Hey, my Darling Ones!
I’m sitting in the bed in my jammies with pillows propped up behind my back on a rare morning off. I’ve just finished my quiet time and on my second cup of coffee. (I’m obviously a little behind on the coffee.) Keith’s still sound asleep and the dogs are in the backyard playing in some fresh mud. Oh, what they have done to my beautiful garden yard! But that’s another story. My mind is full of other things and I know a few good friends who might help me process it.
It’s Good Friday. I tend to have lots of heavy thoughts around this day every year. I do love Christmas so very much but I am far more moved by the season of reflection on the Cross of Christ and the celebration of our only true hope: His glorious resurrection. We are obviously so much surer of the timing of His Passion than we are His birth. We really can say, “Approximately this many years ago, this happened right around this exact time.” Anniversaries are a powerful thing.
Yesterday I served at the memorial service of a fellow servant of Christ. She was just a few years older than me and her children, both boys, are the same ages of my girls. Belinda and I don’t really have a family history together, though. We have a shared history of faith. Years ago, I suppose somewhere around 1990, I started teaching my first ungraded women’s Sunday School class. I’d been teaching for years by that time but was a constant source of irritation to my department head because women came to the class who weren’t the right age and some of them were even “single!” (To be fair, it really was supposed to be a class of young marrieds from 29-32.) I’d finally even been reported to my pastor, Brother John Bisagno, who called me into his office, laughed his head off and said, “I’m about to set you free.” And Dayspring Class was born. Any woman of any age could come.
I cut my Biblical teeth on that class. I really did. I’ve told my beloved Curtis many times that there’s nothing like being thrown out there to teach week after week after week. (He’s doing that very thing, by the way.) Blowing it over and over then having the courage and the humility to get back up there again. It gets a communicator out of the habit of delivering a few overly-perfected speeches with just the right punch lines but a dwindling anointing – and pitches them out there into the world of high risk and steady criticism. Separates the men from the boys, so to speak. It is HARD WORK. Make no mistake. Don’t ever wish for it. Do it only if you must because it is your God-given gift and not to use it would be disobedience. It’s too hard otherwise and too much flesh can get tangled up in it. “Be ye not many teachers, because you will be more harshly judged,” James warned us. But back to Belinda.
Early on in our class, this darling, petite blonde (bleached, like yours truly) entered our ranks with a personality that stole the hearts of every person in the class. Or, then again, it was her story that stole our hearts. She became quite a center of attention because she’d battled breast cancer several years before and it had come back with a vengeance. By the time I got to know Belinda, the doctors had told her that cancer had spread to her bones all the way from her skull to her knees. She was covered. Almost hopeless. Only that wild woman absolutely refused to give up. Her boys were still young and she intended to see them to manhood.
I have no idea why things work the way they do. I’ve seen mothers just as determined to raise their children yet die of cancer in only a few months. These things are only for the fathomless mind of God. We can’t figure them out for the life of us. But if I were to offer a little conjecture, with His permission and patience, I’d tell you that maybe He gave Belinda those extra years (somewhat like Hezekiah) so that she could teach a tight-knit group of women how to put their faith where their big mouths were. She sought the Lord for Scriptures then told us what to pray for her and how to pray and that, if we were going to doubt, not to bother. And all of this in the most winsome way. She had the cutest personality ever. Several in our class nicknamed her Bubbles. I never could bring myself to do it. Too cool, maybe. But I tell you what I did call her. I called her a warrior. As I told them yesterday, I have never known a more courageous woman in all my life.
Some years later, I was asked to move to a different Sunday school hour to teach and I left my beloved Dayspring Class to the plans God had for them. Most of those women stayed intact and still study and worship together today. Belinda came to my new class many times but it was so large that it did not lend itself to the closeness we’d all enjoyed before. By this time, we no longer had the same need to pray for Belinda anyway. She was thriving. God had indeed given her what she’d so vehemently asked. There were others who moved to the top of our prayer lists.
