As many of you may already know, David and Sally Michael’s daughter has been experiencing serious and ongoing medical issues. Here is a wonderful perspective from Sally as their family undergoes this time of suffering and difficult transition.
So how do I feel? Sad, frustrated, helpless, discouraged, grieving...Don't ask me how I feel. Ask me what I know. What I know to be true about God. What I know His Word promises. What I know about our sure and certain hope. What I know is:
- God will never leave us or forsake us.
- God's mercies are new every morning.
- God's grace is sufficient for us, for His power is made perfect in or weakness.
- God has promised all things will work out for our good.
- God understands that we are but dust.
- God's steadfast love never ceases.
- God does not grow faint or weary, and His understanding is unsearchable.
- God gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength.
- God's goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives.
- God does not willingly afflict the sons of man.
- God is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His works.
- God delivers the righteous out of all his afflictions.
- God has not hidden His face from the afflicted, but He has heard when he cries to Him.
- God is our rock and our fortress and our deliverer.
- God's name is a strong tower, which the righteous run to and are safe.
- God loves His people with an everlasting love.
- God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
- God's arm is not shortened that He cannot work.
- God will strengthen us, He will help us, He will uphold us with His righteous right hand.
- God is with us when we pass through waters, and they shall not overwhelm us.
- God made all things; He alone stretched out the heavens and spread out the earth by Himself. Nothing is impossible for Him.
- God alone is God; He declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done. His counsel shall stand, and He will accomplish all His purpose. What He has purposed, He will do.
- God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. He will not withhold any good thing from those who walk uprightly.
- God daily bears us up.
Now ask me how I feel. I feel hopeful, expectant, secure, comforted, encouraged, strengthened, trusting, ready to fight the fight of faith...ready to drive (well ride, for the most part) 17 hours, pack up an apartment, encourage a daughter, get that scan, hug grandchildren (and of course their parents), celebrate the resurrected Christ who purchased our salvation, and see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Thank you for your prayers, love and concern. You have been God's encouragement and blessing to us.
I love Sally’s “what I know” list, pointing to precious truths about who God is and what He is like—precious promises from a faithful God to His beloved children. Every “what I KNOW” is from God’s holy Word. Knowledge of God—His character and promises—is meant to shape our feelings in suffering. This is so important to keep in mind in teaching our children. They will experience suffering. Will their response be shaped by God’s Word, or by something else?
One way to help prepare our children is to give them a solid foundation in the character and promises of God. Here are two resources designed to do just that:
Faithful to All His Promises—A Study for Children on the Promises of God
(40-lesson curriculum)
God’s Promises
(family devotional)
