The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. Psalm 19:8-9
For trials and crisis, it can often seem as though joy has somehow become caught in the drain hole of life. And when the essence of joy has been removed from the soul, when purpose and hope have appeared to have run for the exit, that which remains feels deflated — defeated — discarded. But this victory is skewed! This victory gives the impression that the “other side” claimed for itself the ownership of the battle. And while the evil one would have us think this is true and both in our hearts and minds establish this paradigm, it is the furthest from the actual state of affairs.
My mom loves to keep things. More specifically, she likes little phrases, old books, articles and references to scripture jotted down on a napkin or notebook paper. It is not uncommon for me to visit and for her to hand me this old program from an event with a “saying” on it that she feels would inspire or lift you up. She doesn’t just share the words, she’ll give you the whole thing! So, in true form, during my recent visit home she grabs her four-inch thick genealogy binder and pulls out this half-page piece of paper. On it is typed — not from a computer — typed from an old typewriter. I would sincerely suspect it was from her manual typewriter I remember from my childhood that I actually used to type my triplicate carbon copied papers on for high school. On the paper was a six or seven line prose from, well, “unknown” was at the bottom. I searched the internet to find it’s true author and found the same short document, but instead of “unknown” at the bottom it referenced “Alan Redpath (stroke victim).”
Below I’ve shared his words because it describes perfectly of this battle of which I’ve spoken above. It is the truth in victory! It is the rest of victory! Amen!
There is nothing – no circumstance, no trouble, no testing — that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment, but as I refuse to become panicky, as I lift my eyes up to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart, no sorrow will ever disarm me, no trial will ever disarm me, no circumstance will cause me to fret, for I shall rest in the joy of what my Lord is. That is the rest of victory! (unknown)(Alan Redpath (stroke victim))
by: Mark Cruver