I can't stop thinking about our last meeting! What an evening! Every week I am becoming more encouraged by what I see. I see us drawing closer together. I see us eager to draw closer to the Lord.
We had a guest who wanted prayer for himself and his daughter. Bernard is a former Jehovah's Witness (JW). His daughter, Jasmine, is suffering from sickle cell anemia. (http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Sca/SCA_WhatIs.html)
Jasmine became a Christian through the witness of a nurse. Bernard came to faith through Jasmine's witness. He had been a JW his whole life. Both have suffered rejection from family members and the congregation.
Bernard's testimony really encouraged me. Even though life is difficult for him, he remains faithful. Jasmine also remains strong even in this time of suffering. How can we not be encouraged through their testimony?
We have been looking at 2 Corinthians. Paul talks a great deal about what he's had to endure and the comfort he's found.
2 Corinthians 1:3-10, " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again."
2 Corinthians 11:24-28, " Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches."
One of the definitions for testimony in the Cassel Compact Dictionary is, " evidence, proof, comfirmation." A testimony can keep you going at a time when the journey is getting difficult. This journey is not easy folks! It's hard! That's why we need each other! That's why we need to hear testimonies! They are evidence of God's work! They are proof of His faithfulness! They confirm His Word! They keep us focused on the finish line! They keep us going!!
Bernard came to us for a blessing and ends up being a blessing to us! Continue to pray for Bernard and Jasmine.
Let's be encouraged by their testimony and the Word of God.
