I’ve been wondering if God was disturbed at me in my first 50 years of life on His earth and the neglect I gave Him.
When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them. ~ Job 29:24
I was for the most part always happy with the way so many things were going in my life. I had an awesome family and great and loyal friends while I was growing up. I enjoyed my younger days on the family farm here in South Dakota. The wide open areas without the clutter of the bigger cities. The blue sky, green grass and watching the crops and cattle grow. The family enjoying time together on a summer evening playing ballgames and fellowship. Why wouldn’t we all smile about those times?
We spent Sundays together as a family when my siblings and I were all younger. We would go to church and Dad was always in charge of us in our pew as Mom was the organist in our church for over 60 years. After church we would go home and Mom always had a delicious dinner for us, many times something she had placed in the oven prior to us making the 20 minute drive to town for church.
As I got older and started raising my own family I became a bit more satisfied with how things were going. Oh, be sure that it wasn’t all roses but it seemed as though most everything I did in my working career was succeeding.
But something was missing. I think it might have been that God was expecting more from me. I feel I was always a believer but I wasn’t sure if I was saved. I know my Mom always figured that I was saved. And that was something we had recently talked about between the two of us. I think there are a lot of Christians in our world who are believers but aren’t necessarily saved. I never gave my total trust to Jesus until just a few years ago. I surrendered everything to Jesus when I finally did give that trust to Him.
I started praying more and reading my Bible. I started sharing with others my thoughts and concerns of my faith. I started to love those who needed it most. I started caring for those who have very little hope or maybe no hope at all.
It was then that I felt that maybe, just maybe, God was giving me a Divine smile.
Make your face shine on your servant and teach me your decrees. ~ Psalm 119:135