But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I Corinthians 15:57
A young boy I work with named Anthony was playing Extreme Spoons with a group of kids, mostly older ones. This game is one I made up by tweaking the card game Spoons. In this version, the spoons are arranged at the far side of the gym and the kids have to run to get them after discovering that someone has gotten a book of four matching cards. Ordinarily, the spoons would be set on the table in front of them. There would be one less spoon per kid so someone would not get one and lose that round.
Anthony is adorable and very athletic but still was no match against these older kids and try as he might, he couldn’t get there fast enough to get a spoon. I decided to stack the deck in his favor. I dealt the cards to everyone – 4 to each child. I arranged that Anthony’s four cards would all be kings. All he would have to do is get up and run to the spoons and he would win. How could this fail?
It failed because when Anthony saw that he had 4 kings to start with, he started yelling and screaming about having a book. He was so excited, he was jumping up and down and laughing and telling everyone about his kings, he was doing everything except running to get a spoon. The other kids figured it out, ran to get their spoons and once again, Anthony lost.
I don’t know who was more disappointed, me or Anthony.
Likewise, God stacks the deck in our favor. All throughout scriptures are stories of God’s preparing and providing for His people’s victory. Sometimes, they walk in that victory and sometimes, like Anthony, they stall out and fail to achieve all that God purposed for them.
I am like that at times, maybe you are too.
Stalling out on a small issue and not being able to see that
the deck has been stacked,
the victory won,
all I have to do is play the hand I have been dealt.
What would that mean on a day to day basis? It might mean that I accept what I can not change. It might mean I keep my eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of my faith. How do I do that? By reading what He says, believing what He says, looking at what He did, meditating on His promises, focusing on the answer, not the problem. And perhaps, we can learn something from our friend Anthony, we can shout out a praise to God before we see victory!
Thank You Lord that You have stacked the deck in my favor. Open my eyes to what that truly means on a day to day basis. Help me to walk in the victory You paid such a tremendous price for. I praise You for Your goodness to me and my family and friends. Help me to love them as You would, to enjoy them as You would, to minister to them as You would. In Jesus’s name, I pray. Amen.
I would love to hear from you. Please let me know if I can be praying for you as well.
God Happenings: Moments with the Healer 
Diane,
You hit me between the eyes.
Being extremely honest and transparent, I have had my eyes too much on what I see with my physical eyes. Ashamedly, I have lost much hope, being disappointed so many times by others’ interpretations of the promises in God’s Word—they never seem to come to me. I have become weary of the excitement of all these wonderful manifestations that are supposed to come. I have neglected the reading of His Word because I don’t seem to get anything from it anymore. 😦
…Yet, experientially, He has never failed me—He always takes care of me, but, His long, drawn out timing discourages me fiercely.
I still trust God, but, think He must not see how I’m aging and how time just slips through my fingers like sand, with no appearance of anything getting accomplished. (But, I know He knows all about me and sees the end from the beginning.)
And, I know, I keep referring to “seeing,” when my faith ought to be much stronger than the “appearance” of things. Yes, we walk by faith and not by sight, I know.
I’m tired of being depressed and crying. Like you said, I’m stalled out on an empty road, though I keep plugging along trying to “play the hand I have been dealt.”
I need to start again praising God for the victory He has already given to me.
Being flat out bluntly honest,
Cindy
diybohemian.com
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I appreciate your honesty and I can certainly relate. I believe in divine healing as part and parcel of our salvation but I spent over 20 years in debilitating pain. During this time I sought God, I confesses scriptures, I was anointed with oil and all the things I was taught by leaders who also believed that healing is the children’s bread. And yet, the pain persisted. I started this blog in 2013 for one purpose. I intended to write on post a day for a year about healing. I was going to stay away from traditionally used verses and just let God’s word speak to me. I stopped at day 321.
I was angry with God and disappointed and couldn’t bring myself to read His word because I was no longer sure it was trustworthy.
I understand the frustration. I have not posted on here since the rebirth of this blog any of my posts about divine healing. I don’t really know why. I have been healed of a number of things and yet it hurts to walk because of arthritis which was diagnosed when I was 19. I still believe, or perhaps a better phrase, I believe again because for a while I didn’t believe.
I will be praying for you and thank you again for your honesty.
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Dear Diane,
I’m ashamed.
I am healthy, and in my adult years have not experienced too much sickness, though as a child I was “always” sick, as my classmates commonly told me; I live in a house with a good roof; God ALWAYS sees to it that we make our bills, though we have precious little more; I have never been abused, I have never been in an accident or injured in any way; I have a kind and loving husband, and on and on.
What I’m saying is: I have very little to complain about, but, I can’t help wanting to enjoy my life before I —and Jerry—are too old and decrepit do enjoy doing things. Jerry and I, in our 15 years of marriage, have never had a trip away from home. It’s been since 1997 since I have had a vacation!
Okay, enough! Either I trust God or I don’t! Someday, I’ll look back on this and say, My, my, girl. Where was your faith?
I guess a lot of us who call ourselves Christians have periods of life that don’t seem a bit fair. But, as the poem goes, these are the times Jesus is carrying us, so that’s why only one set of footprints is seen.
Cindy
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Once again, I do understand where you are coming from. It would be one thing if something I expected from God didn’t happen, something I just made up my mind I wanted, but when something He said doesn’t happen, well that’s a game changer. My husband took his life 16 months ago. I was bitterly disappointed with God because He didn’t stop that or heal my husband. I am making peace with that but it hasn’t been easy. I don’t have answers and I tend to avoid people who do! The resurrection of this blog is my attempt at coming back to God.
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Bless you. The only thing I can say is: God’s timing is not our timing. There’s a LOT I don’t understand. I have no answers for you regarding your dear husband. I’m sorry. That’s very sad.
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Thànk you.
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