Life From Death

I have been wanting to sweep up the leaves for the longest time but the Santa Ana winds made it necessary to not hold off on it any longer. So, this morning I grabbed my broom and trash can ready to face the challenge. As I looked at the task set before me, I realized the God of the Universe helped me out! The dirt and leaves were no longer stuck in the cracks and crevices around my place, but they were now in neat piles. The wind had cleaned up everything and placed them in a few manageable stacks. A job that would have taken me hours, was now cut down to just 30 minutes thanks to the one who is in charge of the wind and the stars.

As I swept, I noticed something amazing. A tree growing out of the concrete. Here is the photo. In Job 33 it says God speaks to us all of the time but we don’t recognize it. I have amazing things that happen to me everyday because I have learned that listening to that still, small voice is the most powerful thing I could ever do. It has saved my life many times in danger and given me wisdom beyond my understanding.

As I swept out in front, a guy riding by on his bicycle yelled,“Are you going to keep that newspaper?”
I said, “no”
​He said, “Oh, good, I love collecting coupons.”
I replied, “You are welcome to it.”
He got off of his bike and said, “I love my life. God is so good! I am content.”
I said, “Yes He is! He gives us everything we need”

He proceeded to tell me his story. This man got off his mountain bike with all of it’s gear. He appeared in good, physical shape from riding often.  He said he used to be addicted to all kinds of drugs. He was mad at the world and in 1991 crashed his bike into a wall. He said he was in a coma for 2 months. He doesn’t remember much of his past except for his family filling him in on the details. He had to start over. He learned how to talk and walk again. He said God saved him. He explained he ended up being a missionary for 10 years traveling all over the world in different countries.

“I have seen people so angry because they are hungry. They are hungry for food and hungry for God. God saved me and I am grateful and need nothing! I had to die to self in order to find out how to really live”.

He continued with telling me amazing stories and then asked me if he could pray with me. He prayed with me like I prayed for that woman a couple of days ago outside of the restaurant. I was blessed by his story and testimony. More proof that if you have faith in God and repent, He will heal you and restore you.

The last hour has been filled with a lifetime of lessons. We can make so many messes in our life and the wind can toss us about but God is the only one that can transform chaos into order. He can command the winds to blow and put all or our junk in a neat pile for us to easily grab and put in the Holy trashcan. We can just give it to Him in one fell swoop and Jesus will wipe it away and wash us clean.

We can be like that little tree coming up from the cement. That tree that had hardness and hate all around it. It just focused on the light. It focused on the light that made it grow and breakthrough that hardness. One day at a time, it got stronger. It never gave up. Life coming from stone. Something that might be impossible for us, but possible with God. He gives us strength to go on.

We can be like this man, who had to realize that God saved him for a purpose. He got back on his bike! The same situation that caused his accident. He faced his fears instead of avoiding them. He created new, happy memories with his bike again. He says he doesn’t remember his bad past and doesn’t want to but God gives him everything He needs today to thrive and be happy and content.

We can rise from our dead life.…just like Jesus defeated death. Our life can have no hope but if we hold onto the one who says we have been given the same power to raise Jesus from the dead, we can prove that life can come from death. Death to self.

We can be so arrogant to think that we know better than the one who created us. When we can finally realize through suffering and pain that we can’t do this on our own, then we can finally live and receive the abundant blessings that God has created for us before the world began. We can raise to a new life but only by dying to our own will. Life from death.

Scripture reference:

Mark 4:39-41
And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Job 33:14
For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it.

I Kings 9:12
And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.

John 1:5 
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

I John 1:7
but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Numbers 20:8 
“You and Aaron must take the staff and assemble the entire community. As the people watch, speak to the rock over there, and it will pour out its water. You will provide enough water from the rock to satisfy the whole community and their livestock.”

Romans 8:11 
 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

I Peter 5:10
In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.