“But they
that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with
wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not
faint.” Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)
“Do you have
many readers for your blog?” a friend, Matthew, asked one day.
“Not really.
In a week’s time, I have between fifty-five and eight-five readers who log-on,”
I said.
“Wow,”
another blogger-friend added. “Only my mother and sister read my blog.”
Matthew
thought for a moment and said, “I’ve wondered if blogging is worth my time.”
Some believe
that Isaiah 40:31 (above) refers to the physical coming of the Lord. Others
believe this verse means to wait upon the Lord as a servant would wait, or take
care of, their boss. In Isaiah’s time he would be talking about the coming of
the messiah. In the New Testament, it would mean the second coming of the Christ.
I like to think of Isaiah 40:31 as waiting on him as a good and faithful
servant of the Lord God.
When we live life
in the here-and-now, we do the immediate thing in front of us. In the Lord’s Prayer,
Jesus said to pray for our “daily bread,” not the whole loaf.
“I look at
blogging as an act of obedience,” I continued with Matthew as I thought of the nine
years I’ve been posting on this Prayer Therapy blog. “The Lord whispers words
in my ear. I write them down and post them on my blog. The blog stats tell me
that people in various countries around the world read the posts. I get
feedback from readers who say that the few paragraphs I sent out where just
what they needed to hear that week. So, it doesn’t matter to me how many people
read it. If one person is blessed, then it has been a blessing to me.”
It has been hard to keep up with the weekly blog since my
back surgery last year. But, once in a while, the Lord hands me a new topic. After
spotting a quote from John Wesley, I posted—Be a Uniter, Not a Divider—on July
29. I usually check a few days later to see what countries have viewed the
post. On that July 29th, after nine years of blogging, there were the
following readers: twenty-one from Russia; six from France; five from China; four from Japan; two from Germany; two
from Romania; one from Latvia and … from
the United States there were 25,897. I don’t know who. I don’t know why. To my
small thinking, I think God was letting me enjoy a few days as the numbers
crept up. Now, what fun was that?! I was obedient and God let me enjoy the day.
I said, “The day.” He didn’t open the door to a flamboyant writing career. He
let me enjoy the day, and that was more than enough for me. Let us pray:
“Father God, I wait on you, for
the second coming of your son, Jesus, and I gladly wait on you as a servant
takes care of their master. If I do nothing but wait all of my days, it will be
the privilege of my life to serve you. For this day, show me someone to
encourage, to bless with your love, to touch with your healing power, to listen
to as they speak. Forgive me when I have dwelled on the hurts of the past and
have failed to see you in the face of someone around me. Forgive me when I have
pleaded for a future gift and have missed the blessed ministry of today. Let me
see you all round me and serve you there. In the name of your son, my savior
Jesus the Christ, I pray. Amen.”
Doris
"God gives us stories that testify to His
love. Let me tell you mine.”
Copyright 2016 Doris Gaines Rapp
Length of Days trilogy, by Doris
Gaines Rapp: All three are available in paperback and eBook at Amazon.com and
Barnes and Noble.com, as well at Cokesbury.com
Length of Days – The Age of
Silence (© 2014)
Length of Days – Beyond the
Valley of the Keepers (© 2015)
Length of Days – Search for
Freedom (© 2016)
Also on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Cokesbury:
Escape from the Belfry
Hiawassee – Child of the Meadow
Smoke from Distant Fires
News at Eleven – A Novel – Serialized on www.dorisgainesrapp.blogspot.com
Escape from the Shadows – release date late 2016
The Garden of Aden – release date 2017
