It
has been a very hard few weeks for me. I’ll save the specifics but I will say
that it was the final hurdle of this deployment and the first time I was
completely emptied out and clinging solely to God for help. I really thought my battleship was sunk.
The following verse sums up so much of what I was feeling and dealing
with emotionally, spiritually and physically.
8-11 We don’t want you
in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in
Asia province. It was so bad we didn’t think we were going to make it. We felt
like we’d been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned
out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our
own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not
a bad idea since he’s the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us
from certain doom. And he’ll do it again, rescuing us as many times as
we need rescuing. You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation—I don’t
want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted
in praise for God’s deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played
such a crucial part.
2
Corinthians 1:8-11
The
Message (MSG)
Obviously
my circumstances weren’t as terrible as what is being referenced in this verse
but I was definitely in my own “Asia province” -- and I feel confident that He
sent me this verse to guide me and encourage me when I needed it the most. The
first thing was that I needed to trust God completely. And since I had no more
strength left – I had exhausted all of my “control” and effort and work – it
was pretty easy to give it all over to God. It was basically my only
option. Second, I had to remember all
the other times God had rescued me in the past. How? Well, I set out to make my
list – and guess what?! The list was very
long. Third, like a lightening bolt to my brain, I realized that I really
needed to call in the prayer reinforcement of my friends and family. And I did.
I asked several friends and family to keep me in their prayers. I love the last
half of this verse: “I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God’s
deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played a crucial part.” It’s
so important to lift each other up in prayer and this situation reminded me of
it more than ever. Prayer works!
And
I want to greatly thank every one who did lift me up in prayer, who sent
encouraging notes, made the time for a “pep talk” phone call, sent “just
checking in” text messages and even mailed me chocolate (bonus points for the chocolate). I was on the brink and
your prayers were the rescue mission. I see that so clearly now. So a million
times thank you. And because of the prayers and God’s grace alone, I can happily
report that things are finally on the “upswing” for us. Hooray and hallelujah!