Then about six months ago, at a Tuesday night Bible study, I saw Belinda at the altar weeping during praise and worship. (Our worship time is also an open-altar time and it is very, very special.) I went to her with haste and she looked up at me with an expression I’ll never forget. “Beth, it’s back. And if the Lord doesn’t heal me, I’m going to die.”
I felt it in my gut. I knew this time He was going to take her Home. That somehow her job was done. Though her assignment was undoubtedly much broader than this, God had used her to teach a group of women (of all ages, praise His Name!) how to pray with wild faith. Our lives had been changed forever. We’d seen first hand a little of what God could do.
Yesterday morning I grabbed my Bible, my black purse, and a prayer journal from 1994 that I’d taped a precious blonde woman’s picture on and headed to my church. We celebrated Belinda Edgerton’s life in a chapel packed full of people from all dimensions of her life. She’d made a mark on everybody from her coworkers at Shell Oil to her neighbors right there on her cul-de-sac. As I reflected on her life and thought about what I wanted to share, God brought the woman out of Luke 8 to my mind who pressed through the crowd to get to Jesus. She reached through the push-and-shove of public spectacle with the purity and simplicity of desperation. She somehow latched on to the hem of His garment and, let this fall afresh, she was healed.
We don’t hear any more about that woman. Lord have mercy, she must have told her story a jillion times to anybody who would listen. But somewhere over there in Israel, her body has turned to ashes just like all her friends. It occurred to me that, while we are here on earth in these flesh-and-blood mortal bodies, all we can hope for is a hem of healing. Even if Belinda had been completely healed of her cancer, she would still have gotten sinus infections, stomach viruses, bad knees, and, one day, her sons still would have gone to her funeral. She just might have been a tad older. These bodies of ours are fashioned for a flash of time on this planet. God has healed all of us of many things but, in His great purposes, we can only grab the hem. Even a miracle of instant restoration from a terminal disease is still just a hem of healing.
One day we will trade the hem for the real Him. No more pressing through the crowd wondering if we’re going to be among the few that see that kind of miracle. We will see Him. Jesus Christ, the risen King. We won’t just touch the edge of His cloak. We will touch the God-man Himself in His spectacular immortal body but, significantly, one still bearing the scars of His visitation here. His wholeness is so utterly complete and infinitely perfect that we, upon the very sight of Him, will be made whole as well.
This, Beloved, is what we live for. Not for just another day here. But for that very day there.
Several months ago, Melissa had insisted upon going with me to have a dye test to follow up a suspicious mammogram. (No rumors please. I do not have breast cancer. Because my mother died with it, however, I never get the luxury of drama-less annual check-ups.) We were sitting in the waiting room and a rack was within arms reach offering all manner of brochure on various cancers. Melissa took one out after another and glanced over them, shaking her head. She looked up at me with that classic expression of hers and said, “Life is brutal, man.”
I nodded.
We both sat silently for just a moment.
Then she said one of the most profound things I’ve ever heard.
“He knows it’s scary to be us.”
Yes, He does. Yes, He does. He does NOT take the fact lightly that we go through medical tests to see if we have a raging cancer. He does NOT take lightly that some of you are secretly fearing that the monster has come back. He does NOT take lightly that some of you are going through the cancer treatments of your own children. I had to pause and put my hand over my mouth on that one. Holding back the tears.
Son of David, have mercy on us! You know it’s scary to be us! It’s almost too much here, Lord. It’s almost too much.
And the thunder crashes in the heavens and the earth grows dark in the middle of the afternoon and a man, beaten to a bloody pulp, cries from a cross between two thieves, “It is finished!”
And death is overcome.
One day, Sweet Darling. ONE DAY. We will trade that hem for the real Him and there will be no more sickness. No more death. No more sadness. We will all be healed.
Bliss.
BLISS.
