Good evening, everyone. Now I can relate to, I've heard people get up to speak. I said, oh, I wish we could just keep singing. I can relate to that now.
I've been looking forward to sharing what the Lord has laid on my heart, and I'm thankful for this opportunity to do that. So a few weeks back, David asked me to give testimony of what the Lord has done in my life. So what I would like to share tonight are two of the biggest lessons that the Lord has taught me, and I'm impressed into me and continues to teach me. Number one is trusting in the Lord's provision.
And number two is having joy in the midst of trials. So before we go any further, let's look to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for this time together. Lord, to gather together, Lord, and look into your word.
Lord, we thank you for the truths of your word, the promises that we can stand on. Lord, that are rock solid promises that we can build our life upon. And Lord, I pray that you would give me wisdom, Lord words to say, Lord, that you would speak through me. That those that are here would be encouraged, and edified, Lord, and Lord, we pray that it would all be for your glory and commit this time to you and pray this in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
So we'll start with trusting in the Lord's provision. So if you have your Bibles with you, if you turn to Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter six, a very familiar passage, and actually one that David Hanson mentioned this morning, verses 25 to 34. So it's encouraging as personal testimony is and as important as our own experiences are and what the Lord teaches us, the word of God is more sure than any of these things. It's the ultimate authority.
And so that's where I want to start tonight. So Matthew chapter 26, verses 25 to 34, starting at verse 25. For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink, nor for your body as to what you will put on, is not life more than food and the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air.
They do not sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing?
Observe how the lilies of the field grow. They do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothe himself like one of these. But if God so closes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you of little faith? Do not worry then saying, what will we eat, or what will we drink, or what will we wear for clothing?
For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things. For your heavenly father knows that you need all these things. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow where it will care for itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own. So we'll come back to this passage in just a few minutes. Now I had the blessing of growing up in a Christian home. And I was even more blessed to grow up watching both of my parents in full-time ministry, living on faith.
That was a huge blessing in my life and a huge cornerstone in trusting in the Lord's provision and the Lord teaching me that. So when I was eight years old, my parents called the Lord's leading, stepped out in faith, and started a full-time ministry called Street Connection, which is a mobile soup kitchen that feeds low-income families here in the HRM. Now as a kid, I had a big impact on me. Seeing God's provision day in and day out, seeing specific needs met in miraculous ways.
Now I don't have time to get into all the stories of all the ways that God provided over the years, but my parents are actually here tonight. And if you get a chance to say hi to them, I'm sure they'd be glad to share some of the testimonies and stories of what the Lord has done over the years. But seeing God's constant and unfailing provision really cemented the fact for me in my life that God provides our needs without fail. There's no question about it.
He provides our needs without fail. Now when I was 14, that's when I truly came to the Lord in repentance and put my whole faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. It wasn't anything dramatic. I was listening to a gospel message one day on tape, and the Holy Spirit did work in my heart and produced true, saving faith.
And from that time on, things were different. I had always believed the gospel growing up from a child, but it was at that point when I was 14 that the Lord truly did work in my heart. Now if we fast forward 12 years, at this point, Laura and I were married and living in PEI. A long story short, following the Lord's leading, we started our own business.
Now for those that don't know, I'm a self-employed finished carpenter and cabinet maker. That's what I do. As we soon found out, starting our own business from scratch is a real test of faith in the Lord's provision. We had no idea where the next job was gonna come from.
We didn't know where the money was gonna come from to pay the mortgage and buy the groceries and all those practical everyday things, but the Lord provided without fail. So if we go back to Matthew chapter six, where we just read, looking through this passage, the word worry or worried appears five times throughout the passage. We are told do not worry. There's no ifs ands or buts about it, do not worry.
Now how many of us know that that is easier said than done? Our flesh wants to worry. Our natural man wants to worry. Now why are we told not to worry?
Number one, it's sinful. And number two, it's foolish and pointless. Why is it sinful? Because it's basically saying that we don't trust God to be who he says he is and the promises of his word.
