I cut my spiritual teeth on the old King James Version of the Bible, so most of my memorizing as a youngster was done in old English. I related best to the many word pictures in Scripture, and one of them I still recite goes like this: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.”
Mom explained it this way: “You should throw your bread on the water, and eventually it’ll come back to you… buttered.”
That didn’t clarify a whole lot for me, but I figured if God could smear butter on wet, soggy bread and send it back, he must be an incredible guy.
I was close.
The bread-verse is simply God’s unique way of saying if we let go of something we want to control, willingly putting it into his care, he’ll eventually put it into better condition than it was when we let it go. And today I had a buttered-bread-back experience related to this little blog site.
After the Lord prompted me to start posting 3 years ago, he morphed the site into a blog that encouraged widows, then caused a widow-friend to tell another widow about it, who contacted me about writing a book. She “happened” to have influence at a publishing company and put me in touch with an editor, who coaxed me to ask for endorsements, which put me in touch with Nancy Leigh DeMoss, who today recorded a week’s worth of radio programs (with me), challenging widows to seek encouragement through my little book and offering it as the resource on her radio broadcast, “Revive Our Hearts.”
Nancy Leigh has a global listening audience of multiple thousands, which means widows all over the place will be encouraged, and suddenly I understood about the buttered-bread. Embarking on widowhood was a project I never wanted, but as the above chain of events began to unfold, my nervousness pushed me to hand the whole lot over to God (i.e. casting it on the waters), knowing that if I didn’t, I would surely make a mess.
And so it became his blog, his book, his broadcast, his everything. In my ineptness, I knew I could trust God to take care of the things I knew I couldn’t. And as he always does, he followed through exactly as he said.
The Lord is teaching me to put whatever I “have” into his care, without hesitating. But so often I waver. How come? It’s probably because I want to retain control. Of course none of us has the control we think we do, whether it’s our schedules, our investments, our influence, our children, our husbands, or anything else. We don’t control them today, and won’t tomorrow.
Maybe the smartest thing to do, then, is to throw it all on the waters and trust that the God of buttered bread will do the rest.
“Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” (Ecclesiastes 11:1)
Margaret, How thankful we are that you cast your blog upon the waters!! What a blessing it has been in my life to read your words of widom from the lord each day.The bread of life just keeps coming in. Thanksfor your obedience and sensitivity to the Lord’s voice.When will your radio program with Nancy be aired?Can’t wait to hear your voice.Blessings to you.Much love in Christ!!!
How little do we know that when we walk through a difficult season in our life, God is preparing us to inspire and bless others with what we went through and move us into the next chapter of our lives. You are such a blessed inspiration to us Margaret.
Margaret, thank you very much for your words of casting all upon God, and receiving His best back. And thanks for the visual of the heart-shaped butter. The Lord knew that I needed this application today!
I too am very excited to hear the radio broadcasts – a whole week of them! Please tell us as soon as you know the dates…
Yes, how thankful I am that you cast your blog upon the waters!! Although I am a single woman and not a widow, the words of life you share minister to me and encourage me. Thank you for your obedience and awareness in daily life and sharing with us all! Blessings!
God is faithful and can take the least of us and bring Glory and Honor to Him as we allow Him control. You have been such an example of allowing God to use your broken heart and pain to bring Glory and Honor to HIM! Please let us all know when the program will air. I listen to 90.9 KCBI here in the Dallas area and I hear Nancy frequently. Looking forward to hearing your voice as I always love your blog! Blessings to you!
This is exciting to hear. Gina Cho is featured with Betsy Corning this week.
Keep On Keeping On, with the Lord. His Words, to us, through you, are what we ALL need to read / hear / absorb / respond to, whether we are married, single, divorced, widowed.
I pray that all, reading this Blog, let Jesus have HIS Way with us, starting right now. Life Changing Moments !!
How exciting, Margaret! I’ve been widowed much longer than you….but you blog has meant so much to me…..and it has encouraged my heart to see what God has done for you. Isn’t it amazing that when you ‘go with God’…..he’ll take you places you never dreamed you’d go….and the journey is AWESOME!
God bless you!
Hi Margaret,
I’m a little behind in your posts, and this one is another humdinger for me. Love the insight into casting our bread upon the water, and turning over to His control what I don’t control anyways.
Thanks!
Love,
Terry
Wonderful! And Congratulations Margaret. I pray the Lord will multiply your faithfulness and skill for His glory!
This is wonderful, Margaret. How special to be used by the Lord in this way. He has truly blessed you with talent to express yourself in such a practical, and god-honoring way. I’ll try to listen as much as I am able.
Can’t wait to hear you on the radio. When will it be on? Your blog site continues to bless my life and so many of my widow friends that I have passed your site on to. I too am very grateful that you cast your blog onto the waters!
Congratulations on getting on the air! I’ll be listening for
the interviews — we carry Nancy’s program every weekday
afternoon.