My Mother’s Abiding Joy

In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. — Psalm 16:11 NKJV

As a teenager growing up, my room in our house was directly over Mother’s. At night I could see the lights from her room reflected on the trees outside my window. When I slipped downstairs hoping to talk to her a few minutes, I would find her shapely form bent beside her bed in prayer. It was useless to wait for her to rise because she would be there for hours on end, so I would trudge back up to my room. And no matter how early I awoke in the morning, I would see those lights from her window once again reflected on the trees outside.

• My mother chose to make abiding in Christ one of the priorities of her life.

Mother’s abiding was rooted in a love relationship with Jesus that was the secret of her life. As a result of her abiding, the hallmark of Mother’s life was joy. Her face radiated with it! Her eyes sparkled with it! And I’m left to wonder... what outward evidence of my inner relationship with Jesus do my children see?

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The Silence of God

He who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. — Psalm 32:10 NKJV

Is God silent in your life? What prayers has He not answered for you?

At a time of unanswered prayer in my life years ago, my mother taught me the verse to a hymn that I still quote when I am totally baffled by events that seem to careen out of the orbit of what I have asked:

• Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee, Trust Him when thy strength is small, Trust Him when to simply trust Him, Seems the hardest thing of all.

Is your focus on your immediate need blinding you to a greater purpose that God is working out? Would you choose to be patient and simply trust Him? Sometimes God does not answer our immediate prayer because He has something greater in store for us.