This age-old adage is usually accurate, you know. However, due to the circumstances that I find myself in, there are scores of you who have suggested that you are, in fact, assuming otherwise. Many of you have said to me or have sent word to me that, due to my hiatus from writing here, you are “worried” or are “wondering if I am OK.” So, I am glad to take this opportunity to write what I feel truly is “Cold Water.”
The Lord, our Lord, does not change. He has not wavered one bit in His commitment to me. His great promise to uphold me with His strong, righteous right arm rings ever true in my heart and mind.
Tuesday (22nd) of this week marks three months since the wreck. Three months. My life, by the great help of God, seems so “normal” to me. I do not find myself struggling to rise in the mornings because of not wanting to face each day. Rather, God in His mercy grants much joy in what He has given me in life: a Savior like Christ who has born all my grief, a Savior like Jesus who sympathizes in all my weaknesses…
I often find myself wondering, “What more can He give than to me He has given?” I know that this quote is referring to the Scriptures and, in some way, so am I. Both the living Word who is Christ and the Scriptures as the Word of God are so wonderfully helpful and sweet to me right now.
Consider this verse that I have often noted here:
Romans 8:32 “He Who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all…how will He not, with Him, freely give us all things?”
I have Christ. God forsook Him for me—left Him on the tree to die. Why?
Well, a few clear reasons come to mind: God forsook His Son so that He might now freely grant me all that is needed for life and for godliness; so that, in the ages to come, He might show me the surpassing glories of that same dear Son; and so that, in the present, in the mundane, in the rising and lying down, in the child rearing, He might be my all in all. He gave His Own so that He Himself might really, experientially have first place in all things that pertain to me and my life.
I do realize that I have been all over the place in jotting down these thoughts, but the fact is: my heart is quite full—full of gratitude towards you all for your concern and prayers and full of thankfulness towards God for His Loving-kindness that endures forever.
I am also, in fact, busy these days. This is not an excuse for my lack of updating the blog, but it is a reason nonetheless. I was out of pocket last week, and even as I write, I am not at home (well, I am at what was home for me for ten years of my life—my parents house), but I am on the way to an eventful two weeks. The schedule on the right of this page tells the specifics of how you can pray for me. Please do remember that I am traveling, preaching, and visiting with friends, as well as being a dad to Ellie and Isaac. So, do pray for us.
Monday, April 21
No News... Good News?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
What a blessing to see the Lord take care of His child. Lanny says when we get bumped as Christians, what is inside gets spilled out. I have seen Christ spill out..
He is true to His word, is He not?
"The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in the time of trouble.
Those who know Your Name will trust in You for You Lord have never forsaken those who seek You." Psalm 9
So good to hear that you are doing so well. I find myself checking often to see how the 3 of you are. So good to hear that the Lord has proven himself faithful on your behalf.
The lord, The Lord, the compassionate and gracious God , slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands. Ex. 33:6-7
Octavius Winslow - Morning Thoughts
APRIL 22.
"Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." Isaiah 53:4
In order to the perfection of His character as the High Priest of His people, as the Brother born for adversity, in order to be "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," He must Himself suffer. He must know from painful experience what sorrow meant- what a wounded spirit and a broken bleeding heart, a burdened and a beclouded mind, were. In this school He must be taught, and disciplined, and trained; He must "learn obedience by the things which He suffered;" He must be made "perfect through sufferings." And oh, how deeply has He been taught, and how thoroughly has He been trained, and how well has He learned thus to sympathize with a suffering Church! You have gone, it may be, with your trouble to your earthly friend; you have unfolded your tale of woe, have unveiled every feeling and emotion. But, ah! how have the vacant countenance, the wandering eye, the listless air, the cold response, told you that your friend, with all his love, could not enter into your case! The care that darkened your brow had never shaded his- the sorrow that lacerated your heart had never touched his- the cup you were drinking he had never tasted. What was lacking? Sympathy, growing out of an identity of circumstance. You have gone to another. He has trod that path before you, He has passed through that very trouble, His spirit has been accustomed to grief, His heart schooled in trial, sorrow in some of its acutest forms has been His companion; and now He is prepared to bend upon you a melting eye, to lend an attentive ear and a feeling heart, and to say, "Brother, I have known all, I have felt all, I have passed through all- I can sympathize with all." That Friend of friends, that Brother of brothers, is Jesus. He has gone before you; He has left a fragrance on the brim of that very cup you are now drinking; He has bedewed with tears and left the traces of His blood on that very path along which you are now walking; He has been taught in that very school in which you are now learning. Then what encouragement to take your case, in the sweet simplicity of faith, and lay it before the Lord! to go and tell Jesus, confessing to Him, and over Him, the sin which has called forth the chastisement, and then the grief which that chastisement has occasioned. What a wonderful High Priest is Jesus! As the bleeding Sacrifice, you may lay your hand of faith upon His head, and acknowledge your deepest guilt; and, as the merciful Priest, you may lay your head on His bosom, and disclose your deepest sorrow. O my precious Savior! must You sink to this deep humiliation, and endure this bitter suffering, in order to enter into my lonely sorrow!
Anthony,
It is so good to know that you are being comforted by the love of our Heavenly Father and that He is giving you joy and peace. You are in our thoughts and prayers as are Ellie and Isaac.
Corey, Melody, Caleb and Bennett Cain
Post a Comment