(July 26, 2020) Robert and Maureen McQuillan bring a timely challenge…

Every day TV news in our state of Victoria (and worldwide for that matter) announces more new covid-19 cases and people are talking either about the next stage of lockdown, the loss of business, revenue and jobs.

And the big questions: ‘Where’s it all going to end, what’s next, and what will tomorrow bring?’

Tomorrow?
It’s a matter of living one day at a time – and making the best of every day! The reality is that none of us what tomorrow will bring.

Oh we can make plans for each new tomorrow and believe we can/will accomplish them… and most times we will without any hassles, especially when we rely on the Holy Spirit’s help.

But… life is life and every now and then something goes amiss and we can get thrown for a sixer, sometimes a catastrophe, some horrible disaster that can ruin us in some or several ways hits us.

And when that happens to Christians, our faith can be so shattered that we could easily lose confidence in ourselves, even our trust in our caring God. We can even feel that life isn’t worth living or caring about, that we don’t want to go on because we can’t work it out.

Incredible faith
If you saw last week’s outstanding Channel 7 special feature In the Blink of an Eye you’d have watched how two Christian families boldly declared that they still trust their God even though they’d lost four young children in a moment in a most horrifying tragedy.

The pre-announcements read ‘It was the tragedy that rocked the nation. In February this year, an alleged drunk driver ploughed his out-of-control ute into a group of seven carefree children as they walked to get an ice cream from the shops.’

Sienna (8) Angelina (12) and Antony (13) Abdallah died at the scene alongside cousin Veronique Sakr (11). Five months on, the victims’ courageous families shared their emotional and powerful story of forgiveness and deep faith in this 7NEWS Spotlight special presentation.

Presenter Michael Usher, deeply touched himself, said, ‘They want to say thank you… they were overwhelmed by all of the Australians that came out and supported them.’

In the special, the families told about why they have forgiven the alleged drunk driver responsible for the horror crash. They didn’t say they don’t want justice, but they are very forgiving and have a huge faith that gives them an incredible strength to get through this horror.

Anyone who watched this presentation would have been deeply touched, even shedding tears (as we did). The outstanding highlight was the families’ sharing of their faith, their trust in their God, their praise of Jesus. As we wrote in Facebook, here was over an hour of one of the greatest public witnessing to Jesus that we’ve heard in a long time… and on Channel 7 for countless viewers to witness! (Link: 7news-spotlight-in-the-blink-of-an-eye)

‘They don’t want bitterness; they don’t want anger in their lives’ Michael Usher explained. ‘One of the miracle stories of this is that young Charbel Kassas, one of the cousins. He was left in a coma for two months and his poor mum couldn’t even go to the hospital for the first three days because she was in such deep shock. But little Charbel, who they thought they were going to lose, has come through… he survived. He’s their miracle story in all of the sadness and grief.’

In the midst of tragedy, God was honoured, not queried as often happens when devastating troubles hit, and strong faith in the Lord was repeatedly highlighted. The families spoke of courageously moving ahead in faith, mentioning ‘theír land of healing’ – a scenic area they own with a chapel where they can pray and quietly meditate on God’s word.

What a blessing of good news in the midst of daily bad news reports!

What about you?
Going through some tragedy at this time, maybe not like the above but something that’s throwing you for a sixer too? Having doubts about your faith and God himself?

Are you like some others, both Christian and non-Christian, really unsure about your tomorrow – your job (have even lost your job), your home, business, marriage, even sanity… something else?

If so, may the testimony above encourage you to find your own ‘land of healing’ where you discover afresh the love and comfort of the God who will never fail you, never leave you no matter what tragedy this fallen world may unexpectedly hit any of us with.

Christians have a loving heavenly Father! And the Bible is his word, a manual that we can fully trust and rely on! Scriptures such as these are so assuring…

• Philippians 4:13 Message, ‘Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the one who makes me who I am.’
• Hebrews 13:5, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’
• As God’s spiritual children by faith we can even grasp Old Testament scriptures such as Deuteronomy 31:8,‘The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.’
• And Psalm 37:28, ‘For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.’

Tomorrow?
Way back in 1950 – an interesting year in itself, with tragedies and developments – singer/evangelist Ira Stanphill composed a precious hymn that is so apt for today – I Know Who Holds Tomorrow.

Recently snippets keep wafting through our minds over the past few days…‘I don’t know about tomorrow, I just live for day to day… I don’t worry o’er the future…today I’ll walk beside him… for he knows what lies ahead.’ And particularly the middle verse –

‘Many things about tomorrow
I don’t seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.’

Now this is really good news in the midst of ongoing bad news pandemic reports! Even though we may never be on TV like the family above, let’s be witnessing about the one who holds our hand … blessed our Lord.

God gives opportunities – let’s use phone, Skype, email and other means to share good news and the power of forgiveness and the power of love with others! God is in charge of all our tomorrows!

No matter what’s going down, here’s a good news declaration for 2020…

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Dr Robert and Maureen McQuillan’s links are connectingwithyou333@gmail.com and Facebook (Scripture/other emphases in this Onliner ours. Appreciated images/pics: various general sources). Links: Carol Round’s Let Your Light Shine for all to See ________________________________________________________________________________