Category Archives: Financial Struggles

The Relief of Restful Days

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This morning my Spurgeon reading included a note about Nate and his experience. The reading began with a familiar verse from Matthew:

“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (11:28)

Spurgeon

I read Spurgeon’s commentary and then glanced at the notes in the margins, written in past years. A penned note said, “Nate [at the cottage] soul-searching, 1/14, 1/15, 1/16, 2005.”

I remember that weekend well. He was up to his nose in frustrations and had dropped to a low place emotionally. When he suggested he take a day or two away to think and pray, I heartily agreed and happily volunteered to handle the home front in his absence.

We both decided to fast throughout those 3 days, hoping God would somehow apply food sacrifices to our prayers about the weekend. My journal entries were a mass of requests about my husband and his struggles at that time, but there were also cries for good gifts to be given to him. For example, I prayed God would give him the rest he so badly needed.

When I’d opened Spurgeon’s reading on January 14, 2005, here’s what I’d found: “Jesus gives rest. It is so. Will you believe it? Will you put it to the test? Will you do so at once? Come to Jesus by…. trusting everything to him. If you thus come to him, the rest will be deep, safe, holy, and everlasting.”

Today when I re-read it (8 years later), it was the next sentence that impacted me most. Spurgeon wrote, “Jesus gives a rest which develops into heaven.” It’s an interesting framework for the Matthew promise, and Nate’s move into everlasting rest in 2009 was visible concurrence with that unusual statement.

When God delivered, he did it big-time. He said, “Come to me,” and Nate came. He said, “I’ll give you rest from your heavy-laden condition,” and Nate accepted.

On earth we can only observe backwards, but we can be sure beyond all doubt that in front of us lies relief and rest from every burden. Or, as Spurgeon put it, “Every heavy-laden one [will] cease from bowing down under the enormous pressure.”

Nate didn’t buckle during his remaining time on earth, and as he continued bearing the burdens he was handed (which included killer-cancer), he had no idea complete relief was fairly close at hand. Just a reminder to himself that this was true might have been a relief all by itself, which is something that should encourage the rest of us today still living in a world chock-full of burdens.

Nate kept his own journal on that weekend away, which included several prayers. In one of them he wrote, “Let me breathe the sweet, clean, pure air-of-life that You want for me.”

And not too much later, God did.

“You will fill me with joy in your presence.” (Psalm 16:11)

Try to bloom.

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Spring, not autumn, is the season for fresh flowers, and we love gathering crocus, lily of the valley, and jonquils into our homes. Fall, on the other hand, is about readying our gardens for winter. Though colored leaves can be striking, fresh flowers are hard to come by…

…unless you live in my neighborhood.

As Jack and I strolled around the block last week, we found a spring-like surprise: brand new blossoms in dramatic purple, pushing up from a tangle of ivy roots and stems. Looking more like Easter than Columbus Day, they made me stop to oooh and ahhh, and I’ve been thinking about them ever since.

All of us have heard the expression, “Bloom where you’re planted,” which is exactly what these flowers are doing. Though that quote isn’t from Scripture, its principle is. No matter what snarling circumstances surround us, God wants each of us to accept our lot in life, or, put more eloquently, to embrace his will.

What if he decides that an extreme hardship is what we need to turn our attention to him? Wouldn’t that “misfortune,” then, be in our best interest? That kind of logic makes us squirm. “It’s not fair!” we say.

All of us want to live on Easy Street. Something deep inside says we deserve that. So why doesn’t God make it happen? If he can do anything, then why doesn’t he choose to make us happy?

  • Because each difficulty coaxes us closer to him.
  • Because we can demonstrate his sustenance through troubles.
  • Because by cheerfully enduring, we can bank rewards for later.
  • Because flexing our perseverance-muscles makes us stronger for next time.
  • Because living above circumstances is the high-road way to live.
  • Because God has told us, “In this, you can please me.”

In other words, the Lord assigns certain hardships to each of us and is keenly interested in how we’ll handle them. When we bloom in the middle of those messes, whether it’s poverty, terminal illness, financial stress, or something else, the beauty and perfume of the resulting flowers can impact many, much like the purple “Resurrection Lily” (or “Surprise Lily”) impacted me. When we’re joyful through suffering, it surprises people.

But there’s a catch. We can’t do it on our own. Cheerfully accepting a “fate” that seems unfair makes our mental scales-of-justice tip. More natural is to run from it, fight it, or try to escape it altogether. From where God sits, however, those reactions go down as losses.

So, to encourage us to bloom against all odds exactly where he plants us, the Lord has told us that one day every believer will indeed have an address on Easy Street. And I’ll bet the blossoms in those yards are going to be out of this world.

“Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you.” (Romans 12:2)

Distracted

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Our 1993 trip to London, England, was full of happy surprises, including our encounter with the dynamic Diana. But our stop-over in this famous city also included one miserable experience.

While we were abroad I enjoyed buying trinket-souvenirs for the 6 children I’d left at home, things like toffee candy in a double-decker bus tin. As for Nate, I was planning a special purchase.

Our family was in the throes of a financial stranglehold back then and had eliminated all unnecessary spending. (The only reason I went to England was that Mom was treating.) I’d spent months setting aside small bits of money in anticipation of the trip, wanting to buy Nate a new pen. He loved pens, especially fountain pens, and used them all. Owning one from the UK would be unique.

By the day of our departure I’d saved $430 toward the pen and looked forward to choosing it. The morning our group of 6 decided to shop at the world famous department store Harrods, I knew my moment had come.

As we approached the 160 year old store, a commotion across the street grabbed our attention. We found a man hawking what he said was 24 karat gold jewelry displayed on the lid of a suitcase. “These necklaces are worth 10 times what I’m charging! If you took them into Harrods, their appraisal would bear that out. Hurry and make your purchases before security makes me leave!”

As he talked he laid out new pieces, each one glittering more than the previous one. Mom purchased a necklace and said, “I’m going to Harrods for an appraisal. If it isn’t as he says, I’m getting my money back.”

We crossed the street and went into Harrods, but when I reached down to check my purse, the zipper was open! I dug inside, but my wallet was gone.

“I’ve been robbed!” I shouted. “My money’s gone!”

We concluded that the jewelry guy hadn’t been working alone. A second man must have been moving through the crowd picking pockets and purses as we gawked over gold necklaces.

God wants us to hold everything lightly, every possession, opportunity, relationship, title, and every dollar bill. There’s not one thing on this earth that can’t be somehow taken from us, including our lives. It’s better to view “our” things as on-loan rather than owned, because if they vanish, our adjustment isn’t difficult. Everything we have, including each next breath, has its ultimate source in God.

Although 19 years have passed since I lost my $430, I still haven’t figured out why God let it happen. Nate never got his fancy pen, and nothing positive came from the loss. There is one consolation, though: when Mom got her money back for bogus gold, the hawker got a tart lecture from an American oldster for being so dishonest.

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” (Acts 4:32)