Just as the night called Jacob to stop rest, so, too, this home has been a place of refuge many a night. Then there was a night that a great wind followed the darkness. With it came a full force of hail and torrential rain. Half my roof blew off. One side of the house was completely stripped. Here I was feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and yet my house was hit. Every other house on the block was fine. You can be absolutely in God’s will, and yet still experience the debilitation that can come in darkness. Now mine was the little broken house in the valley. But wait…I read in Scripture that in valley God restores my soul.
During the night while Jacob rested, God reassured him, promising to protect him on the journey and to provide him with many descendants. Like a good parent, God is preeminently a protector and provider. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises: “His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).
This message is excerpted from “Home for a new year” by Helen Hollingsworth in the January/February 2020 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Antony of Egypt, renewer of the church, c. 356 and Pachomius, renewer of church, 346.
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