In my devotion today, Millie Stamm covered one of God's promises to us. It is proceeded by a command to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19, 20) I have italicized today's promise so that we can discuss this wondrous gift from God.
Today, for an example, I will share part of my testimony to show how faith in God's promises can be spread around the world. First, I must explain a little about myself. At the age of ten I had a stroke. It affected my right arm and leg. Soon, with a lot of support from my family (with which God had blessed me), and a lot of hard work on my part, I got about 90% of the use of my leg back. However, I chose not to work on getting the use of my arm back, so I never did. I tell you this not to gain your pity, for I despise it as much as I do criticism about my different ability, but to give you some insight into my heart. I chose to work hard, and God blessed me with the use of my leg again; but I chose also to ignore my arm and paid the consequences for the rest of my life. God did not give me the stroke because I had sinned or was a bad person. He allowed it to make me strong and to give me a chance to rely on Him.
As a result of my childhood, which could not have been more full of love and support, I have always had medical problems, or trials, if you will. My last major one, a broken hip, which required numerous surgeries, finally landed me in a wheelchair (something that I have fought against for all of my life). But, as Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Isn't that a wonderful thought. God loves us so much that He will use all circumstances for good. The good that my trials brought me was that they made me a stronger person. But, besides that, they gave me a chance to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." (Matthew 28:19), even with my restrictions. God put me into situations which allowed me to witnessed to people who were without hope and searching for something, someone in which to believe. Most of these situations were as a result of my trials.
So you see, we can all spread God's word and no matter what, He is beside us giving us the strength to see it through...always!
May God bless you and keep you until the next time we meet.
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