Our Partner- God

                                                                                                                                     

Aloha Dearest Family,

                We live a great life! We have the incredible privilege of being partners with the Creator of the heavens and the earth and His son. God’s holy spirit dwells within us 24/7, so we can have continual fellowship with Him. We pour out our hearts to Him and He reminds us how much He loves us and shows us that He will always take care of us. When you enjoy this type of relationship with God, it’s easy to trust Him for our complete well-being. You will find this all through scripture.

“Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.” (Psalm 9:10)

“I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:1a and 2) David proclaims God is mine, God is mine, God is mine. We can proclaim the same every day of our lives.

“And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.” (Psalm 37:40)

In our lives we have learned to entrust all of our plans to the Lord. This leads me to a true story.

              I was retiring from the Navy after serving 20 years on submarines. We lived in Hawaii and we decided to retire in Jacksonville, Florida, so for many months we prayed to God and asked Him for a smooth transition. We continually asked God to be a part of every aspect of our move; from the movers, to transporting our truck off-island, to arranging for the perfect air-travel for myself and my family. In all of our decisions, we included God. We lived Proverbs 3:5 and 6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” And we fully expected God to direct our paths. God became our partner in our move, so we knew God would cover everything we would need. And He did. Everything ran smoothly–until Memphis.

                The last leg of our travel was a short flight from Memphis to Jacksonville. Upon take-off we all heard two loud BANGS! People on board were concerned and the flight crew tried to find out what had happened. After a quick assessment, it was determined that we had lost part of our landing gear upon take-off. The pilot came on the intercom and told us what had happened and said that there was a loud whining coming from one of the left engines and that we would be returning to Memphis. But they also had to circle for a couple of hours to burn off some jet fuel. Many people were very scared and some were crying. The main flight attendant assured the passengers that they had trained for situations like this. She also said that she was a Christian and that she was praying for God’s protection. My wife, son and I absolutely knew it was God’s Will for us to make it to Jacksonville and the devil was not going to ruin it. Our teen-age son looked over to us to see if it was something he should be concerned about and we gave him a confident head shake “no” and he went back to sleep. Knowing that God had it covered, I went back to sleep while my wife told people how big our God was. She said, “God just became the pilot and the mechanic of this plane”. The landing was perfect as we touched down amidst many fire trucks and ambulances. As we were getting off the plane, some people said to us, “You must have nerves of steel.” “No”, we said, “we have a BIG and powerful God who loves us and causes us to triumph in life, and He wants us in Jacksonville”.

            This is not the only story I could tell throughout our lives with the Creator. The key to this kind of life is trust. But you can’t put your trust in someone that you don’t know. It has been the greatest thrill in our lives to get to know Him and His son and this knowledge of God comes from knowing and studying His Word.

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” (II Peter 1:3) 

Because we know Him, we can have absolute trust in His ability, not our own. Whatever cares or worries we may have, we cast all of our cares upon God because we know that He cares for us. We’re not perfect, but we know someone who is. His love for us is never ending. He is our Daddy. He is our partner-God.

                                                Love Always, Ray