"Be Of Good Courage!" / The Shaving Lesson

"Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord."  

Psalm 31:24

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning!"  

Psalm 30:5b

This was one of those kind of weeks.  It started out difficult, then got harder, and then, well...God showed up.  Don't get me wrong.  He was there all the time. He promised us...

"Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you.  He will not leave you nor forsake you."

Deuteronomy 31:6

And again He tells us:

"And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you.  He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed."

Deuteronomy 31:8

I knew when I selected my "One Word for 2014", "STRENGTHEN", that I could expect to endure some tests of strength.  After all, how can one become stronger without exercise? Whether it be physical strength, mental strength, or spiritual strength; the only way to become stronger is to work at it.  We don't gain strength lying in a hammock and sipping lemonade all day.  

But I didn't expect the tests to start out so difficult. I thought I could build up to them gradually. Apparently that's not the way God chose to teach me at this point. 

Sadly the week started out with a dear friend suddenly passing on to be with the Lord. She was a young woman, the age of my own sons, and I've known her since she was a teenager. It was quite a shock, and I've spent a good part of the week working through the emotions of this sad event.  However, I comfort myself with the knowledge that she is with the Lord, and that Heaven's choir just got more powerful with the addition of her beautiful singing voice.

Then my own dear son, who is battling cancer, has had an extremely painful week.  The pain medications just were not helping, and he was really suffering. Plus he is waiting to hear whether or not the insurance company will approve further chemotherapy for him.  Even though my son is 40 years old and lives 1500 miles away, is married to a wonderful wife and has a 14 year old son, as any mother knows, when your child is hurting, you hurt as well. You want to go to battle for him...and kiss away his pain if only you could.  At least that's how I felt. 

Knowing that another mother lost her dear child this week, which for that particular friend, it was the second one to die and the only child she had left...making it a double sorrow for her...and then feeling so helpless about my own son's situation...well, it was a difficult thing to deal with, to put it mildly.

But then, last night something really precious happened.  My sweet daughter in law posted some pictures on Facebook of a milestone event in the life of my grandson.  As I said above, my grandson is fourteen years old.  The last time we saw him a few months ago he was already proud that he was taller than his mother and his grandma (me).  Since then, I've heard that he has grown another couple of inches, and his shoe size is a men's 14!  

Well, last night he had his first shaving lesson! His dad, (my son) showed him step by step how to shave...and it was all captured in pictures!

What a keepsake for my grandson to treasure in years to come...to be able to look back at a very special time when his daddy and he shared in this rite of passage into manhood together.  And what a tremendous experience for my son to treasure in his heart...being there for his son as he enters puberty.

You see, my son realizes that, unless there is a miracle out there for him, he may not be able to share in very many milestone experiences in his son's life. This is not an easy thing for me to write, or to accept. I am still praying for a miracle.

He did it!!

I know that the Lord is with us. He is with our son. He will never leave us nor forsake us. "He is the One who goes before you."  I know that God is preparing the way.  However, like my friend, I may have to give up my child someday. Until then, I won't give up hope.

"Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord."

Psalm 31:24

Job well done!!!

Oh, and by the way, my son's oncologist was able to prescribe a better pain medication for our son that has helped to alleviate the constant pain he has been dealing with all week. As you can see by the smile on his face above, by last evening he was able to enjoy the special time with his family and end the week on a more positive note.  This was a great comfort to me as well...just to see that smiling face gave me great hope.

Thank you Lord...for small miracles while we wait.

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled

John 14:1-3 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

Tonight I have heard some disturbing news.  A dear couple, whom I have known since childhood, having gone to school together, have lost their son suddenly.  He was only 29 years old, and the father of two children.  At noon he went in to lie down, and when his father went in to check on him, he was not breathing, and could not be revived. Just that quickly, God had called him home. No warning, no time to pray for him, no time to say good-bye...gone, in a moment's time.  It seems cruel in some ways, not fair...we don't understand why...apparently he even had a fiance'... He was too young...still had his whole life ahead of him.  But he is gone.  My heart is breaking for that family...his parents, his children, his fiance', his brother and others who loved him.

I guess this hits me really hard because we have been dealing with life and death issues in our own family...our son, who is only 37, is battling a very deadly disease, cancer.  And yet, we have high hopes...the Doctors have been somewhat encouraging in that they believe they have caught it in time to treat it and hopefully bring about a cure.  We've been given time to pray for him, to help him fight for his life, to spend time with him and encourage him and love him. For this kindness we are eternally grateful to God.

Yet, none of us are guaranteed any time on this earth...we are here because God brought us into existence and placed us here. But no man knows how many days, months, years or decades he may live.  I am not trying to be morbid...but truthful.  This life that we've been given is exactly that...a gift.  There are no guarantees of long life, good health, or financial wealth.  There is a fragile thread that holds us between life and death. A "silver cord" that holds us here...but then comes the real life...the real joy...

"Someday the silver cord will break, and I no more as now shall sing;

But, oh, the joy when I shall wake within the palace of the King!"

Chorus:

"And I shall see Him face to face and tell the story--saved by grace;

And I shall see Him face to face, and tell the story--saved by grace."

"Someday my earthly house will fall, I cannot tell how soon 'twill be;

But this I know, my All in All has now a place in heaven for me."

(Chorus)

"Someday, when fades the golden sun beneath the rosy-tinted west,

My blessed Lord will say, "Well done!" And I shall enter into rest.

(Chorus)

"Someday, till then I'll watch and wait, My lamp all trimmed and burning bright,

That when my Saviour opes the gate, My soul to Him may take its flight!"

(Chorus:)

"And I shall see Him face to face, and tell the story--saved by grace!

And I shall see Him face to face, and tell the story, saved by grace."

I love this old-fashioned hymn, "Saved by Grace", written by Fanny Crosby (1820-1915), whom I believe was blind.  It is a beautiful testimony of her faith in Christ and His promise to prepare a place for her in heaven.  I, too, claim this promise, and look forward to that day "when I shall wake within the palace of the King!"

My prayers are with my friends tonight as they are grieving this great loss in their family. There are no words that can fully comfort them at this time. I can only pray that God's Holy Spirit, our Great Comforter, will undergird them with His Mighty Arms, and hold them close and calm their hearts. I pray that they will think about their son, safe in the arms of Jesus, and in the palace of the King.  We have this great hope of heaven, through Christ our Lord. Amen.