No Small Miracles
Recently, I had a scare of the health variety. For my whole life I’ve been blessed with really good health. Every so often though I’ll have something new or strange happen health-wise and because of where I work, I know just enough of medical conditions to do armchair diagnostics and freak myself out. These self-diagnoses always put me into a prayerful state because I’m seriously concerned. Reminders of the fragility of the earthen vessels we sojourn in are very effective that way. Most recently I’ve been before the Lord because of a lump I found on my tongue that was really sore. I get cold/canker sores in my mouth every few months, but none of them have ever been so far back in my mouth or created the lump I have this time. At least not that I know of anyway.
The lump no longer hurts but is lingering, which raises the specter of all sorts of scary things in my mind. In past instances, I have tended to get scared, pray fervently, and then have been blessed to see my fears dissolve. Which is wonderful, but I’ve always felt guilty that I’ve never shared what the Lord has done, because in part I wasn’t sure how to declare the good He has given me when there’s never been a diagnosis and therefore it would be hard for most to believe my “minor” healings miraculous. I decided this time to say that I don’t know what He has delivered me from, but I do know what He hasn’t delivered me to yet.
My life hasn’t been filled with many of the scars it could bear and I don’t think I’ve ever shown enough gratefulness, honor, or praise due the Lord for not just all the good I’ve received but all the bad I have not. This isn’t meant to be the equivalent of the Pharisaic “I’m glad I’m not like…” On the contrary, what I’m saying and hopefully living out going forward, is gratitude to and reverence for the Lord expressly because I do not deserve good things, yet God in His graciousness has bestowed them. It is my sincere desire to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-21, ESV)
I of course welcome your prayers and prayers requests for yourselves and those you care about. Each time something shakes me and the winds of life whip noisily all around me, I want to walk in the words of David: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.” (Psalm 56:3, ESV)
And when the storm is past,
“I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.” (Psalm 9:1-2, ESV)
More than that I long to have the same mindset as Abraham and traverse the highways of this life looking to my true home with the Lord. To the “…city that has foundations, Whose designer and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:10, ESV).
It’s impossible to overstate how important it is for us as fragile-shelled sojourners in this world to see everything around as it is: ephemeral, transitory. Before us stretches the deepest expanse of eternity and every day we edge closer to stepping across the divide to join the Lord. And I hope in each moment I hold onto that mindset a little better and thereby keep my eyes on the One Who is my Healer, my Redeemer, and my Creator. Who gives me grace undeserved in this life and hope of things beyond anything I can comprehend thereafter.
“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city.” – Hebrews 11:13-16, ESV
“But, as it is written,
‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love Him’—
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” – 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, ESV
