In today’s #ThoughtfulThursday Joy shares a story of God as the ‘Grand Weaver’ …
In his Book ‘Walking from East to West’ 1 Ravi Zacharias explains that while lying on a bed of suicide at the age of 17 in a hospital room, his mother read to him the words of Jesus, in John 14:19, “Because I live, you also will live,”.
Ravi’s life changed forever as he began to think “This may be my only hope: A new way of living. Life as defined by the Author of Life.” He committed his life to Christ, praying that “Jesus if You are the one who gives life as it is meant to be, I want it. Please get me out of this hospital bed well, and I promise I will leave no stone unturned in my pursuit of truth.” In a time of helplessness and unbelief the truth of Scripture brought hope to Zacharias, and he became a Christian apologist and evangelist, reaching out to and encouraging thousands of people during his lifetime ministry.
He travelled the world focusing predominantly on Christianity’s answers to life’s great existential questions and explaining the Christian message of hope and redemption. Although living in Canada from his early 20’s he never lost his love for his homeland of India and ministered in Chennai and Delhi frequently. On one of his visits he was persuaded to visit his grandmother’s grave. (Ravi’s great-great-great-grandmother shocked her Nambudiri family, the highest caste of the Hindu priesthood, by converting to Christianity).
Almost thirty years to the day after his decision to give his life to Jesus, Ravi and his wife found his grandmother’s grave. They found the stone marking her grave. With a bucket of water and a small brush, the gardener cleared off the years of caked-on dirt. To their utter surprise, under her name, a verse of scripture gradually appeared. It read:
John 14:19 “Because I live, you shall live also.”
God had been there in the shadows of Ravi’s life all along and in those early days bringing into Ravi’s life just the right people at the right time, waiting for him to accept Jesus as lord and Saviour.
God is also there in the shadows of our lives and He does the same for us, our Heavenly Father pulls together all the varied strands of our lives to reveal His grand design. So we do not need to fear our struggles and trials; rather to embrace them in the knowledge that the ‘Grand Weaver’ 2 will take all of our struggles, questions, disappointments and fears and use them to build our faith and increasingly make us into the men and women He has designed us to be; weaving together the threads of our lives for His purpose and glory.
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
Reference:
- Walking from East to West Ravi Zacharias ISBN 978-0-310-32496-6
- The Grand Weaver Ravi Zacharias ISBN 978-0-310-32495-9