What Has God Ever Done For Me?

A friend in my social network posted a question this week.  I wasn’t intending to respond, but immediately, I had an answer.  It wasn’t just one thought that I could have responded with, but another and another invaded what had been a quiet interval in my mind just moments earlier.  I thought it might be fitting as we come to the end of another year to share my response to this question.  “What has God ever done for you?”

How about the time that I had no money and two of my young children had no shoes?  I prayed for shoes one morning and both of my kids came home from school with new shoes that day.

Then there was the time that our family of six went for a several months with no income, no government assistance, no credit cards and no savings.  We had more food in our cupboards and clothes in our closets than we had ever had.  Our bills got paid and we were even given two cars within a very short period of time.

There was the time that my first son was two years old and stopped breathing.  A nurse happened to live next door and resuscitated him.  He was in the hospital for a week and the doctors were never able to pinpoint exactly what had happened, but he was fine.

There was the time I worked in pain for two days with a ruptured appendix and live to tell about it.  My doctor thought it was something else until they did emergency exploratory surgery because the pain had become so incredibly excruciating.

How about the time on the freeway when my car was about to be crushed between two semi trucks?  I slammed on my breaks, closed my eyes, said, “Jesus”, felt my car start to spin and the next thing I knew, I was ahead of the trucks.   How does that happen?

Just a year and a half ago, my adult daughter went in for a minor ten minute procedure which ended with her getting 12 pints of blood and still bleeding.  The doctors said that they had done all they could do.  She is alive today to tell about it.

There are the family members who have been close to death due to addiction or mental illness, but survived and are still alive today.

There are the very dark times that God has walked us through.  We made it and can tell about them today.  There are the times of great blessing in having nothing and in prospering.  There are the joys in shared memories with family and friends.  I have years of journal entries where I have recorded over and over again whatever mess I was in and then what God did.

Whatever it was, whatever I needed, God came through.  He never abandoned me regardless of my level of faith or trust in him to be there.  He remained faithful, even when I was faithless.  I have no doubt in his love for me regardless of my imperfection, and we all know I have many imperfections.  The breath that I am taking at this moment, he gave me and he keeps giving me, in spite of me.  I did nothing to deserve his goodness to me, nor would I ever attempt to try.  He just keeps on doing what only He can do and He does it so well.

As I think on this, another question comes to mind.  “What hasn’t God done for me?”  He hasn’t left me.  He hasn’t given up on me.  He hasn’t stopped loving me in spite of my times of “unloveableness”.  (Hey, it’s my blog.  I can make up words if I want.)

As we start this new year, another “new beginning” that we will get every day, all year long, I pray that your list of what God has done for you fills the pages of your own story.

Praying for many blessings to you for the new year ahead!  Happy 2011!