Open Call for Submissions: 30 Days of Faith
My next novel, Frantic, releases on February 7th. It’s a fast-paced thriller about an average Joe–Marny Toogood–a gas station attendant, who has lived his life under the dark cloud of a “curse” given him at birth. Little does Marny know he has been chosen for something much greater in life. And when he crosses paths with Esther Rose and her brother, William, Marny is forced into the role of a hero. Only he doesn’t see himself as a hero at all. Running from not one, but two maniacs, Marny, Esther, and William come face to face with evil and Marny must find the hero within to survive. But being a hero isn’t anything Marny thought it was.
At the center of all this action is one special boy, William, and his unique gift. At the heart of the story is one theme: Marny then understood that trust required selfless surrender; faith was about doing God’s will, not his own. (pg. 258).
Here’s what I’d like to do. Frantic is all about the power of faith so for 30 days before the release I’d like to post your story of faith on this blog.
I’m calling it “30 days of faith.”
Tell me your story in as few or as many words as you’d like. When and how did God show his faithfulness to you or your family? Was there a time when faith saw you through a trial, either physical, emotional, spiritual, or all of the above? Did you witness a miracle or a direct act of God in your life? Or how about an incredible answer to prayer?
I want to hear your story and others NEED to hear it.
Don’t worry about how well or poor you write (I won’t be critiquing these!). I don’t care about that and others don’t either. The focus here is on the power and faithfulness of our God. Just write your story and leave it as a comment to this post. I’ll let you know when your story is going to post so you can share it with your friends and family. They’ll be blessed like the rest of us.
I’m hoping to get 30 stories but if we get more that’s great. And remember, it can be as short or long as you want . . . just tell your story, tell God’s story.
And as a thank you for those who write, after Frantic releases I’ll be choosing three contributors (randomly) to receive a free signed copy of the book.
Posted on December 8, 2011, in Christian Living and tagged Power of faith, Stories of faith. Bookmark the permalink. 61 Comments.
MIKE DELLOSSO 
One of the biggest ways God has shown me His faithfulness is in restoring what was lost to me in my sin, in the days before my salvation. I had a wonderful relationship with my cousin, so much so that we called each other “best cousins”. I moved out of the state we lived in and we lost touch. I started dating a guy when I was 15. Neither of us had any business being in a relationship at all, let alone with each other. He was a year older than me, but was just as immature. A miserable 3 year on again off again high school relationship ensued. When I was getting ready to graduate high school, my cousin came out to see me graduate. Somehow or another in God’s plan for our lives, my cousin and my boyfriend started a relationship. It was devastating. To me personally, to mine and my boyfriend’s and mine & my cousin’s relationships, and in the relationship between our moms. For 5 years I struggled with unforgiveness, anger, bitterness, and guilt. She and I were not on speaking terms. I was forced to see him from time to time, which did not aid the healing process. Finally, in 2005, my husband of 8 months & I attended a church for the first time together. That day the Lord met me, and I laid my sins and burdens at the foot of the Cross. I took His mantle upon me and felt burdened to send her a Christmas card. That was the beginning of a restoration between us. I never knew the power of what God could do, and over the course of the last year or two He has restored our relationship to the point where it is almost as though nothing ever happened between us. All Praise and glory and honor to Him Who sits upon the Throne!
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I’m always amazed at the power of Christ to heal broken relationships. He alone knows our hearts.
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Yes He does! I am so amazed every time I think about that whole situation, and I can’t retell it without weeping for joy and gratefulness. I know He can restore ANY relationship if He could restore that one!
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Mike,
Here’s a little story I wrote for a college assignment. Made an A, by the way, for both English 1&2 (and for all of my papers). Hope you enjoy it!
I pray your family has a very Merry Christmas.
—————————————————————————————————————–
Timothy Wayne Johnson
Mrs. Sharp
ENC 1101
29 Nov 2009
717 words
Divine Resolution
I have witnessed or been privy to many wondrous events throughout my life, but none as perpetually powerful as this tale. Though many were present (even several authoritative figures) I was too young, and definitely not witness to the following miracle — because I am the miracle.
The time was 1974, a few days before the dawn of a new year. I was eleven months old, and had contracted an unknown virus. The fever had not subsided by New Years Eve day, so my mother took me to the doctor and was given a prescription housing incorrect medication, which only increased the severity of my symptoms later into the evening. My mother had been up all night, tending to me, praying for the sickness to end, yet by morning it had only worsened.
I was taken to the Wauchula Palmetto Clinic, and put under the care of Dr. Palmer, Dr. Carmichael, Dr. Sayer, and nurse Mary Wilson. All of my immediate family and about forty members of Avon Park’s Church of God, including the pastor, came to the clinic and prayed for my healing, though my health only continued on a downward spiral.
When my grandfather received word of my illness, he rushed to the clinic, though by then it was too late. Doctor Palmer came from the room with a downcast expression. After doing everything possible, they carried me to another room — death had taken me. It was then that my grandfather fell on his knees, cried out to God, promising lifetime service in return for my life. Within ten minutes, Doctor Palmer returned with a grin, saying that I had revived, and was going to be all right. Once my grandfather finished praying, he told my mother that I was going to have twice the strength of an average man, yet it would be many years later that science, technology, and outright visual demonstration proved it to be true.
Some misunderstood my grandfather, believing that I was now nearly immune to sickness, disease, or any other form of debilitation. That, however, was not the case. I could still catch colds and the flu, get food-poisoning, have headaches, come down with skin rashes (due to detergents and various weeds), and even injure myself, though the instances were usually few and far between. Fortunately, my childhood and young adult years were virtually devoid of a doctor’s office, as I never again had any chronic, life-threatening illnesses.
Instead, my adolescent days were the same as most other young boys: playing hard, getting dirty, and being very athletic, though I never had an affinity for any particular sport. That changed at age thirteen, when I grew fond of the martial arts, and eventually weightlifting, which led me to obtain a first degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, with some additional training in Judo, Hap Ki Do, and Ronin Goju Karate.
It was 1995, after being hired to work at the phosphate mines, when I stepped foot (not by my choice) in the doctor’s office to get a physical — two of them to be exact: one from a public doctor, one from the company. The examinations proved some interesting and unusual results: I had better than perfect eyesight and hearing; I had the lungs of an eleven-year-old, and X-rays revealed that I had an “extra bone” of some sort in my pelvic region, which the doctors (though disconcertingly baffled) said that it was somehow enhancing my skeletal structure beyond normal means.
I went on to confound my fellow coworkers with little feats (oblivious to me) of strength such as breaking fairly tough and large, brand new, solid steel valve handles from water pipes. Lifting and moving sections of steel girders that weighed a few hundred pounds when cleaning up debris, and lifting things in general that were considered “too heavy and unsafe” to lift. For the majority of my adult life I have had people saying to me, “Don’t touch that Tim, you’re going to break it!” I just shrug.
My grandfather has been gone for nine years as of this writing, but God’s promise to him still holds true. I owe my life to my grandfather because of his humbleness; and I owe my life to God because of that single act of divine resolution.
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Mike, I received your request and decided to write something close to my heart. I pray those who read take heart that God has a huge plan for the lives of those He’s called. Here you go.
It was December 2009 and after five years of painstakingly getting out of bed early to put words to paper, my 365 page devotion book was complete. I admired my own craftiness. The ability to rediscover so many stories during my life and place them in the form of devotion in such a unique fashion was sheer brilliance… to my pea-brain anyway! I thought this book was going to grant the freedom from my day job. I would quit and become Jerry Jenkins, traveling the world sharing witty stories. But God’s plan is often very different from mans.
My quick search for publishers led me to a small web site called Christian Devotions Ministries. The site led me to the “Write for Us” link and I immediately began altering one of my five-star devotions. After a quick alteration to meet the word count requirement, I pressed send. I knew stardom was close at hand.
One-week later, I received a warm email from a sweet southern gal named Cindy. She said my devotion showed promise… Wait, what was that again? My devotion showed promise? This was my All-Star devo! What did “showed promise” mean? As I continued to read the note, she explained a couple errors that were contained in my writing and attached her ideas. With fingers trembling, I opened the attached file… to my horror; there were more red splotches than black.
I closed the document and gazed at the file containing my book, the same file that contained hours of labor, deliberation and Bible study. “No publisher in their right-mind would choose to publish this.” I sat in self-pity; five years of work now needed a complete makeover. “God, why?” I didn’t know what else to say.
A few weeks later, I felt another tapping on my shoulder. “Go open your email.” It was New Years Day, a time for my family to hang-out, play games and eat lots of food. I didn’t have time for this, but I was pulled to my computer. The inbox flashed with a new message from Christian Devotions Ministries. The daily devotion was written by Eddie and Cindy, the co-founders of the ministry. “God, I don’t have time for this.” But I couldn’t force my eyes from the screen as the joy contained in the devotions poured into my broken heart. They spoke of goals, prodigals and God’s will. I opened a new message directed to Cindy and typed something very simple, “Thank you for your encouraging words. I will be sharing this with my friends.”
A few hours later, I received this back:
Wow Scott,
Thank you so much. The ministry is to spread the word of God through encouragement
and hope. Occasionally, it’s nice to have someone else verify that we’re doing the right things. Thank you so much. How would you like to join us on our He Said She Said radio show tonight at 7 EST and tell our listeners how the devotions have impacted you? It would be a great start to the New Year.
It’s a real invitation to join Eddie and me on our He Said, She Said radio show. It’s just a phone call for you. Will you join us?
Cindy Sproles
My mind swam. “Wow! I can’t believe what I’m reading. But I don’t have time for this, its New Years! But what if this is what you want God? Are you showing me a way to talk about my book? Is it actually better than what I think? But what if this brings more embarrassment than good? You are going to have to tap my shoulder again, because for now, I’m going to pretend like I never received this.” I closed my computer. For two hours I helped in the kitchen and played games with the kids, but my mind kept returning to the email. I found myself again sitting in front of my computer crafting a response to accept the invitation.
I talked for 30-minutes with Eddie and Cindy on their program and later after the show, God talked to them about me. Today my book still sits on my computer desktop. I look at it every now and then to remind me that I still have work to do. But God’s timing is perfect and for some strange reason, He didn’t want my book to be published yet. God’s plan was for me to host a radio show… me, a guy with no experience. That was two years ago and I’ve been at the helm of Christian Devotions Speak UP ever since. Psalms 20 says:
1 May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
2 May he send you help from the sanctuary
and grant you support from Zion.
3 May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings.[b]
4 May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
5 May we shout for joy over your victory
and lift up our banners in the name of our God.
As you approach the New Year, remember that God is control. Submit to His will and walk through the door He opens. Keep your eyes peeled, for the door might not be the one you desire, but the one He desires for you.
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Scott, thanks for sharing this. I’m sure it will be a huge encouragement to many people. I know it encouraged me!
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I’d been a Christian since I was eight years old, but God’s power truly showed up in my life 25 years later. I was in the hospital for surgery I’d had multiple times in the past due to a chronic condition. But when I woke up this time, I was paralyzed on my left side.
After years of physical, occupational and speech therapy, I had regained a lot of abilities previously taken for granted, but still couldn’t work or live on my own. Consequently, I was angry, resentful, and bitter at the surgeon, feeling that my life had no purpose anymore. The worst part though was my anger at God. After all, He’s all-powerful, so why didn’t he prevent it?
I buried my emotions for years until, one day, I blew up at two of the people I most loved and who had taken care of me the whole time–my parents. I was still dependent on them which made it worse, as I couldn’t escape and pretend it hadn’t happened.
It took many months of therapy, working through grief over everything I’d lost, and ‘yelling’ at God when I spoke to Him, But over time, I came to realize that God hadn’t taken away my purpose in life and he hadn’t rid me of the ability to help others, He had simply changed what that would look like. so my ‘job’ became tryIng to figure out what He wanted me to do now. That, in turn, required praying more and asking for guidance as to where to look. And that he would help me recognize the opportunities he set in front of me.
When circumstances come into your life that you can’t understand, talk to God. Be honest with Him. He already knows what you think and feel. And persevere. in His time, He’ll answer and, though the answer may surprise you, it’s HIs plan and will be the best in the end.
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Ellen, I’m a big supporter of being honest with God. He’s big enough take our raw emotions. Thank God for His faithfulness.
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I grew up in an alcoholic home. My father drank heavily, and my sister also started drinking when she was 16 and I was three years old. While my father has been passed on these last 11 years, Carol is 61 and still struggles with alcoholism. Growing up, I was told everything was about willpower. I was taught that if I wanted something badly enough and worked hard enough at it, I could make it happen. My dad led me to believe that Carol, too, could stop drinking on her own, if she only wanted to. She almost died once, and landed in the hospital many times throughout her life.
Jesus took my heart on March 5, 1997 and my life has never been the same since. Even when all I can pray is “Please God” I know He hears.
