Strength and Refuge

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.....the Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our strength." Psalm 46

Jim is sleeping with only a little pain. He is on antibiotics and we are praying that the infection will be healed, that the passage from bowel to bladder will close as the infection resolves. God is able and we are prepared to face surgical correction in His strength if it does not. Thank you Lou for the insight that "Our God is with us recovering Himself." I AM is also praying as the Holy Spirit with us. Certainly I have always been comforted that He is deeply aware of our condition, our hurts and our suffering but I had not thought of healing in quite that way. At times of personal pain I have thought about Christ's obedient suffering and that strangely beautiful passage in Philippians 3:10 "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like Him in his death, and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead" It seems to me that surrendering with open hands "Thy will be done" is to become like Him my Savior. It is not fatalistic acquiescence but obedience to a loving Father for the joy set before me. We are being "Held." Natalie Grant fans will know what I mean. Thank you for watching and praying with us.

-Amy (via email to Ruth)