Basically making God out to be a liar and that is a very serious thing and we don't wanna go there. Now the Lord gives us two illustrations to really drive the point home to us. So in verse 26, look at the birds of the air that they do not sow nor do they reap nor gather into barns and get your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
In verse 28, and why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow. They do not toil nor do they spin. Yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
But if God so closed the grass of the field which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? So if he feeds the birds of the air and closes the grass of the field to relatively insignificant elements of creation, how much more will he do for us, the ones for whom Christ died? How much more of a dramatic comparison? Can you get than that?
The birds of the air, the grass of the field, the ones for whom Christ died. It's an amazing comparison. Why do we ever worry? Why do we ever doubt?
If the father gave his only son to redeem us, how could we ever think that he would withhold things of far less value to provide for his children, for his own? In Romans 832, it says, he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? So the Lord gives us what we need, both physically or physical needs, as well as our spiritual needs. He meets all of our needs.
And again, without fail. So in addition to worrying being sinful, it's foolish and pointless. In verse 27, it says, and who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? If you've ever found yourself in worry, you know that it takes a physical toll on you.
We're told that you can't add an hour to your life. I think it actually takes hours off of our life, that physical toll and that stress that it gives you, it's gonna reduce your life, not increase it. So for that reason, it's foolish, it accomplishes nothing. It doesn't make things better, it doesn't make things happen, there's no point to worrying.
But more than that, like I mentioned, it's sinful. We know ourselves, we can't help but worry. It's what our flesh wants to do. But when we're grounded in the promises of God's word, and we meditate on those promises, and we're indwelled by the Holy Spirit, that sin of worry is far less tempting.
Now for me, I find that it's not, it's not whether God will provide my needs that I worry about, that's not what I'm tempted to do. It's how's God gonna provide the details around that? That is what I am tempted to worry about. Or I'll think, okay, well I know that God provides my need, I know that I've seen that in his word, and I've seen it over and over and over and over again in my life, I know he will meet my needs, but what non-essentials might I have to do without?
Those are the things that I'm tempted to worry about. But the Lord has been teaching me, to not worry about those things either, and to completely rest in him, in his provision, that he takes care of those details. Now in verse 33, it says, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you. The Lord has been teaching me, especially in recent years, and Laura has helped me learn this along the way, the details are not up to me.
Sometimes I'm tempted to think, okay, well, how can I make this happen? I need to go out and do marketing, to try and drum a business, and I gotta make things happen. But the Lord has taught me that I don't need to do that. He takes care of the details.
Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So when we put the Lord first, and focus on him, follow his leading, and his will, he takes care of those details. We don't have to make the details happen. Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow nor do they reap, nor do they gather into burns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them.
The Lord has given those birds instincts to do certain things, and they follow that and the Lord provides for them. The same with us, we don't have to strive and strain after things. We just follow the Lord's leading and trust in his provision. That's a big lesson that I've learned over the past few years.
Now going back to the early days of self-employment in PEI, there was a lot of tight times. There's a lot of times when jobs were few and fire between, but God always provided without fail, never fail this, and never will. Now there's many times that completely out of the blue, the Lord would provide a job exactly when I needed it, not before, not after, but exactly when it was needed. The Lord uses those tight times to test, to stretch and strengthen our faith.
And I've come to see those times as a blessing. As hard as they are sometimes, and you think, okay, Lord, where's the provision gonna come from? It's getting down to the wire here. That's the times that the Lord uses to really stretch and strengthen us in our faith.
And if you turn to Philippians chapter four, verse 19, Philippians four 19, this is one of my favorite verses to go to when things are tight financially. I've gone to this verse over and over again through the years. So Philippians four chapter 19, and my God will supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. My God will supply all your needs.
It doesn't get any more straightforward than that. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. God will supply all your needs. That's very black and white.
What does he supply those needs from? What does he supply them out of? According to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Those are infinite riches.
They don't run out. There's no end to that. It's infinite. God is not stingy.
He doesn't delight in giving us bare minimum. But he gives us what he knows is best for us as a loving father. Those of us that have kids, we know that it's not the best for our kids to give them every want and desire that they have. That's not good for them.
We give them what's best, and that is how God provides our needs. Now sometimes the Lord will provide a time of plenty to carry us through a lean time. We've seen that happen lots of times over the years. A lot like in Egypt with Joseph, the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine.
