Psalm 66:12
“But you brought us to a place of abundance.”
This is what captured my attention in my Bible reading for the day. Who doesn’t want to come to a place of abundance? My previous blog was about the Psalm of the Shepherd, which starts out with “… I will not be in want.”
Let me first give you the story of a lonely cloud. I captured the pictures yesterday as I went to make a very unusual bank deposit. I have received payment a year in advance! The numbers sure gave me a feeling of abundance, but I will have to exercise very strict discipline to make it last.
When my parent first went to Chile as missionaries they received their allowance from the church every six months. They really had to exercise discipline. In my first years as a missionary I received my allowance every quarter. Then, when we came to the States, I started receiving payment every week. What a difference! Now I get my Social Security check once a month.
This check I went to deposit is for the work I will be doing on lessons for orphan children. Many of these children feel like the little cloud I made a photographic story of yesterday. Today I feel a little bit like that cloud. My life is rather lonely. I could be out and about trying to pursue friendships, but I’ve never been the type to “intrude” into people’s lives.
I didn’t say I was sad, just lonely. God has brought me to a place of abundance. I rejoice in his love and in the privilege of spreading that love around the world through the Internet.
Whenever you come to a BUT, you know there was something before, in this case BEFORE there came abundance, there was testing.
- You, O God, tested us
- You refined us like silver
- You brought us into prison
- You laid burdens on our backs
- You let men ride over our heads
- We went through fire and water
BUT you brought us to a place of abundance.
When I think of abundance it has nothing to do with money, but rather with the abundance of love, joy, peace, mercy, grace, comfort. confidence, faith, and so much more that Jesus has to offer. He himself said that he came to give us life, and life more abundant (see John 10:10).
I told Mary (my dad’s wife) that I feel like the lonely cloud. She encouraged me, that even if I don’t’ have friends in person at my side, there are many that are with me in thought and in spirit.
That reminds me of the time we were pastors in Huancayo. My husband would ask people why there were not in church. “Oh, yes,” they would say, “we were there in spirit!” But it’s not fun to pastor a church full of “spirits”!!
We can get to the place of abundance, but many time through fire and water. There is a promise that the Lord will be with us even in those times. To talk about that would be a blog of its own!
I pray that you will be brought to a place of abundance. I don’t wish you all the hard testing, but it’s worth it.
Kerstin Lundquist's Blog 