Small Problems
Well, my refrigerator saga continues. Yesterday afternoon I noticed the temperature beginning to rise again in the freezer. This morning the freezer temp is 36 and the refrigerator is at 45 degrees. So I just finished emptying all I could into the laundry room fridge again. And I have another appt. with the technician Monday morning. I don't know how expensive it will be. It could be pretty bad news. But I just finished reading a book yesterday that reminded me of how comfortable, convenient and easy my life is.
The book is "Appointment in Jerusalem" by Derek and Lydia Prince. It is Lydia's story as told to her husband. Lydia Christensen Prince left a powerful testimony. Previously, all I knew of her was that she was married to Derek Prince and they had a ministry in Jerusalem. My pastor's family had a close personal relationship of many years with Derek Prince. One of Derek and Lydia's daughters remains a part of our church family to this day. Our pastor's parents spend six months of the year in Jerusalem working with Derek Prince Ministries. My pastor speaks every year at The Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. And our church has a love for Israel that I have not previously been exposed to in Christianity. Friends have urged me to read this book for a while now. And I finally read it this week. It's a quick read and a book you won't want to put down.
Lydia Christensen was born into a wealthy family in Denmark. She was an accomplished woman, a school teacher, a pioneer in the field of Domestic Science, well respected in her home town. She lived on her own and enjoyed a life of "physical comfort and professional fulfillment," in the words of her husband in the book's preface. At the age of 36, God began to stir her heart to seek Him. In response to a prayer she prayed, Jesus appeared to her in her home. She knew in that moment that He was alive. And she began to seek His will for her life.
This encounter changed the course of Lydia's life and led her to leave the comforts she knew and "to travel alone and penniless to a primitive and violent place. The place was Jerusalem; the time, the opening battle of the long war between Jew and Arab that is still going on."
Derek writes, "To me the fascinating thing in all this is that for the first thirty-five years of her life, Lydia, in her own opinion and everybody else's, was the last person on earth to whom this sort of thing could happen. An intellectual, a bit of a snob, a well-to-do young woman who delighted in new clothes and dancing and all the pleasures of the cultured world into which she was born, she had read the Bible only when it was required reading for a course in teachers college.
The route by which this twentieth-century agnostic discovered the reality of God is so full of guidelines for us all, so full of practical help for every person embarked on this quest today, that from the start I urged Lydia to get her experiences on paper."
The story is a deeply stirring testimony of faith and trust in God. Every time Lydia was in need, she prayed and God answered. She had to trust Him for food, water, shelter, protection, and her next dollar. She had no natural children, but became a mother to many. I'm amazed that anyone could find the courage to do the things she did. She began to take in orphaned and abandoned Jewish and Arab children, not knowing how she would even feed them. But God provided.
These words are from the epilogue:
Because Lydia trusted God to provide for all her needs, it was in a sense very easy for her to take in new children. The children's home soon grew, requiring Lydia to move from place to place to accommodate all of them. She said, "If one room wasn't enough, I took two. If two rooms weren't enough, I had to take three rooms. And that was how the whole thing, in a way, grew little by little, according to my faith." By the time she left Jerusalem, she was living in a house with twenty-one rooms.
Over twenty years, Lydia cared for about seventy children -- mostly girls. The majority were Jewish, but there were also Arabs, Armenians, and Europeans. "They were brought in from the street," Lydia remembered, "and I hardly knew who brought them. I remember one case when a man brought a child in, and before I even said that I would take it, he disappeared. That was how the work grew."
...With one or more infants always in the home, she scarcely ever enjoyed an uninterrupted night's sleep. At times, when fighting was going on outside and the babies were due their bottles, she had to crawl on her knees from bed to bed so she wouldn't be hit by any bullets that might come through the windows.
She considered this work to be appointed for her by God. And she gave up everything to follow His call on her life. You can't read this book and not be touched by its message. It sure makes my problems (if you could even call them problems) seem small.
I know we are all affected by this global financial crisis. I don't know anyone who hasn't been affected in some way. This economy is hitting the auto industry especially hard (my husband's livelihood). I see the stress on his face when he leaves in the morning as well as when he comes home at night. I often feel helpless. But then I am reminded that I am not helpless because I can pray for him.
As Americans, we have enjoyed freedoms and comforts that much of the rest of the world does not enjoy. My life has been so free from physical discomfort that I can get frustrated by the inconvenience of a refrigerator failure. And then I remember that I'm not walking on a stone floor, I don't have bed bugs, I'm not dodging bullets while trying to keep sick infants alive. Has my faith even been tested?
I've been waking up every morning with prayers of thankfulness in my heart for God's mercy, His provision, His blessings on my life. The future is uncertain in so many ways for all of us. We put our trust in so many things, only to have God remind us that He is our only security. We don't know what tomorrow holds for us. Who would have thought just one year ago that we would find ourselves today in a financial crisis that extends throughout the entire world?
However, we have the assurance that if we love God and are called according to His purpose, He is working all things for our good (Romans 8:28). We are told over and over in Scripture not to be fearful. Our God is in control. He is in control of nations and leaders and financial crises. He is faithful. He loves us. And we can trust Him. Nothing can separate us from His love. No matter what happens to the stock market, real estate prices, the auto industry, we have nothing to fear if our trust in God. He will guide us safely home through whatever circumstances He allows to be a part of our journey.
