By Rae Lynn DeAngelis
During a long car ride, my husband and I were listening to a book on tape by Joyce Meyers. After some time listening, my husband hit the pause button and asked, “I’m confused. Why does she keep saying that God will give us double for our farmer trouble? That makes no sense.”
I chuckled and said, “She’s not saying farmer trouble, silly. She’s saying FORMER trouble!”
The light bulb went off as his realization set in. Then he said… “Oh! That makes so much more sense!!”
Now it’s an inside joke between us that God is going to give us double for our “farmer” trouble, lol.
It really is the heart of God to give us double for our trouble. Isaiah 61:7 says, “Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.”
My whole life bears witness to this truth. Here’s one of the more recent times God gave me double for my trouble.
Let me start by saying, 2020 has been a crazy year! I’m guessing you might agree. Even before COVID-19 hit, I was going through a slump. I had been dealing with a lot of health issues that were taxing my overall resolve. We have a very real enemy who uses every opportunity to bring us down and make us feel hopeless. By March, I was physically, emotionally, and spiritually spent.
It was certainly not the first time I had felt this way, but this time I was at an all-time low. So low, in fact, that I began to question my life-purpose. Was God done with me? And if He was, what would happen to the ministry?
I was hit with the sudden realization that if anything ever happened to me, Living in Truth Ministries would cease to exist. There was no one in the cue who was ready and willing to take my place. I had spent the last 12 years of my life planting seeds of faith, watering them, and watching God make them grow. Would it all go to waste?
Disheartened by that prospect, I did the only thing I could; I cried out to God in prayer: Lord, I’m depleted of strength. I don’t know how much longer I can keep serving as the leader of this ministry. Please, Gracious Lord, either reignite my passion and give me more energy to continue on, or bring someone forth to carry the ministry forward.
In my mind, there were only two plausible answers. Reignite my passion and energy to keep going, OR raise up someone who could continue to carry the torch.
Imagine my surprise when, just days later, God began answering both prayers. I was expecting either/or. God’s answer was yes and yes. He started reigniting my passion and energy and even gave me a vision for the next chapter of the ministry. But that’s not all. He also sent me a beautiful sister-in-Christ who is eager and willing to carry the torch forward when God says it’s time.
True to His character, God gave me double for my former trouble… or should I say, farmer trouble. The seed of truth planted by the Spirit through the Word can only grow and blossom as an outworking of God’s perfect love.
Lord, I’m so thankful that you have reignited my passion and energy to keep serving your daughters. I love serving you and I love seeing your daughters learning and growing in your truth. But I’m also thankful that one day when you say it’s time for me to pass the baton, you have someone waiting in the cue, ready and willing to keep running the Living in Truth Ministry race.
What about you, sweet sister? Are you growing weary, wondering how you will ever reach the finish line? Cry out to the Lord and be open and honest with Him about where you are and how you are feeling. Lay it all out on the line, and then sit back and wait for His provision. Just like He did with me, God will give you immeasurably more than all you can ask or even imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Keep putting one foot in front of the other and run with perseverance the race marked out for you. The Spirit of the Lord is not only with you, He is for you, cheering you on every step of the way.
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever” (1 Corinthians 9:23-24).
