Today I will share a special message. The Lord instructed me to start Today’s Word in December of 1997. Since then I have sent out Today’s Word five days a week, rain or shine, up or down, good or bad, busy or on not. My vow to the Lord was to do His work before I ever did work for anyone else. What this normally means is that I get up around 4:30am or 5am and I end the process of sending out Today’s Word around 7am. But through the years, there have been times when I needed to be at a 7am meeting or catch a 6am flight. So if I needed to get up at 2:30am or 3am to send out Today’s Word, that is what I have done. I remember one time have to do it at 12:30am. I have always been thankful that through it all, I never was once in the position that I could NOT send out Today’s Word because of a sickness. When you think about it, it’s pretty amazing. Regardless of how I felt the night before, I was always ready to do the Lord’s bidding the next morning, no matter how early it was. Well yesterday, for the first time in over 20 years, I was unable to send out Today’s Word due to a medical reason. At first this hurt my heart, but after thinking about it and praying about it, I see it as a great testimony. Today I will share what happened and some of what I thought about in the process.
On Tuesday night, my wife was out of town, so I took my boys to Bible Study. When we got home, I prepared them for bed, and as I got myself ready, I felt something go into my left eye as I pulled the blanket up. I tried to get it out and could not. This caused me to wake up several times that night. I barely slept. Wednesday morning I tried to flush my eye out again, to no avail. I sent out Today’s Word on Wednesday and started my day. I had a full day scheduled. I was in meeting after important meeting, and my eye was getting progressively worse. When evening came, I was supposed to attend a dinner, but I chose not to, so I could go home and attempt to flush my eye out again. I tried, but the pain, at this point, was unbearable. I went to Urgent Care and lost-story-short, I was found to have an abrasion on my left cornea. This was very painful. I was given pain meds and antibiotics. I was told that my eye would heal itself in 48 hours, and that I simply needed to give it the time to do so. I was to take pain killers, rest and wait. As of this moment, all the pain is gone, I am not taking the pain killers, and I have an appointment with the eye doctor this morning to verify check my eye. First of all, I give God praise for a very quick recovery and for speaking to me about several things in the process. I will share a few of those things with you today.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. God is looking for faithfulness.
a) You don’t have any control over what God calls you to do, because He called you before the world began. But what you do have control over is your faithfulness and dedication to the call.
b) You don’t have to be the smartest, strongest, fastest or wisest. But God does require you to be faithful. He is looking for you to be dedicated to the plans He made before you from the foundations of the world. There are lots of things outside of your control, but the one thing you get to decide, all on your own, is how faithful you will be to your God-given assignment. God is looking for faithfulness. I may not be a lot of things, but one thing I strive to be is faithful. This is why it hurt me so much to miss sending out Today’s Word yesterday.
2. God has been extremely good to me.
a) I am 45 years old. Other than the time when I was hit by a car when I was 3 yrs. Old (in which God performed a true miracle in my life), I have never spent a night in a hospital. I have never been given an I.V. I barely went to the doctor during my 25 year career in the military. I was raised in an environment that was literally like a warzone on U.S. soil, East New York, Brooklyn, in the 1970s and 1980s. And I went to Iraq four times during military conflict and to this day, I have never had a broken bone in my body or any major injuries. I thank God for shielding me and protecting me throughout the years.
b) On Wednesday night, when the doctor asked me about my body’s reaction to pain killers, I had to tell her that I did not know how it would react, because up until early Wednesday morning, I had never taken any. I am truly thankful for God’s goodness to me. I will never cease to give Him praise for calling me and then keeping me for my calling.
3. The outpour of love I felt truly blessed me.
a) My wife was out-of-town on Wednesday night, so I was in the Emergency Room by myself. I am thankful that one of our friends watched the kids and the only other friends who knew I was in the E.R. offered to be there with me, but I [somewhat foolishly] refused the help. As I sat in the E.R., in tremendous pain, I thought about God’s goodness. I got there at 8pm and did not leave until midnight. I was in real pain from about 5pm until my eye was attended to around 11pm. In that time, I kept thinking about God. I never once felt alone. I knew I could reach out to people, but God was with me and He was with me every step of the way. I sat there wondering how people “do life” without God? I could not do what I do every day without God. Not even close. Life is not always easy, but I am thankful that is with me through it all.
b) When I finally left the E.R. at midnight, I posted something on social media, letting people know that I would not send out Today’s Word the next morning and asking for your prayers. The outpour of love I received truly blessed my heart. By the time I got home and got to bed it was 1am. Before I dozed off I looked at some of the responses I had received, where people were praying for me all over the world. Being transparent with you, I cried. I have always known that God loves me. But to feel the love of others brought me to tears. Thank you!
4. Grace is not a license to overlook rest.
a) The doctor said it would take 48 hours, but by yesterday afternoon, I felt great and I was ready to get back to doing what I am graced to do. Using wisdom, I will still see the eye doctor this morning to verify everything in my eye is good to go, but I am thankful, in advance, that everything is.
b) God has graced my wife and I to do many things. This means we keep a pretty busy schedule. I know how to run hard. I have never had a problem with that. But it was just over the last few years that I truly learned to rest. Yesterday I slept for most of the day. I rested in God, prayed and enjoyed His presence. By late afternoon I was ready to get back to doing what I am graced to do. I had an event to go to last night, I felt peace about it, and I went. My point is that I the grace to do what God has called me to do, so do it I must. And in the process, I am always praying about the proper amount of rest. How does this apply to you? It’s simple. You have the grace for your race. Run your race with patience. Don’t concern yourself with other people. They have their own race and their own grace. But run your race YOU MUST! Remember, you have the GRACE FOR IT! Just use wisdom and do not overlook the importance of rest.
Closing Confession:
Father, You have called me for such a time as this. Your grace is on me to do what You birthed me to do. Your have provided the grace. I will provide the faithfulness. I declare that I am faithful to do ALL You have called me to do. I run with patience the race that is set before me. I get the proper rest. I appreciate the people You have placed in my life to help me. And I thank You for being with me every step of the way. I love You Father and I am honored to be the man/woman You called me to be! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
