Listening In Our Circumstances

By Melanie Hoover

Our cicumstances surround us and many times overwhelm us. But are we really seeing our circumstances as they truly are? Melanie Hoover challenges us to take a deep breath, look again, and listen for a word of comfort and reassurance from Jesus. She shares nine stories of people desperately struggling to survive their circumstances. But no matter what any of us face, Jesus always reminds us to "Fear not!" Hear that word again as you take up Melanie's third book of meditations in her "Listening" series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pelican Wings
• Release date: May 2, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311492425

Melanie Hoover

Melanie Hoover is a Bible teacher from Florida who posts "opinionary" at her blog.

Book preview

Listening In Our Circumstances

Volume three of the series on Listening

by Melanie Hoover

Isaiah 55:1 Incline your ear, and come to me;

Hear/listen and obey, that your soul may live;

Copyright © 2014 by Melanie Hibma Hoover

Smashwords Edition

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient at Smashwords.com.

Scripture quotations from KJV modernized by the author.

Cover Design: Rick Hoover

The book cover shows a detail from a painting by Ivan Aivazovsky called The Ninth Wave. This work from 1850 is considered his masterpiece and has been called the most beautiful painting in Russia. It is displayed in the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg.

Born in Crimea in 1817, to an Armenian family, the quality of his paintings made him one of the most respected artists in Russia. In his 60-year career Aivazovsky painted more than 6,000 works. He was awarded the Gold Medal at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts and another gold medal from Pope Gregory XVI. Anton Chekhov's compliment, Worthy of Aivazovsky's brush, became a popular way of describing something ineffably lovely.

CONTENTS

First Story

Second Story

Third Story

Fourth Story

Fifth Story

Sixth Story

Seventh Story

Eighth Story

Ninth Story

About the Author

Wisdom from Oswald Chambers

We are not fundamentally free; external ‘circumstances’ are not in our hands, they are in God’s hands, the one thing in which we are free is in our personal relationship to God. We are not responsible for the ‘circumstances’ we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those ‘circumstances’ to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be.

From: Henry Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day, April 12:

You can never know the truth of your circumstances unless you have first heard from Jesus.

Oswald Chambers and Henry Blackaby are two of the devotionals that my husband and I read daily. Their contribution to the Christian world has and continues to be the challenge we need to examine our life in Christ. Both daily devotionals are in print and online and we recommend them highly. MH

Chapter One

This is my third book on ‘listening.’ I want to talk about what God does as we ‘LISTEN’ for His voice in our ‘circumstances’ and how He does guide and direct our lives through them. Our testimony on the far side of our circumstances, I assure you, will exceed our wildest imaginations. I have seen God at work for many years and am in awe of His great grace, mercy and love.

If you become bewildered by ‘circumstances’ in your life, Jesus can reorient you to Himself through the Scriptures.

There are several stories that I have to share. Some of them are still unfolding. I know God does good for those whose hearts are inclined to ‘listen’ and ‘obey.' Even as I was writing, a friend who was elderly and had pancreatic cancer passed away. He attended a weekly Bible Study in our church and often brought his wife with him. Two months before he died the Pastor went to his home and gave him Last Rites, commending his soul to the Lord. The fellow recovered and bounced back! He still had the cancer. That was his circumstance. But he was given more time, which I believe he used wisely. Now he is with Jesus, no longer in pain. That is a win-win situation for the believer. What we can do in our circumstances is the subject I want to explore.

The First Story.

Some dear friends of ours in Australia started out with ‘Circumstances.’ The husband had heart problems and was taking blood thinners, had some internal bleeding. He was rushed to the hospital and almost lost his life before they could find the source. A few days later his wife fell and broke her wrist and her femur and had to have surgery. Two of their children live near them. They are strong Christians, all of them, parents, children and the children’s spouses.

This is what the daughter wrote three days after her mom's fall. She was already giving a testimony to God’s great goodness in the midst of the ‘circumstances.’

Counting the blessings: The List!

1. I was already driving to mum and dad's when the accident happened.

2. The paramedics attending to mum we're not only highly capable but greatly compassionate.

3. My sister not only lives around the corner from mum and dad but was able to be 'on call' if dad needed anything while I followed mum to the