BETTER, NOT BITTER
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. Proverbs 3:5-6
My beeper chirped. It was 6:41 a.m. and the beeper flashed a Washington, D.C. phone number. I was in Los Angeles and scheduled to speak at a pastor’s conference in a couple of hours.
As a member of a National Disaster Response Team, my job as a law enforcement chaplain was to provide spiritual care to those touched by an airline tragedy. Eight chaplains were on call every month, and I wore that beeper only when I was on call. September 2001 was my month.
I called the number and was told by the communication center in Washington D.C. that less than an hour before, a commercial airliner had crashed into one of the twin towers of the New York World Trade Center. Our team was being activated.
NYPD forensic specialists were at work on the scene investigating this crime of all crimes. While ministering, I came across a woman who was personable and talkative (let’s call her Maria). She was sharp and opened to me, and as she did her emotional wounds began to release their poisons.
A year earlier, her husband had left her for another woman. He left her to fend for herself and their three small girls. Maria worked long, exhausting hours, yet there was never enough money and never enough time to be with her children. She felt helpless and betrayed, angry and bitter.
After a few minutes I gently interrupted. I told her that God alone could make things work in her life. He would provide for her, help raise her girls, give her the strength at work and wisdom with her finances. She looked at me with soft, moist eyes and asked, “Do you really think God would help someone like me?”
A bitter life becomes a better life when you invite the Lord to take His rightful place as spiritual head of your life.
Life can either make you a bitter person or a better person. The first step to becoming better is to ask that question that Maria asked, and then believe the answer. Yes, He can help you and yes, He will. All you must do is call on Him in Jesus’ name.