Hello Everyone,
I hope your 2019 has gotten off to a good start.
Ours had an unexpected beginning. We had a wonderful Christmas-New Year week and took off from Texas for a long weekend in San Diego … or so we thought.
Why We Can Rejoice in Suffering
Mike and I are blessed to have two grown grandsons there in San Diego. We were looking forward to meeting their fiancées and spending some time with them. My husband didn’t feel too well on the drive out but thought it was something minor. He continued to feel a little under the weather over the weekend and we decided we would make an appointment with our doctor when we got home.
Monday he felt better and even played golf with one of our grandsons. We postponed our drive home from Tuesday to Wednesday to have dinner with one of the boys and his fiancée’s family on Tuesday evening.
But we were unaware that my husband had a serious infection. Tuesday morning he was hit with violent chills and shaking. They got so bad so quickly that we rushed him to the emergency room.
We are incredibly thankful for the quick and appropriate action by the emergency room doctor and all the doctors and nurses who cared for him over the next 11 days at the hospital in San Diego and the home health care nurse who followed up.
It turns out he was septic and had MRSA. He will be on IV antibiotics for another month, 6 weeks altogether, but thankfully he is doing well. We were able to return to Texas a couple of days ago and he will receive the rest of his care here at home.
Even though 11 days in the hospital wasn’t part of our plan, we experienced so much of God’s grace. We were enveloped in prayer by friends from our home church and another church where we had served for many years, as well as, our family and other friends.
God placed so many good people in our path that I would be hard-pressed to name them all. Our two San Diego grandsons and their fiancées took such good care of us and our family back home took over other things.
But most of all we praise God for His grace and peace throughout. He used many people but we know that we were under His sovereign care every moment.
We have been meditating on this passage from Romans 5:
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
A key word in this passage is the word “knowing” in verse 3. We can only rejoice in our sufferings when we know some things about God. We must know that He has a purpose in our suffering. It’s one of the ways that He helps us grow and become more like His Son (Rom. 8.28-29; Heb. 12.7-11). It is also one of the ways our faith is tested and solidified.
And we can rest because we have peace with Him. We don’t rest because we expect life to be without trials. We know that not everything in this life will be smooth sailing, nor will it all have the outcome we desire. We rest because of our faith and trust in the God who loved us enough to die for us and whose love has been poured out in our hearts.
Blessings,
Mike just before he left the hospital.
Now … What’s Been Happening Here at Soul Survival?
Here are January’s most popular posts.
January’s Top 10:
“When You Try Trusting God & Things Get Worse”
“The Cost of Losing God’s Restraining Grace”
“Is It Repentance or Only Regret?”
“Noah, Drunkenness & Divine Grace”
“Is Divorce Ever Allowable for a Christian?”
Coming Up in the Daily Posts:
In the coming days, we’ll talk about idols of the heart, about dealing with difficult people and strong-willed children, and about the seriousness of promises. We’ll also look at pride, religious pretenders, and the devastating effects of adultery.
Take the Challenge!
Join the 1000+ others who’ve taken the challenge to read through the Bible this year!
If you’re not sure why you should check out, “Why Read through the Bible in 2019?”
hope you will prayerfully consider signing up here for my daily email. It can serve as a gentle reminder to stay on track. I try to make comments that are relevant to the daily struggles we all face.
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If you’re a current subscriber and you would like a copy, just leave me a comment letting me know, along with your email address and I’ll be glad to send you one.
Blessings,
I sometimes LINKUP with these blogs.
Featured Resources:
The MacArthur Daily Bible
The MacArthur Daily Bible takes a portion of the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs for each day of the year, with daily comments that guide and inform you as you read through the Bible in a year. John MacArthur’s insight maximizes the benefit of each day’s reading. If a commitment to daily Bible reading never worked for you before, this is the answer. With John at your side, there’ll be no such thing as a tough portion of Scripture.
Praying the Bible by Donald Whitney
“This little book is explosive and powerful.”
R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
When you pray, does it ever feel like you’re just saying the same old things about the same old things?
Offering us the encouragement and the practical advice we’re all looking for, Donald S. Whitney, best-selling author of Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, outlines an easy-to-grasp method that has the power to transform our prayer life: praying the words of Scripture. Simple, yet profound, Praying the Bible will prove invaluable as you seek to commune with your heavenly Father in prayer each and every day.
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