Oh the joy of finally getting to touch the Him! So many times I long to reach out and touch Him here, needing to feel the touch of His gentle hand. To climb up into His Holy lap and let Him hold me, whisper in my ear “Daddy’s here, it’s ok now” Thanks Beth for this sweet story of hope and resurrection. God you are my sword, my sheild, the lifter of my head! Praise you forever and ever. Show yourself big this resurrection morn! Carla Lee
What a totally moving post!
Belinda was blessed to have such a group of people that stood with her!
Delilah
may I surrender like a broken child to Him to know who He is, why He really came for me, if only it was for me. May i know Him like these others know Him. May I be willing to be a broken child, humble, Oh please, help me God.
Amen Beth!
That is all I can say after reading your beautiful post. Thank you.
I am touched, for lack of a better word, after reading each and every post. I’m surprised, but not, in that almost every person on here has experienced this in their own families.
“Jesus wept.” John 11:35
Barbara S.
Katy, TX.
Hi Miss Beth,
I am so sorry to hear about your friend’s passing. However, we all know that she is now in Jesus’ arms, and free from all pain; praise be to God !
Please tell her family that this crazy Siesta lady up in southern Wisconsin is praying for them all to have their own individual healthy grieving processes with the Lord.
And, oh my, do I know about the grieving process~ That is because my dear Dad passed away on March
24, 2008 from complications due to end stage Leukemia that was only diagnosed 7 months beforehand.
However, I have been thinking about him all year long, but yes, the tears really DO stop falling after a while … Praise God ~
However, Easter last year was on March 23rd, and my Dad passed away the day after that, so I will always remember him during Easter-time. And, yes, I miss him terribly, but we knew that he simply could not get better here on Earth, and knew that Jesus was ‘calling him Home’.
I was asking your main resource lady [D.R.; via E-mail] a week or so ago what she might recommend that I read, so that I can concentrate on my Dad’s being in Heaven with our precious Lord Jesus, rather than feeling sad that he is not here with us now. Anyhow, she strongly recommended Randy Alcorn’s book “Heaven” to me, along with another that I cannot recall the name of right now. And, this book just arrived in the mail yesterday, so I am looking forward to reading it.
Just a thought for anyone else ‘out there’ who is grieving the loss of a dear loved one. However, since I haven’t read it yet, I cannot honestly say that I personally endorse this book myself. But, I trust this other lady’s judgement, as I know that she is a very precious godly woman.
Have a blessed Easter, to all my dear Siestas, including you and your family, Miss Beth !!!
Love in Christ Jesus,
Jennifer
Southern Wisconsin
P.s. If I am not mistaken, wasn’t Belinda written about in your “Believing God” study, as one of ‘God’s miracles’ ???
“What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see, when I look upon His face, the One who saved me by His grace. Then He’ll take me by the hand, lead me to that glorious land, what a day, glorious day that will be!”
Yes…BLISS!
Today has been one of those “I hope Jesus comes back soon” days!So, thank you so much mama beth…thank you for that reminder of hope!
I can’t wait for the day when all this is over…and we become who we were meant to be.
I’ve come back to read this one three times today . . . and every time I’m moved to tears to think about “He knows it’s scary to be us.” It’s what I needed to hear right now.
I love thinking about how one day we will trade just touching the hem of Jesus garment for Him. I can hradly wait for that day!
This is just what I needed to hear today. Not because I am currently going through a similar situation but because my fear of going through something of this nature is often overwhelming – especially lately. I just need to STOP IT and trust God’s plan for my life and the lives of those I love.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you so much for this lovely blog. About 6 weeks ago, we found out my mom’s cancer has come back and they’ve given her 3 – 6 months to live. And now the cancer isn’t growing. So who knows. I’m not going to try to figure it all out. God alone knows the number of our days and I’m treating each day I have with my mom as a gift.
Thank you for the reminder and the encouragement, dear sister.
