THE WATER JARS SPEAK...

                                          THE WATER JARS SPEAK…

            Never before had I had such weird Job-like sores on my legs: two raised welts encircled two raw and red linings, giving the appearance of uncooked cookies each with a cherry inside.  As well, I had an appointment with a specialist about some gastrointestinal troubles.  I was planning how I would co-ordinate my specialist appointment with a trip to the emergency department, both at the same hospital, when my morning devotional reading from the Bible began to drift across my mind:
              I had been reading the Gospel of John, Chapter 2, in which the Lord Jesus was asked by His mother to solve the problem of a shortage of wine at a wedding feast.  “Do whatever He tells you, ”she instructed the servants.  Jesus told them to fill the six large stone ceremonial water jars to the brim with water, then pour some out for the wine steward to taste.  The wine steward in charge of the wine at the feast, on tasting the wine, declared to the host of the wedding that, whereas most people served the best, most expensive wine first; then the inferior wine later, after people were inebriated enough not to notice or care, this host had saved the best wine until last.  The quality of the wine which the Lord made from this miracle was more excellent than any other. 
            
  But what I felt the Lord saying to me through this reading was this:

“Frances, I CHANGED something FROM ONE SUBSTANCE TO ANOTHER - ! – and do you think that I can’t heal you??

I remembered so many wonderful physical healings which God had done for me over the years, many through faith alone, some with the help of doctors and prayer (cancer).  To survive cancer any way at all is a miracle for which I continually rejoice. Now, He was impressing  me to use verses from the Gospel of John to tell my specialist about receiving Christ as the only way to obtain eternal salvation.  In this I failed Him utterly, through lack of courage. In the emergency department I saw that the sores were beginning to dry up and heal, and so opted not to take the antibiotics prescribed, which I otherwise would have taken.  The fewer medications, the better, since even the time-honoured antibiotics of my youth, so very welcome when I had a throat so sore with tonsillitis that I could not even sip the refreshing  grape juice lovingly brought to me by my wonderful  mother, are now considered to have negative effects when over-used.

With this fresh reminder of sure Biblical truth about healing, confirmed by whispers from the Lord Himself, the old struggle between spiritual truth and modern medicine began again.  There was more than comforting assurance in the Lord’s words to me, along with a reading which the Lord had obviously  planned from eternity to use on this occasion:  there was an implied command to act upon it in faith!  But why should I go against normal medical advice-advice which would probably help heal me?  To glorify the Lord, to grow in my faith, to have a witness to the world that the Lord is indeed alive and reigning where we let Him. 
              The message in the water jars – the Lord’s incontestable truth combining faith and science, and the sure knowledge that He is Lord of both - indeed, Lord of ALL creation - continues to challenge me and spur me to action.  I hope it inspires you too. 


Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen….  (Hebrews 4:12 KJV)

If any reader wishes to know how to be sure of eternal salvation, to have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and to live a joyful, abundant life, I urge you to look up the following Scriptures in God's holy Word the Bible, and, if desired, to e-mail me at franceskvanmil@gmail.com and I will be happy to answer your questions:  John 3:16; (God sent His one-and-only Son to die for every person on earth, to pay the price for their sins (wrongdoing), so that they could live forever in Heaven with their holy and loving Father  - the Gospel in a nutshell);John 10:10(Christ died to give us a full and meaningful life here on earth); Romans 3:23 (no one is good enough for Heaven); Romans 6:23 ( the punishment for sin is death); John 14:6(Jesus Christ is God's ONLY provision for man's sin - I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father but through Me. John 1:12:we must individually receive Him-As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God; Ephesians 2:8,9: We receive Christ through faith-John 3:1-8-when we receive Christ we experience a new birth; Revelation 3:20: We receive Christ through personal invitation.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE POWER OF LITTLE THINGS

                                 THE POWER OF LITTLE THINGS               “ Little drops of water, little grains of sand Make the mighty ocean, and the pleasant land.” My father used to sing this old hymn.   Yes, every gigantic ocean wave is made up of tiny droplets; yet no wave, no matter how big, can push past the beach, which is made up of an equally vast army of tiny grains of sand. Speaking of sand, I learned much about the power of little things on my last day of a holiday in Mazatlan, Mexico in January, 2015.   On the last day of our two-week family holiday, we all wanted to swim in the ocean one last time.   But to our dismay, we saw flags posted by the lifeguards which banned swimming - because of jellyfish! Yes, you read correctly:   such a huge influx of tiny blue jellyfish had washed in towards the shore that no humans were advised to swim there that day! Well that’s power in numbers!   One jellyfish alone – a spineless, brainless, gelatinous blob - would be
Read more

RED SALAMANDERS AND SNAPPING TURTLES

                                RED SALAMANDERS AND SNAPPING TURTLES The children had the wildest, most beautiful and educational playground in the world.  As a family, we explored its beauty often.  We went to the Cape Croker Park which was a money-making campground.  We enjoyed the swings, then walked or drove among the lovely, mature blossoming trees and the dense birch section which we dubbed the  ”birch ballet”.  In the woods near our home, we picked up pretty brown and white snail shells and watched for the small, red salamanders which I have never seen anywhere else in Canada.  We walked and waded along the beaches, collecting “fossils”.  Once, on the shale rock in the shallow water behind our house, we actually watched fish hatching. On Sunday afternoons, we usually went for a hike along the bluffs.  We parked our car near the Akiwenzies’ house, which backed onto the bluffs, telling them where we were going, and about when to expect us back.  This was because the bluffs,
Read more

THE MIRACLE JACKET

  THE MIRACLE JACKET With the times becoming so turbulent, and all the signs before Christ’s return in place, I want to tell as many true stories as I can about His special goodness to me all my life.             I remember a time when I had just changed jobs.   A graduate of Hamilton Teachers’ College, I had only been able to get supply work, and so accepted a job in Mississauga at a day care until I should get a teaching position.   Teaching jobs were hard to find just at that time.   However, between paychecks and beginning a job at which I would wear slacks, rather than dresses as in teaching, I needed a jacket to wear with the slacks, it being fall. My new landlady, from whom I had rented a furnished room, was selling some of her clothes.   For very little money I bought a beautiful, warm brown jacket lined with fleece.   The interesting thing is that while my landlady was shorter than I, the sleeves of the jacket were exactly the right length for me.   Too-short sleeves are o
Read more