I have spent most of this year battaling illnesses, sickness, and bad health for myself. But then when you throw in Stellan, Dakota, Kayleigh, and the other babies I have been following, and fallen in love with, it stirs the pot.
How can a God, one who loves each of every one of HIS children, give and take away life at free will? How can we as humans, but also HIS children pray and pray until we are prayed out? How can we join millions of Christians around the world pray for babies, and others that are sick, and still watch God take some home to Heaven, leave some on earth to suffer and fight for their lives, and let others get sicker and put Dr.'s in their lives who can't do anything.
I have been learning these past few weeks how to pray scripture. How to use scripture when I pray. So, because of this, I have been scouring the Bible for my favorite verses. The following are some of the verses that I have been praying.
Psalms 91: 14-16
"Because he loves me," says the Lord, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."
Zephaniah 3: 17
" The LORD our God is with you, HE is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, HE will quiet you with HIS love, HE will rejoice over you with singing."
John 9:3
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
2 Corinthians 12: 7-10 ( The Message)
"Because of the extravagance of those revelations,
and so I wouldn't get a big head,
I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations.
Satan's angel did his best to get me down;
What he in fact did was push me to my knees.
No danger then of walking around high and mighty!
At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it.
Three times I did that, and then HE told me,
"My grace is enough; it's all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness."
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen.
I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift.
It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness.
Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer,
these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks.
I just let Christ take over!
And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become."
and so I wouldn't get a big head,
I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations.
Satan's angel did his best to get me down;
What he in fact did was push me to my knees.
No danger then of walking around high and mighty!
At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it.
Three times I did that, and then HE told me,
"My grace is enough; it's all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness."
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen.
I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift.
It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness.
Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer,
these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks.
I just let Christ take over!
And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become."
3 comments:
Thank you, Emily, for this. I have struggled a lot with prayer since we prayed and prayed and God still took Logan back to heaven. Should we pray for what we want in our lives or pray for God's will...however tough that might be on us. It's good to know that I'm not the only one who struggles with these kinds of questions. After learning of Kayleigh's passing. . .I'm sure many have these same types of questions. God Bless You!
I go to FEFC, I'm on your facebook page, and I follow your blog.
Thanks for sharing this, Emily. I admire your strength. Keep praying and clinging to those verses!
Still praying for you and your health.
I used to struggle with the seeming unfairness of life in light of God being a loving God. However, learning more about all the attributes of God and that one attribute does not triumph over another, has helped me put things in a different perspective. My questions are now more along the lines of how can a Holy and Just God not destroy the earth with all of its sin, darkness and evil and people turning away from Him. I am humbled and awed that a sinner such as I can even approach the throne of the Lord God of the universe and that He shows me mercy and grace and listens to my prayers. I think the church has failed Christians because of the overemphasis of God's Love without balancing it out by teaching of His other attributes. When we even get a small understanding of ALL His attributes, suddenly we look at life events very differently.
God had a perfect plan for the earth and sickness, pain and death were not in His perfect plan. However, when Adam and Eve sinned, pain, suffering and death came into the earth.
The Bible has never promised Christians that we will not have suffering or pain. However, the Bible does teach us that the Holy spirit groans with us in our suffering. Yes we should pray and petition God with the desires of our hearts. However, the true test of our maturity in Christ is understanding that God is sovereign and even when He does not answer our prayers in the way we ask, being able to lean on Him as our comforter and still being able to praise Him in our suffering.
In there end, there is a redemption and restoration through the Good News. Because of God's plan for our redemption through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, all believers will have a glorified body. A body free from pain and suffering. We can rejoice in this hope and have compassion for those who do not have this hope because of their rejection of God and the free gift of salvation He has given us.
Sorry for being so long winded :)!
I think MckMama says it best when going through the trials with Stellan. Brent & Michelle Riggs both also say it well at riggsfamily.blogspot.com as they struggle with their child's illness. What a testimony when the world can watch us praise God in our pain and sorrow - a peculiar people indeed!
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