Friday Devotional...How Great Thou Art

(I Peter 5:7)

“CASTING ALL YOUR CARE UPON HIM; FOR HE CARETH FOR YOU.”

I have a story that I’d like to share. This story is a true event in my life. After all, isn’t that our testimony…”Our Life”. Events that form our lives whether they be great or small. God hears our prayers, sees our needs and answers in his time. How great is our God, for he is so mindful of everything in our lives.

       “How Great Thou Art”

This event happened in the year of 1979. I was a young mother at age 32 with 3 children to support all alone. Life had dealt me some pretty hard blows, unexpected challenges and a future which I was uncertain about.

I remember it being a hot August night. My heart was heavily burdened feeling that I could hardly go on. I had no direction in life with three small children to raise, I felt so alone, so desperate for answers, how was I going to make it?

My husband had left me and the kids that previous November and so we had to move in with my parents who lived in Tracy. My folks were so good to me, they opened their home for us, fed us, and encouraged me by saying “Things seem rough right now, but eventually life will have its ways of working things out for you.” But somehow their encouragement seemed so shallow, so empty. Oh God, I would cry…”I need answers!”

I can remember that particular hot August evening in the dark of the night as my Mother sat at the dining room table inside the house. I slipped away from it all and went outside and sat on the front lawn under a tree. My heart being so heavy, I began to cry as I looked up into the star lit night. The sky seemed as dark as my life felt. In the silence, I looked toward heaven and said out loud….”LORD, if you’re with me…. Oh God, I just need to know. Jesus, I need a sign that you’re with me….oh please Lord, if I had a sign I’d know that you see my dilemma, and I’d be more assured that you are with me. Help me Lord.”

The next day, was a Tuesday…I drove to Stockton to Waterloo Rd. to a hotel to attend a business meeting which was a required weekly meeting. I had started selling “Home Interiors” I had to have some sort of income to help me get a start in supporting myself & my children. This particular gathering was held in a large banquet room, chairs lined in rows for all the lady’s who would be attending the Home Interior meeting.

Lori Black was my Manager, and as she sat at the front of the room at a desk going over all the weekly details….I walked in and chose a chair to sit in as I began to get my weekly paper work together. I happened to be there early that day, Lori and I were the only ones in the room at the time. Lori looked up and saw me sitting there and said “Glenna, did you see our new brochure that came out?” I said “No.” Lori said “Come up here I’ll give you one”. As I stood up from my chair and walked to her desk, the most deadly crashing sound of shattering glass twisted metal and dust came bounding down from the ceiling where I had just been sitting seconds before. A large Rod Iron ceiling Chandelier with pointed rustic spikes had come loose from the ceiling and dropped directly onto the exact chair that I had been sitting at.

Lori & I gasped with unbelief and when she got her breath she grabbed me and said “Oh My God, Glenna you would have been killed!” Little did she know that this was my sign that just the night before I had fleeced the Lord for “A Sign!” Certainly God was with me! I had tears in my eyes because although this was a horrifying experience and was hard to even believe, as hotel clerks rushed into the room to see what had happened. After I got my composure, I had no more doubt that the Lord had shown himself and God was with me. In time, He would work things out for me……. “How Great Thou Art” sings my soul even unto this day.

Written by Glenna Williamson