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God's Words For US
by Cecelia Lester
“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you;
and be gracious to you/
the Lord turn his face upon you
and give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)
As I sat on my porch, enjoying the cool breeze and the warm sunshine, my heart thought of two people who are now with Jesus.
Last Friday, our church had a memorial service for a man who brought us all closer to God when he prayed for us. A few hours before the service, a phone call went out that a woman, one of our members for whom we had prayed for quite some time, had entered heaven. What I will always remember about them beside their witness for Jesus is their smiles.
The man, although confined to a power chair, did not let that chair define him. He spoke of God and His love for Him to everyone he met, even strangers. One of the attendees at his memorial service had known him when he had his accident that eventually paralyzed him from the upper chest down. That friend from long ago related the events of the accident and his impression of something else that happened to that family during our friend’s hospital stay. However, no one ever heard him complain. He always smiled, and would never let a person leave his presence without him saying a prayer for that person.
The woman had been ill for several months; she had a reoccurrence of a dreadful disease. She had beaten it once but this time, God intervened. When she was able, she sang in our praise team. She always had a smile as she sang; she would lift her hands in praise to God. However, she was not immune to difficulties in life. Her son was also one who fought a form of that same disease. She worked hard to find a way for them to get an answer to why he went through a lengthy illness.
When they received his diagnosis, she and some close friends put together a fundraiser in order to help with the expense of the treatment process. Like our brother in-Christ, she never complained about her son’s illness or hers.
Both of these friends are in our cloud of witnesses, smiling down on their loved ones. They will both watch over us as we walk through our lives and live our lives for the Lord.
God also smiles on His children. One of my favorite passages, our focus verse, gives me the thought that God does smile on us when we walk with Him each day. When we witness for Him, God, He rewards us with a loving one.
God works through us and we convey His love to those around us. When one of God’s children does a deed to bring another one of His children closer to Him, He grants us favor;One way He does this is by smiling on us.
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Cecelia Lester has been serious about her writing for over two decades..
She composes Christian essays and posts them to her blog quietspirit-followingmyking.blogspot.com/
She has served in a faith-based organization, Grace In Action by writing two newsletters and searching for possible grants.
In July 2017, she published her first book, 'Times of Trouble Bring Rays of Joy.'
She and her husband of 54 years live in central Indiana. They have one grown son.
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