Father God, I trust in you… help me to trust in you…

                                                                   
1 Kings 17: 8-24

Both Elijah and the widow of Zarephath give us a picture of what it is to trust God.  Elijah followed God’s lead to leave despondence behind and go where he was nudged by God . Then he went  to seek out a person who up until then had been a stranger to him. The widow of Zarephath, responded compassionately  by a stranger from the desert asking for a simple thing, a drink of water. Then Elijah witnessed to God’s faithfulness, and the widow  listened to God’s promises and believed his statements, that God would provide. She generously and trustingly took her last flour, the end of her oil and what was left of her fuel to bake bread for the three of them – the prophet, her son and herself. It was then that Elijah and the widow began to witness the quiet miracle of the daily provision of flour and oil for several weeks, while others around them died of starvation during the long and severe drought of the land. Yes, the widow’s faith was tested – and Elijah’s too, no doubt –, when her son fell ill and clinically died. It was then that Elijah, prophet and ‘man of God’ prayerfully and trustingly called out to God to miraculously heal the child. After so many days and weeks of simply and faithfully living into God’s promises of provision, the miracle of a child being raised from the dead was not too impossible.  Will I take my cue from Elijah and the widow of Zarephath to leave despondency behind, to get up and go, to notice the nudging of God; to seek out a person to witness to; to compassionately respond; to listen to and eventually witness myself to God’s faithfulness and trustworthiness?  Will I trust in God?  Father God, help me to trust in you. Father God, I trust in you.  
 
If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there you hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.   (Psalm 139:6)
 
 “A single act of love makes the soul return to life.”
Saint MaximilianKolbe
 
Soli ad gloriam
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