Light Shining Out of Darkness

This morning I woke up with 2 Corinthians 4:8 running through my mind. I ended up reading all of chapter 4, and it rang so true to me today.

Yesterday, Mama had an appointment with her orthopedic surgeon. Her pelvis is healing very well, and today Mama started putting weight on her left foot! Yes, I said that right.  She put weight on her left foot today! In about three weeks, Mama can start rehab and really learning to walk again.

 The doctor did say that since Mama’s nerves haven’t healed to the point where she can hold her foot up on her own now, the chances of her drop-foot being permanent have greatly increased. I think he said there is only a 30% chance that she won’t have it. Basically that means that Mama will wear her orthotic all the time, which means no more high heels (and if you know Mama, you know that is all she wears!), among other things.

 We are not giving up hope, because the doctor does not have the last say on this. God does. And we know the power of prayer. So I am asking that you join us in storming the gates of Heaven, pleading with us for total restoration of Mama’s body. God can and may say no, and that is ok. But we also know that it is powerful for God’s people to pray together, and it is good for us whether we get the answer we want or not. Ultimately, the answer we want is God’s will. “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Mama has made so much progress, she has overcome so much. While it is good for us to be logical and realistic about the chances of drop-foot going away, I also know that I serve a powerful God, and I am not ready to limit Him, in anything, not just in this. This is another opportunity for us to reveal God’s glory in how we are faithful to what He has called us to do. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.”  And right now, what He has called us to do is to pray unceasingly, confidently, and boldly for complete healing for Mama, not just the drop-foot, but her entire body.

And “we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroy. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.”

 We are confident in who God is, in what He is doing. We have seen Him so completely in this process. Yes, there are unspeakably difficult moments, moments that you wouldn’t believe. But through it all, God has given us this unrelenting faith. He has held us unrelinquishingly (is that a word?).  “It is written: ‘I believed; therefore I have spoken.’ Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to Himself. All is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.” How humbling and exciting that is! This experience is for all of us, that we may further reveal God’s glory! Mama has committed to being honest about this journey, because she knows that it is not about her.  It isn’t about our family. It’s about who God is.

 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Please join us in praying for Mama's complete healing