A Tribute to My Friend and Prayer Partner
My dear friend, Dr. Marilyn Murphree, passed away into the loving arms of Jesus yesterday. I can hardly believe she is gone. We’ve been friends and prayer partners for over 25 years, emailing or texting almost daily. Many of those messages contained prayers for each other.
In spite of her own physical struggles, Marilyn was quick to pray for healing for those who needed it. Her books, God Wants you Healed
Not only was Marilyn a healing prayer warrior and writer, but also a multi-talented artist, musician, and preacher. I miss her. But I know that someday we will meet again, for her close relationship with the Lord carried her to heaven.
The following devotional is one written by Marilyn, with the last paragraph written by me. Through her writings Marilyn will continue to encourage and minister to others.
Trusting God in Trying Times
by Dr. Marilyn Murphree
We don’t always have the perfect day. The sun shines, but it also rains. Sometimes our rainy days and Mondays get us down, as the song goes. We become “yoyo Christians” when things go well, and then something hits us and knocks us down. It might take weeks to recover from our losses or for our health to recover.
Any number of things can take us down suddenly. We focus on our problems and feel that God has abandoned us. Maybe we lose that sense of His Presence that we had been experiencing. We wonder, “Is God still working when He is silent?”
Jesus said, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” (John 5:17, NLT)
We just don’t see it, and therefore struggle with doubt in less than perfect times. We are living in difficult times now with the spread of Coronavirus all over the world. We are living day by day with one uncertainty after another. As we put on our masks and head to the store, we wonder when life will become normal again.
How do we trust God in trying times?
In a little Old Testament book, we see that Habakkuk struggled in many ways like we do today. He spoke of devastating times. He was depending on the crops to flourish, but they didn’t. The fig trees didn’t bud. There were no grapes on the vines, and the olive crops failed. The fields produced no food, and there were no sheep in the pens and no cattle in the stalls. Sounds as if he and his countrymen were wiped out.
Over just a short time, he was faced with one devastating disaster after another. Today the news media tells us about disasters that are wiping people out in many ways— job losses, small business closures, schools closed, healthy people suddenly sickened with virus, and store shelves bare of certain much needed items.
When it looks as if there is no end in sight, can we sing and dance in the rain?
“You’ve got to be kidding,” you say. “No way, not when the rain is pouring down.”
How exactly do you survive the onslaughts?
What did Habakkuk do when everything he had counted on and worked so hard for was lost? Certainly he knew that he was ‘in a pickle.” Now what? After Habakkuk stated the disasters that had happened, something turned around in his thinking, even though his circumstances had not changed.
Habakkuk said, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation.” This speaks of rising out of the ruins in an act of faith and making a decision to praise the Lord in spite of the present circumstances.
He made a decision to act in faith just the way things were. “Wow!” you say. “How am I going to do that?”
What is one situation in your life right now where you are having trouble trusting in God? What words of wisdom might God be speaking to your heart about His awareness of your situation and His protection in your circumstances? As an act of faith, praise God. Don’t wait until things get better and you are happy again. Praise God as an act of choice.
When Habakkuk chose to rejoice in the Lord, an inner change happened. This is what he then said,
The Sovereign Lord gives me strength.
He makes me sure-footed as a deer
and keeps me safe on the mountains. Habakkuk 3:19, Good News Translation
He made a declaration of faith before anything changed. He knew that the Lord was his strength. Habakkuk pulled himself out of despair in his thinking by making a declaration.
Declare and Rejoice
There is power in speaking your faith. Speak it out! Make your own declarations of faith. You can quote Habbakuk and add other encouraging verses of Scripture that give you the assurance that God is with you and will never forsake you. Look up with the eyes of faith and see the goodness of the Lord. Take your eyes off your problems. God is able to deliver you and to draw you close in His loving arms.
If you would like to read some of Marilyn’s sermons, just enter her name in the search bar at sermoncentral.com.
