* The moment I hit “publish” on this blog post, we got the call from LeBonheur. God has miraculously opened a bed in the sleep monitoring unit (which is booked ahead for months), so we leave tomorrow and the testing will begin. This is a total God-thing, and we are SO excited for the early entry!!!
Good Monday, my friends. What a blessing you, your prayers, and your words of encouragement have been to our entire family! I wish my words could do justice to what is really in and on my heart this morning. They can’t, but these are some of the categories of things swirling in my mind and heart: Gratitude. Hope. Peace. Rest. Joy.
Gratitude, because God graciously opened our eyes to many tiny details of His provision and care for us all. He allowed us to see much of His going before us in every way. He did so many things for us in His timing, protection, and people. We do not feel “slighted” by Him because we are walking thorugh this present situation… although we would love for our son to be completly healthy and we’d love to have no trials of life at all… we are seeing God’s Faith-Full-ness in so many new and varied ways.
A beautiful new truth hit me the other day when I was reading in Gen. 22 about Abraham obediently offering Isaac as a sacrifice to the Lord. (It’s one of my most favorite Biblical chapters and stories, btw.) Abraham’s faith is what usually stands out in this passage – especially seen in verse 5 when he tells his servants that “I and the young man will go yonder and worship and come and come again to you”. “I and the young man will go… and will come back…” Hebrews 11 tells us that Abraham could say that, and was able to raise that knife to slay his son, because he reasoned that God, if needed, could/would raise Isaac from the dead.
However, the Lord revealed something new to me from this incredible story. We often focus on Abraham’s faith in God – which is huge. But even bigger and more wonderful than Abraham’s faith is GOD’s FAITH-FULNESS. This was not only a test of Abraham’s faith, but a test given so that Abraham could see God’s faithfulness to the Promises God had given.
What I learned from this new truth is that when we go through trials that test our faith – we are not only being tested to reveal how faithful we are (and where we need to grow), but also so that we can see how faithful God is.
When it doesn’t make human sense, we can rest assured that God’s faithfulness is on the line – and He will NEVER be unfaithful to Himself and His promises. If we will choose to put our confidence in God, instead of what we can look around and see with our human eyes, we will experience His faithfulness in special and intimate ways. It is in God’s faithfulness, even if in nothing else, that we can be grateful.
Hope, because of God’s faithfulness, we can put our hope in Him for whatever the next hours hold.
Peace, because that’s the result of putting our hope in God.
Rest, mental rest because that’s what happens when the heart and mind are at peace. Physical rest because we slept on and off for most of yesterday. 😉
Joy, because when God’s children are grateful for what God is doing, placing their hope in Him, and blanketed by his peace, while filled with His rest… how can there not be Joy?
We made it safely home on Saturday night, and slept on and off all day on Sunday, catching up on our rest. I repacked our suitcases (in a much neater fashion than the hurriedly packing on Friday night), and we are ready to go whenever we get the call. It may be today or tomorrow, but at the latest, we’ll leave Tuesday afternoon to go back for the rest of the week. (Btw, if this is making no sense to you at all, read this post, then this one.)
{I just realized that I never got to the thing I really wanted to share on this post!… So here it is ~}
On Friday morning, in my quiet time, the Name of God, Jesus, Holy Spirit I studied was “My Helper”. It was just the next name in the list that I study through each year. The verse where this beautiful name is found is Hebrews 13:6.
“So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?”
In my journal I Friday morning, I wrote these words:
“You are My Helper. O Lord, what beautiful Truth! I cling to you as My Helper, James’ Helper, Nathan’s Helper, and Abigail’s Helper — Thank you, My Lord, My Helper!
Because of this, I take comfort and confidence. I will not be seized with alarm, fear, dread, or terror. What a powerful Name, O Jesus – My Helper. Please Help us today!”
I had no idea on Friday morning that we would desperately NEED God as our Helper on Friday night. But that’s exactly what He was. Because of God as our Helper, and because so many of you prayed for us, we were not seized with alarm, fear, dread, or terror as we rushed to the emergency rooms. God Helped us take comfort and confidence in Him – He was My Helper.
O.K. Enough about me… let’s talk about you, sweet friends~
None of us know what this day will hold, but God does. He IS YOUR Helper. If you are putting your trust in Him – obeying God for today and trusting Him for tomorrow… you will be able to proclaim,
“I take comfort and am encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm. I will not fear or dread or be terrified.”
What a beautiful truth for all of us! The Lord is my Helper; I will not…(fill in the blank) because He will… (fill in the blank). Let’s trust Him even when things don’t make sense. How about it?
Much love to you all~ I’ll check in when we know the next step. Thanks for being a part of our lives! I’m praying for you too!
Jennifer