The Steadfast Love of the Lord

Isaiah 63:7

“I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.” (Isaiah 63:7 ESV)

One evening, I ask Jan what she was doing and she said that she was going through old pictures of what hurricane Celia did to our home and belongings on August 3,1970.  Seeing those pictures flooded my mind with God’s faithfulness and I recounted the steadfast love of the Lord.  If you have not looked back in time, to recall what God has done for you, maybe a picture album is needed.

I was only 3 years into following Jesus and was like most babies, wanting to walk before I had learned to crawl.  I also had the curse of being in little Baptist churches from birth and had much to unlearn and enormous amounts to learn about walking by faith and not by feel.  I was still very much a mess and acted like I knew things I had no clue about, but one thing God kept reminding me about and putting to the front of my mind was to give thanks in all things.  So my giving all thanks became lost sales, flat tires, and I was asking Jesus to help me in the relationship with my young bride.  Then Celia came and destroyed our 12 X 60 mobile home that was sitting on our five acres of land with all the stuff we had at this early stage of marriage.  The Lord had awoken me that morning and made it clear I was to leave the area and go to Beeville, Texas, where my sister and her husband were living.  In Beeville, we experienced 110 mile an hour winds, and after the storm we went back to our home in Odem only to discover it and our stuff was gone with the wind, and little was ever found.

It was that day, as I looked down our road almost a football field length that I discovered the only thing standing was a workshop we had built and our mailbox where I had stopped to observe the destruction.  It was at that moment the Holy Spirit reminded me “To give thanks in all things, in all circumstances and I was faithful but it seemed to go down hill from that point.  Did I tell you the mobile home was paid for, we had a clear title and we discovered the insurance was not on contents, in fact, it only paid out $1,300.00 on a used mobile home we had paid almost $10,000 for it?  It gets worse, we could not get a HUD trailer at that time, and moved in with my parents in a damaged 900 sq. ft. home with no electricity for over a month, with a one year old baby girl.

We had no bank account to fall back on, someone at 3M was nice and sent me $10.00 and I went back to work calling on businesses in town that had little or no need for what I was selling at that time, but God was faithful and though it seemed the sky was falling, Jan’s brother Ray drew plans for a new home to go where the trailer had been.  HUD rented us a trailer for $50.00 per month and we were able to get a government loan for $13,500.00 at 3% interest and with that loan we paid off our land and began to build a 1275 sq. ft. home.  Our great God began to provide materials at bargain prices, and when the house was build we owned it clear with no mortgage, and it was only a few months before the loan was repaid and we added another 1500 sq. ft. to the house.   We are sure of this, we know God’s steadfast love and His great goodness was poured out on us, my sales were good, but it was clear God was doing something special in our lives.

Now, I must confess it was only a few years later that my flesh took over and I walked for a while in the flesh, full of myself believing foolishly that I knew what was best for me, and almost lost the most important things in my life, my fellowship with Jesus and my family that sat in the car with me on August 3, 1970.  But once more, God was faithful and restored us and after awhile we moved us to Spring, Texas, and we began a new chapter and a new walk with our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.  Thanks honey for pulling out the album, and once more allowing God to remind me of all His goodness to us.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice