Looking For God's Blessings in the Midst of the Wilderness!

We were blessed by our Church Family!

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange things were happening to you;  but to the degree that you share the suffering  of Christ, keep on rejoicing so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation”  (I Peter 4:12-13).

Hey Gang, As most of you know, I have been going through a rather deep and wide wilderness experience for the past several months.   On June 4, when I could not even get water down my esophagus, a whole new world opened before my very eyes. When they told me I had a tumor that was blocking passage to the stomach and would need placement of a feeding tube immediately, it rang my bell as it was never rung before! 

   

Within hours, I was transported to Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids and the process began.  It just so happened that the person who transported me was the son of one of our early employees at the Village.  

About a month before my ambulance ride a melody had invaded my head that repeated itself from the time I got up until I went to bed.   It continued during the week I was in the hospital and when I returned home.

 

The melody, from a CD the Bride-of-my-Youth had been playing. Tragedy struck in our lives in the death of a young man (60 years young) who we have known for years and loved dearly suddenly dropped dead.  He and his family, ‘The Chosen Ones’, were a gospel singing group that had shared the Word of God with multitudes of people for most of their lives. 

The following are the words that God planted in my heart for a month before my world came tumbling down: “In the presence of Jehovah, God Almighty, Prince of Peace, troubles vanish, hearts are mended in the presence of the King”.  That has been the focus of my life for the past months.

God also prepared us for the coming wilderness experience by backlogging enough blogs to take us through the time lapse.    I have learned the truth of a lesson my grandmother taught me as a small child, when she was going through very tough times in her life.  She said, “Always stay up to date in your prayer life and study of the Word for there will be times in your life when you just cannot.”    I had heard reference made to the phase “Chemo brain” but had no understanding until the five chemo treatments and twenty-eight radiation treatments were completed and suddenly my powers of concentration were not functioning.

So, again, I asked, “Lord, is it time to put Gramps to bed?”  I cannot say, if His answer is aye or nay; but several days ago, as I was going through some of the more than thirteen hundred blogs that we have shared in the past eight years, I had a strong urge to share some of the very early ones over again, until my brain begins to work again. 

Folks, I would never try and convince you that we have not been down a difficult road and we still have a way to go, but God is faithful and assures us daily that He will never leave us or forsake us.  We have truly been blessed through this experience in so many ways – personally to us and others who have come into our lives who needed ministry.

Blessings,

Gramps