As I watched my new friend Peggy whipping together the
dressing for potato salad, I heard her mumble, “I’m forgetting something in
this recipe.”
She closed her eyes and looked heavenward. “Jesus, what’s
the next ingredient?” she asked. “Thank you, Lord!” Smiling, she reached into
the cupboard for an additional condiment.
I watched in amazement. Jesus was so real to her—present
with her in EVERYTHING she did! As the afternoon progressed, I saw, through
Peggy and her husband, more and more evidence that Jesus was right there in the
room with us! He was so close when we prayed, I could feel His presence, too!
That experience was the beginning of my walk with Jesus as a true believer.
Hebrews 11 tells us that God requires each of us to have
faith in Him. The good news is that He will provide plenty of evidence for us
to believe!
In a recent Quiet
Walk devotional, I read these words of encouragement based on John 20:
“Thomas needed to be shown that the
miracle of Jesus' resurrection was really true. God provided Thomas with the
proof he needed. Jesus appeared to Thomas and said, "Reach your finger
here, and look at My hands. Do not be unbelieving but believing." (20:27)
Jesus saw what Thomas needed and gave him sufficient evidence to believe. You
don't have to be afraid of sincere doubt. That doubt can be changed. Just
examine the evidence of Christ's work in the New Testament.”
As I read John 20, I realized that God will do whatever is
needed to prove we can believe in Him! Look at the examples from this single
chapter!
Jesus appears to Mary Magdalen at
the empty tomb and reassures her He has been raised, just as He said.
Jesus appears to His disciples in a
locked room to prove He is alive.
Jesus appears to Thomas and allows
him to touch His wounds to prove He is who He claimed to be.
God had the Bible written so that
anyone who read it could believe.
To this body of evidence, we can add the encounter several
followers had on the road to Emmaus, the Ethiopian eunuch’s salvation
experience in his carriage, and Paul’s conversion on his way to Damascus. God
meets us where we are!
My witness of Peggy’s faith in Jesus was only the beginning
of many ways God has helped me to believe in Him—my father’s salvation, an
alcoholic friend’s changed life, our daughter’s adoption, and the peace we
experienced in the face of our son’s kidney loss, my cancer diagnosis, and Dick’s
unemployment—to name just a few.
How has God proven Himself to you? Still looking for that
proof? Ask God to help you to believe according to the evidence. Like the
father in Mark 9:24, your prayer can be: "Lord, I believe; help my
unbelief!"
Be encouraged!
Pam
