Secret To Success

If you haven’t noticed, life is tough and as our government moves farther and farther away from God, the tougher it is going to get for ALL of us. Keep reading! I am not bringing you a doom and gloom message, far from it!!! I’m giving you the “secret to success!”

In Maria Augusta Trapp’s book entitled, The Story Of The Trapp Family Singers, Maria tells how her husband Georg Von Trapp had his money safely in a bank in England, but Hitler’s squeeze had begun to take its toll on banking in Austria, having cut off all tourism to Austria. All the banks were floundering. Out of the giant heart of Georg Von Trapp, came an immense gift of a huge deposit into his friends bank, to help the female bank owner all he could, to help sustain the bank, but the bank failed. Almost ALL of Georg’s money was gone overnight!

Georg was distraught. He blamed himself. He feared for his children’s future. A son in college becoming a doctor, could no longer be assisted. He would have to pay his own way. 8 of their 10 servants were let go. The very large mansion was closed on the bottom two floors and the large family lived on the top floor. They took in boarders to help cover the cost of the monthly ongoing bills. But from the beginning of the horrific news, Maria was in her words was “euphoric”! She saw the good in all of it! How you ask? Well first the children, especially the older ones never copped an attitude. They never once hurled angry accusatory remarks of carelessness or misjudgment at their father. Their son in college took the news well. Maria saw the goodness of the children in their willingness and eagerness in fact, to roll up their sleeves and help the family. She told her husband,”Had we not lost all our money, we may never have known what glorious children we have!” Georg came to agree.

Then came their rich neighbors and friends who made it known immediately that they simply could not spare a dime, when a dime wasn’t even asked for or insinuated! Condescending and looked down on, Georg was angry but Maria was delighted! “Now you know who your TRUE friends are!” She told him.

With every attack, she saw the goodness of God! And in the midst of the “mess” a man came to their house that critiqued their family singing time,  that was “just for fun” and the Von Trapp Family Singers was born. Little did they know at the time, that losing all the money in the bank was just a drop in the bucket of what was to come.

As I have shared before, faced with losing all that they owned, Hitler taking over, losing their ability to worship God, Georg sat his family down and laid it all out. “Do we stay, give up our faith to keep our family, our friends and maybe, hopefully a place over our heads?” The children all chose Christ! Their family singing time, that they could never have believed, fine tuned by the new visitor to their house, who NEVER would have come had they not lost their money, was to be their way out of Hitler’s Austria.

This so spoke to me! It was confirmation of what I had already been hearing in my spirit. Surrender! Full surrender! Surrender of my will, my future, my money. How can I make my home with Him in Heaven if I’m sooo tied to here? Who really is my God? Who really owns the key to my heart? Do I REALLY trust Him? Who is my God? Is money or God? I f I can’t bear the thought of giving Him my money, then He is not my God. Money is the #1 relationship check of where you are with your Creator. I’m asking myself these things. I don’t want to trade my home in heaven by hanging onto this life in any way! Abraham gave his son. What are you willing to give?

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Blessings