WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2021 Prosperity Gospel III

 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2021 Prosperity Gospel III

(You know, I don’t always like to talk about myself) 

“Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord,  and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.  Psalm 37:3-5

A couple of keywords - PROSPER, HEARTS DESIRES.  Do you want to prosper?  Do you have your heart’s desires?  Read on!!

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“And He will give you your heart’s desires” (or an alternate wording - “He will give you the desires of your heart”.  Really?  God will give me my innermost being desires?  

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Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.  3 John 1:2

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Keokuk, Iowa spring/summer 1978.  

I had been teaching high school math for five years at Keokuk High School.  We had our two children, Steve and Becky.  And, money was tight.  It was okay, but it was a “job”.  I was getting to be a good teacher.  Becky arrived in April 1978, I was blessed with two wonderful children.

I had started on an educational specialist program - to be qualified to be a principal - through Western Illinois University.  It was a thought that maybe, being a principal (or assistant principal) would have better pay.  I loved my teaching and wasn’t sure I wanted to be an administrator.

Psalm 37:3-5 became real to me that year.  I meditated on “what were the desires of my heart”?  What did I want?  What did my family want?  Where was God leading me?  (And, maybe … I wasn’t sure if God could really deliver the desires of my heart.  Cmon now, God could bless me that way?  Nah - that was “pie in the sky” thinking!! God didn’t care that much about little old me!!

I had enjoyed college - and it wasn’t hard to figure out what the ‘desires of my heart' would be.  I wanted to (I desired to) be a college teacher.  With a master’s degree, I could be an instructor or a lecturer.  But, haha - that just wasn’t going to happen.  I had a signed contract to teach for the Keokuk School District for the 19787-1979 school year.  I could see my future was as a high school teacher.  BUT, God was listening to the desires of my heart.  (While I can’t really understand God, maybe He had plans and goals for me - like Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”)

So, I had opened my college placement file and was looking at beginning administrator jobs.  I had an interview that I really wasn’t ready for (and didn’t get it).  

On August 1st, 1978, I got a call from Winona State University where my wife and I went to college, and where I had my bachelor’s and masters in math.  “Would I be interested in a one-year position teaching math?”  (Reading between the lines, two teachers were taking a one-year sabbatical and they needed two people.  They had been looking for a while, it was now the first of August and they didn’t have a warm body to cover their classes!!)

WOULD I BE INTERESTED???  Of course, I was interested!!!  (Wow - the desire of my heart!!!)

I answered, “Yes, Yes, Yes”.  WOW - I was floating (at least for a few hours).

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BUT, as I talked with the Keokuk Schools Superintendent the next day, I was reminded that I had a signed contract to be a teacher in the district starting in about three weeks.  And, no, he was NOT going to let me out of that contract!!!

He indicated he would put a want ad in the local Keokuk newspaper, and he warned me, there was almost no way the district would find a replacement for me.  (Boy, was I shot down).

But within a week, he had a great local person who was more than qualified to teach my classes. WOW - I was off the hook.

But, there was more where God was involved.  We listed our house for sale and it sold quickly.  We had a garage sale - and EVERYTHING sold.  (Actually, not quite true.  We had advertised our garage sale in the local newspaper and everything but two things was sold.  About two hours after our garage sale ended, a person knocked at our door and asked if he had sold two things - the TWO things that hadn’t sold!!  God was even interested in our garage sale!!!)

It was like God just took over and in two weeks moved us out of Keokuk and to Winona Minnesota.

I KNEW this was God giving me the desires of my heart.  

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The one-year position became two years, and I was now a college teacher.  That first year led to 38 years as a college teacher (and later, a college professor)

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Desires of my heart - part II

I wanted grandchildren.  I can remember driving past elementary schools at recess or lunchtime with kids on the playground.  I can remember praying for grandchildren.  (This was even way before either of our children were married).  It seemed like this wasn’t going to happen (I needed to be patient).

Then voila, we had five grandchildren in about eight months. God had answered the desire of my heart again with twins and triplets. (WOW!!).  

The first time I held the twins I cried such happy tears.  It was harder to hold all three triplets, but God had blessed the desire of my heart.  

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And, desires of my heart - part III

God, when I retired, seemed to put some strange things into my brain.  I have been blessed to become a woman.  And, He has offered me the ability to be “authentic” (and more vulnerable).  

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There have been other times when I have truly seen or felt God in my life.  A week ago, I was overpowered by the Love of God.  For me, God is very real.  Does that play into the “prosperity gospel?” Maybe - check back tomorrow!!!

LOVE DOES WIN

HUGS

KAREN