“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

A wonderful experience of the awareness of God and the Holy Spirit was mine during the early years of my marriage. That was a long time ago as my wife and I have already celebrated our 51st Wedding Anniversary. It was in about the third year of our marriage when we lived in Houston, TX. The polio epidemic was on the rage. I was pastor of the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church. My wife and both children, one an infant and the other a toddler, were stricken with polio. Literally, at the midnight hour, I was giving them their medications as they were all at home. The thought came to my mind as I realized that my entire family lay there with polio, “Has God forsaken me?” As soon as
that thought passed through my mind, the Holy Spirit brought to my conscious mind, “Lo I will be with you always, even unto the end of the age” (Matthew 29:20). My faith was restored, and I have never again thought that God had forsaken me.

HEAVENLY FATHER, YOU NEVER SAID THAT WE WOULDN’T BE SICK OR DIE, BUT YOU DID PROMISE YOUR PRESENCE WOULD BE WITH US AlWAYS. THANK YOU. AMEN.

-Shared by James C. Gilbert