Deborah McCarragher's Page

Have you been waiting for your spouse to come to knowledge of Jesus that will transform his life? Sometimes that personal revelation takes awhile... Read about Thomas in the Bible (John 20:19-29). I firmly believe in divine appointments. Thomas wasn't in the room when Jesus met with the disciples on the same evening He arose from the grave. Do you ever wonder why Thomas wasn't present with them?

Remember, this was the same Thomas that asked Jesus in John 14:5, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way"? Jesus then told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me". "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him".

Isn't it funny that we often don't recognize the Lord. We know that Thomas knew Him, but he chose not to believe that the other disciples saw Him that night in the upper room. I love how John says, in John 20:14, how Thomas insisted, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe". He was giving himself an ultimatum. Proof is often needed by the natural man. But alas, Thomas was a spiritual man, one who knew the Lord intimately and face to face. What hampered his ability to "see without proof" what he already knew in his heart? Or did he really believe what he had heard earlier?

John 20:26 says, "And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said "Peace to you!" Do you think Thomas had "peace" after the other disciples told him he "missed seeing Jesus"? Then in verse 27 we read, "Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." Jesus turned toward Thomas and addressed him personally. Isn't that just like our loving Lord, to meet us at our weakest point with His immeasurable grace and mercy? Your spouse also needs to have that transformational meeting with Jesus - face to face! His doubts and fears can be overcome when Jesus dialogs with them on their level, just like Thomas.

In this new year, let us revel in the joy that can be found in the "newness of life" as we are transformed into that new creation Paul talks about in II Corinthians. Seek God while He may be found and reach out to Him for salvation and understanding. He is waiting with open arms!

"The experience of salvation means that in your actual life things are really altered, you no longer look at things as you used to; your desires are new, old things have lost their power. If you are born again, the Spirit of God makes the alteration manifest in your actual life and reasoning, and when the crisis comes you are the most amazed person on earth at the wonderful difference there is in you. There is no possibility of imagining that you did it. It is this complete and amazing alteration that is the evidence that you are a saved soul." (My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers)

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new." II Corin. 5:17

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13