Thank you for this. Ten years have brought a lot of heartache. First i was raped by knifepoint, the I lost my a dear friend (26 yrs old) in car accident, then I lost my grandmother, then my dad passed away from a disease called Pulmonary Fibrosis. He was waiting for a lung transplant and caught pneumonia and died. Then , four months after dad died, I lost my mother suddenly. She died from a blood clot going to her lungs. Then i lost my other grandmother. My husband and I have been dealing with infertility for many years. We found out in November that he has Burkitt’s Lymphoma. We are in the midst of heavy duty inpatient chemo – going on 5th month of this.
You have no idea how important it is to remember that we will suffer here, but he will never leave us. We will hurt but he hurt first. He hurt so we could have a way out of the pain. Thank you Jesus for dying willingly so that we could have life and freedom. Thank you that you took our diseases upon yourself .
Lord, have mercy on us.
You touched my heart with this post. I am sitting here crying. Thank you so much for sharing.
Amen Sister, Amen. Preach On!
Thank you Mrs. Beth for your words. My dad is suffering with cancer right now and like most others his future is uncertain. My prayer is that my dad will find God through this awful ordeal and that God will heal him spiritually! Your friend sounds like a true warrior and your testomoniy of her has absolutely made a lasting impact on my life! Praise His Holy name!
May everybody be pleased this Easter!
Crissy
Thank you for your insight, especially on Good Friday.
Beth, Thank you for this post. Today would have been my mother’s 62nd birthday. She’s only been gone four weeks. I have found comfort in the very thought that she is now whole in HIM! Praise the Lord and Jesus come quickly!
Love,
Jan P.
Ft.Worth, TX
Dear Beth,
I write this from a hospital bed in the midst of my own struggle with the breast cancer “beast”. Your words have encouraged me! I am blessed to be at a good spot in my treatment, although physically my body isn’t doing well, spiritually and emotionally I am very blessed. The other night when I was admitted to the hospital, I did’t have my glasses with, so when I took out my contacts I had very limited vision. So, as I laid in bed, I thought “darn, wish I had more scripture memorized to give me comfort”…but I than remembered 2 Corinthians 1: 3-4… “God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.†Every day I wake, I thank God for the miracle of breath and pray that He can use me for his purpose today. Blessings and thank you!
Thank you. I needed that. Life IS so scary and we spend so much time trying to act like we’re not scared. But He knows, He knows. I too have a long line of breast cancer in my family, and I try so hard to be calm during those mammograms…but I always have that little voice in the back of my mind saying, “this might not be a good visit.” I too have a different “feeling” come over me during the Easter holiday. One of sadness mixed with elation,a very difficult emotion to put a label on. It breaks my heart to think of Him being treated the way He was, but yet overjoyed that He actually loved me that much to go through an indescribable torture. Thank you again for sharing your story about your friend. I think we can all think of someone like that in our lives! What a Blessing.
With tears flowing I say AMEN!
Thank you.
I love you.
Happy Easter.
Home FREE indeed !! Lovein it.
Love Jesus Love you all.
wow. i cannot thank you enough for taking the time to write/post this, Beth.
My best friend sent me the link to this entry in the middle of the night – as she is watching her son, age 8, fight cancer for the third time. His cancer has not come back, they are three, different cancers – and he is 8. What are the odds? Let me just say, I know that God used this in my friends life – last night! We are all praying for his healing, and it will come. Maybe here, but forsure in that GLORIUS PLACE THAT WE ARE WAITING FOR! Check out their amazing story at caringbridge.org. The boys name is tuckerbeam. If you read the entry from Monday, April 6th, YOUR LIFE WILL BE CHANGED, and you will see first hand (I am sure once again)how the power of God and HIS WORD are the only things that can carry you through. Thank you.
Amen Beth. Thank you Jesus.
Dear Beth…. Thank you for posting this… You are soooo right… God doesn’t take it lightly… and I am so glad that He doesn’t!
Please be in prayer for so many who were touched yesterday by the tornado that hit Murfreesboro TN… This is just a few minutes from my own home, and many of my own friends lost homes or had severe damage. God has been good, but there are a lot of hurting folks in our town this Easter weekend.
Thanks!
We are in the midst of cancer treatment for my dear Mother and would love to print out this blog. Is there any way to get this in a “printable” form? I’m not very computer savvy and can only get the first few paragraphs. This message was so powerful that I just want to share it with my family.
My daughter and I have been in 3 of your bible studies and always learn so much. You are a wonderful communicator….
Thanks you!
Praise His Name! Praise HIM!!!
Thank you dear one for sharing this story. A dear friend of mine’s brother is in the fight against cancer and I have forwarded your message to her, in hopes it will be of help to their entire family.
Bless you and yours this Most Holy weekend and always,
Kaye
Matthew 21:22
Beth,
Thank you for your words! I didn’t read them until Saturday, but they reminded me of my sweet religion teacher. Her name was Georgeen and she loved Jesus more than anyone I ever knew. When she was diagnosed with cancer, many years later, I sent her a letter telling her how much she influenced my spiritual life, because her joy in Jesus was so contagious! She called and thanked me for letting her know that she had made a difference in someone’s life and then she said something so profound – I will never forget it! She said, ” I had plans to starting working on retreat teams (by then she was in her 70’s)but God had other plans for me. Do you know how many hurting people sitting in a cancer treatment center having chemo don’t know how much Jesus loves them? He puts me by someone who needs encouragment and needs to hear about HIM each time I go for a treatment. He has blessed me to make me able to be the one to tell them.” Wow! to have an attitude like that about cancer! Sorry this is so long, but just had to share her story. She has since went home and I know she is rejoicing at His feet!
Nancy
Oh Beth – I have tears running down my face and my heart is thumping wildly – I am so moved by the depth of this post. God’s gifting to you with writing/teaching is multiplied over and over to each of us – and I thank you for your ministry of equipping us sojourning siestas.
Oh what a homegoing service I imagine that Belinda had. She is there, Beth. The hem has become the Him – I LOVE THAT!!! May God be with Belinda’s sons – I too have 2 sons the age of your girls and prayed many a time to see them raised up into the men they are today. Thank you, Father.
Speaking of your girls – they are PRECIOUS and I know you know, but every Mama needs to hear it MOORE!
Amanda and her wonderful gifts to this blog and the way she is mothering your grandbabies. She is a beautiful young minister’s wife, bless her Lord.
Melissa’s depth and insight into the “Holy Writ” slay me. I could SQUEEZE her to pieces. Beautiful she is. “He knows it’s scary to be us.” Indeed He does. Bless her Father, as she continues her education.
I have a sister in heaven. She died at age 25, I was 27 – it’s been almost 24 years and I miss her every day. All childhood memories I share with her. (Melissa’s post with the pictures of Easter dresses and hats took me back to those days.) I KNOW I WILL SEE HER AGAIN – GLORY TO MY RESURRECTED SAVIOR!
And until then – my heart will go on singing, until then with JOY I will carry on,
Love you so,
GJ
This.may.be.my.favorite.post.
Today is my birthday and a day to contemplate the past, present and future. Thanks for reminding us to value each and every day as Belinda did as well as reminding us that our hope is not here but in Christ and our eternal life! And we have a great spa trip to look forward to (trading in these bodies for new bodies!)
Love ya!
Beth, Thank you for this post…brought tears and a lump to my throat.
He knows it’s hard to be us in the midst of:
Infertility
A divorce you don’t want
A lost job after 25 years
A faith that’s under attack
So many things in life are hard; but we can KNOW our God is faithful and He is good. I LOVE Easter this year; I am ready for a celebration in the midst of the hardness of life. I want to celebrate Him!
Worthy is the Lamb!
Worthly is the Lamb!
