When God Gets Your Attention
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28
I had a conversation recently with a dear friend who lives on the East Coast. I have known him for decades. Recently, he was put into hospice; they have taken him off all the medications that would prolong his life. He has a rare form of bone cancer. Barring a miracle of God, he knows that his time is about over.
During our conversation, I asked him to tell me about when he came to faith in Christ. He said, “That's easy. I got baptized when I was 10, but I didn't really meet Jesus until I was about 24.” I said, “Really? Tell me about it.”
He said, “I was dating the woman who would eventually become my wife. I was playing in a softball league, and I was playing out in right field. A fly ball was hit, and I was going back for the catch. I tripped over something in the field and fell headfirst and hit a concrete gutter. It broke my neck. People rushed out on the field, and they were getting ready to move me when all of a sudden, my soon-to-be wife said, ‘Don't touch him. Let the EMTs come and take care of him. They know what they’re doing.’ This was the wisest thing that they could have done.”
They took him to the emergency room and found out that he had broken an area of his neck where if they had moved him even a millimeter or so, it could have caused him to become a quadriplegic, or worse, he could have died.
During those moments, God sustained him and healed him. This scary event certainly got his attention. He said that it was through this tragedy (the failure to catch that ball) that he gave his life to Christ.
God really knows how to get our attention, doesn’t He? Have you thought that sometimes it's during our failures when God speaks the loudest? Maybe, that is when we are more open to hearing from Him than at any other time. When we fall flat on our faces or we reach the end of our rope, we are ready to hear from Him.
What is God trying to say to you through your failure today?
I had a conversation recently with a dear friend who lives on the East Coast. I have known him for decades. Recently, he was put into hospice; they have taken him off all the medications that would prolong his life. He has a rare form of bone cancer. Barring a miracle of God, he knows that his time is about over.
During our conversation, I asked him to tell me about when he came to faith in Christ. He said, “That's easy. I got baptized when I was 10, but I didn't really meet Jesus until I was about 24.” I said, “Really? Tell me about it.”
He said, “I was dating the woman who would eventually become my wife. I was playing in a softball league, and I was playing out in right field. A fly ball was hit, and I was going back for the catch. I tripped over something in the field and fell headfirst and hit a concrete gutter. It broke my neck. People rushed out on the field, and they were getting ready to move me when all of a sudden, my soon-to-be wife said, ‘Don't touch him. Let the EMTs come and take care of him. They know what they’re doing.’ This was the wisest thing that they could have done.”
They took him to the emergency room and found out that he had broken an area of his neck where if they had moved him even a millimeter or so, it could have caused him to become a quadriplegic, or worse, he could have died.
During those moments, God sustained him and healed him. This scary event certainly got his attention. He said that it was through this tragedy (the failure to catch that ball) that he gave his life to Christ.
God really knows how to get our attention, doesn’t He? Have you thought that sometimes it's during our failures when God speaks the loudest? Maybe, that is when we are more open to hearing from Him than at any other time. When we fall flat on our faces or we reach the end of our rope, we are ready to hear from Him.
What is God trying to say to you through your failure today?
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1 Comment
I certainly agree with that. That's when it is time to listen up.