And this also comes back to being a good steward of what the Lord has entrusted to us, using it wisely. Now sometimes the Lord will provide in a way that is completely different and not what we were expecting. So back in 2013, in PEI, the HST came into effect, which really slowed down the construction industry. All of a sudden there was more tax on everything than what there was before.
So people were just getting less things built. So starting out in a new business, being relatively new, that impacted us even more. So things were getting very, very tight and work was very, very slim. And we were down to just about no money left in the bank account.
I had a little bit there. And the Lord laid it on my heart to send money to the HuBix to support them and we had done that in the past. But the Lord laid it on my heart to do it then. I thought, okay, Lord, I know that we don't have much money there and there's no work and things are very bleak and the economy here for the construction industry, but I obeyed what the Lord laid on my heart.
And so I sent the money off to the HuBix. And a few days later, I had a call completely out of the blue from the owner of one of my suppliers, Mark and Countertops who had bought a lot of different supplies and countertops and hardware from. And he said that the guy that ran their countertop cut shop for them, he quit and they were looking for somebody to run their countertop cut shop and asked if I would be interested in working for them. And I said, yes, yes, I would.
Because I didn't have any work on the go and things were looking a little bleak at the time. So the Lord provided, he gave us that test of, do you trust me? There wasn't much left there. And he wanted to, I mean, he knew, he knew what was in my heart, but he wanted me to know that.
And so I gave that money and the Lord provided. I was just, I always go back to that example because it's so neat to see how the Lord works in our lives. The Lord knows our heart far better than we do, but he gives us these tests and these trials to show us what's in our heart, to show us where our priorities are, which should be on him. And so I'm very thankful for situations like that and times like that.
Now the Lord used that job at Mark and to provide for the next year until it was time to move back to Halifax. And we weren't planning to move back to Halifax, but when Laura was pregnant with Meghan, we found out through ultrasound that Meghan had a whole inner heart as well as misformed valves. So we knew that we needed to be close to the IWK. So the Lord directed us to move back to Halifax.
He provided the way and he also provided a job for me here in Halifax before we even moved, that I could land in and kind of get on our feet and not have to try and be self-employed back here, right away. And there were so many other provisions around that time. Our house wasn't selling in PEI, but the Lord provided a Christian family from Ontario to rent it and that kept the mortgage paid for that time until it did sell. And there were so many other things around that time that the Lord provided.
I don't have time to get into them all tonight, but if you want to know more details about that time, come chat with me later and be happy to share them with you. Now one more thing I want to share before we move to lesson number two, it doesn't matter if you are in full-time ministry, if you are self-employed, if you work for a company, you're retired, it doesn't matter if you're a Christian, if you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, your provision comes from the Lord. I've heard people say to me before, oh, I could never be in full-time ministry, I could never live on faith, I couldn't be self-employed, I need that guaranteed paycheck every two weeks. I hate to tell you, but that guarantee paycheck is not a guarantee in of itself.
There's no job that's secure, David knows well about that and what he's been facing lately, no pension is secure, none of those things are secure, they can all disappear just like that. Our security is in the Lord in his faithful provision. When we put our trust in a job or in stocks and bonds, whatever, there's no security in that, it can vanish, but the Lord is always faithful to provide. So lesson number two, joy in the midst of trials.
So if you turn with me to James chapter one, I'd like to take a look at verses two to four. James chapter one verses two to four. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. So here we're told to consider it joy when we come across trials and that the testing of our faith produces endurance.
From a human perspective, that's a really strange idea, but we're gonna see why we're told this as we go through. So up until this point in the story, when we move back to Halifax, Laura and I had seen lots of different trials in our lives, both individually and as a couple, but the trial with Megan's health, that was by far the biggest trial that we faced. Those of you that have kids, you know what that's like, it's harder to watch your child go through something than to go through it yourself. I would rather have been the one that had that hard issue than to watch Megan go through that, but the Lord used that.
Now while that's been the biggest and most difficult trial that we faced, it's also been the trial that we found the most joy throughout. We felt the Lord's comfort and his nearness the most vividly. And it's the trial that the Lord has used to strengthen our faith more than any other. The Lord uses all the trials to strengthen our faith and then collectively, but this was the one that the Lord used the most.
