Resuming…

How can you grow in your faith and commitment to the call God has placed on your life, even amid trying circumstances? Walk closely with someone else in life who has suffered and endured much hardship, but whose faith has remained unshaken and whose depth of commitment has become even stronger. – Ravi Zacharias

I last wrote here just before going in for surgery last month for a bowel resection to remove a foot-long piece of my colon after discovery of a cancerous polyp. Complications sent me back to the hospital twice more after that. I ended up spending 25 days total in the hospital. If I manage to stay home through tomorrow it will be the longest time in a row I’ve been able to sleep in my own bed in a month. Thank you for your prayers and especially your prayers and care for Melanie.

She found the quote from Ravi this morning and it got me thinking about particular ones who have been praying for us. All of them carry wounds and have experienced seasons of darkness and brokenness themselves. I had begun to wonder at that odd coincidental fact until I read Ravi’s observation. Now I am thinking it’s no accident. It is fruit born of the seeds that fell to the ground before I knew I might come to have need of it.

I have suspected this might be part of the Lord’s purpose for me in the days ahead. Meanwhile, I have wanted to thank those whose prayers for us have been soaked in the compassion born of experience in their own lives. Those saints have been especially precious to us while we continue to press through the valley of shadows.

Lord Jesus, thank you for Your presence and the company of Your servants on the journey.