Have you ever wondered, “Does Jesus care?” I have! Sometimes when we pray, it seems that our prayers hit the ceiling and go no further. Job certainly understood what that was like. Job went a long time waiting upon the Lord to answer his prayer. The Lord was there all the time, but Job couldn’t prove it to himself or his friends. The Lord was not only there, but He was on Job’s side of the issue, yet He remained silent until the work was completed.
Then there are the other times, when it seems that the Lord answers before we even call. I have been reminded lately of the caring hand of the Lord in my life over these 49 years that I have looked to Him as my Saviour, my Deliver, my Judge, my Tower of Protection, and my Shepherd who daily leads the way. I have been reminded of the compassion He has shown to my life in the middle of the troubles He has allowed in my life.
Years ago, when the Lord was moving Jerry into the position of the pastorate of the church, the Lord allowed us to go through great testing for ten months. It was financial testing, physical testing and by the end of ten months, it was mental testing. All of these testings produced great spiritual testing. At one time I had been going from hospital to hospital so many days without rest, that I had not been able to do laundry and I had nothing to wear the next day, and no time to wash unless I gave up much needed sleep. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I walked to the mailbox to get the mail and found a package from Mrs. Martha Green (Bro. Roloff ’s secretary). It was a skirt and blouse with a note that read, “I was cleaning out my closet and thought you might be able to wear these. Love, Martha!” They fit perfectly. I said, “Lord”, “you knew all the time what I would need today. You do care, don’t you!”
Years later, I was on visitation with Mrs. Bobbie Mayhew, and we were talking about how the Lord provides for His children. We were driving on Central Expressway in Dallas, in the middle of traffic, in the far left lane, when all of a sudden my back tire blew! I told Bobbie to hang on, and I went across two lanes to the exit and rolled down to a service station. I picked up my cell phone and called my husband, who was all the way across town, and as he answered, my phone beeped in with another call. I asked Jerry to hold and when I answered the other call, it was my oldest son, Tom. He said, “Mother, where are you? Did you just have a blow out on your back tire?” I said, “Yes! How did you know?” He said he was right beside me when it happened and he realized it was me. He turned around and changed my tire and we were on our way in just minutes!!! Dallas is a large city and that could not have been an accident. Yes, God does care about the little things in our life.
The day the doctor told my mother that she had cancer, I began to really realize how much I missed my sister who had died the year before. I cried that week like most people would have cried at the death. I was having a pity party one morning that week and I told the Lord that it wasn’t fair because no one would be there to comfort me one year after her death. Who could know what I was going through a year later? I walked to the mailbox (once again), and there was a sympathy card from Bro. Randy Langford. He had just learned that week that my sister had died, so he sent a card as if it had just happened, and it just happened to be when I needed it. Does Jesus care and does He know how to show He cares at the right moment? Oh yes, He most certainly does!
But the most recent express of the Lord’s love for my life has been overwhelming. The Lord has really gone all the way to show His love for my life. My sister will have been gone three years this December. It has been a very hard time for my brother-in-law and my three nieces. It is such an adjustment to lose a loving family member and nothing can ever replace them. The emptiness they leave behind needs to be filled, not by just anyone, but by someone who fits with the family that already exist. My brother-in-law began taking a lady to supper and they began building a friendship, but I was concerned because her life was not built upon the same foundation has ours. I began to pray for Jim. I knew he was lonely and I knew he needed someone to care for. He was a wonderful husband to my sister. Not long after I began to pray, he stopped seeing this friend. We were going to supper together one night and he told us he was not going with this friend any longer and there was a lady at our church that he wanted to meet. When he described her, I couldn’t figure out who he was talking about. The next Sunday night he came to the church and pointed her out. I couldn’t believe who he had picked!
When my sister died, this lady, Barbara Everitt, had come to my aide and had helped me with my mother. My mother loved her like a daughter. I could call Barbara anytime and she was always there to help like my sister would have done, had she been alive. We had even eaten meals together with Jim and he had never noticed her until this time. Barbara had been single for 33 years and was not looking for a husband, but when Jim saw her and she knew he had picked her out, God gave Barbara a different heart, and in no time we all knew they would be married.
Both Jim and Barbara’s children were in favour of the marriage and with their consent the marriage was set for July 24, 2009.
Because Barbara is such a close friend of my life, I am not loosing my close relationship with my brother-in-law and my nieces. I have a cousin that is like a sister to me and now we have a friend who will be a sister to us. I could never have done or thought to have done such a work that would keep our family together as one. Only the Lord could do such a work. Does Jesus care? Oh my, oh my, does He care!
Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Ps 37:4
…Gloria Brewster