Now when Megan was born, there was a lot of concerns and uncertainty about her health. In addition to her heart, the whole inner heart and the misformed valves, she has what's called heterotaxy syndrome, which is basically a lot of her internal organs are mismatched from where they're supposed to be. They're all there, but they're all kind of scrambled from what yours or mine would look like. So for the first few months of her life, there's a lot of tests trying to get an accurate picture of what's going on inside of her body and how they should proceed with the medical treatment.
So if we fast forward to when she was five months old, she was getting sicker and sicker to the point where she was in congestive heart failure. Now the doctors decided that it was time to do open-heart surgery and try and patch that hole that she had between the two chambers of her heart. Now they did the surgery, they patched up the hole and she was in recovery, but a few days later that patch came away, it came loose. And then they could see that through the ultrasound and so the doctors met together and were trying to decide how to proceed and what to do to fix that.
So they decided that they need to go back in again and try and re-patch the hole that was in her heart. Now anybody that's faced open-heart surgery before it knows that open-heart surgery is no small deal. There's a lot of risks involved and it's not something that you take lightly. So for them to have just gone in and done it and then to open her up again, that was definitely not an ideal situation.
But again, she was getting sicker and sicker and she needed that surgery. Now this was all happening over Christmas and we actually spent Christmas in the IWK that year, it was quite a Christmas, but the Lord is faithful. So because of the holidays and other even more urgent cases that were coming in, her surgery kept getting delayed. So we're waiting for the surgery, she's getting sicker and sicker going into heart failure again and it kept getting delayed.
So we're praying, we're thinking, Lord, why? Why are you allowing this delay? What's the purpose in this? And just seeking the Lord.
And it was really a time of intense testing and stretching of our faith and just seeking the Lord in prayer and just asking him, why, why, why? We didn't know why, but the Lord knew why. So the day finally came for the surgery, it went well, which is a huge answer to prayer. And I want to encourage you, pray for one another.
There were so many people that prayed for us that came alongside us, encouraged us, supported us. It's so important to pray for one another. It makes a huge difference. Now after the second surgery, we found out that when they went in the second time, they were able to put four stitches in the valve that was leaking, which tightened it up a little bit and made it work a little bit better.
Now they couldn't do that the first time. When they went in the first time, things were such a way in her heart that they couldn't do that, all they could do was put that patch in there. So when they went in the second time, things had changed in her heart and they were able to put those stitches in. Now the doctors told us they had no idea when the best time was to go back in and do that second surgery.
They didn't know, but the Lord knew. So he allowed those delays for a purpose. He knew when the best time was, we didn't know, we were seeking the Lord in prayer and asking, Lord, why? If we had our way, it would have happened much sooner and they wouldn't have been able to do that, but the Lord allowed that.
So he allowed that both to test and strengthen our faith and he knew that it was the best thing for Meghan. Now I remember when Meghan was recovering after the second surgery, we were all gathered around in her bed and in the picky with the medical team, whole medical team was there, Laura and I were there, and I remember the lead doctor saying, he said things shouldn't have gone that well in the surgery. He said it shouldn't have gone that well. He said there was divine intervention in that operating room.
Here's a man that's not a Christian and he's admitting that to us. It was like, wow. So then I, and then they went around the circle of medical professionals and everybody said their thing and then came around to us and said, is there anything you guys want to add? I said, yes, yes, there it is.
So I had an opportunity to share our faith and I told them how many people were praying for Meghan, all across Canada, all across the US, people that were following online, what was happening with Meghan and praying. And I had the opportunity to share our faith with this medical team. And here's this doctor, this is not a Christian, he's not a believer, but he's admitting that there was divine intervention in that operating room and that things shouldn't have gone like that, but they did because the Lord's hand was in it. And if you turn with me to Philippians chapter four verses four to seven, giving a good workout tonight, flipping through your Bible.
And Philippians chapter four verses four to seven, this is one of my favorite verses that I've gone to again and again in times of trial. And when David was speaking this morning, David Hanson, he brought up this verse as the first verse and I thought, oh no, he's stealing my message. But I very much appreciated what David shared this morning and it really ties into what I'm sharing tonight. So if you weren't here this morning, make sure you go and listen to the podcast of it if it's up online.
