Cease not friends – cease not

Several weeks ago I asked for prayers for a friend of mine who needed a major organ transplant. Yesterday an organ became available and she had her day long surgery event and the prognosis, while somewhat cautiously guarded due to the complexity and seriousness of the situation, is good. She is still in intensive care and her recovery will be long, tedious, and no doubt painful, but the transplant surgery went excellent and her doctors expect a full recovery. This is a direct answer to the many prayers being poured out to God for this beautiful young mother, her husband, and infant son. I ask you in all humility and earnestness to please continue to pray for her full recovery, and begin right now if possible.

Before his wife’s surgery yesterday I was talking to her husband, who in addition to this dilemma just recently lost his beloved father to a long battle with cancer. I asked him how he was holding up and that I imagine he was in a state similar to shell shock, or a boxer getting the old one two punch. He sounded good on the phone and he said that his spirits were high and he was glad that it had reached a point where they could get the life threatening bad stuff out of her body and replace it with the good. He told me he believed in prayer and it was overwhelming to see all of his friends and family supporting them with prayers all over the country.

Having lived through my own tragedies and immeasurable grief, I offered some reflection of what I learned that might prove beneficial to my dear friend about the events unfolding in his young life. I told him that we never truly know why God allows certain trials and tribulations to occur. We do know that most people draw closer to God during times of serious trouble than at any other time. Our entire nation was a prime example of that shortly after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 when churches were filled to overflowing with a frightened public. My friend told me he had been spending an enormous amount of time on his knees praying to God lately, far more than times past. If there is no other purpose of God for those trials and tribulations than for us to draw close to God and Him to draw close to us, then it still will have been worthwhile to endure the trials.

This surgery removed the bad and replaced it with the good. Tough times draw people away from the bad and deliver them to the good. By that I mean God is sometimes ignored in the hum drum busyness of our everyday lives until trouble strikes. Think about it. Most of us do not pray like we should until trials and tribulations hit us hard right in the gut. When trouble slams us up against a wall, we immediately fall to our knees and seek our holy God for deliverance.

Think about if we would seek Him out with the same passion and urgency when we are not in turmoil and scared out of our wits as we do when we are, imagine how blessed our lives could become. Again look to our country and 9/11. The church pews are no longer overflowing and all but a tiny few still go to their knees before our loving God. Since we as a nation have drifted away from God, have you watched the news lately?

The Bible tells us to pray ceaselessly and not just when we are in trouble We desire God’s glory in us and it is revealed when we draw close to Him.

Romans 8:18
For I consider the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy
to be compared with the glory which
shall be revealed in us.