Today's Devotional
July 8, 2009
Subject: Yesterday Wasn't Tuesday
James 1:2-4 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
I wake up today, ready to see what God has in store. Yesterday was, as I now call it, Test-your-faith day, instead of Tuesday. It was trying for the Charleston family. We first found out early in the day that the matriarch of the Charleston family, my mom, does in fact have stage 4 ovarian cancer. That hit a lot of family members quite hard and while we were dealing with that early, I was summoned to my brothers house, Judge Charleston, to sit with the children because the FBI was there to pick him up. He is being accused of federal bribery charges. I got all of this information within an hour. My wife and I spent most of the day at the Federal Court House in Houston dealing with the legal issue and late in the afternoon my brother was released on bond pending the trial. A high school friend living in California said that the news made it out there.
At any rate, it was a trying day and as I told many of my family members, this is when you understand how important it is to have Christ in your life. Circumstances of life like this are troubling enough for "milk" Christians so unbelievers are "ultimately" challenged to handle this kind of stuff. Believers need to become "meat" Christians, mature, strong and read for the many trials that will surely come. God is going to bring them to us all because He wants us to grow in our faith and in the end, if we can trust God through these circumstances, that's exactly what happens.
Today could be your test-your-faith day. Are you ready for it? Think about the worst news you could get. If you find yourself saying, "I couldn't handle it," then you know you've got room for growth and we all do. Pray that we be strengthened through the power of His might.
Carlen