So Philippians chapter four verses four to seven, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Let your gentle spirit be known to all men, the Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
So at the beginning here in verse four, it's clear that we are to rejoice, rejoice in the Lord always again, I will say rejoice. Now we're not rejoicing in the circumstances of our trials. They're not fun, they're nothing to rejoice about. It's hard, but we are rejoicing in who the Lord is and what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, that eternal inheritance.
Let your gentle spirit be known to all men, the Lord is near. Like I said, we felt that nearness of the Lord, His presence, going through all of these things with Megan. That's when, I've come to find that that is when you feel the Lord the nearest, when you're going through something hard, when you can't make it on your own, you can't make it in your own strength, that is when you feel the Lord's nearness the most. When things are going along great and easy, we tend to feel self-sufficient and complacent, and we don't tend to draw His near to the Lord.
So as hard as trials are, they're a time of blessing. And then after the Lord is near, be anxious for nothing. So again, don't worry. We need to be in prayer.
There is power in prayer. As I mentioned, all the people that were praying for Megan, what a blessing that was, the Lord uses prayer to conform us to His will, to get us on track with where He wants us to be. But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. So we are to be thankful, thankful for who the Lord is and what He's accomplishing in our lives.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. We experience this peace. Laura and I know this peace very well. This peace that passes all comprehension.
I remember that this was not when we were gathered around Megan's bedside, but another time when we were meeting with one of the doctors, He said to us, I can't figure out why you guys are so calm going through this. Like we see a lot of people going through situations like this and we don't see this in people. This is not normal. And so again, I had a chance to share our faith.
It's nothing in of ourselves. It is the peace of God. It's a peace that doesn't make sense to our own human understanding. You think it through, you think of the situation that you're in and what you're up against.
Well, it doesn't make sense to have peace. You should be freaking out. And apparently that's what most people do in that situation according to this doctor. But it's, as I said, it's nothing in of ourselves.
We can't take credit for that. It is the peace of God. I honestly don't know how people get through situations like that that don't know the Lord, that don't have that peace that passes all comprehension. I don't know.
I can see exactly why people turn to drugs and alcohol and all kinds of things to try and cope with that. Because if you don't have that assurance, that peace, that hope, where do you turn to? Where do you turn to? But this peace is the peace that we have in Jesus Christ.
He is the prince of peace. And we know that well. Now I remember handing Megan off to the nurses for her surgeries, both her surgeries. That's something that will always stick with me, not knowing if we'd ever get to see her again.
That's the hardest thing that I've ever done in my whole life. But at the same time, I had an overwhelming peace, that peace that surpasses all comprehension. I knew that she was in the Lord's hands, that he was in control, he was in control of the timetable. And for that reason, we had peace.
And if you turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, verses 3 to 4, 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, verses 3 to 4, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 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. That's a lot of comfort. I forgot to count how many times it mentions comfort in there, but that's a lot of comfort. Our God is a God of comfort and mercy.
And we have seen that and felt that so vividly over and over again with everything that we've gone through with Meghan. We have felt that comfort, seen that mercy. The Lord uses what he brings us through, and the comfort that he gives us to be able to comfort others. We've had opportunities to come alongside others in similar situations and give comfort to them and share what the Lord has done.
So remember, when you're going through a trial, the trial is not just for your benefit. The trial is for the benefit of others as well. The Lord uses that for you to be able to come alongside others and to work in that person's life. So keep that in mind when things are getting hard, it helps others as well.
Now for the final passage, I'll turn to 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 3 to 9. If you're getting tired of turning it, you don't have to turn with me, but I'll leave that up to you. 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 3 to 9. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And though you have not seen him, you love him. And though you did not see him now but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
So as I read this when I was preparing and I read through it and read through it, I thought, where do you even start? I mean, this is jam-packed full of profound truths. We could easily spend all night parked in this one passage and just extracting the profound truths that are in here, but for the sake of time, we'll see if we can kind of summarize some of the key truths. So in verses three to five, we basically have the profound truths of our salvation.
What we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, an inheritance that is secure and imperishable. Now, if you're at the breaking of bread this morning, I shared a bit about these three verses and just some of the precious truths that are contained in them. So we look at verse six, in this you greatly rejoice. So verses three to five, the profound truths of our salvation, that's what we're rejoicing in in those profound truths.
