Even though I never really know what a week will hold, I naively begin each week thinking the opposite. I'm embarrassed at how arrogant and ignorant I can be when it comes to thinking that I know the future and that I control the future. It amazes me how much security I draw from things that aren't guaranteed. I rely on my day planner, my "smart" phone, normal weather, good health, money in the bank, friends, family, and my own strength and understanding.
Yet there are very few things that are guaranteed. In fact, the only things that are guaranteed are those established by God. Because God is just, sin will always result in chaos/destruction/death. Because God is good, He will always extend his forgiveness and righteousness to those that simply follow Him in faith. Because God is truth, His word and His way will always be the reality. Because God is victorious, He will always bring healing. Because God is faithful, He will return and render the completion of all these things. Of these things we can be certain. Upon these things we can base our day and our week.
I write these things as Angela receives her first chemo treatment. We are experiencing a sobering moment of the reality of sin and the grace of God. For the first time in a long time, I don't have any clue what this week will look like and for the first time in a long time, I'm okay with it. Our situation forces us to simply roll with the punches and do nothing except turn to God and open our hearts more fully to His voice and His touch.
My prayer today is, "O, Lord, bring your healing touch now. Move in power. Teach me your way and your will. Thank you for all that you have done, all that you are doing, and all that you have yet to do."
If you could join with us in this prayer, we would appreciate your time and your heart in this matter. Thanks again to all those praying, helping, and loving us. We are overwhelmed (in a good way) with the gift that you are to us.
Have a great day and a great week responding to the real certainties of life.
I have found the following Scriptures sobering and encouraging today...
Proverbs 3:5 (NIV) "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;"
Proverbs 22:19 (NIV) "So that your trust may be in the LORD, I teach you today, even you."
Job 31:2-40 (NIV) "2 For what is man's lot from God above, his heritage from the Almighty on high? 3 Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong? 4 Does he not see my ways and count my every step? 5 "If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit-- 6 let God weigh me in honest scales and he will know that I am blameless-- 7 if my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled, 8 then may others eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted. 9 "If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door, 10 then may my wife grind another man's grain, and may other men sleep with her. 11 For that would have been shameful, a sin to be judged. 12 It is a fire that burns to Destruction; it would have uprooted my harvest. 13 "If I have denied justice to my menservants and maidservants when they had a grievance against me, 14 what will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when called to account? 15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers? 16 "If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary, 17 if I have kept my bread to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless-- 18 but from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my birth I guided the widow-- 19 if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a garment, 20 and his heart did not bless me for warming him with the fleece from my sheep, 21 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, knowing that I had influence in court, 22 then let my arm fall from the shoulder, let it be broken off at the joint. 23 For I dreaded destruction from God, and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things. 24 "If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, 'You are my security,' 25 if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained, 26 if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor, 27 so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage, 28 then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high. 29 "If I have rejoiced at my enemy's misfortune or gloated over the trouble that came to him-- 30 I have not allowed my mouth to sin by invoking a curse against his life-- 31 if the men of my household have never said, 'Who has not had his fill of Job's meat?'-- 32 but no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveler-- 33 if I have concealed my sin as men do, by hiding my guilt in my heart 34 because I so feared the crowd and so dreaded the contempt of the clans that I kept silent and would not go outside-- 35 ("Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense--let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing. 36 Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown. 37 I would give him an account of my every step; like a prince I would approach him.)-- 38 "if my land cries out against me and all its furrows are wet with tears, 39 if I have devoured its yield without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants, 40 then let briers come up instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley." The words of Job are ended."
Psalm 9:10 (NIV) "Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you."
Romans 5:8-11 (NIV) "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."