VL - Issue 43- April 22

STEPPING FORWARD
Trust God, Even When
You Don’t Understand
THIS STORY TOOK PLACE during my
incarceration, and it taught me a spiritual
lesson that helped me through some of
the most questioning times in my spiritual
walk. I believe it can help you in your
journey with the Lord as well.
I remember that day like it was yesterday.
I had been asked to pray for a guy that
I had never seen in the chapel before. He
had just received the terrible news that his
mother was in an ICU and not expected
to live. So I laid my hands upon him and
started praying. Immediately, I heard the
word “kidneys” come up in my spirit.
Now, I won’t speak for everyone, but
kidneys aren’t what first comes to mind
when I think of someone dying. I quickly
decided to step out in faith and believe that
I was hearing from God. And I prayed for
his mother’s kidneys.
As soon as the word “kidneys” left my
mouth, I felt him tremble under my hand.
BY KORY GORDON
When I finished praying, he looked at me
and said, “I know that was from God because
I never told you that my mother is
dying from double kidney failure.”
Listen, at that moment, I felt like I had
the faith to walk on water. Excitement and
boldness flooded through my veins. I was
convinced that his mother was going to
step out of that hospital room miraculously
healed. The following week, I shared the
testimony with everyone in the chapel. I
boldly told them God would heal the guy’s
mother. But then, sadly, a couple of days
later, she died.
News of her death was like a punch to
the gut. Not only did I hurt for this guy
who’d just lost his mother, but I was confused
and ashamed. I had stood before a
chapel full of men and made a fool out of
myself. I prayed for understanding, but it
seemed as if God had gone silent.
Still, I continued with my mini stry. One
day the guy who had lost his mother came
into the chapel. As I looked at him, I heard
the Lord say to my spirit, “It was never
about her. It was about her son.”
Suddenly, understanding filled my
heart. This guy, before our prayer together,
hadn’t wanted anything to do with God.
Now, he was involved in every Christian
activity the chapel offered. Every time I
saw him, he had a Bible in his hand. He
had even committed to moving into the
faith-based dorm.
When the Lord first spoke the word “kidneys”
to me, it wasn’t because He was going
to heal her. That was my assumption,
and I was wrong. Instead, God was pursuing
one of His lost sons. And He was using
this difficult situation to lay hold of the
guy’s heart by revealing to him that God
was real and present in his life. My prayer
for his mother’s kidneys had ignited his
faith and drawn him into a relationship
with Christ.
I learned an important lesson from this:
We can trust God even when things don’t
go our way or when we don’t understand
why something happened.
We only get to see a small portion of the
picture God is painting. His thoughts are
higher than our thoughts, and His ways
are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8–9).
We simply must not lean on our limited
understanding (Proverbs 3:5–6). We have
to rest on the simple truths that He is God
and He loves us.
Maybe you’re going through a difficult
season right now. Maybe your heart is
overwhelmed as you search for answers.
Remember, in this life, you will only know
in part, but God sees the whole picture,
and He is at work behind the scenes. You
can be confident in Him, for He is the
all-seeing, all-knowing, and all-powerful
God. And that same God loves you!
KORY GORDON spent 11 years in incarceration, where he
gave his life to Christ. He is now an evangelist, sharing the Good
News that set him free. In 2021, he founded Damascus Road, a
nonprofit residential discipleship program battling addiction,
recidivism, and homelessness. Email damascusroad2021@
gmail.com for more info.
VICTORIOUSLIVINGMAGAZINE.COM
Issue 02 / 2022
29