And then we read, even now though for a little while, so it's a reminder that trials are temporary. Sometimes it doesn't feel like that. You're going through a trial and it feels like this is gonna last forever, but trials are temporary for a little while. If necessary, you have been distressed by various trials.
The Lord knows what's best for us. And he uses these things and what's needed in our lives. And we need to rest and trust in that. The example that I gave waiting for Meghan's surgery, it didn't seem like that was the best thing at the time.
It seemed like the best thing would be for her to go right into surgery and have that done right away. But we needed to wait to rest and trust in the Lord and he worked that out for Meghan's best. In verse seven, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The proof of our faith, what could be more valuable than a genuine saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Nothing, there's nothing. Not gold, not money, not fame, not prestige, nothing this world has to offer, even comes close to that. Nothing else lasts. No one else offers an imperishable eternal inheritance, but the Lord Jesus Christ.
In verse eight, and though you have not seen him, you love him, and though you do not see him now, but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy and expressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. This is the joy through the midst of trials, knowing the Lord, knowing that our sins are forgiven by the precious blood of Christ, walking with him through trials, through the hard times, being in prayer and in his word, meditating on the truths of his word, these encouraging, wonderful truths. Seeing that proof of our faith, even though tested by fire, that it is genuine, that, that produces joy, inexpressible and full of glory. Now for this reason, I've come to be thankful for trials, and I've come to realize that they're often the greatest time of blessing.
Easy times feel better at the time, but hard times, those are the times of blessing, not material blessings, but eternal spiritual blessings. Those are the ones that matter. It's not pleasant, it can be very hard, very difficult, but the Lord is faithful and uses those times for our good. In Romans eight, 28, it says, and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
Now that doesn't mean that everything's gonna work out wonderful and rosy and life, and that everything's just gonna be great. The health and wealth prosperity gospel, that's a lie from Satan. We are promised that we will have hardship and suffering and trials in this life, but God uses all of those things to work together for our good, our eternal good, and we can rest and trust in that promise. So I hope and pray that you found these truths from God's word and some of this personal testimony to be encouraging and maybe even challenging.
These are lessons that the Lord has taught me and continues to teach me. I haven't learned them and then moved on and graduated to other things. It's a continual process. I've seen that in life that the Lord doesn't say, okay, I'm teaching you this lesson now and you've mastered it, so you can put that on the shelf and now you can move on to other things.
The Lord chose us again and again and again, because we're forgetful people. The Lord needs to remind us over and over again and I've seen that cyclical pattern in a Christian life that the Lord just brings it around again and again and again. Now, I'm still self-employed. I still trust the Lord every day for our provision.
I still trust Him for where the next job's gonna come from. So I'm still in that same boat. Again, I haven't learned it and moved on to something else and now I don't have to worry about trust in the Lord. Megan still has a leaky heart valve and will most likely require another surgery at some point in her life, but by God's grace, she's doing amazingly well right now.
And any of you that know her knows that she is full of energy and a lot of energy. The doctors told us recently that they have no idea why Megan is doing as well as she is, has as much energy as she has when they look at her heart on an echo and see the anatomy of it and how it's functioning and the valve leak and everything. They told us, we don't know why she's full of energy in life like she is, but we know why because we know the one that made her heart and that he has chosen to do a miracle by sustaining that little heart of hers. The Lord is faithful.
He is so faithful and he is sufficient in all things. And we can completely rest and trust in him because he is faithful. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the promises of your word.
Lord, the truths of your word that we can stand on, Lord, that we can take to the bank, Lord, that we can build our life upon. Lord, you have promised that you will provide our needs without fail. And Lord, we know that that is true. Lord, we've seen that over and over again, Lord, in our own lives.
Lord, I pray that you would help us not to worry, but Lord, to completely rest and trust in you, in your sovereignty and your provision and your plan. Lord, we know that you work all things together for our good. And Lord, I pray that you would help us to just trust in you, rest in you, Lord. Lord, we thank you for this time together.
I pray that you would be glorified, Lord, above all. Lord, I pray that you would just have your hand upon each one as we part ways tonight, Lord, and we just thank you most of all for your precious Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for that imperishable inheritance that we have in him. Lord, we give you thanks in Jesus' name, amen.