Ansie writes:

I struggle and grapple with a lot of things. In his immense grace God has put an end to many. I can laugh again and I enjoy every day. I feel as if I’m living a second life.

I have tried to commit suicide. Through God’s grace I lived to raise the five children he entrusted to me in love.

Then I received the amazing gift of six beautiful grandchildren and two more are on their way!

Sometimes I think we look too far into the future and forget about the beautiful flowers at our feet.

In eight short sentences Ansie gives us a snapshot of her past, present and future. Even better, she gives us a wonderful testimony about a God who will protect us, even against ourselves. When she wanted to take her own life, God in his mercy protected her and prevented her from doing so.

That’s what God does. That’s what God does for each of us. He protects. He keeps us safe from evil. God protects us against those people and things that want to take our lives, even if it is ourselves.

But we don’t see it. Why not? Again, Ansie gave us a great truth: Sometimes I think we look too far into the future and forget about the beautiful flowers at our feet.

That is so true! We focus on the storms on the horizon. We get so worked up about something that might happen to us that we miss the beauty right here at our feet. We don’t see that God in his mercy gave us the ability to get up this morning, to breathe, to have food on the table, to have a roof over our heads, and much, much more.

I changed my life policy and the insurers arranged for a nurse to come to our house for a quick medical test. I was amazed how easy it is nowadays to do all the tests for sugar, cholesterol, HIV, whatever, right here at the kitchen table. But there are more and more questions about various diseases, some I’ve never heard of before.

When the sister left, I realised how much grace I’ve received. To all those questions she could check the “no” box. No dread disease or condition knocking on my door.

It’s the flowers right here next to us that we don’t see. Our hearts and mouths and hands and feet should overflow about this – all the glory to God.

¹⁸God’s looking after me, keeping me safe in the kingdom of heaven. All praise to him, praise forever! Oh, yes!

Yes, God must be praised forever. We must live to honour God. May this be true of the way we live and do.

Scripture
2 Tim 4:16-18

Reflection
On what do you focus?
Do you see the beauty around you?
Do you live to the glory of God?

Prayer
Father, thank you for protecting me. And for being with me always to guide me through the storms. Thank you for every bit of beauty in my life. Please help me not to be overwhelmed by the dark clouds on the horizon, but rather the beauty that You create around me. Amen.