By Dena Simonds~
The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. This is what I keep telling myself. I back that up with this text: “For I know the plans for you, plans to prosper and not to harm, plans to give you hope and a future…” Jer. 29:11.
My identity has been in my profession and due to poor health I have not been able to carry a work load. This was devastating to me. Why, Father, would you take that from me? You called me into this profession, why would you take that away! I felt like Job being given much and then sitting in a dirt heap and scraping my wounds and having nothing. It was painful.
The Lord gently reminded me one day: Dena, I can give and I can take away. Do you see… I called you into this profession; can I not call you out? I was humbled and admitted that yes, He could. He is the designer of my life. He knows what I need more than I do. It took a long time to accept, though. I was a dental hygienist—that is who I was, my identity. Now who was I?
God then called me into the desert to be alone with Him. Like Moses, like Jesus. This was one-on-one time with my Lord. He wanted to teach me more lessons. He wanted me to quit being Martha, rushing here and there and ministering to my patients and to others and start ministering to my body and soul.
I fought the rest He wanted to give me for awhile. Then as I got up to study each morning I became excited and looked forward to it. He would take me on His own Bible study and before I knew it, it would be noon! I had time to do this now. I looked forward to it. I loved it. I craved it.
I had the time to start healing my emotional and mental mind. I was in need of the master mechanic’s maintenance program and God Himself was going to do the work on me. I had an exclusive appointment with God in my calendar. Once I recognized this, I relaxed and began the work at hand.
I don’t know what He has in mind for my future, but I do know that My Father is at work and I have to have faith and trust and lean on that. Blind faith…..that’s another story for another time.
Are you willing to let the Lord do His maintenance on you? Or are you fighting it?
