He is With Us Each Step of the Way

Floyd has had an uneventful week.  After all the roller coaster ups and downs we've been through with his situation, uneventful weeks are a huge blessing and answer to prayer!!

Last Sunday marked 14 years that we have been in South Africa.  The years have flown by.  I vividly remember so many things from our transition here - starting over yet once more to pioneer something, but this time in our "older" years.  We had a confidence that God was leading us, but there was also trepidation because we were no longer young and strong.  We need not have feared - God was with us each step of the way!  It's been wonderful to see how He has met us.

The last few years were not part of the plan - to put it mildly!  But, as always, God has been with us.  Someday we'll understand all that He is doing in this season.  He is as trustworthy in these hard years as He's been in all the good, fruitful years.  He is unchanging!

I still have one more test that I need to do, but the doctors have said that surgery is my best option.  It is daunting.  There is a high possibility that a number of the surrounding organs would be negatively impacted.  I continue to pray for a miracle of healing!!  I'm asking God to make the tumor shrivel up and die.  He tells us we can ask!!  So I'm boldly asking.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."  Matthew 11:28,29

"Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; and....that he may have mercy on you.  For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are those who wait for Him."  Isaiah 30:18

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills - from whence comes my help?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth."  Psalm 121:1,2

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.' "  Lamentations 3:22-24

I could not make it through even one day without the Lord's salvation, compassion, help, mercy, goodness, and rest.  He is so good, so faithful!  My eyes stay focused on Him in yet another turn on our unexpected journey.

On our unexpected journey these last few years, I have clung to the verse that His "grace is sufficient" for every need and His "power made perfect in weakness."  I would never have survived without the truth of that promise being manifested in my life daily.  I am so grateful.

As I've faced this new challenge, I remind myself of this powerful truth continually.  Anxiety rears its head occasionally.  Some days I feel nervous when I think of the big surgery that I'm told I need.  A couple times I found myself feeling very alone.  But I have to also say that underneath everything is the consistent, never-failing, always available, strong sense of His grace!  It doesn't go away.  It doesn't disappear when faced with the "wreckage of adversity."  It has truly been a grace for the long haul of this journey!   

When the anxiety or nervousness pops up, I find it such a help to speak out the truth of God's promises from the Word.  I quote them, I sing them, I pray them - and pretty soon my peace is restored.  Doing this feels like a "tool" God has placed in my hand to use that is anointed by His spirit to combat any weapon the enemy throws my way.  I am grateful for the weapons of warfare that God has given us. 

" 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."  2 Corinthians 12:9

"For the word of God is alive and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."  Hebrews 4:12

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."  Psalm 119:105

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."  Hebrews 4:16

"He gives more grace."  James 4:6

I continue to pray for miracles - while I rest in His wonderful, all sufficient grace that carries me day by day!  His "wraparound presence" surrounds me.