Let's Bask in Christ's Glow - A Message for Hanukkah

A few years ago, eager to get started making some testifying videos, I cut my quiet time with the Lord short. This wasn’t okay with God, for I woke up the next day to hear God say: “Susan, let MY glory flow freely through you.”

I responded, “Am I not Lord?”

He answered:

You are Susan but make sure you continue to do so. It will become easy for you My little one who is eager to get things done, to ignore or rush time with Me. Do not skip this step. Seek first the Kingdom of God and all else will be added unto you. I know you are excited Susan and I have called you to boldness and to testify by any means possible, but this doesn’t give you permission to skip time with Me, for Susan, your stories come forth due to such time with Me.

In November a few years before, I had started to make and sell jewelry at art shows, along with Joe who sold other forms of art. Eager to also get jewelry made, I had often also cut my times with the Lord short. As I came to love making jewelry, I thought about buying a professional kiln. However, along with this desire, I also began to long for an electric fireplace, something I knew would provide much needed heat in my basement where I had my quiet times, along with ambiance to enhance my times with the Lord. With a birthday approaching, my dad then offered to buy me either one and so I began to pray about the decision. What came to my mind first was how God had been showing me that my jewelry really just served as a means to get me into situations for the purpose of testifying, more so than for making money, as my jewelry reflected my testimony.

With this thought, I then heard God say, “Susan, I want you to choose the fireplace,” a comment I knew in my heart revealed that this choice would enhance my time with the Him, something way more important that enhancing my bank account. Well, I did make the correct choice and this fireplace served to enhance my quiet times for many years.

This November, my dad’s birthday fell on a Sunday, and struggling with provision once again, a common theme this time of year, I knew it wasn’t by accident that my pastor’s sermon revolved around one of the last things my dad ever said to me before he died. My dad, who had always been an amazing source of provision in my life, nearing the end of his life and no longer able to assist me, after listening to me worry about my fence that had fallen, along with my fear of provision in the situation, said, “You cannot control what happens to you, only how you respond to it.” It was a quote that greatly impacted my life and one that my pastor literally repeated that day. He then referenced Psalms 139, talking about God’s presence, saying “It is everywhere. He is always with us. We just have to become aware of His presence.” He then prayed saying, “In all things You are present Lord. . . You’re going to use everything in our lives, everything.”

My dad, whom as I said, was an amazing source of provision in my life, is no longer living. Yet, my Heavenly Father who was always the One to truly provide through my dad anyway, is ever-present, able to be experienced constantly in real-time. Like my pastor said, we just have to become aware of His presence. For, God, the Word, is always with us, always speaking. We just have to learn to tap in to His ever-present light, especially in our darkest moments, something only possible when we abide and choose to be still in His presence.

As my pastor continued to speak about seeing God in our struggles, my own current struggle once again with provision came to my mind, and with that, I was reminded of my testimony from last year at this same time. Once again, I had prayed that God would show up in the midst of life, especially in terms of our finances. I prayed daily for provision, abiding in the Lord, a process that led me one day to choose to live in expectation of God showing up in this area. What came to my mind was to place a letter in the back of our mailbox thanking God for His provision in advance. It wasn’t a letter I intended to mail, just a folded piece of paper. It was my declaration that I was trusting Him to provide.

A few days later, Joe went to get the mail and noticed my letter in the back of our mailbox and ended up bringing it inside. It was as if God was saying through Joe that day, my bridegroom, that “I got your letter.” For, the very next day, I got a phone call from Joe. He sounded a little dazed and confused. He ended up telling me that out of over 700 managers in his company in the entire US that he won a drawing for $3000. Wow! God sees! And God provides! Thank You Lord for answered prayers.

With that story fresh on my mind, before the sermon was over, I decided to try this again, to once again live in expectation and thankfulness for God’s provision. This time I decided to write God a thank you note and place it in my personal church mailbox slot at the back of the sanctuary and once again, a few days later, God answered my letter. For God opened a door for my husband and I to once again, like the old days, to sell our handmade art, art that once again reflects our testimony, and to do so in a very special place. And well, I admit, that in my eagerness to fill this new precious store that my quiet times suffered.

With that said, a few days after placing that letter in my church box, God reminded me of His desire to give me more of something else other than just financial provision. He longed to give me more of Himself. All day that day, more than normal, I had struggled to stop. I thought several times about how I needed to stop and seek Him but I didn’t. That evening however, I did stop. I stopped to sit on my friend’s couch, where I began to stare at her electric fireplace. We both found it very calming, so much so that it led me to say out loud how I wished that I had an electric fireplace insert to place within my now real fireplace since near that fireplace was now where I had most of my quiet times.

Well, that sentence was barely off my lips when my friend jumped up to find something, something she found fast. For, literally three minutes later a like-new fireplace insert sat in front of me that she gifted me. It had been left by the previous owners of her house and she hadn’t known what to do with it. Wow. I knew this was the Lord, as what came to my mind as I now looked at its flames, was how I had failed to be still and abide that day. It was a thought that grew stronger as I then noticed that it’s flames literally looked like arrows pointing up, something my friend also noticed.

God once told me that we have to earn the right to be a Martha by first being like Mary, by sitting at His feet and abiding. For, when we skip this step, even in our eagerness to do good, God-appointed things, even things like testifying through our God-given gifts and talents, we are still missing the mark. For, as God also said, our testimonies come forth from such times with Him. For, Christ is the Word of our testimonies, or at least He should be, which is why first and foremost, we need to go to Him, the Light, in order to be rekindled, in order to be the light of the world that He has called us to be. We are nothing without this step. In fact, the more we miss this step, the less we shine for the more of a desecrated temple we become.

But have hope, for Christ wants nothing more than to keep our lights lit, to rekindle us no matter how long it takes. No matter how many reoccurring seasons we have to go through, no matter how many people He has to provide through. For, whether through parent, spouse, or friend, He will NEVER give up on us and He will ALWAYS provide, not only financial provision, but most importantly that which matters more than anything, Himself. There is no commodity on earth more important than this precious Source of Provision.

So, thank You Lord Jesus, our eternal, never-ending, never-changing, Light of Life. Help us all to return to You and bask in Your great glow. Amen and amen.