It wasn’t until I joined Al-Anon this past year that I really understood Carol has a disease. I had to forgive her, and my father, for all the past and just love her through anything that might happen now or in the future. Alcoholism is indeed a “cunning, baffling, and powerful” illness – only basically controlled by never taking the first drink, which is simple but not easy.
This past week, during Christmas season, which can be difficult and stressful under the best of circumstances but can be especially tough for an alcoholic, my sister relapsed after almost two years of sobriety. She didn’t tell me, but I could hear it in her voice on the telephone. Then, I couldn’t get in touch with her at all this weekend. She wasn’t answering her cell phone or land line, and wasn’t returning messages.
Never before have I relied on the Serenity prayer so much. I prayed, over and over: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” One day at a time, one minute at a time, I went through the motions of this past weekend and put the care of my sister in the hands of a mighty God. Finally, she called back Monday and said she had been depressed the past few days and had not answered any calls. I talked to her for a while until I felt certain she was all right.
When I spoke with her this morning, she sounded much stronger, and even looked forward to our Christmas Eve gathering. This may not seem like much, Mike, but these are miracles of the heart. See, before I might have been confrontive. I might have even asked directly if she had been drinking. But that’s not my business anymore. My job is to take care of myself and to love her as best I can. She has an illness kept in remission only by abstinence. I have an illness too that is kept in check by attending meetings and talking with my sponsor.
Prayer works. God always answers. Maybe not always the way we want Him to, and not in the time we would like, but He walks us through, because He loves us more than we could ever imagine. May you have a blessed and Merry Christmas. I know we will! 🙂
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Christina, I have a suspicion that those “Please, God” prayers are some of the sweetest to His ears.
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My “Frantic” Moment
Why didn’t they pass? I drove five over the speed limit. The car behind me tailgated aggressively with their brights full blast in the rear view mirror of my clunker. A simple shopping trip to escape the house in the evening quickly became a nightmare. Our area of town had no police station, and I didn’t know where one was located over the freeway on the other side of town. There were two men in the front of the other car, but their silhouettes were all I could see. At eighteen years-old, I had no cell phone and I sat in the driver’s seat alone with my hands clenching the steering wheel until my knuckles whitened.
All I did was make a right hand turn against a red light. Perfectly legal, and at the time, there were no cars on the road except for quite a distance away to my left. I turned right and merged into the middle lane. My eyes checked the mirror and I began to drift over to the far left lane and swerved suddenly to avoid hitting a car that was suddenly in my blind spot. That’s what started it. I returned to the middle lane to wait for them to pass and they went behind me into my lane. That’s when the brights came on and my nightmare began. I sped up. They sped up. I slowed. They slowed.
My foot pressed on the gas and the speedometer needle crept upward until I was twenty over the speed limit, praying for a police officer to pull me over. As I approached a major intersection, the traffic lights turned yellow, then red. My eyes widened. I wanted to cry. What if they had a gun? What if they shot me? All the what-if’s ran through my mind. As a writer, it’s what we do best. There were three lanes and a generous left turn lane. I swerved to the left-hand turn lane. It had a large margin in case they tried to pull up beside me. My doors were locked. I double checked. I sat at the red light with my insides like oatmeal and my hands sweating over the steering wheel.
What was I going to do? Oh Lord! It felt as if a lot of time passed as I lifted my eyes to the rear view mirror to check on the car following me and my heart stopped. My breath came whooshing out between my lips as I saw a police car behind me instead of the people who meant me harm. To my right, the car that followed me sped off, tires squealing through the green light and I continued on my way to Kmart, shaken and thankful.
I came home and called the police to thank the officers who arrived just in time. I gave the crossroads and told the operator what had happened, but because of the brights, the dark night, and my panicked state I had no plate or description of the perpetrators and never saw them again. I thanked God, too, though at the time I didn’t have a full picture of who God was, but He’s been evident throughout my entire life saving me sometimes supernaturally and showing me His presence as I sought him out to fill the emptiness inside.
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So glad you came out of it okay, Nikole! Thank God for His protection.
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Amen to that!
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Here’s a post I have on my blog that tells my story:
I was saved when I was 11 and baptized at the same time as my brother. It was probably appropriate that I was saved at a Truth concert at our church because music has always been an important part of my life. Through the years music has been a constant joy for me, whether performing or teaching or directing. God has done a work in me to change the focus from recognition for myself to glory for Him. I am learning to change the focus from my talent or skills to His mercy and grace. The message is all important.
