"I Trust the God You Serve"

Mama is doing so well. She is moved out of the real ICU and into her own room on the other end of the floor. We're learning a little more self-sufficiency and how to keep track of pain and medication. For the most part, it was a good day, a learning day.

Last night, Mama was a little confused from the medication and being woken up in the middle of the night and a bunch of other things. We talked through it and I reminded her of some things we had talked about earlier. As I went back to my couch-bed, Mama said, "We can do this. I love you, and I trust the God you serve."

That phrase has stuck with me ever since. "I trust the God you serve." And I trust Him too, even as I serve Him. I have been turning back to Isaiah 25. Starting in verse 7, it says, "On this mountain, He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken. In that day they will say, 'Surely this is our God; we trusted in Him, and He saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in Him; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.'" That is what I keep coming back to, in this, the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

We serve such a gracious, faithful, and sovereign Lord. To see Him at work in me, in Mama, in Daddy, in my brothers, in our extended family, in our community - it is truly amazing. For that alone, I can praise Him. But in the midst of all this hard, I am learning to trust Him in a different way, in a way that cries out to Him even as tears fall down my face and say, "My hope is in You. Your joy is my strength." And even though that moment is so hard, so full of heartbreak and sorrow, it is incredibly beautiful. Every time I drive home from the hospital, tears fall down my face in sorrow and frustration, yet I keep coming back to this. The Lord is my hope. He is my strength. He is my song even in the midst of struggle. His faithfulness is great beyond measure. And so with confidence, I already say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in Him, and He saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in Him; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."