Prayer for a friend

Dear friends,

Tonight, I have several things to thank God about. I thank Him for choosing me, apart from any merit or worth, to be His adopted child forever. I thank Christ for giving up His own rights, to secure my rights as a joint-heir. I thank Him that He blessed me with His Spirit to teach and to guide me, to comfort me when I hurt.

I thank God that despite the confusion of medical opinions, Dee Dee and I are still like-minded about going with the Mayo Clinic treatment plan of observation. I thank Him for equipping us for this time in life. I thank Him that there are mountain-tops as well as valleys.

I thank Him that Dee Dee had the opportunity to speak at a women's retreat for our church this weekend, and that I am told she was amazing. (No surprise there for me, by the way!) I know her heart's desire was to glorify God, and to edify her sisters; I thank Him that He used her for His purpose. I thank Him that "we glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:3-5) I thank Him that our trials have been with divine purpose. What comfort there is to know that our trials are intentional, and that they have purpose for good; that they are not random or outside the reach of our God. I got into a dispute with a pastor once, in front of a group of folks, because he was telling them that Gabe's illness was not from God, but from Satan. What comfort is there in a God who is not in control of the events of our life? How would that logic have been comforting to Paul, while in jail, or shipwrecked? How would it have comforted us during this illness? No, God ordained this disease, and he knows why. That is enough. This weekend, He used it as part of preparing Dee Dee to speak. Later, He will use it in other ways. I thank Him for that.

Now, I'd like to ask you all to pray for friends of ours. They have been in our small group, and tribulations are more real to them than I can truly fathom. Reid and Stephanie have 3 children, ages 6, 4, and 2. For the past couple of months, Stephanie has had chest pain, but the cardiologist said everything was fine. While driving home from the grocery store last Friday night, 4 days after her 35th birthday, Stephanie had a heart attack and died while talking to Reid on her cell phone. Now, I've had too much occasion to consider my own wife's death this past year (seizure in January, cancer this Fall), and still I really cannot comprehend all the ways to pray for my brother. He is a very solid believer, and I believe that he will persevere, develop character, and have hope. I asked him if I could recruit other prayers through the blog, to which he agreed. Please pray for the comfort of the Spirit, the love of the Father, the fellowship of Christ and His suffering to begin to heal all the hurts. Pray for those sweet little kids. Pray for our little church, and our small group, as we provide care and love. Pray for all the things that I can't even think of right now. Just pray!

Thanks everyone. I'll write again later, and give updates on Reid, as well as our next medical trips to Mayo, etc.

By the way, I'm also thankful to Him for all of you. Ya'll are a blessing.

Tony