Our Great Hope

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, He Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses Matthew 8:17 KJV

Did you know that God is so intimately concerned with our physical needs that He has even counted the number of hairs on our head? We have a great hope that whether in this life or in the next; God will heal every disease, restore all that is broken and renew our youth like the eagles!

Whether sitting in a wheel chair in a nursing home or confined to a bed with a tracheotomy tube in order to breathe, Jesus offers the hope of complete and entire healing as one part of His promise of eternal life. That promise may be overlooked or forgotten by those in perfect health, but God does not forget. The same Jesus who was moved with compassion for lepers, the blind and the lame has promised to wipe every tear from our eyes. He not only has compassion for our aches, pains and disabilities but the Bible tells us that He took all of these onto his shoulders and carried them.

If we continue reading in the chapter of Isaiah that Matthew quotes we see in the very next verse that it is by His stripes that we are healed. God is so very concerned for every one of our pains and infirmities that He allowed a whip to fall across the shoulders of Jesus. As He was wounded again and again we were being healed. Weak arms will be lifted, failing voices will sing again and deaf ears will hear the shepherd’s voice! When the things of earth have passed we will stand strong and eternally young in the presence of our ageless King!

From the Rising of the Sun

These last 2 years we have faced the greatest tests to our faith as a family. It began as an automobile accident in which someone rammed the back of my wife’s new car at a red light. Nancy experienced months of pain in her hand and her car which we had just made the first payment on was crushed. We were angry and frustrated but God was working in ways we could not have imagined. Because of the pain and suffering in her hand and her loss of work my wife decided to seek legal help to recover damages. Immediately the lawyer requested a complete MRI of both Nancy’s neck and lower back. While no injury was discovered, the images revealed a mass that turned out to be stage three cancer.

From then on each month brought with it new problems and pains followed by surgery and months of Chemotherapy. Together we faced despair, discouragement and even anger, and yet God was drawing us closer to Him and to each other. It has not been a straight line road to victory but we have grown so much along the way. The Bible tells us that from the rising of the sun all the way to the end of the day; God’s name is to be praised. Both at the times when things are bright and sunny, as well as when shadows begin to lengthen God is good and worthy of praise. He has ordered our days, our steps and even our every breath. I confess to having thanked God very little and yet I have learned to trust Him more. I do appreciate the prayers of those who have followed us through this time. The last tests came back to us this week that Nancy is now cancer free and we are deeply thankful. God has been teaching and working behind the scenes of our lives in ways far beyond anything we could ever think or even imagine. It has all been His grace and grace alone. God has chosen to walk on a path over waves to come to us in the chaos and darkness of our storms. Now we know more than ever that to the final setting of the sun He will always be worthy of all our praise!

 

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The Things that Are Seen

2 Corinthians 4:18 while we look not on the things which are seen but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are  not seen are eternal

When I took this photo I just wanted to frame the river in the rigging of the boat. What was not seen by my eye was the Cross. That cross no longer seen is the one most eternal picture in the mind and heart of God!