5 Bible Verses that Have Made a Difference in My Life

I have been a Christian for over 40 years, and during that time I've found reading the Bible always brings encouragement and hope to a heavy heart. Even when times are good, it is inspiring to learn more about the wonderful God we serve. Listed below are 5 of my favorite encouragement verses and how they have impacted my life.

Safe In the Palm of His Hand
John 6:37- Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don't let go. (The Message)

This verse is a beautiful picture of Jesus closing his hand around us, holding us firmly and safely in His palm, and protecting us from the things which would drag us away from Him. It's empowering to remember that anything that would harm us must first pass through His grasp before it ever touches us. It's a wonderful reminder that nothing can pull us away from His love-not even our own actions.

I became a Christian as a teenager, and I immediately wanted to be involved in my church. Hoping to channel that enthusiasm, the church leaders put me on the committee which was planning the promotion for the church's building fund. The adults were working on a brochure, which I was supposed to help them write. It was exciting to be performing an important service, and to be working along side a group of mature Christians-or so I thought.

After the first meeting it was clear that these "mature" believers were more concerned about whether or not to have an air conditioner in the new sanctuary than they were about spiritual matters. They argued and fought through the entire meeting. I got my eyes off the creator and onto the creation, and it was discouraging. For 6 years after that day I refused to go to church, read the Bible or even consider anything relating to Christianity. "If that's what Christians are like, why would I want to be one?" I reasoned.

During those 6 years I made some terrible choices and ended up with a lot of problems. I married an alcoholic, had a child and then had her stolen away from me. That was the lowest point in my life, and I feared I would have a nervous breakdown. But in the midst of my misery I found unexpected strength from an unexpected source. I wasn't facing the future alone. The God I had rejected and turned away from was still there beside me, helping me cope with the devastating loss, ready to forgive and heal. Jesus held me safely in the palm of His hand and never once let me go, even when I gave up on Him. How amazing to think that, as Max Lucado puts it, "The one who holds all the aces holds your heart."

Chosen For God's Sake
Isaiah 43:25 - "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. (New International Version)

Fulton Sheen once said, "God does not love us because we are valuable. We are valuable because God loves us." That's the essence of this verse, and the essence of the entire Bible. God chooses to love us just because He wants to, and not because of anything we do to earn His love. It's the reason he called an unknown man named Abram from an obscure town in ancient Mesopotamia, and the same reason he made a little Jewish girl named Esther a queen. It's the reason he made a young girl from a little town in Pennsylvania a Christian, and it's the same reason He has called you.

When I turned my back on Jesus, I spent 2 years studying the great religions of the world, trying to decide which was true. Every one of them stressed works as a means of progressing in faith or attaining a god's favor. All religions were people reaching up, trying to touch the face of God. Only the Bible spoke of God reaching down, seeking to touch the hearts of people, willing to forgive their lack of love for Him.

When I returned to the faith of my youth, God forgave me even for deserting Him! It is reassuring to know that, since there was no sin in my past too great for Him to blot out, there is none in my future too big, either. The more I learn about Him, the more confident I am in His love and acceptance.

Because He chooses to adopt us into His family, we can relax and be ourselves, use the gifts He gave us, and love others fully. There is no measuring up required, no penance to be paid to earn His love. We don't have to "do good" just to keep our standing with God.

He held on to me despite all my efforts to run from him. This verse reminds me daily that I can stand strong in my faith having the assurance that God loves me not because of who I am, but because of who He is. That will never change.

Blessed Beyond Belief
Malachi 3:10- Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. (New International Version)

When we become part of God's family, we also become part of the outworking of His plan for the earth. We are the hands He uses to do His work here. If He has given us the job, then surely He will also give us the means to do the work. Many times we have specific needs, but we don't take them to God because we think they aren't important enough to bother Him with. But God says to ask for everything we need, and if it is truly a need, He will help. I experienced this first hand in the context of my stained glass business.

A few years back we were having a very slow summer and the business was really lacking funds for many of the supplies we needed. Since I sell my work online, I use a lot of packing and shipping materials to complete my transactions. It had been an especially bad week, and I had a few orders to fill but no packing materials. I got so down I finally whined to God that He wasn't helping me at all. "I don't even have bubble wrap to ship my suncatchers," I cried.

