"A Firm Foundation"

By Sharon Bailes

At times when we are in the market for a new home, we search for the right one to fit our budget. We also shop around for the one with the amount of square footage we need to compensate for the size of our family. Even the one that may have the pool in the back yard. Wow, this would be so awesome to be able to step out side onto the beach that some of us find so hard to reach into our back pockets to be able to afford. There are so many decisions and considerations to focus on. Where do we begin? Yet, what if my child accidentally falls into the pool when unattended?

Do we choose the house that's made of stone, wood and brick to keep up with the fashion of the day? Do we choose the one that has the double car garage to keep our vehicles in when the bad weather comes? So many things to consider in this major decision of our life.

Yet we all have a house that we possess and all are responsible as to how we maintain, as well as keep up the appearance of this house we possess. This house, being our own earthly bodies. There are so many people today in this world. God has created each one. Some have been bought with a price and this house [our life] after being bought with such riches and honor of our Savior Jesus Christ's blood that was shed at Calvary can never be bought, nor depreciate as some houses do today.

There may come a time when this earthly vessel we all posses, will come up against storms, and these storms if not careful, can beat upon our life and tend to wash us away from the firm foundation in which we are built upon. Such storms when undetected, will demolish the very ground on which it stands. Many lives have been drawn away from floods, even a mighty wind that has come along, and with no warning. We find ourselves searching for a way back to our place of security. Unable to see from the debris, these storms draw us away into a direction that look as a safe dwelling place. These places sometimes are not where we tend to want to be in life, yet we look for shelter or a place to hide.

Any foundation that has been disturbed by elements of this world will tend to wash away if it isn't stable enough to stand against the storms of life. We can be grounded in God, the creator of this universe that will withstand any storm and valley that we find our self in.

Some of us at one time have found our self on unsteady ground and our foundations have began to crumble around us. We have felt as if our hearts would never mend. Looking for a safe dwelling place, yet not able to grasp ahold of the anchor that appears to be drifting away into the storms of this life, We pull even harder onto the anchor. We try with all of our might to grab ahold and pull our self up from the waters that have kept rising. Each time, we began to go even further down into the storm. Our mind and thoughts have been so overwhelmed with the destruction happening around us, we lose focus of the life line being handed out to us in this sea of destruction. The Heavenly Father is this anchor. He can take ahold and lift our life out from the sinking sand we find our life going through and place us unto a stable foundation, especially designed by His Almighty hands. There is no such of a firm foundation that exist outside of our Father's hands that will be able to overcome the storms of this life. Regardless of any thing that may sound off to warn us in this world of the destruction coming, it will not be able to stop the destruction when it hits.

No matter the appearance of our earthly vessels, the home we are, no greater home will ever be able to measure up to the home we can posses with our Lord God. There are people that are looking for something in life that is missing in their life, and it's up to us to reach out and share the love and peace they can have in the Savior. We have all been given a gift, so why not use it to glorify our Lord? We have been given a life of grace and mercy, so let's reach out with the grace we have been given and help those right at the doors of our life. Let's invite them in out of the storms of this life, into the foundation we have in our Savior. We will begin to see their foundations stand as they turn to the true Master Builder that will never fall. Regardless of the storms they may encounter, they can know they will be forever in the arms of One who will always stand with them against any wilds the storms of life may present their way.

If we are all honest, we have been in the same boat some are in now. We feel we were on an unsinkable ship and nothing could be better. Then the storms came our way. Had it not been for our Father's love and hand that lifted us up out of a sea that was raging around us, we would had been forever lost in the storms of this life. Gods amazing love is forever true! His grace and mercy is extended out to us all. We have a job to do! We are to reach out to the one that is running and searching for a way of escape and turn their life to someone who will light the path of their life leading them into a life with a steady foundation. A place where they can find a home that will last for all eternity with a firm foundation in Jesus Christ our Lord.

HAGGAI 2:3-9
3."Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? And how do ye see it now?Is it not in your eyes as comparison of it as nothing?
4.Yet now be strong, O Zebbal, saith the Lord, be strong, O Joshua son of Josebech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord and work; for I am with you, saith the Lord of host:
5.According to the word that I covenanth with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.
6. For thus saith the Lord of host: Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
7.And I will shake all the nations, and the desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of host.
8.The silver is mine, saith the Lord of host.
9.The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former", saith the Lord of host: "and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of host. "

HAGGAI 2:19
19."Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as the vine and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree hath not brought forth; from this day will I bless you."