"Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart" (Luke 18:1).
Will you pray? I know so many of you have faithfully prayed. Many of you continue to daily lift our family before the Lord. Right now, we certainly need and desire your prayers. This verse reminds us of how Jesus taught continual and earnest pray as a needed quality in the life of His followers.
Luke sets up the parable which follows by telling the reader that the purpose of the parable was to show them to pray always and not to lose heart. Often times our first response is to try to do it ourselves. We rely more on our ingenuity than His incredible might and power. We trust our plans and acts instead of surrendering to Him and Him alone. Jesus Christ desires that we would pray at all times. That means, at all times, all places and in all circumstances. But I love how Luke also speaks to the significance of this parable. It was to teach them to pray at all times and not lose heart.
When things don't go the way we had hoped, how easily and quickly we are discouraged from praying and persevering through prayer. We blame God, even if not outright, but by our act of failing to continue with Him in prayer. Yet, this only reveals our own lack of understanding that God's ways and thoughts and actions are not ours. We may go to Him in prayer and our prayer is not in accordance with His will or desire within our particular situation or circumstance. He heard; but He did not act.
Even so, we are not to lose heart. For we know the Lord has the best in mind for He sees all things clearly and He does all things well. And in those times when it seems the Lord is remaining strangely quiet, we are not to lose heart. As Henry Blackaby has well noted, "God is always at work around us." Sometimes this is easier to see than at other times. Our job is just to know that He is at work and to seek to join Him in what He is doing.
I ask for you to continue to pray at all times for our family. It's been a HARD DAY. Micah, though still very much content and very much a strong little boy, underwent a liver biopsy today. While the liver enzyme levels had come down some in previous days, along with the lowest bilirubin level in some time, these started to climb again. One particular liver enzyme level doubled in the 24-hour period in which the blood was taken and checked. He also had a fever a couple days ago. All this has created some concern. The doctors have considered several items: Bile duct blockage, infection or rejection. A HIDA Scan was performed yesterday in which the doctors did not see blockage. So bile flow appears to be going well. A liver ultrasound was completed today which showed that the bile ducts, although a little dilated (yet that is somewhat expected at this point after surgery), looked fine.
The biopsy, for which we should receive the results tomorrow, will hopefully show whether it is rejection that is taking place and to what degree. If it is that rejection is taking place, that his body is seeking to fight the liver transplant, the doctors will administer a rather potent dose of medication. The doctors previously gave him an increased dose of immune suppression medication. However, this has not worked.
Our prayer is again that God would touch Micah's body. Whether He touch his body through medicine or the miracle intervention, we pray the Lord will enable him to respond well and increase in health with all the levels moving in the right direction.
Pray for Sarah. Today has been difficult as she has struggled with all that is going on with her son. I've had a hard time not being there today. Since I spent time there yesterday, I tried to stay at home and rest. The greatest struggle may be the struggle of not being able to do anything. In giving part of my liver, I was doing something. But now Sarah and I cannot physically do anything. We pray. We trust in the Lord. However, our human nature causes us to want to do something. To want to be able to help fix it or heal him and we cannot do that. Instead, God has brought me, especially, to a place where He's reminded me: "It's not up to you." I've known that. I am so grateful for that. But when you have to physically walk in that, it's different. When all the other options have been taken off the table, then we really learn whether we're walking by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ or leaning upon our own intellect and strength.
Pray the Lord be magnified and His grace and mercy showered down upon the multitudes. In all things, the Lord will be magnified and glorified. So we pray that in this He will work to glorify Himself.
2 comments:
Justin
You are a ture inspiration of what faith and the love of Christ can do in someone life.
We will continue to pray for your family and add special prays for Micah.
This poem has been an encouragement for me, I hope it will be for you both as well. We are all continuing to pray for Micah's recovery and for God's sufficient grace in your circumstance.
The Cannady Family
Wait…
Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried:
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait".
"Wait? You say, wait! " my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith, I have asked, and am claiming your Word.
My future and all to which I can relate
Hangs in the balance, and You tell me to WAIT?
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,
Or even a 'no' to which I can resign.
And Lord, You promised that if we believe
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply!
Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied once again, "You must wait."
So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut
And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting.... for what?"
He seemed, then, to kneel, and His eyes wept with mine,
And he tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.
All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want - But you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint;
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint;
You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there;
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence were all you could see.
You'd never experience that fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You'd know that I give and I save.... (for a start),
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.
The glow of My comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that's beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite God, who makes what you have LAST.
You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that "My grace is sufficient for Thee."
Yes, your dreams for your loved one overnight would come true,
But, Oh, the loss! If I lost what I'm doing in you!
So, be silent, My child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though oft' may My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still, "WAIT."
Author Unknown
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