He Preserves The Faithful

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He Preserves 
The Faithful
A Devotional by Margot Cioccio




Psalm 31:23-24 (NIV1984)
 Love the LORD, all his saints! 
The LORD preserves the faithful,
   but the proud he pays back in full.
24 Be strong and take heart, 
all you who hope in the LORD.

We moved to Spokane for a better job with the company my husband had been working for and two months later they closed their doors. We had committed to renting a big 5 bedroom home and signed a 2 year lease. He looked for jobs for 2 years while also going to school to get his associates degree. During that time we did have unemployment money but the budget never worked out on paper.
Over and over again God supplied our need most often at the last moment. He preserves the faithful!

Un-employment ended and my husband still had not found a job and so we decided to move out of the big house. It was a horrible hard move. We had to get rid of about half of our stuff in garage sales because we knew we had to move to a smaller home. Then we did not find another place in time and had to move to storage and went to stay with my mom. Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD

While we were there my mom fell and the place she hit her arm became infected with a type of MERSA. She was in the hospital and they tried and tried to treat it with various medications. Soon as the medicine course would end it would flair up again. They finally after more than a month, had to do an operation to remove the tissue in that area. During that same time my aunt that lives above my mother also had to have surgery.  So it was clear that God had us there on purpose. They could not have managed with out our help. It was a 45 minutes drive from her house into Spokane.  With lessons and activities we are involved in we made that drive several times a week. We did finally find a small home to move into a year ago in July. It was more than I had hoped to have to pay but it over looks a beautiful wetland area. My husband did get a part time job working nights doing store resets - He has to travel to stores around the region. He is still doing that job a year later. 

I’d like to say I have easy answers for why some periods of our life are so difficult. I know that God has used it to cause me to press into Him.  I have seen God to be faithful and I have learned to need less. Gods goal is to shape us and mold us to fulfill his plans and purposes. To do that he often uses trials, hardship and pain - they are in hind site often blessings in disguise that prepare us for future things. Joseph spent 22 years as a slave and in prison.  Would God put someone through pain, disappointment, hardship to prepare them to later save a nation. We read those stories and we know the ending but during those years Joseph did not know how it would turn out.  If I have learned anything it is to trust God even when I don’t understand. Some things will only become clear in the light of future. One never knows when we will turn the corner and that future someday will be staring us in the face providing the answer to what we do not yet understand.  We can't however just stand around scratching our heads. We need to be taking the little steps of faith that present themselves day by day.  He makes the vision and the way more clear as we take each progressive step of faith.
Prayer:
Dear Lord, Thank you for your promise to preserve the faithful. Help me be strong and take heart. My hope is in you Lord. Right now I don’t understand all the whys. I pray you use this time in my life to mold and shape me to fulfill your purposes.