The Lord is at Hand

I've been studying the book of Philippians the last few weeks. The first week, in error, thinking it was the topic of our Saturday morning study. I did a brief search of the number of times the word "joy" occurs and also any words that pertain to the mind or thinking. One of the themes of the book seems to be that having joy in our hearts is much related to the things that we allow ourselves to think about or dwell on (for Liz).

I have a friend who is having a very serious surgery today. She has been battling colon cancer for the last six months. After taking the prescribed chemotherapy and radiation treatments, she has finally come to the culmination of the treatment; that moment of truth when a surgeon visibly inspects and removes whatever remains of the disease.
I had the privilege of visiting with her this morning. She has been such an encouragement to me. As we visited this morning, I was reminded of her and her husbands devotion to the Lord. They live for the things of God. They understand that God's purposes are the most fulfilling and their lives reflect that. I also understand that there is a tension in living. We know that death is sure, and that things don't always turn out like we would plan.

It is difficult to control our thought life. We are prone to fears in our natural tendency toward self-preservation. Those "what if" thoughts are so difficult to beat down. But if we truly believe in God and that He is in control, the battle begins. We must make the decision repeatedly to totally abandon whatever the outcome will be to Someone who is greater than us. This is the challenge. Our confidence is that no matter what the results will be today, God is ultimately in control of that outcome. We gather all those fearful thoughts and bundle them neatly and carefully to lay all at the feet of Him who holds the world in His hands.

She has demonstrated to me the importance of maintaining her faith by speaking words that elevate and breed confidence in our loving and faithful heavenly Father. But our Father has also demonstrated His faithfulness. He prepared a special devotion for her this morning. Her regular reading spoke specifically of the removal of sin from our lives and referenced a scalpel, of all things. She received such a comfort from reading those words the precise morning the reality of that scalpel was so near to her. She received a special song in church Sunday that was given to her prior to another surgery many years ago. In her past, she was fearful and God gave her a song. He reminded her of His faithfulness by having that same song sung a few days prior to this surgery. God is faithful. God is good. And He made sure she was reminded of it.

We don't know the outcome right now but we do know that God knows. And therefore, everything is alright.
Isaiah 46:9,10
"...for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
and
Ps. 52:9
"I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly."