Tuesday, April 15, 2008

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







27 comments:

twinklemom said...

Amen!
THAT was a powerful post and so encouraging!

And Praise God about Jordan!!

I'm going to be away tomorrow..but have my IOWT post up!

So worry to miss it! :)

Denise said...

Such a lovely post, bless you.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing this quote. It was great for all I've been learning in a Bible study now. Looking forward to reading others insights as well.

~ Mhay ~ said...

Thanks for this encouraging ppost Susan.

Blessings to you and your family

Shari said...

It's so neat to read that God comforted you both by sending people to show their concern and love.

luvmy4sons said...

Thank you for sharing your story. It is so awesome that you are able to witness to God's provision in the middle of your crisis. God IS good all the time! Inspirational story!

Anonymous said...

Susan, this post really moved me. I have had two very close family members go through brain surgery. Like you, we didn't get the news we hoped for either time. But, we did learn a lot of God's faithfulness and His grace. Those times were so hard emotionally, though.

It is always so amazing to me how God uses people that we would least expect to minister to us. Even perfect strangers!! What an extraordinary church that must have been!!

Traci said...

What a wonderful testimony to the faithfulness of God! His blessings on His children are so bountiful!!!

Karen said...

That was a great quote this week. Praise the Lord that there is a lot to learn and experience about God. Bless you.

Tracy said...

Wow! What a beautiful example of the faithfulness of our loving Lord! Thank you so much for sharing. You've blessed and challenged me today!
Tracy

Heather said...

I love hearing how God comes through for us each individually. It's amazing that people you didn't even know were the hands of Christ for you. What a great example of faithfulness!

delaney said...

UGH....my comment went POOF!! So I will not be DEFEATED and I'll try again!!!!

What an amazing thing God did...through strangers...you were blessed and covered...that is just amazing to me...unimaginable ways HE moves....

You know for a "crazy lady" you have such wise words...I'm continually blessed!! Taking this with me today...

If we all just allowed God to move us in SMALL ways, think of the changes we could see....
YOu took the "GOODNESS" and moved it outward...that is just what God does if we let him....

MY first comment was so much better...but I can't remember all of it....
ugh!!
oh well.....you blessed me...as always..God has used this tough time to grow you and the ministering you do as a result is blessing so many....
hugs!!
lori

Kelley said...

I love what I have read by the other ladies so far and I feel so inadequate but I hate to miss out on all the fun so I am participating again this week. It is only my second time so please be gentle with the critique!LOL

Kelley

lori said...

UGH!! not only did I delete the first comment...but then I COMMENTED as my girl Laney....
it really was me in disguise!!!
just had to let you know that...off to a STELLAR start this morning!!
hugs,
lori

LAURIE said...

That was a wonderful word today and such a reminder to all of us that we need to reach out. It reminded me of a lovely family that we had met several years ago, they visited our church while their teen son was a patient at st jude, my husband and I visited them at the hospital and instantly had a kindred spirit with them. Over the next few years, they had to return to our area for treatment for their son and we always connected. Sadly, their son lost his battle with cancer, but how blessed they were when my pastor husband flew all the way to Iowa to attend their sons service.

We all have the ability to make an impact on someone today! God bless and I rejoice that you and your husband had a good experience and felt Gods love and peace during a difficult time. -Blessings, Laurie

Anonymous said...

Oh Susan! What a beautiful testimony of how God wraps his tender arms around us and shows us his love!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for hosting! What a great comment! Your story is awesome and so filled with God's love.

Be blessed!

Tonya said...

Susan, How do you YOU ALWAYS manage to blow me away? You've got such a tremendous gift with words.

Your story is AMAZING! I LOVE how GOD sometimes goes out of HIS way to show how HUGE HE really is.

I know as much as those ladies blessed you by showing up, they walked away with the BIGGER blessing. (By getting to know you and your family and experiencing your FIRE for the LORD)

I'm with Denise, this is indeed a lovely post! =-)

I LOVE YOU, My Friend!

Masquerading Mom said...

And hence the reason we are called "the family of God", we are one in Spirit, one in Love, and one in Christ. This unity crosses denominations, doctrinal disputes, and space and time. I was reminded about this just today when I was reading Christ's High Priestly Prayer in John 17. Glory!

I look forward to seeing you next week @ St. Jude. Email me (my computer crashed and all of my email addresses have disappeared, so I can't email you yet) and we'll compare schedules.

Anonymous said...

What an awesome testoimony! PTL!

Tami said...

Praise God for taking care of you! Why do we ever worry?

Thanks for choosing this quote, Susan. It was thought-provoking and a good exercise in remembering the faithfulness of God.

Anonymous said...

Hey Sweetie,

Your post today was such a blessing to me. It reminded me once again that no matter what we may face in life, our God is always near. He is greater than we can think or even imagin, and we can trust Him with our today and with our tomorrow. He has proven Himself to be faithful in our time of need.

Love you...Rick (Hubby)

Tea with Tiffany said...

Susan, I am always touched by your experiences. They strengthen my faith. I love how God used the body of Christ to minister to you and your family during such a hard time.

Thank you for faithfully reading my blog. I am running behind lately. So my leisure reading is cut short, but know I still value you more than you know. Thanks for praying for me.

Julie said...

What a great post. How awesome of Papa to set you up with His burden bearers.

This was a beautiful read.

I found you from Tiffany's blog.

Have a blessed day,
Julie

Katie said...

Thank You for the encouraging post!
That's so awesome. It really shows God is always their. that so cool
Have a great day! Katie

Lelia Chealey said...

Oh...made me cry! That is beautiful Susan. We have experienced love this weeks as our church family has meals being delivered to us this whole week. It has been such a humbling time of blessing.
Love you,
Lelia
Did you tell me that being a Grandma was going to be this awesome????? :)

Bonnie W said...

Thanks Susan for your encouraging blog. As a pastor's wife, I love to read about how churches reach out and minister to others. God is so good!
Bonnie