Tuesdays, In "other" Words

Over the years of serving the Lord, there is one thing I have found that never changes, which is God’s faithfulness. No matter what I’ve had to go through, I’ve learned that He is always there with mercy, love, and compassion to uphold and steady me day by day.

However, there are those times when God goes above and beyond anything you could ever imagine. In the summer of 2002, after much prayer, my husband, Jordan and I boarded a plane and headed up to Johns-Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, MD. Jordan was scheduled for brain surgery.

Although we were sent off with the prayers and support of our family, friends and church, we thought we would be making this journey alone. Never in our wildest dreams could we have anticipated what would happen after we arrived.

I had come to greatly admire a Pastor from Baltimore that I had listened to on the radio for many years. We planned to attend his church on Sunday, before reporting to the hospital on Monday morning. We mentioned to an usher that we were first time visitors, and explained the reason we were in town. This was a fairly large church, and we were just one of many first-time visitors on that Sunday morning. The service was tremendous, and we felt reassured that the Lord would be with us as we faced the uncertainty of what lay ahead.

On Monday morning, Jordan’s first surprise was that our Pastor from back home and his associate unexpectedly flew up to be by our side throughout the surgery. Then two ladies from the church we had visited that worked at the hospital, came and joined us in the waiting room. Somehow they got our name from the visitor’s card and made us feel just like family. From that day, until the day we left Baltimore, total strangers from the church continued to bring us meals, gifts, and spent time praying and ministering to us! Can you imagine such an out-pouring of love?

We thought we would be far away from home, and away from loved ones who could encourage and support us. Yet God “intruded into our neat and tidy notions about who He is and how He works.” Little did we know what wonderful blessings He had planned for us when we boarded that plane. What a glorious discovery we made on that trip about the unsurpassing greatness of our amazing God and the Body of Christ!

It’s so easy to assume you understand God’s ways and purposes, because we have the Word that reveals so much about Him. However, there are those times when He intrudes into our concepts of who He is, and reveals Himself in new and greater ways than we have ever imagined.

Jordan came through the surgery perfectly in tact, but we didn’t get the results we were hoping for as the tumor could not be removed. However, we gained a greater revelation of our wonderful Savior, and formed many new friendships that we still treasure until this very day.

“Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” Ephesians 3:20