Can you find the good in it?

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “The Great Adventure”

Our Bible verse for today: “Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually advanced the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard, and to everyone else, that my imprisonment is because I am in Christ.” Philippians 1:12-13 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Can you find the good in it?”

In her devotional book, “Treasures in the Dark: 90 reflections on finding bright hope hidden in the hurting”, author Katherine Wolf tells her own story about how she went from a beautiful and healthy aspiring actress and model, to a twenty-something stroke survivor confined to a wheelchair. The book is all about the lessons she learned as she struggled to come to terms with how her life had changed, and the reality of what her life was going to be like going forward.

In her case, life was going to be spent in a wheelchair. At first, she found that terribly depressing. But then she realized that the wheelchair was a gift from God. Rather than limiting her, the wheelchair gave her mobility and freedom she would not have had without it. She soon learned to rejoice in her wheelchair for the freedom it gave her. That story reminded me of my own wife, Linda. One year after her stroke and brain surgery she went on a mission trip with me to the Transylvania region of Romania to hold medical and dental clinics and Vacation Bible Schools in gypsy villages. Linda had to go in a wheelchair, but just like Katherine, she chose to view her wheelchair as a gift because it gave her the mobility and the freedom to be on that mission trip.

In Philippians 1:12-13 we read that the Apostle Paul viewed his imprisonment in Rome the same way. He didn’t want to be a prisoner, he wanted to be a free man. He had places to go, people to see, things to do. But he was a prisoner, chained to a Roman guard day and night. However, since the guards were in prison with him, and since not only was he chained to them but they were chained to him, he treated them as his prisoners and he used it as an opportunity to witness to them. He simply accepted his circumstances as they were and he made the best of them.

In Katherine’s and Linda’s perspectives, their wheelchairs didn’t confine them they set them free. In Paul’s perspective his imprisonment didn’t prevent him from working for the cause of Christ, it created new opportunities for him to do so.

Katherine writes, “True freedom is deciding to want the life I have because it’s the life I was given.” And, “We all have our own wheelchairs.”

Can you find the good in yours? It’s a matter of perspective and it is your choice.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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