Corona Devo 413

I am praying for a friend that I've never met. Will you join me?

She's 17 years old and a couple months ago she was sled riding on a hill that our family had sledded on days earlier and many times before.

It could have been me or my child, but it was her on the sled when something went drastically wrong.

Time stopped.

And her life changed.

She spent weeks in the hospital, and she came home in a wheelchair. Currently she is walking differently than you and I do--she has been forced to walk in faith. She and her family are walking in blind faith and steeped in prayer and hopes that one day soon she will regain use of her legs.

And so I pray for her. Me, my family, and a community are praying for her and rallying around the family. Join us, won't you?  James 5:16 says that, "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective", and I believe God's word to be true.

How God will "heal" her, I am not sure, because His divine thinking is beyond my "Hurry up and heal her" pleadings.  

But I will never dispute that our God is always working in our lives.  The hard-to-swallow part is that: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  (9) “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9).

But how do you swallow immediate and abrupt (physical) limitation and life change?

I would think that before you swallow, it chokes you first.

But the faith and strength that have come from this child-of-God and her family have shown no signs of distress. Instead their faith has inspired me, encouraged me and leveled me.

Their gratitude for health-care workers and community support is selfless and authentic, in a moment when they have every right to focus on themselves.

Their grace and acceptance of "what is" and their reverence for "what could have been" is both sobering and awe-inspiring.

Their written and verbal (and spiritual) acknowledgement of God and His presence with them throughout this time defies the prosperity-gospel and easy-faith that some of us seek.

Their faith-walk right now is anything but easy, but they seem to know that Jesus warned of this and spoke victory over this:  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).

The faith of these "friends" is being tested on so many levels, and yet they are passing with flying colors.

I applaud their balance of faith, front-ending it in working through "today" and yet not getting caught up in the worry of "tomorrow".

Even as she sits in a wheelchair, she and her family are walking in sheer faith..

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1).

I wrote her a note of encouragement, and as I finished, I was looking for a verse to encourage her in her faith for today. A Bible verse card fell out of my Bible, and as I read it, I realized that she was the one encouraging me (and us) in our faith for today:

God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. ~Psalm 46:5

I am praying for a friend that I've never met. Will you join me?

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com