It was fall 1980. My husband was ordained to the ministry at Arlington Heights Baptist Church in Fort Worth. The service was Sunday evening, and after the laying on of hands, church members came through a line at the front of the sanctuary hugging us and assuring us of prayer support.
Our pastor’s wife and dear friend, Edda Venable, played glorious music on the piano as we talked with friends and family.
Edda’s music captivated my mind above all conversation, as she played an ongoing medley of songs popular at that time, including “Oh How He Loves You and Me” and my favorite “God Will Make a Way” by Don Moen.
God spoke to me through that song as I recalled all the difficulties we had in seminary—serious problems with health, jobs, finances, and even being crime victims in Fort Worth. Almost every day, we looked to the Lord and asked: “What next? How do we do what you have called us to? If our call to ministry is real, we need your rescue!”
In ministry, there were times when we needed a church to serve and times when we needed to move to new opportunity. We were treated very well at times, and unfairly other times, but in everything, God made a way for us to move forward and serve.
As God made a way, he challenged us to learn new skills and go deeper in faith with him. He taught us compassion for others through what we suffered. Every humbling experience brought greater maturity. Truly, the Father draws us to Christ in our need, and we become more desiring of Christ and hopefully more Christlike.
Stay ready
God wastes nothing, and we should not allow our precious experiences with him to be wasted either. We can and must treasure everything he teaches us and let that knowledge take root and grow in our lives. I have seen God’s work explode or catch fire when he so wills and the Spirit moves.
Recently, I read about Israel being pursued to the Red Sea by the horribly violent Egyptians, and it seemed Israel had no escape. They would be slaughtered or drown in the sea, or so it seemed to them and to all logical people.
Sometimes, it seems our time is up, we are at the end of our road. There seems no way forward, every path has closed to us, every door has closed.
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We feel like Paul and Silas in chains in a Philippian jail. Maybe we picture Jesus on the cross. “It is finished,” we think. Logically, we are done.
We know through Scripture these stories ended in victory. God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to pass (Exodus 14). They passed through the deep waters to salvation. God caused an earthquake to break open Paul and Silas’ prison and chains (Acts 16). Jesus was resurrected after three days, just as he said.
God intervened, showing us these setbacks were overcome and even fired up and strengthened his ongoing work.
We must stay ready and stay in prayer, asking to be used of God. We never know how he will make a way through our Red Sea or break us out of a “prison” of problems, but we know he will.
Who God is
God’s ways are so much higher than ours. His perspective is eternal. His vision looks high and low and to and fro over all the earth to fully support us (2 Chronicles 16:9).
If we are wounded, he hides us until we can work in the world with him again (Psalm 27:5). He remembers the count of hairs on our head, having complete knowledge of all things (Luke 12:7).
God is love, and he remembers us. If we are depressed, depleted, or without hope, God turns things around and makes a way. A new way for a Christian might be a new church, a donation or love gift that pays bills, or healing in body and spirit for whomever needs it.
God is also Healer—Rapha. At times, Joe and I have needed our Healer.
Jesus came with healing in his wings (Malach 4:2). His wings are his hospital, a wonderful symbol of divine love and power. He heals in his moving and activity, in the spiritual and physical realm. He moves in people and situations beyond our imagination or knowledge. Every realm, every person is ultimately his.
God made a way for us
My husband and I are in our 70s now. He teaches graduate students and a Bible study at church. We now support other ministry leaders as they lead. We serve where our gifts are needed.
Following God and surviving through his provision has filled my heart with a richness I did not know when we first began back in 1980.
“The way” he made became my whole life. I know we can trust God. He is the expert on deep water, unfair imprisonment, and loss—even the cruel death of his Son. No one but the Father knows the route to safety, and he may reveal it as he will, one step at a time.
I pray you feel his arms around you, and in safety and clarity, you hear his voice: “This is the way. Walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21).
God makes a way through his spiritual activity, his Spirit, and his voice to those who are completely his. His victory is absolutely assured.
Ruth Cook is a longtime Texas Baptist. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.
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