Love Waits

I read a very uplifting email today, and a very uplifting post. Our world needs a lot more uplifts, right? So I'll share a bit of both. The post is by Dr. Terry Hamblin, England's world-renowned CLL expert. Although he's undergoing a very uncomfortable chemo regimen in a second bout with abdominal cancer, he makes time to answer all kinds of questions on the CLLC Friends forum. From his answers there and other ritings, it's obvious that he is a good, caring, thoughtful and intelligent man. I think you'll agree when you read this:
"Last week was a particularly bad week for side effects and they were beginning to get me down. At one point I found myself very angry at the whole situation. I know that anger is part of the experience of most patients with cancer, but I have always been able to approach my illness pretty rationally. My angry thoughts were, "Why has this happened to me?" "What did I ever do to deserve this?" "It's not fair!" "Why does God let this happen to me?" Yesterday's sermon certainly helped me. Like Israel I was facing massive problems. Mine mightn't be nine feet tall like Goliath, but it seemed too big for me to tackle. But whereas to the Israelite army Goliath seemed unfaceable, to David he was an uncircumcised Philistine defying God. David not only had a proper view of Goliath, he had a proper view of God: not a leader who had gone missing, but The LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel. David was also able to look at himself clearly. He knew that he had been anointed secretly by Samuel; he knew he had killed the bear and the lion when protecting his father's sheep; and he knew the hand of God in placing him precisely where he was to do the will of God.
"Instead of complaining of our lot, we need to be aware that God is working his purposes out in us. If we were only given tasks that we could easily accomplish on our own, then we would easily claim the credit. But we are faced with tasks that overwhelm us and frighten us and come close to defeating us. Why? So that we realize that we need the Almighty Lord to accomplish them. When we feel alone and deserted, then we need to turn to God - not blaming him for leaving us, but confessing that it is we who have stopped looking at him. Psalm 10 begins: Why, LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? But it ends: The LORD is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. You, LORD, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.

"The story of David and Goliath is well known. It was not the triumph of a littl'un over a big'un as it is popularly portrayed. It was the triumph over an upstart by the Almighty God who fights evil with good, lawlessness with justice, hate with love and haste with patience. If there is a God, say some, let him wipe out poverty in Africa, sort out the cholera in Haiti, deal with the North Koreans, round up the drug-dealers, punish the pedophiles, stop the people trafficking, and rid the world of prostitution, pornography, murder, robbery, political corruption and fraud. But God looks at robbers and murderers, prostitutes and pedophiles, drug dealers and even politicians and sees people who might be redeemed by the blood of his son, if they only had a second chance. So he waits."

Often, love is called upon to wait. charity, which is the pure love of Christ, is patient, and it suffereth long. God waits for His purposes to be fulfilled. And to be like Him, we must sometimes waitt ... and wait ... and wait, too. My thanks to Dr. Terry for humbly sharing his wise reflections on his blog.
http://mutated-unmuated.blogspot.com/


I'll post the email I mentioned later.

Happiness and Gratitude Abound

My gratitude cup has been filling up more and more of late. It's not overflowing, but it's pretty close. For the last few months, we've had the privilege of seeing our son Colin and a lovely young lady become friends, and then sweethearts, and now, they're engaged to be married. Macey comes from a strong and happy family, and that's what we anticipate they'll create for themselves, too!

Yesterday was the anniversary of the start of Shane's mission. That means we're halfway to the point of being able to hug him and have him with us again! I sent him pictures of our newly decorated home (yes, JoLyn's been here again), and this is how he began this week's letter:
"Wow, geez. It looks like you put work in on that house. Things look a lot different... including different names for everything... almost makes it seem like it is a new house. Well, it may not be a new house, but it is a different one, which I guess does indeed make it a new house. I hope you are enjoying it and avoiding bumping into things since it has all been rearranged. Things have been going really well here. We had transfers earlier this week, and it already feels like that was forever ago. My new companion is Elder Mathusek. He hails from New Jersey. His house is about 30 minutes away from where we are serving here in Queens. He has about five months left in the mission. He is a great guy who is very dedicated to the work and knows how to make friends with the members and investigators. I am looking forward to working with him for the next while."
He gives us some specifics about several families they're teaching , and then he concludes with:
"This week has been really good. I have learned a lot about loving other people and valuing the times I am able to share with others. The mission is an incredibly unique experience that I have been given to help me be happy. I am learning how to love others and how to show it. I am feeling the sweet sensations of sensational sweetness. Things are good here. I am happy. I hope all is well with the family and people are safe and enjoy the things they are doing. Our Heavenly Father still exists and still loves us. The church is still true, and I hope you know I love you, because I do." I'm grateful that I do know that, and I know he knows I/we love him so so much, too.

As I mentioned, my amazing, seemingly tireless friened, JoLyn, paid us a long and productive visit just recently. She was here for 10 days, but it went by in a flash. She gave almost the whole house a fun makeover. We love it! Brianna went carpet shopping with us, and we had lunch together at a little favorite bistro of hers. She was so eager to see how everything was shaping up, that we invited her and Jason over for lunch before we were completely finished. I'll show her the changes next week when they're here for Thanksgiving dinner, which she claims, by the way, will be ruined unless we have pumpkin swirl cheesecake on the menu. :)

So, you can see that happiness and gratitude do indeed abound. And we wish a blessed and happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Real by Macey