"This Much I Know"

 "Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also." (John 14:19 KJV)

  "Who then will condemn us? No one - for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us." (Romans 8:34 NLT)

 Having had much taken from me, it would be okay for me to be discouraged, as if that would actually make anything better, because it won't! As a matter of fact, the more we feel discouraged by something that might come against us, the harder it is to feel any sort of comfort, especially when we are looking for pity, which is a pitiful replacement for comfort.

 I have learned something very important over the years: God's grace is all that I need! The more I am pressed, the more I can feel the need to press into God; only He can be enough to satisfy what I need, even if the world is being pulled apart around me. We only have a few really good opportunities to let people see the faith within us is real; something some people are given, and then they blow it by falling apart. 

 Yesterday we had a guest speaker, Pastor Sandy Adams, who taught on the Book of Job. You would have thought by now that I would have heard enough about Job's troubles, as if the troubles were enough to make anything in my life feel less important. The main point of Sandy's message had to do with knowing why; as in, "Why did you allow this to happen, God?" 

 The point was rather interesting, because Job never did get an answer! As Sandy put it, "Job never got to read the first and second chapters of the Book!" Something bad happens to us, and we wonder, WHY! It was the first thing I did when I got home that night; I feel down on the floor and cried out, "Why, God?" I was so shaken up, that I shook so hard, I thought I was going to break apart or explode inside. 

 I know that I shared this before, but somehow, I felt something come over me, as if there was a calm in me, I had never experienced before. I went to bed, sleep only a few hours, and went straight back to the hospital to be with my wife. Right then and there, I knew that God needed to be praised, regardless of the circumstance, I needed to praise Him, just for being God! 

 I had brought my Bible, which I opened up and started reading to Marianne, even though she was pretty much in a coma. The nurse on duty told me that the position of her hands was not a good sign, because they were stretched out away from her body, indicating trauma to her brain. Well, I figured that was most likely true, and told her that she would be okay, and that trauma would subside. 

 After several days, her hands were no longer extended out, but were resting close to her side; and I felt as though God was going to heal her, no matter what the staff at the hospital would say. Now, after all these years, I am pretty much convinced that God left off working on her and has been working on me!

 She has pretty much remained the same; while I have been stretched in a thousand different directions; it feels as though I am a ball of dough, rolled out, stretched, rolled back into a ball, and then rolled out again and again; just to be able to praise Him, again and again! And guess what: I am okay with that...

"Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.") No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us." (Romans 8:35-37 NLT)