This living lesson is entitled, “Have To or Get To?”  Now, I'm going to start and come right out with, “What does this all mean?” It’s simply this…

Do we have to trust Him more? Or do we get to trust Him more? 

When we're in a difficult situation, it's natural to say, “Oh, I had to seek God more. I had to trust Him more.” 

Yet, isn't that, in actuality, a great thing? Isn’t it a good thing when we get to trust Him more? Don’t you want to get more opportunities to rely on Him and trust Him even more? During difficulties, we get to press into Him more.  I just find it so funny because over the course of these past few, oh, I don't know how long it's been going on that I’m not in paradise or vacationing as before. Has it been these past few weeks, is it months? I'm not sure. But time flies when you're having fun, right?

So, in the last podcast (and chapter), if you listened, I talked about when you're not living in paradise, you're not on a continuous vacation in some wonderful place. And then you're in this situation, which, as a believer, hopefully as His bride, means that you get to seek Him more, trust Him more. But it's so funny that we don't do that.

We don't really see the beauty of it, the blessing, the gift that it is. We all want things to be easy and light. We love being lavished with wonderful things, but the deeper blessings really come from those times in the valley when we're pushed into a corner and when we need to rely on Him more. So it's almost like you need to catch yourself because we won't naturally change the way you think or speak.

I don't think, maybe you can, but I don't think I can do it when instead of saying I have to, it's I get to—recognizing the real blessing that the valley is. This has come up when I've been talking to some of my closest ministry friends. And it also just recently happened when I was talking to one of my four sons while he was going through financial difficulties (as we all do from time to time).

As I was encouraging him, which is lovely because his wife reached out to me and said, “I really think you need to reach out; he's really at a low point,” which was not normal for my son. I  knew this was my opportunity to be encouraging. So I went to my Husband first, asked Him to let me know what to say, and just to speak through me. Then he called me, which was an answer to prayer to confirm that it was what He’d planned. 

Over the course of that one day, I got to talk to him at length for different periods for hours. The first time I talked to him, I got to speak to him, and we talked for three hours in three different conversations, one after another. These same encouragement drives have continued ever since. This wouldn't have happened if everything was as we want everything to be.

Instead, I got to receive the blessings that come from the difficulties my son was experiencing, and I was ready because of the difficulties I’d been experiencing and speaking to Him ahead of time, “What do you want me to say?” Even though my difficulties weren’t financial, it made me sensitive to hearing Him more clearly.

“Blessed be the God and Father, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God" (2 Corinthians 1:3–4).

What I think that's nice too is if you say it naturally, “I have to,” then you can catch yourself like I found myself doing and saying, “Wait a minute, it's not that I have to, or you have to, we get to!” When I said it, my son was like, of course, yes, yes! He agreed that this was an opportunity, and he realized that even though all these fears and all these concerns and all the attacks on him (like feeling like he’s not a good enough provider and what did I do wrong and why didn't I save more—when there's simply not the amount of work he needs coming in or the income isn't coming in). 

Or when your paycheck, bonuses, or whatever it is, wherever you are. I think you can all relate to that but isn't that a great place, the best place we can be? 

Now, I'm going to also give you a sub-podcast, a podcast within the podcast. And I’ll title it after one of my favorite Bible stories.

The Size of a Man's Fist

This amazing story, I think, is in the Old Testament. It’s a true story from the prophet Elijah. You must read the whole story to really grasp it because, of course, I remember primarily the main part, when, after seven times (and I even forgot that), after seven times of Elijah sent his servant up to look for clouds. I think he was on a mountaintop or something so he could look for any clouds forming because there had been an endless drought, and Elijah, prompted by God, obviously said, “This is what's going to happen. It will rain. Speaking to the evil people there and the evil leader, he basically said, “God, my God, whom I serve, who I trust, is going to rain down and just flood this place.”

And of course, after he said it, he's human, I'm sure he was thinking, “Oh my gosh, it has to happen!” So that's why he continued to pray and pray and pray and send his servant up seven times to look for clouds. And the seventh time, his servant came back and said as an afterthought, “Well, I do see a cloud the size of a man's fist.” 

Immediately, Elijah said, “Get going, go bring the news, leave quickly before you're flooded and you can't get there.” That was the kind of faith he had. Elijah knew that God was going to do the impossible, but it took him getting to a place where He needed God desperately. So, I'll bring it back to that afterthought. “But there's a small cloud the size of a man's fist.”

This ties in with the conversation that I was having with my son about getting to trust Him like Elijah. It happened one day when I got a phone call from my son and I could tell he was driving. I thought, “Oh my goodness, he's got work!” So excitedly, I said, “Are you heading out to a new assignment?” And he said, “Oh, no. No, that's not where I'm going.” 

Then he told me that he had a crack in his windshield and he was going to get it repaired. And he said, “Mom, it was amazing. It was such a crazy thing because it was a little crack, but it started to grow. And then his neighbor said, “Hey, you do know you can get that fixed for free with your insurance. It's not even a deductible. I think it's all kind of built into all the insurance plans. You need to check it out.” So he did. And lo and behold, it was free. And it was available at a place that was rated at the top for this kind of thing. So he was on his way there and had to call, so I said, “Oh, my gosh. He started! God heard your prayers. It’s your cloud forming the size of a man’s fist!

