1 Thessalonians 5:24 KJV
Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:24-25 ESV
He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
My precious wife Olivia has been through a lot physically during her life, and the last two or three years have been the some of the most difficult; especially the last eight months or so. There have been a many visits to doctor’s offices and hospitals, and even one fifteen-day stay in the hospital during March of this year. We continue to pray for miraculous healing because we believe that is normal, but at this particular point, supernatural healing has not yet manifested, and the battle continues. It has been my privilege to be the caregiver, but it has been difficult to watch her suffer daily. We have both at times been on a roller coaster emotionally as the journey grows longer, filled with a lot of uncertainties in the natural. At this point in the journey there is one thing that I do know and can openly declare, and that is that God has been, is, and will be faithful. Today I had a very dear, dear son in the Lord ask me how Olivia was doing, and then in sharing his concern for me, he mentioned “my plate.” He personally was going through some issues but had not told me about them because of his concern that “my plate” was already so full. I love him so much for caring about “my plate,” and my response to him actually encouraged me. I said to him that I didn’t have a plate but that I was on “God’s plate.” I didn’t even think about those words. They just came out of me and when I made that statement I was reminded of the extraordinary truth of my union with Christ and His faithfulness. There have been times during this journey when I did carry “my plate,” and every time I did the burden and the heaviness of the plate was crushing. Every time I felt overwhelmed though Jesus would use the crushing to remind me that the “weary and heavy laden” find their rest in Him. It’s a mystery as we do battle by faith for healing because we know that the devil is real, but until healing is manifested, Olivia and I both know that we are called to walk through this by the One who is faithful to do the walking through us in it. I have to be often reminded that I don’t have a “plate,” but instead, I am to simply rest on “His plate,” and as I do, I find rest for my soul. Crushing stress comes when somehow we forget that we are in Christ and if Christ is our life, and everything that involves our lives is on “His plate,” and He is never overwhelmed by what is on HIS PLATE. If we are IN CHRIST, then all of our problems and all of our burdens are ON CHRIST. Our job is to rest in Him, and His job is to DO IT.