"Appointment in Jerusalem" helped to strengthen my faith this week. As I anticipate seeing the physical city of Jerusalem for the first time, I am feeling the anticipation of the heavenly Jerusalem that awaits us. And I am really looking forward to meeting Lydia Prince. I know one thing. I won't be telling her about my refrigerator problems or how hard the car business was in 2008. I will be listening.
The book is "Appointment in Jerusalem" by Derek and Lydia Prince. It is Lydia's story as told to her husband. Lydia Christensen Prince left a powerful testimony. Previously, all I knew of her was that she was married to Derek Prince and they had a ministry in Jerusalem. My pastor's family had a close personal relationship of many years with Derek Prince. One of Derek and Lydia's daughters remains a part of our church family to this day. Our pastor's parents spend six months of the year in Jerusalem working with Derek Prince Ministries. My pastor speaks every year at The Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. And our church has a love for Israel that I have not previously been exposed to in Christianity. Friends have urged me to read this book for a while now. And I finally read it this week. It's a quick read and a book you won't want to put down.
Lydia Christensen was born into a wealthy family in Denmark. She was an accomplished woman, a school teacher, a pioneer in the field of Domestic Science, well respected in her home town. She lived on her own and enjoyed a life of "physical comfort and professional fulfillment," in the words of her husband in the book's preface. At the age of 36, God began to stir her heart to seek Him. In response to a prayer she prayed, Jesus appeared to her in her home. She knew in that moment that He was alive. And she began to seek His will for her life.
This encounter changed the course of Lydia's life and led her to leave the comforts she knew and "to travel alone and penniless to a primitive and violent place. The place was Jerusalem; the time, the opening battle of the long war between Jew and Arab that is still going on."
Derek writes, "To me the fascinating thing in all this is that for the first thirty-five years of her life, Lydia, in her own opinion and everybody else's, was the last person on earth to whom this sort of thing could happen. An intellectual, a bit of a snob, a well-to-do young woman who delighted in new clothes and dancing and all the pleasures of the cultured world into which she was born, she had read the Bible only when it was required reading for a course in teachers college.
The route by which this twentieth-century agnostic discovered the reality of God is so full of guidelines for us all, so full of practical help for every person embarked on this quest today, that from the start I urged Lydia to get her experiences on paper."
The story is a deeply stirring testimony of faith and trust in God. Every time Lydia was in need, she prayed and God answered. She had to trust Him for food, water, shelter, protection, and her next dollar. She had no natural children, but became a mother to many. I'm amazed that anyone could find the courage to do the things she did. She began to take in orphaned and abandoned Jewish and Arab children, not knowing how she would even feed them. But God provided.
These words are from the epilogue:
Because Lydia trusted God to provide for all her needs, it was in a sense very easy for her to take in new children. The children's home soon grew, requiring Lydia to move from place to place to accommodate all of them. She said, "If one room wasn't enough, I took two. If two rooms weren't enough, I had to take three rooms. And that was how the whole thing, in a way, grew little by little, according to my faith." By the time she left Jerusalem, she was living in a house with twenty-one rooms.
Over twenty years, Lydia cared for about seventy children -- mostly girls. The majority were Jewish, but there were also Arabs, Armenians, and Europeans. "They were brought in from the street," Lydia remembered, "and I hardly knew who brought them. I remember one case when a man brought a child in, and before I even said that I would take it, he disappeared. That was how the work grew."
...With one or more infants always in the home, she scarcely ever enjoyed an uninterrupted night's sleep. At times, when fighting was going on outside and the babies were due their bottles, she had to crawl on her knees from bed to bed so she wouldn't be hit by any bullets that might come through the windows.
She considered this work to be appointed for her by God. And she gave up everything to follow His call on her life. You can't read this book and not be touched by its message. It sure makes my problems (if you could even call them problems) seem small.
I know we are all affected by this global financial crisis. I don't know anyone who hasn't been affected in some way. This economy is hitting the auto industry especially hard (my husband's livelihood). I see the stress on his face when he leaves in the morning as well as when he comes home at night. I often feel helpless. But then I am reminded that I am not helpless because I can pray for him.
As Americans, we have enjoyed freedoms and comforts that much of the rest of the world does not enjoy. My life has been so free from physical discomfort that I can get frustrated by the inconvenience of a refrigerator failure. And then I remember that I'm not walking on a stone floor, I don't have bed bugs, I'm not dodging bullets while trying to keep sick infants alive. Has my faith even been tested?
I've been waking up every morning with prayers of thankfulness in my heart for God's mercy, His provision, His blessings on my life. The future is uncertain in so many ways for all of us. We put our trust in so many things, only to have God remind us that He is our only security. We don't know what tomorrow holds for us. Who would have thought just one year ago that we would find ourselves today in a financial crisis that extends throughout the entire world?
However, we have the assurance that if we love God and are called according to His purpose, He is working all things for our good (Romans 8:28). We are told over and over in Scripture not to be fearful. Our God is in control. He is in control of nations and leaders and financial crises. He is faithful. He loves us. And we can trust Him. Nothing can separate us from His love. No matter what happens to the stock market, real estate prices, the auto industry, we have nothing to fear if our trust in God. He will guide us safely home through whatever circumstances He allows to be a part of our journey.
"Appointment in Jerusalem" helped to strengthen my faith this week. As I anticipate seeing the physical city of Jerusalem for the first time, I am feeling the anticipation of the heavenly Jerusalem that awaits us. And I am really looking forward to meeting Lydia Prince. I know one thing. I won't be telling her about my refrigerator problems or how hard the car business was in 2008. I will be listening.
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