Feeling better after getting the problem off my chest, I turned to other duties. Soon I was taking a bag of trash to the shopping center's dumpster, no longer thinking about my need. There on the top of the dumpster, not touching any trash, was the biggest roll of bubble wrap I have ever seen! It was just there, and no one was anywhere around. I laughed out loud. There could not have been a better answer if God Himself had opened heaven and handed it to me. Later in the week my neighbor came to my house with a pile of bubble wrap and asked if I could use it. Since then, I have received bubble wrap from a number of sources, all of it free. Now every time I wrap a suncatcher to mail I think of this verse and thank God.

Don't Focus on How Big Your Problem is, Focus on How Big Your God Is
Ephesians 3:20- God can do anything, you know - far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. (The Message)

In the "Hebrew Names Version" of the Bible, the terms used are "able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think." I love this verse because, as a writer, I have a big imagination. I can think of some pretty wild situations, and come up with unusual ideas at the drop of a hat. But this verse says that God can even outdo me. He is the one who plants our creativity within our hearts. He is the one who gives our lives purpose and supplies the tools we need to accomplish His goals for us.

But the second half of the verse is even more encouraging. God doesn't force us to do His will. He doesn't send lightning bolts from heaven when we disappoint Him. Instead, He is that still, small voice deep within us that whispers encouragement when we make right choices, and directs us away from temptation. He nudges, and we respond. My prayer is that I always feel those gentle nudges and follow that gentle leading.

God took one of the greatest tragedies in my life, the loss of my baby girl, and used it to help others. As a mother who had experienced having a child taken, I was able to reach out to other mothers in the same situation, and offer them hope and encouragement. Only God could imagine a way of using something so awful in my life to bring hope into the lives of others.

God Carries Us Through Our Trials
Isaiah 43:2 - "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you." (NASB)

This verse is another precious assurance that God is always with us. In fact, He never promises to keep us from troubles or fears, but He does promise to walk through them right along side of us. God knows what is best for us, and He only allows things to happen which will shape and mold us to His purpose. No problem will come our way without His purpose, presence, and permission.

When Hurricane Charley rampaged across our area we had just purchased a stained glass store. It is located about a mile from the Gulf of Mexico, and was at definite risk for the immense storm surge that weather experts predicted that day. We spent hours preparing the store for the hurricane, taking panels out of the window, covering machinery with trash bags and getting everything off the floor in case of flooding. We fully realized that the storm could quickly blow out the windows, lift off the roof and destroy everything we owned. Ditto for our home located a few miles away. We were at the mercy of the oncoming storm.

It was frightening to think of the storm coming ashore just north of us as the weatherman predicted, but when we learned it had taken a sudden turn into Charlotte Harbor and increased to a Category 4 hurricane in minutes, we thought it was all over for us. The eye of the storm hit 10 miles from our home, and we huddled in the scant shelter of our bedroom listening to the winds and rain roar all around us. At that precise moment, when fear threatened to overwhelm me, I suddenly realized nothing that really mattered in my life had changed. God was still in control of all I was and all I owned. If He had allowed us to buy this store to use in His service, He would either preserve it, or provide a way for us to replace it. I prayed a prayer of thanksgiving, turning the properties and our lives over to Him, and immediately felt a surge of relief. It was like an ocean wave flooding over me. I was at perfect peace while the storm raged around me.

Charley proved to be a rapidly moving storm, and it was gone far sooner than we expected. Our home had weathered the storm with virtually no damage. With power lines down and debris littering the roads, we couldn't check on our store, but when we turned on the local radio station, the on-air reporter was driving down the very road where it was located. He reported there was no damage to signs or buildings he passed, and we had yet another assurance that God had protected us and our possessions.

There is no "chance" or "act of nature" for a Christian. Our God is fully in control and He will never abandon us. He walked through the hurricane with us, and He will walk with you through the storms of your life if you let Him. The Bible tells us over and over that our Father delights in us, His children. Nothing touches us that has not first passed through the filter of His love.

Sources:
Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica.

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.

THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.