Happy Friday Friends!
I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as this beautiful new day, this new gift & opportunity, dawns!
This week I don't have some profound thought, some great revelation I want to share with you. No, this week I will ultimately end with a rhetorical question or two.
I want to start off by sharing two quick stories with you.
Story 1
A few months ago a man who is very dear to me was experiencing severe back pain. The pain was getting worse and worse. He went to urgent care and then ultimately ended up in the emergency room. When he finally got to a doctor we were told he was having a heart attack. He would immediately be transferred by ambulance from one hospital to another - one that specializes in cardiac care. He would be taken straight into surgery to clear the blockage. I immediately texted my prayer warriors - 4 men I immediately reach out to when prayer is needed - and asked them to pray for this man, for the doctors, for this situation. Everything went great. I thanked God.
A few weeks later the man was told their was another blockage in his heart. Everyone near him was up in arms about how the doctors could have missed this before. I prayed. I asked God for his healing, for knowledge & wisdom for the doctors. Another surgery was planned. I continued to pray. I asked others to pray for this man. The day of the surgery came, the doctors went in and...there was no blockage. I thanked God.
Story 2
On Monday Gehrig, my 15-year old Tender Warrior, took a shot to his knee during football practice. When I got home that night he told me about his injury, how it happened, how it felt, etc. I was concerned...it didn't look or sound good. My Beautiful Bride called a woman from her bible study whose husband is an Orthopedic Surgeon. Yes he saw kids, yes they take our insurance, definitely call the office first thing in the morning and they will get him in. I prayed. Gehrig went to the appointment and the doctor told us he thought he had torn his ACL. The doctor sent G to get an MRI to make sure. He got the MRI and we had an appointment scheduled for yesterday to get the results of the MRI. My wife and I prayed. We asked family and friends to pray. My mind went to next steps, how we would overcome this challenge, being brave for my boy though my own heart hurt, etc. I prayed his ACL wouldn't be torn, that the doctors would have knowledge & wisdom and, regardless of the outcome, I committed this all to Him.
G, Kath and I went to the appointment yesterday. The doctor walked in and said, "Do you believe in the power of prayer?" He then went on to explain that the results of the MRI not only showed no tear of the ACL, nothing was torn. The MCL was strained, as were some surrounding muscles, however there was no need to reconstruct anything. The feeling was quite honestly surreal.
My Bride and I had talked after the first story I shared with you. I asked her, "Where does the power of prayer fit in if we are mad, angry and/or cynical?" You see, the man and his family were mad at the doctors. "How could they miss this? How could they make this type of mistake?" But what if they didn't make a mistake? What if there really was an obstruction but God touched his heart and removed it? Are we, in our thoughts & words, leaving room for the power of prayer?
Yesterday as I drove back to work from Gehrig's appointment I felt overwhelmed. I was thoroughly convinced his ACL was torn...the doctor said he was convinced it was torn as well. And yet, there is no tear. What I had hoped for, what I had prayed for had happened and I couldn't wrap my head around it. My spirit felt peace, all I could keep saying was "thank you Lord"...overwhelmed is the only adjective I can think of at this moment.
So my rhetorical questions for all of us this morning are:
Are we leaving the door open for God to answer prayers, to perform miracles in our lives? Are we walking by faith, casting all of our cares on Him, and trusting Him? Are we putting God in a box?
I wish I could tell you that in both cases I knew everything would go as I hoped, as I prayed. I wish I could tell you that there was no worry, that my heart was never heavy. I can't tell you that because it wouldn't be true. The only thing I can honestly tell you is that I repeatedly went back to God and laid these things at His feet. Yes, I realize that the first time I took them to Him He picked them up and carried them. Going back over and over again wasn't for God, it was for me. It wasn't about Him not listening, caring, etc. It was about my weakness. My only strength is in Him and I know that.
I feel I must also touch on something else: what if these two situations hadn't gone the way I hoped, the way I prayed? The truth is Friends, I have many, many more examples in my life of the times things didn't go the way I hoped, the way I prayed. And yet I look back and in every single case God carried and delivered me, He carried and delivered my family. It wasn't always what I wanted, or what I thought I wanted, however He has always been faithful to care for my heart, for our needs...even if it didn't look the way I hoped or wanted it to look. I don't want to give the idea that "hey, pray and God will do what you say." This is not what I have found to be true in my life. What I have found however is that He will give me knowledge, wisdom & strength to make it through - through, not around - any situation and He will give peace & rest when I earnestly seek Him through the storms.
The choices about what we will believe - and therefore what we will say and do - are ours alone to make. My hope & prayer this morning is that we will believe, that we will find the faith, to leave the door open for God to answer prayers and that we will not place Him in a box.
Please let don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.
Kevin
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