Ben

And there it was.  The answer to my question about whether I could work for Jesus every day of my life.  Here was the help I required to be strong and persevere; the gift to help me with everything that I needed to do to follow Jesus.  When I had finished Isaac’s story I stood up and spread my arms wide above my head.  Praising God I asked that he send the Holy Spirit on me so that I could be faithful, courageous and wise.  I did not feel any earth-shattering response, but as the years passed and I worked with people in the hospital, studied for my exams, met people at social events, it was as if there was a different dimension to my life.

My questions have not ended.  They go on and on.  But now I know who to ask for the answers – and God has never failed me.  Sometimes the response does not come at once and I have to wait.  Sometimes he answers no and closes a door.  But there are times when he answers yes and flings the door wide open so that I can go through it to the next stage of the journey. 

There was one more note from Benjamin at the end of Isaac’s story.

Benjamin

Ben

‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.’

Ben

The pages blurred as my eyes filled with tears.  These words, which I later discovered were from Paul’s second letter to Timothy, were Ben’s farewell to me.  I knew there was still part of his original letter to read, but I understood that these words were the last he had written to me.  The tears overflowed and streamed down my face – but they were tears of sadness mixed with tears of joy.  The sadness was for myself for the loss of a man with whom I would have loved to spend more time; the joy was that he had gone home, to his Saviour, Yeshua, Messiah.