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weekly fodder for the flock...
...updated September 27, 2004
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Print Several years ago I was working for a company that specialized in research, design, and prototyping of advanced military vehicles. As anyone who has ever been associated with the defense industry can attest, it is a volatile business. In the wake of 9/11, the company found itself needing to reevaluate and restructure. We endured months of turmoil, and one temporary shutdown before we were told that things were becoming more stable. That “stability” lasted two weeks before we were unceremoniously informed that the company was in serious financial trouble. We were laid off, effective immediately. In addition, we would not be receiving our paychecks for last pay period worked. Talk about a tailspin. Literally overnight I went from having a secure job to having nothing. No way to pay my bills. No way to pay my car payment. Not to mention the large sum of money I still had to turn in for my Youth-On-Missions trip to France. Soon weeks of constant worrying, filing for unemployment, looking for employment, and more worrying began to take a toll on me. I simply could not understand why the Lord would allow me—His faithful child—to endure such a heavy situation. I was irritable, moody, and constantly snapping at family and friends. I wasn’t sleeping well, which left me physically exhausted. The mental and emotional stress pretty well finished off whatever energy I had left. One Sunday evening about six weeks into this disaster, I came into church before service started and sat down in my usual seat. I was too drained to even turn around and kneel to pray, so I simply closed my eyes and sat there. Tears began streaming down my face. I was tired of asking for a job or a financial miracle. Instead, I simply asked God for a little piece of Cincinnati. I love the church I attend, but I had spent four years in “the ‘Nati” and it is a very special place for me. The church I attended there is anointed; powerful, and blessed by God in a way I have never experienced anywhere else. That night, lonely, confused, hurting, and exhausted, thousands of miles away from that place, all I wanted was for God to open up the windows of heaven and allow that same refreshing presence to rush through our service so I could have my “piece of Cincinnati.” As service started, I had a headache, so I decided to take something before things really got going. I grabbed some Tylenol from my purse and headed to the water fountain. I wasn’t looking as I opened the door into the church lobby, and before I realized it I had nearly run over a woman trying to come through the door. When I looked up to apologize, I found myself face to face with one of the sisters that attended the church in Cincinnati. She was shocked to see me, but I guarantee I was even more shocked to see her. I began crying uncontrollably. I knew I was standing face to face with the answer to my prayer. To this day she probably thinks that I had lost my mind. But I hadn’t. No, for the first time in months I had found my faith. Perhaps David captured it best when he said, “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there” (Psalm 139:8). That night I realized that no matter what I go through, and no matter how overwhelmed or lost I feel, God always hears me. There is no place that I can go that God can’t go farther. He hears me when I’m on the highest mountain, and He hears me when I’m in the lowest, darkest valley. He heard my feeble prayer for “a piece of Cincinnati” and sent me a sign that not only proved to me that He had heard me, but that He could exceed my wildest expectations. If the God of the Universe would take the time to answer that small whispered prayer, I knew He had heard all of my prayers and my future was completely in His control.
ninetyandnine.com © 2004, Denelle Burns --------- Denelle Burns lives in sunny Southern California (a.k.a. the land of the fruits and the nuts). She currently works in an office overlooking the ocean and never has to endure a day below 50°F. She realizes that it’s rough, but someone has to do it. |
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