“You were crying out, and it's going to happen. This is that fist, that little cloud. And he said, “You’re right, He's starting.” 

Right now, I'm getting chills the same way I was when I was saying it to my son. And when he was hearing it, my son said he was getting chills. And also, I’m teary-eyed because I know how it played out from there.

Together, we just started getting really excited, just like Elijah. “Oh my gosh, here's the cloud. We're about to get a  downpour!” The next thing that happened (I don't know how many days later) was that I got another call from my son, but it was at an odd time of the day. He usually calls when he sets out in the morning, but this was in the afternoon. I could tell he was driving. 

“Me, ye of little faith,” I just assumed he was doing the grocery shopping (because they have one car, with one income household. Oh, sorry, that was another thing I was able to encourage my son the first time we spoke. I was able to say how remarkable it was that he was the sole provider for his family. Reminding him that he was a good, godly man, husband, and father because you are one of the very few who provides for His family. I reminded him, “Your wife has never worked the whole time you've been married, and that means your daughter (my granddaughter) never had to go to school, just like you never had to. This is pretty darn remarkable!”

Anyway, back to the afternoon call when I thought, “Okay, he's doing the grocery shopping.” And I said, “Where are you headed?” Thinking he was going to tell me the name of the store. But, instead, he said, “Well, you’re not going to believe this, but I'm headed over to West Palm Beach (which, if you look at a map of the United States, you’ll notice that Florida is a long peninsula. Right now, my Husband and I live in the center of the state, while my son’s family lives south on the West Coast. On the east coast is where West Palm Beach is located).

So he had a long drive ahead with plenty of time to talk. But I could hardly wait and said, “What's going on?! What happened?!” And he told me that out of nowhere, a very well-known, very well-known man called my son, called him by name, and said, “We need you! Can you get over there? Can I use you this weekend? We're going to be televising this huge convention. It's proving to be so popular. We need you. Can you bring your equipment?” 

So he said he packed everything even when their producer called and said, “Oh, you won't need this or that." My son said he just felt God's prompting, so he packed everything, thinking, “It's better to have it than not have it.” Yes, I trained each child in the way he should go. He does a lot of things the way I do, and that is such a blessing, too.

Anyway, he ended up getting over to the West Coast, and through it all, one thing after another thing, after another thing, after another thing, was breaking. Nothing was working. It was so difficult, but then my son spoke up and took over. He said, “I just prayed and said, ‘Lord, you've got to show us. You've got to show us what to do.” And the reason he believed is because of all he'd just lived through. Throughout his life, he's lived through harrowing difficulties, even in his married life, and especially during all the difficulties he experienced when he was growing up. We can be certain—everything that happens to us will be used at some point “For such a time as this.”

So he knew how to cry out to God, the Father. True, it's nice to have a Husband. It's wonderful to have a Brother who’s closer than a brother. But when you need something, who do you go to? You call your dad, you call your Father.”

So he was praying, and he asked Him each and every time, with every single problem, and there were so many! When he was telling me how God, his Father, showed him what to do, first by opening this much-needed paid opportunity. Well, because God set Him up, he basically became the savior (small s) of the event. Everyone said he became the savior for this whole weekend. And not only was that satisfying enough when everything came together, but at the very end, this very well-known, very public, very big figure singled my son out with everyone around and thanked him. Then, in front of everyone, he made sure to say that he needed to get everything he did itemized so he could be paid for and reimbursed and invoice, and then… as everyone watched, he opened up an envelope with large amounts of cash and began handing big bills to my son in front of everyone. Talk about God just showing up!! 

It was almost like I could hear Him saying during the dark, cloudy days, “Trust me, I'm hearing you. I'm going to bless you. You believed in that little fist. You cried out to me. You didn't waver in your beliefs.”

So, once again, I want to say, I think it is a privilege, it's not that we have to trust God. It's that we get to trust Him. It's not that we have to press into Him more because our hearts are breaking. But we get to because what we're going to come away with is way more than what we're lacking. That's just the way He operates. 

So, dear friend, if you're in that situation, change the way you're thinking. Look for the good. God works together, all things work together for good. When you love God and are called according to His purpose. Look it up in Romans 8:28 and meditate on it. Then ask, What's His purpose? His purpose is to ultimately bless you far and beyond what you could imagine. Look that up in Ephesians 3:20, too. Last but not least— He planned that you would also come away with a testimony. You come away with so much encouragement so that you can encourage other people who are facing any difficulties.

On his drive back home, we spoke about just how many people he knows that he will be able to relate to and how much empathy he will have and compassion for those who are struggling. 

If you're not struggling, how can you have compassion for those who are struggling, and what are you going to be able to tell them? If you haven't had a lack and you haven't had to press into God—then hopefully you will discover that you got to, you get to!!

So I hope that this new podcast, which, by the way, was recorded without any notes because I got to press into Him more, I  didn't have to need Him more—I got to need Him more because I had no notes and most importantly, by the grace of God, was able to stay on track.

Though I did do a few retakes (I used my son’s name), I just know without a doubt that this Living Lesson is going to be a blessing to you. But don’t keep it to yourself. Please make sure that you share your own testimony, ask God who to send this Living Lesson to, and I'll end by saying, “Stay encouraged,  but most importantly, remain in love with Him.”