...Been awhile since my last post...much has transpired over the last couple of months.
My mother has been in the hospital for nearly two months, literally fighting for her life after an undetected tumor ruptured in her abdomen, perforating her lower intestine and causing sepsis to flow into the recesses of that once sterile environment. She is currently stable and taking her first steps on the long road to recovery.
trying to take all of this in and make sense of it has and still is taking some doing.
We as a family are grateful to God that mom is still with us, but wonder where this is all going to end.
Publicly we hold on to hope and trust in the sovereignty of God, knowing that He has this entire situation in His hands. Privately, however, we wonder why? We look at our mother and question what God is doing through all of this...what purpose will this serve?
Currently it is serving to strengthen our faith and teach us that there definitely are more important things in life than the "pursuit of happiness." i can't think of another time when my immediately family has been closer and our faith in God stronger.
The Holiday's typically bring people together around the themes of peace, love, joy, enabling us to set aside the smallness of our pride and petty differences that tend to divide and disrupt the unity of our homes.
Although our family spent Christmas celebrating in a hospital room, we were together and we were united in hope and love.
It seems like more than a couple weeks have past since the turning of the new year, but time has become an invisible enemy with whom we battle desperately. Time is powerful. Especially when allied with discouragement. These two foes war for our last vestiges of hope and determination, but we will not be taken down so easily.
Our hope is in our savior's love, who gave all for us. So we join in the anthem of creation to Christ our King and rejoice in Him whose love is constant and ever faithful to those who put their trust in Him...
No one is prepared when tragedy strikes. We watch other people go through difficult times and wonder silently, how would I handle that situation if it were to happen to me?
My dad and I have pondered that question in some conversations we've had over the last several weeks. As pastors, we typically have some words of encouragement and a scripture verse or two to offer people when they are going through a crisis, but when the shoe is on the other foot, those words can seem hollow and a bit trite...if we let them.
Those words, those powerful words, like hope, love, and peace, when coupled with the anointing of the Spirit of God, truly are transformational.
There is nothing more helpful, nothing more hopeful, than those simple words. When we try and conjure them up in and of ourselves they are hollow, trite and overused. But when they are breathed through the life giving spirit of God into our consciousness...there is nothing that compares, nothing that can offer what God offers through those realities. Peace, Hope, Love...
I hope those are realities in your life today and everyday.
