As a young girl watching the movie Cinderella, I saw a “plain, yellow pumpkin” become a “golden carriage,” and a “plain country bumpkin” and a prince were “joined in marriage”. And of course, like many little girls, I wanted to be transformed into a princess, too! Naturally that hope faded as I grew up. Instead it appeared that I was destined to become…I had no idea what.
In Part 1, Our Father’s Loving Design, we saw three vital truths to understanding the world around us: God is good always, all that is in the heavens and the earth reflect His design, and all good things today are through Jesus Christ.
I remember spending hour upon hour of my youth looking at spiders and their webs, following columns of ants, catching snakes (sometimes poisonous!), watching birds flit from tree to tree, seeing giant clouds race across the vast Missouri sky, grabbing crawdads from behind in Buck Creek, finding baby bunnies in the blackberry patch, seeing our kitty give birth and nurse her kittens, catching frogs at the pond and making torches from the cattails there, lying at the foot of my bed to watch lightning and then listening for the thunder, sitting transfixed beneath a winter sky full of brilliant stars beyond counting, and catching bumblebees in pink, pollen-filled clover.
I went for a beautiful walk this week up the hill from where we live. After plentiful rains, the literally acres upon acres of yellow-green mustard plants glistened in the sun. Bright golden fields of Brown-eyed Susans were punctuated by the royal purple of lupine and phacelia. I looked for my favorite—mariposa lilies—on the way up to the top, but did not find them in their haunt from two years before when rains were also abundant.
Sometimes it’s pretty easy to trust in people. It is how we were taught since birth. We put our confidence in our Dad and Mom that they will feed, clothe, house, and love us. We trust in our school teachers to give us what we need to know. We even trust our employers to pay us what we’ve agreed upon.
I remember when I was ten years old and how much I wanted to be a magician. My friend and neighbor, Ricky Miller, had an uncle who was a professional magician.
With so much concern and distrust in our nation and around the world, it is time to come back to our heavenly Father’s Word and trust His abundant promises. Here is a poem about those who do.
Over the paths of time they come,
Believers who daily put trust in Him,
God rewards faithfulness to His Word,
His promises endless, with power to win.
O’er sorrow or hardship or crying or death,
God’s hand reigns triumphant as we but believe,
No working of Satan is greater than He,
Who’s given us freely the gifts we receive.
Latch on to His promises, hold forth the truth,
In love, speaking freely with boldness and light.
Trust in His riches, your mind now renewed,
To all the resources provided in Christ!
Do we stand in doubt at the grace He bestows?
Are men’s lies more steadfast than God or His power?
We’ll faithfully trust Him, and as our strength grows,
Together in victory, we shine forth each hour!
Here is a hymn that can be sung in your heart each day. We have so much to thank our heavenly Father for. We can trust in Him!
We all face hardship and failure in this life. But what really matters? Spiritually, we have Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). What the world may consider failure, is actually great victory!