Happy Resurrection Day…
Joni Leahy
Dear Beth,
Again, you have a message for me and for the day!! Thankful to Our Father for such blessings He gives when we don’t understand and it is so hard to be us!
Thank you for keeping on serving!!!!!
Irene
Glory to God
Have a blessed Resurrection Day !
Lisa b.
WOW! Thank you Beth for sharing Belinda’s story with us. My heart has been touched deeply. YES! Soon we will trade the hem for the real thing–OUR PRECIOUS GOD and SAVIOR-JESUS CHRIST!
May the glory of Easter overwhelm us!
Praise HIM!
Just a few months ago, my beautiful daughter-in-law lost her mother to cancer. Her battle started about five years ago.
I went to Houston with my beautiful daughter-in-law about three years ago, she was helping her Mother with one of her many Dr. procedures.
We all went to lunch one day, at P.F. Changs. My daughter-in-law looked over at this table full of ladies,(they were celebrated one of your birthdays) and said, “That’s Beth Moore, I’m doing one of her bible studies right now.” We encouraged her to go over and say Hi when you were leaving. She did, you gave her a huge hug which brought tears to her eyes. She came back to the table and said, “I told her I didn’t cry this much when I met Garth Brooks! Do you think she know who he is?”
Thank you for your never-ending kindness. Your support to all is heaven-sent.
Beth,
Thank you. Made me think of Nicole C. Mullen’s song… One Touch. Here’s the link to her music video, it’s pretty powerful.
http://nicolecmullen.com/video.html
I praise You God, for Your resurrection power!
"Then she said one of the most profound things I've ever heard.
"He knows it's scary to be us.""
These words just pierced through my crust of "must be strong."
How many times have I been scared to be me? How can I know so much about Jesus and have never had that trueful thought that Melissa uttered.
Thank you for sharing this now.
I'm also in tears over your reminder of the "no mores". This past Monday our little study group finished your revised version of A Woman's Heart. I wept through much of the video, especially the "no mores". Here's another one for you – NO MORE Alzheimers Disease.
Bless you Beth & your family this Resurrection Sunday. xo
It’s been a ggod morning watching little ones at a Easter egg hunt and then hearing my little guy say, “this was fun but I like the Jesus part.” I want someone to say of me that I preferred the Jesus part…like your friend Belinda. Blessings today.
With an ache in my heart that is accompanied only by the peace of God, I can say, “God is good.” Funny how this resonates to your very core when life seems so hard to get a handle on. Sobering reminder of life and it’s realities.
I am sitting here in huge tears! I mean the ugly cry ones.
I knew a woman just like Belinda, my mom! Her name was Judy. She wasn’t suppose to make it to 48. Her stubborn faith in God kept her going. Breast cancer that was soo severe. 12 years later it came back like crazy. All over! She made it to her 60th B-day!
She was my mother, best friend (both only children)…but most of all my mentor! I miss her so much every day. Your message really helps me.
She loved Easter …God in Action!
I am hanging on to hem/HIM just to make it. I am so grateful that he know what we go thru.
I must calm down so I can see…sniff sniff!
Beth..Amanda..Melissa ….You all are a Blessing to me!
Sherry
GA
I read this post yesterday and gave some thought to Melissa’s statement, “He knows it’s scary to be us.”
I read this post again today and had a totally different reaction to it. Today is Saturday….Jesus was fighting the good fight for us many years ago. He was shaking/breaking the very shackles of Hell for us. He was redeeming us. He was resurrecting us. He was offering us the only forgiveness we can truly have. He was offering us the only way to the Father. I agree with Melissa, He does know it’s scary to be us…..He lived among us…He was one of us. When we read the Bible, we read the many stories of His existence among us, so we can rest assured that He does know….it is very scary to be us!!
Thanks for the post.
What a beautiful gift your words are! Thank you.
