Thursday, October 11, 2012

The Ant and the Contact Lens...


This is a story that originates from a book written by Elisabeth Elliot written in 1995 titled Keep a Quiet Heart. Ms. Elliot attributes the story to a first-person account sent to her by Brenda Foltz of Princeton, Minnesota, who maintained she wrote it based upon an event that occurred during her first rock-climbing experience. I love this story because it serves as a reminder to have faith in God each and every day! He's there for you no matter how big or small your problems are! 

The Ant and The Contact.


Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff. She was standing on a ledge where she was taking a breather during this, her first rock climb. As she rested there, the safety rope snapped against her eye and knocked out her contact lens.

“Great,” she thought. “Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry.” She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge. But it just wasn't there!

She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she may find her contact lens.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains.

She thought of the Bible verse, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.” She thought, “Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me.”

Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, “Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?”
            
Well, that would be startling enough. But you know why the climber saw it?

An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it!



The story doesn't end there.

Brenda’s father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption:

“Lord, I don’t know why You want me to carry this thing. I can’t eat it, and it’s awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I’ll carry it for You.”



God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called. 

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