As I look back on the defining moments in my life, I see God’s hand in the details of everyday life as well as in the big picture. From marrying my spouse to giving birth to two biological children and later homeschooling them, God was molding me in ways I could not see. Through disappointments in church music ministry to the decision to adopt children, God was preparing me for a road of pain and heartache.
In 2000 God led our family of four to add three siblings to our family. The events and details of this decision were clearly God ordained. Three months after the kids became part of our family my sister died from a sudden heart attack at the age of 53. Through the pain and grief my kids needed me to be present and not dwell on the loss. Little did I know that greater losses and tragedy would come in the near future. We were ignorant of the cost that adopting 3 children, suffering from Reactive Attachment Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and se*ual abuse, would bring to our family. Educating myself and advocating for them became a fulltime job. Realizing that after 4 years the oldest was a danger to our family and herself and needed help beyond our abilities was a gut wrenching decision. Through her next 4 years into adulthood we continued to fight for her as she fought against us. Bringing false accusations of abuse against us ripped my heart to shreds. But God was my ever present help in times of trouble. We have been through heartaches and joys but never has God taught me more about Himself than through the times I’ve spent surrendering my plans and my dreams to His will. It has been a painful process that requires daily discipline and strength.
I have learned about God’s love through my children who struggle daily with questions about their life and reality. Every conversation leads us back to acceptance of who we are to God and what He says about us. The scriptures tell us that we are all adopted children of God. None of us can earn our way to God. It’s His great sacrifice that allows us to come into His presence. There is so much I don’t understand, but one thing I know (as Steven Curtis Chapman says): God is God and I am not! I may never know the reasons for suffering and pain and struggles, but I do know the One who loves me unconditionally. My constant prayer is that my children will have a relationship with the Lord that allows them to bring their pain and questions before Him, that they will come to a place of acceptance and joy.
Update: My blog contains so much more of my story, but the continuation of my story is that my parents went into a nursing home in Dec. 2007 without ever being able to go home again. It was a very difficult time for me, juggling homeschooling, two special needs adopted kids, two older children learning to fly from the nest. My dad died in Feb. 2009 and my mom died Christmas Eve of last year. She wandered outside her assisted living facility and froze to death. The shock and grief have only been coped with by faith in God’s great love and perfect plan. So many hardships have marked the last 11 years since we adopted. There has been tremendous gain and heartbreaking loss but through it all I have clung to the One who gives peace and sustains. God bless you.
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When I was engaged to be married, 25 years ago, my fiancee was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythamatosis, a chronic, autoimmune disease that can affect the joints and almost every major organ in the body, including the heart, kidneys, skin, lungs, and brain. In this disease, the immune system, which is designed to protect against infection, mistakenly attacks the body’s own tissues and organs causing damage and inflammation. Over the years, she suffered many periods of remission and exacerbations and much medication, which also haa severe side effects.
We were not supposed to have children due to this disease, but after loosing two children,(one miscarriage and one live child at 32 weeks, all due to this disease), God granted our wish and blessed us with two daughters who are now 19 and 16 yrs respectively.
In 2004, my wife started to experience severe headaches that became more frequent and more severe each day. After being to doctor after doctor and hospital after hospital and being told diagnosed with many things ranging from attention seeking, hypochondriacism, anxiety, unexplained headaches and pain relief not having any effect, we were at the end of our tether. One morning after both of us not getting much sleep we managed to see her doctor who had been away when all this happened. He organised a brain scan, (no one else had done this so far!) and it was revealed that she had a brain haemorrhage that covered 90% of the left hemisphere of her brain. She was admitted immediately to hospital and had surgery to evacuate this haemorrhage.
We were both devastated and as nurses, we knew how serious this was and the outcome could end in death.
When I left my wife in hospital that day, I had to then collect my children from school and break the news to them. They were 12 and 9 yrs respectively.
Breaking this news to them also broke me. How do you tell your children that their mother has a major illness, needs surgery and could die from either the haemorrhage or the surgery or both? How do you tell them that if she survives she may have brain damage and not be the same again? How do you deal with their emotions and grief?
This was one of the most difficult decisions/situations I was in. I had already determined that I could not hold any details back from them as they would know this and demand me to tell them. I know my kids and with-holding information would not work with them or myself.
