Nelson doesn’t doubt that eventually God will bring him to a good place of blessing. The question is, when? Will it be on the earth or not till heaven?
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November 11, 2022
“You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.” (Psalm 65:11-12)
This talks about God “letting people ride over our heads” the same way God might have “let” cancer ride over me. God lets things happen, but then brings us into a spacious or good place, a place of abundance.
God is in favor of the crucible. He’s in favor of the testing and trials that refine us for his glory. Then after it’s all over, he brings us out into a good place. It makes sense, and it doesn’t, all at the same time.
Of course he wants his children to be better people. Of course we want it the easy way, but would we repent? Would we become better if things always went our way? Sorry to say, I don’t think so.
Thank you, Lord, for the trials, even though I wouldn’t have chosen this. Maybe somewhere back in time, I prayed for this to happen. Maybe I prayed I would be closer to you, Lord and this is the way it’s shaking out. I don’t know.
Maybe it’s discipline. I think of Ken who was just diagnosed with Colon Cancer. He told me last night. He’s been given a couple years tops, 7-9 months if he forgoes the chemo route. He was devastated, of course.
It’s a tough one to get that news all at once. He told me over and over that it came Halloween night. I pray, Lord, that you would help him absorb the news and that he wouldn’t suffer as much as I have.
I pray you would give him wisdom to know if he should get the treatment or not. It didn’t sound like it at first, but I’m sure with the pressure of his family, he might opt to do it.
I thought I was alone and even wrote about it in the blog the other day, that there are lots of people praying and giving their love, but none of them has cancer with me. They all go home feeling good, making plans for the future. But not me… and now not Ken. We are in our own boat.
Thank you Lord that I have someone to go through this with. Not that I wouldn’t change it for Ken and make him healthy again. He was beating himself up for not getting checked out earlier. Join the club.
C.S.Lewis said that friendship comes when you find another person and after talking a bit, you say, “Oh yeah? I have that too!” You find that camaraderie about a book, an issue, a struggle, or whatever other common ground you stand on together.
Ken sat on my porch the other day, and he told me that he had said, “It could happen to me just as easy.” And my response was, “Well, then we’ll be in this together.” I don’t recall saying that, but I probably did. And now it’s true. We are in this together.
We don’t have the same thing, but now that we have cancer, we never get rid of it. We just fight it. It becomes a full time job. Hard to get your mind around that at first, but your regular job tends to fade away as the sacrifices you have to make for the fight become greater and more time-consuming, not to mention your energy level tanking out. Then you start chemo, and the sickness really starts.
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We are buying stuff like crazy for our new place. We replaced a couple floors, the toilet, the bathroom vanity, and have done tons of painting. The church has answered in strength and has come over day after day with next week’s deadline for the move-in.
So cool how they are helping the way they are. We have been so blessed by them, and we’ve only been going there a couple months. It’s a picture of the body of Christ and how it should operate.
I got the right catheter reinstalled this afternoon in my right lung. That will solve the problem of having fluid there all the time so I can’t breathe. I’m excited to be able to solve that ourselves instead of having to go in to the clinic every time. Thank you, Lord, for rallying all these people around us and for the miracle of our little house.
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“Give thanks to the Lord… for his wonders to the sons of men.” (Psalm 107:21)