Thank you Beth. We are in that place. Our 2 yr old little girl was just diagnosed with kidney cancer last week. We are 2 weeks into a blur of major surgery, organ removal, port implantation, cancer confirmation, and last Thursday she had her first chemo treatment. This week we found out it was a little more complicated than we originally thought and it has been a dark few days. Thank you for your words…His words, when I needed them most.
In Him,
Amber
Beth this is a great posting for me right as my pop is passing. He is in hospices and we look for him to go. This is what I needed to read thank you again for it.
Oh how I needed this….thank you for these words. Two things are now in my heart and head….”One day we will trade our hem for the REAL HIM, and “He KNOWS it scary to be us”.
My heart has been comforted by HIS TRUTH yet again!
Much love and Happy Easter!
HE IS RISEN!
Dearest Beth,
I love your books. I love your Bible Studies. I love Life Today Wednesdays. I love LPM. And I love your conferences. But what I am most GRATEFUL for today is your committment to this blog. Particularly this post.
Nearly 4 years ago the Cleveland Clinic told me I had ALS. Lou Gherrigs if you will. They told me the diagnosis was 3-5 years. I was almost 30 at the time and had three children ages 1,3 and 5.
I was a Christian yes, but I didn’t know the Life available in my relationship with Christ. I didn’t know the intimacy. Salvation yes! Sanctification- NO!
I learned how to read my Bible throughout the initial weeks. Oh how I needed Him. I clung to Romans Chapter 8 and Hebrews 11. I sought God. And I found Him. And in those months I learned to repeat (and believe) “I CHOOSE YOU. I TRUST YOU. YOU’RE ENOUGH FOR ME” If nothing changed regarding my scenario… God was who He was and He was all I needed.
Within months I had been seen by a Lyme Specialist who confirmed that I had Neurological Lyme Disease that destroys your body in the same manner as ALS… BUT that there is treatment. High doses of antibiotics. Oral, Intramuscular, IV.
I’ve managed the Neuro Lyme for over three years. To the point that this past November I went off all meds and TRULY believed the Lord had healed me of this disease and that I was no longer a slave to it but to Him alone.
This past month I’ve realized that the Lyme Disease is still in my body. From the Meningitis a month ago until today I’ve dealt with muscle weakness, cramps, twitching, wasting… fatigue, irritability and the need to make a decision to take antibiotics once again.
Reading your blog today has helped to settle my heart. He knows how scary it is to be us. To be me. He knows what it is for me to choose to think true, right, noble, pure, excellent, admirable, praiseworthy OVER thoughts of ‘what if this time the Lyme kills me as ALS would’. He knows His plans and purpose for me and that if there is a no today it’s for a greater yes tomorrow (or beyond).
And one day, ONE DAY, Beth… I will indeed trade my hem for ALL OF HIM!!! And praise Him I shall. And do!
In the meantime- I want you to know… I value His gift in you. And I’m grateful that you choose in obedience to serve Him with it despite the steady criticism and harse judgements. My life, as well as the hundreds of thousands of other women out there are touched daily by Christ in You!!
All my love to you! And Happy Easter!
Bliss indeed. Come soon sweet Jesus!
Thank you so much for sharing with me.
In a bundle,
D
Last night I was able to witness my 90 and 89-year-old grandparents, who have been married for 70 years, cry with eachother over “leaving this place (meaning death).” And while I can’t wait for that beautiful day when they trade the hem for Him, I can’t bear the thought of one being here alone. I know that God has given them some extra years. She beat breast cancer, he has very advanced dementia and she is the only one he can remember. I so needed this post this morning. I felt last night that I had no more tears but I sure found some this morning!
Beautiful post! Thank you for the encouragement. It is scary being us!
Almost 1 year ago the Lord began taking me on a new journey: teaching my first adult class. I had taught children for many years and this was a whopper of a change! He has been so gracious and has given me the courage and strength to adjust. Sometimes it feels like walking a tightrope. 🙂
I’m looking for the day I trade the hem for Him, too!
P.S. I prayed for you Thursday.
Love,
Sherry