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I was sitting at my desk at work, looking at the next scheduled patient and her request for me to wear a mask even though a glass window separates me from her. Severe allergies to paper dust and the chemicals in the fabric ones has caused me to have breathing difficulties each time, but nobody seems to care about that.

I’m hoping you aren’t offended by my thoughts today. That’s truly not my goal. I’m simply sharing something that just happened in hopes that it may help you whichever side of the spectrum you may be on.

I heard in my spirit, “If someone asked you for $100 would you give it?” I could see myself picking up my wallet and opening it up, responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit is always what I strive for. But as I opened my wallet, there was nothing in it. I then heard the Holy Spirit say, “You cannot give what you do not have.”

O Holy Spirit, that is so true! If I do not have sickness, how can I give it? I have trusted Him through this whole entire season of uncertainty to continually keep me well and whole, me and my family. Does it make me more holy because others have gotten sick and died? No.

I’ve been through an unusual season this past year. I didn’t enjoy it, nor did I seek it, it simply came and I tried to meet it the best I knew how. But somehow in the meeting, I began to learn the value of trust in a way I’ve never had to before. I’ve always trusted God, but only in ways I had experienced Him.

For example, in the mid-80’s, Walt was out of work and we had no means of provision. It was our trust in God that saw us provided for, time and time again. Groceries would appear at our door, Christmas gifts were placed under our tree. Our trust had been there all along, but it was lack that strengthened that trust in ways we wouldn’t have learned in good times.

So it seems that tests and trials, times of extreme difficulty and impossibility, are designed to give us what we do not have, so that we can have what we need to succeed. As James 1:2-4 says so well; My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties, see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can! For you know that when your faith is tested it stirs up in you the power of endurance. And then as your endurance grows even stronger, it will release perfection into every part of your being until there is nothing missing and nothing lacking.

Every time my faith is tested, it stirs in me the power of endurance. It’s the endurance that gives me everything I need to succeed. He designed me that way so that I would never lack in any area. As food and water are for the body, so are tests and trials for the spirit and soul. Without them, we’d never grow into mature believers who know to trust in God.

So do you understand what I mean when I say, I cannot give what I do not have? What I do have and what I can share has been deeply rooted and grounded in the deep love the Father has for me.

Infecting Others With What Is In Me,

Sandy G