Thursday, January 10, 2008

Hi Girls!

The story within this devotional is true; I merely changed the name of the man since I have no way of obtaining his permission to use his real name. Ironically this story happened the exact same year as yesterday's story. Obviously God was trying to teach me something that year.

I think I needed to be reminded of this truth today, maybe more than any of you. It is difficult when prayers go unanswered and life gets a little scary. But we need to remind each other that the God Who is in control loves us beyond compare. That's what these stories and our encouragements to each other are... reminders.

He loves you. He's got you in His arms. Believe it.

-Becky


God's Ways

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8,9)


“What?! You’ve got to be kidding!” My jaw dropped open in shock and amazement as I read the open email before me. The hushed words burst out of my mouth even though there was no one around to hear them. I felt the past swiftly coming back to me in vivid detail.

More than 12 years ago in January of 1988 I had been a college sophomore at Colorado Christian University. It was a Sunday morning and the roads had been slushy from the melting snow.

“Deb, are you ready yet?” There were 3 of us getting a ride with my roommate to church that morning and she was the only one not ready.

“Almost.”

When she finally appeared in the living room, we all hurried out to the car. We knew we had to be fast or we would be late. The ice in the parking lot was slick and I had to set my Bible on top of the car so that I could use both hands to climb in the backseat of the 2-door sedan.

When we arrived at church 20 minutes later, I reached for my Bible as I started to get out. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach when I realized the Bible wasn’t there. In my hurriedness I had left it on top of the car. I felt sick. I had used and loved that Bible for 5 years. My life was in there in the notes and highlights, and in the Daily Bread devotionals and church bulletins I had stuffed in the cover. And now it was gone. Forever.

I snapped back to the present and re-read the email that had been forwarded to me by my dad:

Dear Pastor Eckdahl,

I located your website on the internet. A couple months ago, a man named *Troy Gannon came into the Registrar’s Office at Colorado Christian University. He was carrying a large brown Bible with a fish on the front. The name inscribed in it was Rebecca Lyn Eckdahl. He said that sometime in the late ‘80’s he had found the Bible in the middle of Alameda Avenue, in front of the University. He was not a Christian at the time, but he kept the Bible anyway. Since then he has come to know the Lord. One day he found the Bible again, and thought it might have belonged to a student at CCU, so he brought it in. Sure enough, I located Rebecca’s records in our archives … I would be happy to return the Bible to Rebecca, if you would tell me how to locate her. It is in excellent condition …



Excellent condition?? Remembering those slushy roads, I thought she surely must be exaggerating.

It all seemed surreal as I anxiously awaited that Bible in the mail. It arrived about 3 days later. As I looked at that Bible again in my hands, I couldn’t believe that there was no damage. Not even a water spot where the brown cover left the top and bottom edges of the pages exposed. The Registrar had been right; it was in excellent condition.

The Registrar had included a handwritten note with the Bible. It had Troy Gannon’s phone number. The note stated that he would like to hear from me to tell me how he had found the Bible. I was very nervous about calling a total stranger, but I couldn’t resist. I needed to know where my Bible had been all those years. I wanted to hear his story. Most of all, I wanted to tell him thank you.

My hands were sweaty and shaking as I dialed his Colorado phone number. He answered and I’m sure my voice was shaky as well when I said, “Troy Gannon?”

“Yes.”

“My name is Becky Eckdahl. You found my Bible several years ago. I wanted to tell you thank you for returning it to me after all this time. You have no idea how much that meant to me.”

He in turn thanked me. He said he had found my Bible that January Sunday during a low point in his life. When he saw it there on the side of the road, he immediately felt that it was God speaking to him. He picked it up and took it home. He flipped through the pages, reading my notes and highlighted verses. Although it took another 3 years before he committed his life to Christ, the Bible had been like a message from God when he needed it most.

I was stunned. I remembered how upset I had been when my prayers to find the Bible had gone unanswered. How could I have known that God was simply borrowing it for a greater purpose?

I made a silent vow to begin to my view unanswered prayers a little differently, realizing that He might just be using those unanswered prayers to draw someone else to Him. After all, with God anything is possible.

When your prayers seem to go unanswered, trust that God has a higher plan. He won't disappoint.