constant danger of being raped or having a homemade knife stuck in their neck at any moment and here was dad complaining about lost ballgames, check books that won’t balance, and spilled milk . . . sigh
Hey that’s okay. He’s 92 years old; he’s in pain much of the time; has trouble walking and often falls; he can’t do any of the things he enjoys anymore, and he is very lonely and feels useless. He tells me that every time he makes a friend at the assisted living home where he lives they die. He lost my mother at the young age of 52 after 35 years of marriage and then remarried and lost his second wife last year after 35 years of marriage. Now he has hardly anyone to talk to and is bored silly. The highlight of his week is preparing for and then teaching Sunday school, but it has become exceedingly difficult to prepare his lesson because he cannot write very well, and it is not easy getting dressed and driving, (Yikes!), to church.
While dad’s problems seem insignificant when compared to others who struggle in life, just the same they are just as depressing to him. In fact he told me the exact same thing that lady above wrote in that he is tired of the fight and wants to go HOME to be with the Lord and reunite with his loved ones that have gone on before him.
I jokingly told him that talking to him made me want to go out and hang myself. We laughed together about his woes and I offered him encouragement and mentioned the obvious that he is an inspiration to many, (especially to me), for going through what he goes through and in spite of not feeling good and the pain and the difficulty he has trying to hobble along on a walker, and yet he still faithfully teaches his Sunday school class as he has done for some forty years now.
He was in a better mood when we got off the phone. Hearing the encouragement offered by Jesus Christ is a powerful tool. I think it’s a shame that so many religious people don’t do more of it and instead seem so obsessed with judging others for their sins. I encourage you to offer hope and not condemnation to those whom you encounter who are suffering. The “Good News” (Gospel) of Jesus Christ is that Jesus loves us in SPITE of our sins and came to save us rather than to condemn us.
I don’t think that any of us have the slightest inkling of just how much Jesus Christ loves us. His love is incomprehensible. He doesn’t harbor an attitude of us “getting what we deserve” like so many of us impart on those in our midst who suffer (such as prisoners). In His mindset we all deserve to go to hell and suffer, but He loves us in spite of our shortcomings and wants us all to live fruitful lives and enjoy every moment of it.
Some folks just can’t seem to understand why they are singled out for tribulation. News flash: we are ALL going to suffer tribulation in this world, but God has provided a way to find peace in spite of the worst that satan can fling at us. John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
So those of us who are fortunate enough to have God in our lives are commanded to go out and spread the Good News concerning the peace offered by our Redeemer. We should encourage, love, and have mercy upon all of those in our midst, (even those nasty old sinners).
In order to do so, we need to go out there amongst them mean old sinners. One time Jesus was having dinner with some well-known gluttons, drunks and other assorted sinners, and the Pharisees, (the religious elite of the day), started murmuring and questioning His disciples as to why Jesus was eating with sinners.
Jesus replied:
Matt. 9:12
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.