Standing Firm
An update has been added to the bottom of this post.
Below is a portion of the latest post on Caden’s Page that I felt was worth sharing over here. AS background I will just say that my youngest son has seen his pediatrician five times in nine days plus two visits to the hospital for blood work, chest x-rays, and an antibiotic injection. On two separate occasions the doctors have come very close admitting him to the hospital with pneumonia. He is home and doing better.
Sherry and I have been standing firm. I shared the following scripture reference with a friend today in response to the question of how we were doing.
“Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you. Be careful–watch out for attacks from Satan…Stand firm when he attacks. Trust the Lord…To Him be all power over all things, forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:7-11 (TLB)
There is no doubt that during our time on this earth we will never come to a full understanding of how our simple little human circumstances fit into God’s master plan for his kingdom. I realized today that it is very easy to get caught up in what seems to be very big problems. I have found myself caught up in the “oh what a big deal this is” feeling about our situation. As I went back to read and meditate on this passage from First Peter this evening, I realized that in my paraphrasing of this already paraphrased translation, I left out a part of this that really turned it into a much more self-centered reference than I realized. I left a very important part of verse nine out. The whole verse reads like this:
“Stand firm when he attacks. Trust the Lord; and remember that other Christians all around the world are going through these sufferings too.”
I realize the context of this passage is not talking about parents with sick kids, but I still believe it fits in our situation as well as some others.
I don’t have to look very far to see others suffering and you probably don’t either. I have friends and/or family members who are suffering in their own way: one who has been called to the bedside of a sister because the sister is not expected to live much longer, another who is going through a divorce with five young children at home, another with an unidentified lung disease, another with a Mom who is battling cancer, another whose father is up against a possible Parkinson’s diagnosis, two others who are suffering from flu and pneumonia, another who is battling hepatitis C, and another who has been laid off from a job.
These people I know very well and I have seen and/or spoke to most of them in the past week. All of these people have a common theme with me. The have all been worried about me and my family even though each has been going through as much if not worse than us. Their lives have shown to me this week that they have been standing firm, trusting the Lord, and letting him have all their worries and cares. What awesome testimonies I have been living in the middle of this week. What a wonderful lesson I have learned tonight.
“…Trust the Lord; and remember that other Christians all around the world are going through these sufferings too.”
I got up this morning to do my daily reading. I was still half asleep when thumbing through my Bible and landed on Colossians 3 instead of 2 Corinthians 3. It did not take long for me to realize that what I was reading did not quite fit with what I was reading in Corinthians over the past few days, but I did read enough to get a confirmation on my notes above. We do all need to avoid worry. I have moved away from believing in luck and coincidences even though I do still sue those terms from time to time. I landed on this scripture this morning as a confirmation that I should not worry about anything and neither should you. The following really hit home this morning.
Let heaven fill your thoughts; don’t spend your time worrying about things down here. Colossians 3:2 (TLB)