Two little gifts this week that cheered me up. One was a "prayer shawl" from a complete stranger who was praying for me. Her church has a prayer shawl ministry where they pray over the yarn and knit the shawls together and then pray over each one in the church. I literally feel covered in prayer when I drape this over me. What a special gift from one of God's angels on Earth who doesn't even know me, but knows I needed prayers. The second was a knitted cross in my pocket from a friend who has cancer. How unselfish of her to be thinking of me, while she is the one undergoing chemo and going through so much herself. It is amazing the kind of people God puts in our paths each day. No matter what suffering you are going through, it is important to rejoice in it. I know it sounds strange. Rejoice in my suffering? I can't imagine going through every illness, surgery, or trial in my life with a chip on my shoulder. How depressing would that be? Instead, look to God and rejoice in the good things He has given you. He has given me amazing family and friends who stand by me no matter what. These little gifts from God in the form of friends and strangers to let me know it will all be ok! My boyfriend David, who has never had surgery or really ever been sick, had a hard time with this surgery. His first surgery in the year we've been dating. (Pretty good I almost made it a year! Almost a record!) Here he is feeding me ice chips in recovery, even if I didn't want them. What a true man of God to stick by my side in sickness and in health, in the good times and the bad. Of course the surgery didn't go off without my usual oddities. I was up all night in pain and had maxed out on meds. So I went back this morning, and because of my connective tissue disease, the tissue in my nose couldn't support the splints and stitches they had put in. So I ended up having them all removed today. It's always something! Now that the splints are out, recovery has been much better today. I thank God for keeping me safe through surgery #12, and giving me a wonderful Christian doctor who made me feel at ease through the whole process. I rejoice in the fact that God is using my suffering to help others. I love reading the emails, notes, and posts from people who have gotten something out of the blog entries. It means so much to me that through all of this, I can maybe touch one person's life and bring them closer to God. If all of this suffering is for that, then it is worth it.
"We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." -Romans 5:3-5
From Jesus Today Devotional (same author as Jesus Calling)
No comments:
Post a Comment