Dear Friends,
Today was a wonderful day. Pastor Mitch was on vacation and I was given the service to encourage our body to become a community for our community. We pulled a group of folks together that have experienced the benefit of intentional community over the last 7 months in small groups. Their testimonies and stories pictured God at work in individuals and through doing life together. Between this and the worship it has been a great day.
Many of you were praying for us as preaching is not my primary giftedness, so I want you to know that your intercession sustained us. I woke this morning to needling pain in my knees that had me buckled over for 45 minutes. This is a side effect of the chemo (joint pain), but the first that I had really felt it. Gabriela jumped into action praying and then cared for me with ointments and heat. She's a great nurse and the pain dulled. Again, thankful for the prayers and God's gracious hand.
Another wonderful surprise today was that our friends the Delisle's drove down to support us. It was so rich to see them, feel their love, and enjoy a meal after the service. The picture is compliments of them of our service today.
It's somewhat difficult to write about yourself and feels unnatural. There is so much more about life and living in Christ that fills our days. I have been deeply encouraged by God with a renewed perspective regarding our calling as believers to be a reconciling agent in this world. The reality of my cancer had thrown me into a numbness that caused me to question what life was really about. I was identifying with Solomon that all really is vanity. Maybe you can relate and have felt the lack of motivation or passion in life. This went on for several weeks until the pain of the world around left me on my face before God. I poured my heart out and in the quietness that followed, He reminded me it's about taking back, restoring, renewing, what was stolen, marred, and broken through the fall. His heart is to reconcile the world to Himself using us as His hands, feet, mouthpiece, smile, etc. And in the process, we come into a richer knowledge and experience of His love for us. It's a simple truth and just what I have needed to move beyond myself.
I know that you will identify with the awesomeness of God. Let's pray together that we will be effective in our ministry of reconciliation regardless of our situation. It's so worth the battle.
Kelly
1 comment:
Kelly,
Thanks for sharing your heart about your journey. Everyone needs to hear about not only the victories in the Lord, but also the struggles of our faith, regardless of how spiritual we think we are.
I too have learned "through pain" just how awesome God is! You know it is a revelation of the Holy Spirit when you can say through your tears that God is in control and is perfect in His love for us even in the midst of overwhelming pain, saddness, and what we consider tragedy. I have learned even in the loss of my much beloved daughter that God knew what was happening and put his arms around me as he "taught" about the importance of life, my response to it, my response to the situation I was experiencing, and most importantly, my response to Him. The responsse to the scriptures when they say "Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS, and again I say rejoice" takes on new meaning when you face death or in my case the death of someone you adore. But, the Power of Praise in the midst of tragedy cannot be underestimated. I'm not talking about lip service to praise, but the realization of WHO GOD IS which is revealed through the Holy Spirit, and the release and surrender of your spirit in Praise to Him.
Pain still happens, but the same spirit that came alongside every believer throughout the history of the church as they have experience peace in the midst of trials sustains us today as we look to him.
Kelly, God is truly receiving glory as a result of you and your family walking through this trial with your eyes focused on Him (even if you sometimes don't feel like your walk is right on, it is).
Thank you for being the man God has called you to be.
Dean Eller
deller@cencalblood.org
Post a Comment