I know I've been remiss in updating you of my Scotland adventures....much of which include math, which few, if any, of you would be interested in. I have knitting to share with you too, but that will have to wait for another day as well.
Today I am overwhelmed with joy and emotion. Some of you I met last year when I told you "my story" (you can start reading it here) and it is one that still amazes me today. 9 years ago I was healed. 9 years ago, God heard my prayers and said my days were not over. 9 years ago I had brain surgery and God spared my life. I am thankful for each day. Thankful that I have another day to serve Him, another day to know Him more, another day to sing praises to Him! Thank you Lord for saving me!
July 26th is a day of great celebration in my life! I remember the first year (in Seattle at an REU....math camp sort of thing), the second as a newlywed, another in Nebraska with friends at another math camp thing and this year in Scotland, going to a church that I wish I had subtitles for the sermon :) but never the less felt it was a time of praise and rejoicing.
This year has been tough for me spiritually. I am not entirely sure why. 9 years ago, God became so real to me, my faith was tested and I clung to God with all I had. I knew that was my only chance. The last year God has been quiet to me and I have been discouraged in ways I couldn't have fathomed. I have realized that I wasn't clinging to Him like I had in that past and I earnestly desired to seek His face and be close to Him again and yet he felt so distant. I know He is faithful and in the last month I have been so encouraged. God has not abandoned me! I want to know Him. I don't want to be complacent in my faith or simply relive what God did years ago. (though it is a testimony I am so grateful to have) I want that closeness with Him always. I am so thankful God has made that possible!
Thank you for letting me share....I'm not convinced that my words have done justice to what is in my heart, but I trust you will see the truth. Leave me a comment about what God has or is doing in your life! We have much to rejoice about!
Leah :)
It's so exciting to hear that God has fanned into flames a heart in you that is completely His. Perhaps this is your experience ~ that traveling far from home alone has created that intimate environment where you can focus on your relationship with Him, His past faithfulness, His present help and the certain hope in the glories to come. (Isn't it all unfathomably AWESOME?!)
ReplyDeleteAbundant blessings to you, friend ... (and someday it would be fun to read that mathie-blogpost written in a language that would leave the reader in total befuddlement!)
I remember and am thankful also.
ReplyDeleteDad
I met you last year through that story and I got to meet Robin too. So thanks for leading me to some great Christian knitting blogs. I am so thankful. God is awesome and even in times when we don't "feel" Him close to us we know He is there. What an awesome promise. Right now I am working on going through the book of Psalms and making a journal of everything I can find that describes what our Heavenly Father is. I'm using the starter "My Heavenly Father is..." it is a very cool study.
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool to read!
ReplyDeleteWith the passing of our dear friend Dennis, I am ever more thankful that we still have you dear daughter! The faithfulness of God in our past helps us know He will faithfully be with us in our present. He continues to inspire me with song which I am always amazed at but God has a mighty work to do in all of us who believe- working to will and do of His good pleasure. And He delights in us as we seek His face if even to just spend time with Him.
ReplyDeleteLove you so much, Mom
Bless your little heart!!! We've just had a year of finding out what it truly means to rely on God!! With Alex away, and there is nothing I can do to protect him, prayer seems like such a small thing at times, but yet, when I pray, I have peace..."and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:7
ReplyDeleteThank you for your testimony and for the encouragement!!
Suzanne
God has brought you (and a few particular other Christian knitting women) into my life who constantly challenge and encourage me, whether or not you (or they) know. I can't wait to see you again! =)
ReplyDeleteAll of us who are fortunate enough to call you friend join in your celebration.
ReplyDeleteAs a dear friend (and my former minister) says, "God is good. All the time, God is good."
Looking forward to seeing you when you come home.
Honey-I was so blessed to read this. But you asked for this, and it is gonna be long.
ReplyDeleteI just had to tell you--13 years ago, I nearly died of a CVT. And at the same time, I had internal bleeding! I couldn't take a blood thinner or I would have bled to death. But the blood clot was in my upper left leg and even up in my torso. I had to lie flat on my back in the hospital until they could figure HOW to get past this dilemma.
A lay preacher and his wife came to pray with my husband and I. We joined hands and he prayed, and honey--that was the first time I had EVER heard someone pray in tongues!
And I felt a small "spasm-like feeling" in the right side of my stomach, and I knew something had changed. The next day, they were going to do surgery to try to see what was making me bleed, stop it, and then put an "umbrella" in the artery in my stomach to protect my heart and lungs. So--it was scary. But suddenly, I wasn't even worried anymore.
I was convinced that God had healed me, and I told them them and my husband the night they came and prayed.
The doctor had ordered for me to be "cleaned out" before they examined my stomach and colon, and I had been "going and going". The stools were black and tarry--which meant I had been bleeding inside for awhile, and this blood was old.
I had to call the nurse for a bedpan, for I wasn't supposed to get up, lest the clot move. But nobody would come, and there was NO MORE TIME! I got up and went into the bathroom and when I looked down into the commode, there was no tarry blackness there---everything was as it should be!
Well, praise God!! I told the surgeons they weren't going to find anything and why. Of course, I got the quizzical looks and the raised eyebrows.
You know the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say!! They did a very thorough search, and could find no old blood, no scars, no ulcer, no nothing. They put the "umbrella" in, and I was able to be out of the hospital for my son's rehearsal and wedding at the end of that week--(which he thought he was going to CANCEL, after six months of planning!!). And in contrast of ANYTHING "correct", my SON ushered me to my seat in the front before he ran back to the back to enter at his place to wait for his bride.
Our God is great!! Thanks for posting your NINE YEARS!!.