Little by Little

"Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure'" (Isaiah 46:10).

God alone is able to declare the end from the beginning. He alone sees clearly and perfectly everything past, present and future. He is able, because He sees all things and knows all thing, to declare to us from ancient times those things which have yet to come to pass. But in it all, He is certain of the fact that His purpose will be established and that everything He desires to be accomplished will be done.

In leading students at Bay Leaf through the Experiencing God material, we recently discussed how God's will is best and that He knows everything. His commands and His work in our live is to lead us to the best. We never receive God's best by going outside His boundaries or trying to circumvent His commands.

The connection here is simple. God has given His commands because He is able to declare the end from the beginning. He sees all of time and has declared from ancient times those things which have not even dotted human history as I type this. And He has given us His commands. His commands are issued to us out of His great love and desire for us to know and follow Him. These commands were given by God for us in order that we might find the fullest and most abundant life.

Furthermore, His commands were given to guide us through this world filled with pain, hurt, sin, death and destruction. Because He sees clearly and perfectly all things and knows all things, His commands help guide our life to avoid the pitfalls of sin and the pain and suffering which eventually accompany it.

Sometimes as we follow God's commands, we still experience pain. I like to think that is our situation. We certainly were seeking to follow God's commands and live for His glory when this all begin with Micah's health. While it is hard to see sometimes exactly God's purpose and plan, I realize that even in this His "purpose will be established and [He] will accomplish all [His] good pleasure."

Today was another reminder that God has given to us a ministry here to touch others' lives in which we normally might not have the opportunity to minister. Several weeks ago we got the opportunity to minister to a family whose newborn son had heart defects. Last week we were able to pray with and minister to a family whose 14 year old son had tragically tried to commit suicide. This week there is a young girl Micah's age who has tumors which are believed to be malignant. Today she had surgery. Sarah and I had the opportunity to stop by briefly this evening to see them and speak with them.

While I still wonder at times what the full scope of God's intent is with all this, how He has worked in our family, in our lives and through us to be able to minister and serve others reminds me that His purpose will be established and He will accomplish all His good pleasure.

Little by little Micah makes small (maybe even very small) steps of improvement. Tonight is the first time I am aware of that he has not lost weight. He actually was up from 6.8 kilos to 6.9 (about 15 lbs.). While he is still in obvious pain at times, he is somewhat more comfortable throughout the day. He did have a fever today. However, Dr. Berman stated that this could be the virus (Epstein Barr) or it could be where the B Cells are dying from the treatment (by the medicine or the slow rise of Micah's immune system or both).

There are no large reports to issue. But the fact that Micah is stable, weight may have stopped dropping off and that he shows little signs of positive improvement is an encouragement. We know that this is by the Lord's hand and we thank Him for His grace. We thank you for your prayers.