His Glory

Do we really want God's will? Do we really want Him to be glorified?
I remember when my niece was born. She was such a beautiful little baby, and I don't just think every baby is beautiful -- even my own. She had dark hair and even-colored clear skin and nicely-shaped features and head. When she first entered the world she wasn't breathing. I realize it is not uncommon for babies not to breathe briefly but this was extended. It is a terrible feeling to be completely helpless knowing your child's life is slipping away. It was in that moment, as he watched someone else perform CPR, that God spoke to my brother-in-law and asked, "Do you trust Me? Do you want Me? Will you praise Me even in this?"
His first response was "No. I want my daughter." I appreciate his honesty. Sometimes we need to wrestle before we come to surrender.
Today I received an e-mail about another baby whose life hangs between earth and Heaven. I just wanted to post some of the father's words.

... as we partner together to pray for Reed, my Hope turns to the Lord as his(our) only hope and source of life. I believe this all powerful God and Savior that can part the Red Sea and raise the dead is powerful enough to heal Reed and give the doctors the insight they need.

The question and the mystery in the midst of this is, "what exactly is the Lord's will in this". Only he can answer that and as I pray for Reed's recovery, I also pray for the Lord's will to be done.

I want to applaud. That is the power of Christ working in a normal man's life. God is glorified through him and his wife as we see their faith shine.

All-Powerful Lord, Sustainer, Healer...You make each of us live and move and have our being...please save this little boy's life.

Marriage...What a Beautiful Thing

This summer we will celebrate our ten year anniversary.
Marriage...what a beautiful thing.
And yet, I know as I say it is beautiful, my heart also knows the depth of its pain -- in my own marriage, in my friends' marriages. It is not a light thing for me to say that marriage is beautiful.
I say it with commitment -- commitment to serve, to love, to forgive till death parts us, during sickness and health, during riches and poverty, during good times and bad.
But I am so grateful and so blessed to share this journey with my best friend.

My husband was sitting on the couch in the next room playing the guitar when I first began to write. His words are pretty rough at this point. This song will probably never make it past the fiddling around stage, but here's a little of what I am hearing...

In this moment it feels like everything will come crashing down,
In this moment it feels like we have nothing,
And it's not easy, we can't take anymore.
But it's not easy, just to walk out that door.
Cuz we've got something, something special.
We've got something we don't see every day...

He always says he can come up with a tune, but never the right words. Perhaps he is right. Still I like how he tries to communicate that even when marriage is hard, quitting would be more painful. How can we turn our backs on years of memories and life shared together, on our children, on our God?

But it hurts. Right now I hurt for my friends. How can people keep enduring such pain?

People say that I am still wearing my "rose-tinted" glasses. Perhaps we need to be.
Yes, marriage is beautiful. It was always meant to be beautiful.