Starting Over

Sitting here today, my first day back after Ivan ravaged the Gulf coast, I can look out and see trees stripped of their foliage, and some of their fellows lying broken around them.

Looking past them, I can see homes missing considerable amounts of shingles.

And on a brilliantly beautiful afternoon, the air that normally would be filled with the sounds of children at play across the street at Valparaiso Elementary is quiet. They are absent today, many of their families still coping with a loss of power, damage to their homes, spoilage of food and a loss of income from being laid off, as businesses struggle to recover as well.

It's like the whole area is having to learn how to start over.

I'm no stranger to that process. Over fifty years ago, my father and mother anticipated the delivery of two babies. Yet when the twins were born, (my older brothers Michael and Mitchell) due to complications from my Mother carrying them too long, they both died within a week of their birth.

Devastated doesn't begin to describe what my parents experienced.

My mother is in heaven now, but while she lived she very seldom ever talked about it. Oh, she might mention "the twins", but briefly, and quickly move on. It was a deep, lasting hurt that never really went away.

So many people never recover from such a wound. Marriages, even whole lives, just wither and die.

But not when you find the will to start over.

My Mother told me she found that will in Jesus Christ.

One day we were talking, and I brought up the loss of my brothers. She reached over and opened up her Bible and read me this.

10 Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)

She told me she took God at His Word and started over.

I cannot imagine how much courage it took for her to do that. But whatever amount it took, her God supplied it.

How do I know?

Because 51 years ago today, in the afternoon, my mother's third child, also a boy, was born.

She named him David Anthony Wilson. (My middle name is the same as my brother that I will meet someday in heaven.)

Friends, I don't know what you are facing today. But I know this - the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and yes, the God of Lodie Marie Bowden Wilson (and her sons) is big enough, strong enough, and cares enough to help you start over.

When you do, that's when you understand how deep God's love really is. Start over.


Grace!

David

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you