The Lord's Day

We are able to attend services today with our beloved church family for the first time in weeks. Lacey wasn't feeling very good this morning and had some troubles getting up and ready but God gave her strength and we made it to the service. We enjoyed it and enjoyed seeing our church family. Lacey was quite tired and in pain after only a few hours and we came back home around lunch time. It is so good to be with the people of God, and words can't express how it feels to be away from the family of God for so many weeks. We were and are always uplifted by our brothers and sisters in Christ.

As for Lacey, this afternoon was difficult for her and she had significantly more pain, possibly from the increased activity level of the day. She continues to have severe pains in her back and this afternoon she even had an episode of very sharp pain in her upper abdomen, which we never figured out exactly what that was. After such a surgery, there are so many areas of new connections and areas where sutures were placed, the pain inside of her varies and can be very bad at times. She has been slightly discouraged at times, and wishes to feel better quicker, but she knows (and has been warned by docs) that this will take time. The surgeon told her she'd feel better at 6 months than now, and better in 1 year than at 6 months..and he said she'd even feel better in 2 years than 1 year. She continues to press on and she challenges herself daily to get better. She pushes herself to do what we think is impossible and she goes on, even in severe pain at times. She is to be admired...but i will say and she would also, it's not her to be admired, it's our God working His will and ways in her to bring glory unto Himself. She and I continue to strive to give God the glory in this situation. As for me, I admit that filling the gaps around the house while lacey is down is very tough. The daily housework, bottle washing, clothes washing, and meal prep that she normally does is on me now and it is hard, but i will add that i am thankful God has placed me in such a position as a provider to my wife and child. Things are getting better each day for us and we continue to thank God.

If i may add one request: we were in a hospital room in MN for several days next to a lady named Nancy Wild. Her husband and her visited us just before she was discharged home. We keep in touch with her husband named Jim, and I can't call exactly what set of theological beliefs they have, and i surely can't call his or her salvation, but i will say that they need our prayers. I have been burdened by this thought for the past few days since i got an email from Jim saying his dear wife was back in the hospital with seizures (her previous problem was blot clots and heart problems) and his last email informed me that she was living what the doctors called "her last days." She is very sick and he is very upset. I think of this and realize that my wife laid less than 15 feet from her bed for days, my wife dealt with fevers, infections, pains, convulsions, confusion, and a major surgery. I know that i could be typing here on this blog the same news as he sent me, news that my wife was dying. Instead for some reason, God has spared Lacey and provided a means for her healing. For reasons, that only God knows, this dear lady, Nancy Wild is in her last days of life, with multiple health problems that continue to build...oh how precious is the life God gives? May we use it to His glory, may our end be satisfied in serving God and enjoying Him forever. Please pray for this couple, the Wilds, I'm not sure if they know God or not, but through email, he's assured me that our beliefs are quite different, and hasn't accepted my offer for scriptural counseling for this time of sufferring for he and his wife. Please pray that somehow God could reveal Himself to these people, even in the midst of such sufferring, for we know that He is working all things, through life or death, for the good of His people and for His glory.

For those who may want to just email this fellow, i will attach his email. If you do, just send him a short encouraging email, telling him he and his wife are being prayed for. Encourage him with scripture or with a short testimony of how God heals and provides, and even how God's work can be accomplished through death. The email is spike12@usfamily.net.

Thank you again for your continued support and prayers. Lacey and I will forever thank our God for each of you.

Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica:

I Thes 1:2-3 Every time we think of you, we thank God for you. Day and night you’re in our prayers 3 as we call to mind your work of faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope in following our Master, Jesus Christ, before God our Father.

Our dear family and friends, we thank God for you day and night and could not be where we are today without God's blessing upon us through each of you.