This weekend, our R.E.A.L. Women's Ministry is going to be having a retreat with the theme of the weekend being "God's Got This!" I can't help but be inspired by that title. There is so much power and encouragement in those three words and if God's people truly could understand that truth, our lives would be so much less stressful.
I remember when I first arrived at Springfield to become the campus pastor here. It was exciting, but also pretty scary because the building was in crisis. Literally, the roof was leaking so bad that one classroom had a mushroom the size of a dinner plate in the corner of the ceiling. The moisture damage was so much that the hallway floor actually started to bubble. I had been here less than a month when the work had to begin.
Fortunately, we had a lot of help from our Roseburg campus and were able to secure a loan, fix the roof, and replace everything else. It was a long, stressful process. Since then, I have had nearly 4 years of service at this church and have been incredibly blessed by it. Well, this spring, I was told that we needed to replace the roof over our sanctuary and started getting flashbacks of all the work and stress we'd had before. The roof estimates were close to $10,000 and we had nothing close to that in our account. What's more, we are a small church (for now) and, starting next year, will no longer be under the covering of our larger campus in Roseburg. Needless to say, I began to pray a lot about it and really pour out my anxiety to God.
In the midst of this, God gave me an incredible peace. I didn't understand how, but I knew that God was going to take care of it. So...I let go of it and began to thank God for the answer I hadn't yet received, but knew was on the way. Let me just tell you this...it came. Over the course of the next several months, we raised thousands of dollars to pay for the roof. What's more than that, we found out that the roof wasn't in nearly as bad of shape as we were originally told.
How did this happen? God. Sure, we put in the work, but that work was blessed. God worked through amazing people and provided in ways I didn't even think to expect. We had a Spanish church come back and want to rent from us again. For that matter, we added an entire Spanish ministry, that brought with them a new soundboard and microphones. God has been so good to us and He is continuing to bless us.
I'm reminded of a passage in the Bible where Jesus was teaching multitudes and grew weary. He told his disciples that he wanted to go to the mountain to pray and that he would meet them on the other side of the lake. The disciples loaded up the boat and started to sail across. As they were sailing across, it began to rain...and rain hard. The rain turned quickly into a storm and yet, it's not until Jesus comes to them walking on the water that we read they are terrified. I believe it's because they understood something deeper (which they also quickly forgot when they believed a ghost was walking towards them).
They knew Jesus was on the mountain next to the lake. They knew that he was completely able to see what was happening the whole time. They knew that even in the storm, they would be okay because Jesus had said he would meet them on the other side of the lake.
Ultimately, they knew that no storm was greater than the word of Jesus. If Jesus said he would meet them on the other side, then they would certainly make it to the other side, and even though the belief that a ghost was coming towards them caused them to be terrified (as it would any of us), we should learn from their example here.
Storms come at us. They can be literal ones like the kind that toss around a boat (or destroy a church roof) or they can be figurative storms like the loss of a job or loved one, health problems, marital troubles, or depression. Yet, all these storms have one thing in common. They are not more powerful than God. God has not only promised us eternal life at the end of this one, He's promised that He'll walk through this life with us, as well. He promises that He will never leave us, He will never forsake us, and that He will provide for us. He promises that He'll work things out for our good, even if we don't fully understand how He's going to do it. I guess what I'm saying is that when life throws storms at you, take a deep breath, square your shoulders, and confidently say, "God's got this!"
Josh Scroggins
Lead Pastor
New Beginnings Family
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