God's Guidance for Our Lives

I just celebrated a birthday. One of those milestone birthdays that gets lots of attention. You know, as I look back over these years, I can see one thing that stands out so clearly over all the many years and through the many places I've been - the faithfulness of God. I think back to a time when as a child of eight years old, I realized I was lost and needed a Savior, and I committed my heart to Jesus Christ.

Two years later I felt God speaking to my heart and saying, "Ann, I want you to be a missionary." I did not know what that was really, except that a missionary was someone who told others about Jesus. And at the age of ten I gave my life to Jesus.

All through those teenage years I vacillated a little bit, not knowing exactly where I wanted to go, or what I wanted to study, or what I wanted to be. But I always knew God had His hand on my life and had given me a special purpose. As I went off to college way back in the 70's, I decided to study Elementary Education so that I could prepare to share the Lord Jesus Christ with others in a foreign country.

Well, along the way I met a handsome young man. We fell in love and met all of our goals to serve in the mission field after we married. It was exciting in those days - going off to a new adventure. And yet when we got to Africa, to the field where the Lord had taken us, things were not always so positive. There were hurts and difficulties. There was a lot of tension politically. God always met every need in every place in ways that seemed impossible. When there was no flour to be had to bake bread, for we had to bake from scratch, He supplied that. When it looked like there would be no salt, somehow it was there when we needed it. When baby clothes were needed for our first child, God sent that too.

From there it was back to the States, and then on to France for missionary service, where our son was born. God was faithful over and over and over again with strength, with energy, and with finances. Year after year, God has been faithful.

God brought us back to the States, and we have been in Hanover over fifteen years. And in those fifteen years, God has been just as faithful on this side of the ocean as He was on the other side. He is good, my friend. He meets every need. I think of the song that says, "Great is Thy faithfulness, O God, my Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me." So as I celebrated this birthday, I can look back and say, "Great is Thy faithfulness!"

By Dr. Ann Shorb

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Related Articles and Devotionals:
God's Sovereignty
God's Consistency Amidst the Changing World
God: Our Loving Father
We are Precious in His Sight

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