When I awoke this morning and came into the kitchen, Ron was sitting at the island counter, finishing his breakfast and reading his Bible – not uncommon – but I noticed he was intently involved in a passage.
“I’m reading from John 15,” he said. “‘Ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.'”
As he stood and got ready to leave, the look on his face and the shift in his body language said it all. After 43 years and close to that many trials together (or so it seems), I can read him – the tone of his voice, the look in his eyes, the agitation of his jaw, the tenseness of his muscles, the “ahem” in his throat. So I knew exactly what he was thinking and how he felt about it and what he had asked of the Lord this morning. We hugged briefly, knowing and understanding the unstated burden, common to both our hearts.
Shortly after, we said our goodbyes and I love you’s, and he was out the door to work. Later, I opened my Bible to the same passage, wanting to connect to my husband through the word spoken to him, wanting to understand what he had read and embrace the truths he had grasped.
“. . . ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”
As I read, I am reminded of the many times through our 43 years we’ve asked and it was given. I’m reminded of God’s faithfulness to Ron and me and our children, to give when we asked: provision in times of unemployment, healing in times of sickness, love and restoration in place of pain and hurt, deliverance from addiction, peace in the midst of suffering, and joy in the depths of grief.
I read John 15, thankful that I am a branch on Jesus, the vine, the source of my life; grateful that he loves me and promises that my joy may be complete; satisfied and amazed that he chose me and appointed me.
And once again, I, like Ron, ask. And I know it will be given. I’m a branch on His vine. My God is the gardener.
Believer, what do you need today? Ask Jesus, the true vine.
If you’re not sure you are a branch on the true vine, Jesus, click here and become a believer today.
