Moving right along

The trend of improvement continues for Susan in all respects, cognitively and physically. We hope this path leads to greater independence and eventually to her ability to be alone safely. Susan is taking more initiative with more activities and has been less apt to forget the next step in a routine activity unless she’s tired. She still needs stand-by assistance to get around so she doesn’t fall, but her endurance is increasing. We walked to the end of the block on Saturday for the first time in six months or more. Tonight at bedtime she brushed her teeth, walked to the bedside, applied some lip balm, and put on a small brace she wears at night to position her shoulder properly. These are simple, regular tasks that I had to do for her only months ago because she lacked the impulse or the strength. Tonight she did them while I was not even in the room. We thank God for His sustaining care and healing hand for us.

Our chance encounters with friends lately remind us again of God’s phenomenal love in the Body of Christ. From church to the grocery store and points in between, people ask how Susan is doing and say they’re praying for her. When we saw Elvia from church at the chiropractor on Thursday, she knelt next to the chair Susan was sitting in and prayed for her there. When we saw our neighbors Robert and Carrie Nicks at Adam’s choir banquet on Friday, they came across the room to our table to greet Susan. They remarked how good she looks and said they keep her in their daily prayers. Later we commented to each other how amazing it is that people are so committed to praying for us. These glimpses into the world of unseen support assure us God is working graciously and mysteriously. I know the burden of Susan’s brain cancer is lighter for us because the Lord has prompted others to help us carry it with their prayer, words of care, and acts of kindness. The depth of God’s goodness and the goodness of others is astonishing.

I’ve been returning to Psalm 25 lately, a comforting vehicle for me to be laid bare before God and accept my smallness before Him and His kindness toward me. David says in verse 16, “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.” This is an amazing request that reveals the very nature of the Living God. Considering some sources of power, it would be a crazy thing to invite them for a personal experience. Would I want a bomb blast, a bolt of lightning, a gun-toting terrorist or a roaring hurricane to turn to me? These powers are greater than I am. I cannot control them. They could destroy me. But isn’t this also true of God? Why would I ask Almighty God to turn to me? God’s power exceeds any other – He is the source of power. He is uncontrollable – He is sovereign in all respects. But God is good. God is kind and He is gracious. He has committed Himself to us in faithfulness and love. If not for these, only a fool would say, “Turn to me.”

If David understood God’s power, and to read the Psalms he wrote I’d say he did, he also understood His gracious nature. The kindness of God made it okay for David to approach Him humbly so the power of God could meet his need. “Be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.” I am convinced God uses the hard things in our lives to help us realize our need for Him. Since He is for us, His power is for us also. With such a resource available for the asking, perhaps the foolish thing is to not say, “God, turn to me.”