Blessings and Trials

Here it is Sunday evening and we are thinking back on our week of blessings and trials!  It has been a good week in so many ways.  We are thankful that John has a great appetite and his food sets well if he doesn't forget to chew his food properly! (A lesson all of us need to learn)  John and I both sleep soundly and if we do wake up we go back to sleep quickly - we are very thankful for good rest!  John has been on some rather strong medication and his stomach can handle it and he has a clear head. Together we praise God for these things!  We are thankful for all the family and friends who love us and call on us and pray for us on a continual basis.  Your prayers are felt and we know they have given calmness and strength as well as protection.  Thank you to all you dear people praying!!

This week Saturday, May 28 was John's birthday and we were blessed beyond words with a houseful of kids and grandkids and great grandkids stopping by to wish John a happy 78th birthday.  John felt so strong all afternoon enjoying our open house time with them.  That night we sat down to a light dinner after everyone left, outside on our patio.  After we were finished I took some dishes in the kitchen while John tried to pick up a couple items for me (he was walking with his cane and wants to help me so badly).  He slipped and fell on the concrete on his bottom (scared the living daylights out of me!) but God was so good and nothing was broken except some crackers he was trying to carry! We needed a neighbor to help lift him up as John was very shook up himself.  We are very thankful to have close neighbors!!

John is still working on pain control (not so much from the fall but has had pain all week - fall didn't help though) but also weakness in his legs.  They no longer hold him up so well.  He said the hardest thing for him (and he wanted me to share this with you) is to realize this is something so different - to have a mindset that you probably won't get better in fact most likely you will get worse.  All your life you get sick and always wait for the day when you feel better, right?  Well this is very new and strange - to let go of life as it once was and put yourself completely in the hands of God.  He says it is not such a bad feeling it is just so different then we are used to.

John is doing such an amazing job of living this way.  He gives me courage each day as I see him handle all the things he has to.

Together we read something Oswald Chambers wrote that we thought expressed well how we feel about this season of life experience of really letting go and relying on God completely.
"In that day you will ask Me nothing." John 16:23  Oswald writes:
"When is 'that day'?  It is when the ascended Lord makes you one with the Father.  'In that day' you will be one with the Father just as Jesus is, and He said, 'In that day you will ask Me nothing.'  Until the resurrection life of Jesus is fully exhibited in you, you have questions about many things.  Then after a while you find that all your questions are gone -- you don't seem to have any left to ask.  You have come to the point of total reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus, which brings you into complete oneness with the purpose of God.......
In that day you will ask Me nothing -- you will not need to ask because you will be certain that God will reveal things in accordance with His will."

John and I feel we are waiting on the Lord with what He will give us each day.  We have joy and peace as well as moments of tears and sorrow together, but we are learning better each day to know and believe that God has us in His Hands and His purpose will be accomplished!