Final Entry for Today
August 6th, 2009Trust
Here’s an update, although it won’t be very informative. I am not ready to say anything about my sister’s condition, but I will reiterate–I can’t remember if I’ve said this already–that I think it’s remarkable that she went in for treatment of a fungus and ended up learning she had a more serious and unrelated problem, which may well have been caught at the earliest possible stage.
God is unfathomable. Sometimes he blesses us by preventing misfortune. Sometimes he blesses us by ameliorating misfortune. Sometimes the misfortune is not remedied, yet it carries tremendous collateral blessings. Believers who suffer disease or injury will point to the good things that came afterward, as proof of God’s love. Nonbelievers will ask why God allows disease and injury to happen in the first place. One of the hardest lessons in the Bible is the teaching that we must always continue to trust. Job lost his fortune, his children, and his health, but he said this of God: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” His mistake was in following that up with a declaration that he would convince God he had earned a better fate. Nonetheless, in the end, his trust was rewarded.
My hope is that we will find out that the fungus was a gift, because it brought the cancer to light early enough to allow it to be cured. But I am not going to make a prediction.
I think sometimes you can pray a person well, and sometimes you can’t, and maybe it all hinges on that person’s relationship with God. It is probably easier to get healing for yourself than anyone else, because while you ask, you can also search your heart candidly and turn from anything that might stand between you and God’s power. That would seem to make sense.
Sometimes people get angry with me when I suggest our behavior can cause our misfortunes, but I apply the same principle to myself, so I have no reason to apologize. I am very aware that I fall short, and whenever something goes wrong, I look at my own actions and attitudes to see if I can find a cause. How can that ever be the wrong approach? You can’t cure unless you diagnose. Self-criticism is essential to growth. If I treat myself this way, and I profit from it, shouldn’t I encourage others to do the same thing? Maybe my sins aren’t always the cause of my problems. So what? I profit anyway, do I not?
I do not understand the objections. Perhaps it seems cruel to suggest that a person who is already suffering search himself to see if anything about him is not pleasing God. But it’s better than telling them everything is fine, when a little introspection might turn things around. You wouldn’t give a diabetic pound cake. When did enabling ever help anyone?
Sometimes you pray for someone to get a certain outcome, and it doesn’t happen. When that happens, there has to be a reason, and it can’t be God’s fault. Maybe it’s their sins. Maybe it’s your faith or their faith. Still, you have to trust. Whatever suffering you may experience while serving and trusting God, you will be infinitely better off than a person who abandons him.
The more I suffer, and the more my family and the people I care about suffer, the closer I will draw to God. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. That’s the only way to win.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to write about this from here on out. With that in mind, I am going to try to move on and write about life the way I always do. I hope that doesn’t offend anyone. I will still be grateful for everything you have done.
August 6th, 2009 at 8:27 PM
There’s little that can be said at times like this that doesn’t come across as trite.
God’s grace on you both, you’re both in my thoughts and prayers.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:15 PM
Steve, will be Praying for your sister. God is control of everything and we just have to let him have His way. We need to let go and let God work. My sister, Mary Ellen has been put back into Hospice House and is her last days of the beast, cancer. Thank you for your Prayers on her behalf, we will miss her, but I will not judge God for not healing her in my way. She will be Healed and we will see each other again when I am healed of this world. Touch her now God and make Steve’s sister whole..
August 7th, 2009 at 1:22 AM
I figure that searching yourself is an important part or step, but I hesistate to believe that it is the only contributing factor to whether or not someone get’s healed. Too many people want to suggest that “I guess you didn’t have enough faith.” or something, but that puts the healing in our hands, not God’s.
I do believe that willfull disobedience and unrepenetance can lead to a loss of blessing and God’s hand being removed from us for a time. So, yes, it IS important to make sure that you aren’t being part of the problem when it seems like prayers are getting answered.
I also beleive that we live in a fallen and broken world, and people get sick. I also believe that God can and does use these times to strenghen both us and others.
I see what you mean, though. It is important to make sure that we are living a blameless life, to help increase our confidence that whatever happens is part of God’s plan, and not just a consequence of sin or disobedience.
August 7th, 2009 at 4:56 AM
It will be OK Steve…
August 7th, 2009 at 12:19 PM
“I do not understand the objections. Perhaps it seems cruel to suggest that a person who is already suffering search himself to see if anything about him is not pleasing God.”
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That’s a good, strong one. Your faith is deep and abiding, and you’re a pretty strong person, so this isn’t a problem for you. For some people, telling them something along the lines of, “you’re suffering for your sins” can seriously wound their souls. It can also present a stumbling block for someone outside the faith.
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HOWEVER, yes, it’s definitely important for us to look at ourselves and see where we’re out of line with God and His Will.
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Not that I’ve been angry with your ideas.
August 7th, 2009 at 2:32 PM
Our own actions have consequences. THere are familial burdens or curses that run many generations. There are trials and triblations sent to the good to grow them spiritually.
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Always good to be conscious of looking inward, but it sin’t the only option.
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One must fully trust in GOd in any event.
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May God bless her, and bring her healing.
August 7th, 2009 at 4:31 PM
Our family is thankful my daughter in law had breast cancer – it was in a very early stage. But because of it, it was revealed that she had THREE brain aneurysms and one of them would have been instant death. She had a double mastectomy, cancer runs in her family, and she has now had all three aneurysms clamped during brain surgery, THREE different surgeries, one of them a very long surgery. But she is well and we think is it a miracle. She had her last brain surgery April 26th. Praise God for keeping her with us to be able to finish raising her daughters. May your sister be as blessed as our Christie.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:33 AM
May God bless you, your sister, and everyone else who loves her and may He see all of you through this difficult time together.
August 10th, 2009 at 8:37 PM
Sometimes, I suppose it best to pray honestly…just talk to God and tell Him what you’d like, but give Him your faith and let Him know you trust in Him and believe He will show you His reasons if He does not do as you’d like…difficult, indeed.