July 21, 2019 - INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE HEART

Trust me…He’s there!!

When I was five years old I remember walking back home with my dad from a grocery store when I felt something pricked me on the bottom of my foot.  I came home and remember telling my parents saying “something bit me.” At that moment we did not take it seriously and we let it be. A few days passed by when we saw a small rash starting to form on the bottom of my foot. In a matter of a few weeks this rash spread over my foot and infected both my feet and then started infecting my hands. And it got so messed up that my skin got so dry that I had cracks on my skin which eventually turned into very deep cuts.

My parents took me to the best doctors in the city. None of them were able to figure out what I was going through. They made me take countless number of tests, tests which amounted to a lot of money. After the tests I was prescribed a medication, which is one of the most expensive medications. What was meant for days and weeks went for months and years. Trials and errors had become a part of my life as we did not see any improvement at all. My mom was steadfast in her prayers. She always used to tell me God was with us and He would heal me. As a little boy she made me pray for my healing and restoration. Every night we sat for family prayer time and I remember as a little boy praying, “Lord, heal my allergy.” As I grew old I became weary of this prayer. It started becoming a cliché.

My mother used to weep and pray every single day for hours. My dad was desperately researching trying to find the best doctors. My parents took me for tests and medical examinations so that we could be able to find the problem. For some reason I could never ask the question, “God, why me?” cause I felt that was doubting my Maker. But there was one night I finally broke and asked Him, “God, it has been years…where are you?” I wish I could tell you saying, “And then I heard this voice and seen the light!” but nothing dramatic ever happened. This lasted for 12 years.

I was recollecting that experience the other day. And something dawned on me and I broke down. During all those years we spent a lot of money but never have I seen a day when my parents went bankrupt. There was never a day when there was no food on the table, never was there a shortage of money, never was there a moment when I see my parents stretch out their hands and ask for financial help from others. God was there all along, all through those years, walking alongside us. I look back now and I wish I could tell that kid who prayed, “God, where are you?”, that He was there all along. Through thick and thin He was there. And where I am today was because He was there working behind the scenes, and He has been with me through all the pain and all the suffering. This is our God who not only does impossible things but who journeys with us even when we doubt His existence.

"Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.” – Isaiah 49:15.

“I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread.” – Psalm 37:25

Doug Bennyson