I have a sign in my office that says, “Good morning, this is God. I will be handling all your problems today. I will not need your help, so have a good day.” Many times, I wake up in the night and scenes from past disappointments and decisions run through my mind. I need to turn them over immediately to the Lord. The enemy is NOT going to rob me of my sleep for things I can no longer do anything about! A Sunday or so ago, our pastor talked on the subject of regret. We all have regrets. He sighted the story of King David and his son, Absolom. I’m sure David had other regrets in his life, for while he was a ‘man after God’s heart’ he was guilty of many other things. We can wallow in our regrets, thinking over and over of what we could have done or said. The ‘what ifs’ and the words, ‘if only’ can haunt us. Yet past history cannot be changed even though sometimes we want a giant mental eraser to rub them out of our minds. Were we in wrong relationships? Did we make the wrong decisions in financial matters? Did we lose a job when we needed one most?
I learned as a single mom with three kids in the early 80s that God is Jehovah, Jirah, my provider. I had a life-time teaching credential but in 1981 they were bumping teachers and closing schools. There was not a teaching job to be had, yet I saw provision come from unexpected sources, from people in my church that fixed my car and brought me groceries. A woman in the choir gave me a check for $100 to have my eyes checked when I had to squint at my music. I told her I couldn’t pay her back and she just smiled and said, “When this time passes and things are better for you, pass it on.” I’ve always remembered that and have done my best to follow her words.