This is what broke me. I realised I could not do this on my own. I was at the end of myself. I did not have the strength to tell them and prepare them for the worst case scenario or to even face this reality myself. In my brokenness, I realised that the only one who could help me would be God. So before I told them, I cried out to God, I told Him, I could not do this on my own, that I need to do it for my kids, I owed it to them to now be the stronger one in their lives now. I cried and cried, I asked Him to take over from me. I found myself saying to Him that I accept whatever His will is for my wife and our family. I knew I had to give all the outcomes over to Him and let Him decide. I decided that if He healed my wife with no side effects, if she survived with brain damage or if she died, I would accept that this is what He wanted for me and I had to acknowledge that He is still Sovereign, loves me and allowed this for His glory. In all this time pouring out my heart to Him, I knew it would do no good for me to harbour any bitterness or resentment towards Him. But I still stated to Him that despite all this, I would still like my wife to be healed and brought back to myself and our daughters and be restored as a family. I had no other source of strength, purpose or motivation to go on except to give all this over to Him and let Him continue to be in control.
When I did tell my daughters, they cried and I cried. They immediately wanted to visit their mother before the operation. We did. On the way there, they were honest with me about how they were feeling and even asked me how I was feeling. We discussed all our emotions and I then let them know what I had discussed with God. I was so impressed and relieved when they also stated they felt the same way. I know that on the surface that it may have appeared superficial but again, I knew my kids and knew they would not have agreed to that without honesty and sincerity as they had already developed a healthy respect for and relationship with Jesus.
There were two more major hurdles in our way that we did not perceive. They both reminded me of the severity of the situation we were all in and that we had to continue to rely on God to see us through this.
The first was when my wife was wheeled into the operating theatre where we gave her many hugs, kisses and that we loved her. We said we looked forward to seeing her after the operation. What was extremely hard was walking away from the theatre doors after she was wheeled into the theatre. The reality of the situation hit us very hard. We cried again. We were rather silent on the way home. My elderst suggested we do some housework while we were waiting to hear how the operation went as a way to preoccupy our minds as we were getting very scared.
The second hurdle was when the phone rang 5 hours later. I knew it was the hospital. But I could not bring myself to answer it. Doing so would mean I had to confront and accept whatever outcome it was. It was my eldest daughter who forced me to answer it. She stated that God would give me the strength to accept whatever the surgeon had to say. This was what I needed. I suddenly felt warm, at peace, reassured and could feel His presence around us. I picked up the phone and yes, it was the surgeon. With a pounding heart and body in full sweat, I could not believe my ears when he said the operation was a success and they had evacuated the entire haemorrhage!! I nearly dropped the phone in happiness and relief! My daughters thought it was the worst case scenario as I had not spoken, had gone pale and was staring out the window. Meanwhile the surgeon was asking me if I was still there and did I understand what he had said! This brought me to my senses and time stopped going in slow motion and I gasped and then replied to him. I thanked him immensely and hung up the phone. Many days later, we would be told by this same neurosurgeon that she was an hour away from death!
I related this to my daughters who were overjoyed and cried again! (must be a female thing!! LOL) We then went to the hospital. My wife was in Intensive Care and we were only able to see her briefly.
To speed things up somewhat, my wife’s recovery was amazing. After having some short term memory loss where she did not recognise me, but did her daughters, (go figure!! LOL), and learning how to walk, talk, speak and to perform basic tasks such as making a cup of tea, make her bed, go through various neurological tests and pass, she was allowed home in a month. She then spent the next 6 months in rehab as an outpatient. She made great progress.
The only brain damage she had sustained was hearing loss in one ear and now has trouble remembering some things. But this is manageable and one learns to compensate for these deficients.
Now you would not know she is like this. It is not obvious. From talking to her then and now, this incident has not faltered her faith in God, nor has it faltered ours. It has only served to strengthen and deepen it. Apart from what He achieved for us on the Cross, I am ever indebted to Him for bringing us out of this dark valley, bigger, stronger, wiser and better in faith and in relationship with Him.
There have been many accounts from church members even to this day who have been blessed and strengthened by our situation and what God has done. This has all been for His glory. May He be forever praised and glorified!!
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Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this, Peter. We had a similar struggle breaking the news to my girls that I had cancer. How do you explain cancer to a child? Praise God for his healing and faithfulness. And thanks again for your testimony.
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Yes, I thought of you when I was writing this!! Your story reinforced what we had gone through.
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