Family Updates

I spoke with Martha last night and she had some fascinating news to share. Several weeks ago, as part of her Scripture reading, she came to this verse in 3 John, “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.” Martha chose to meditate on this verse and its context for the past few weeks. Then on Wednesday Martha opened the card for her 19th birthday from Mom (which Jan wrote just before her ‘promotion’). Guess which verse was on the front! For Martha, this message from heaven brought tears of joy.

Martha is spending the weekend with Hannah. Last week, Hannah took her GRE – Graduate Record Examination, the first step in applying for graduate school. I won’t embarrass her by posting her scores, but she did really, really well. Now she will begin applying to specific schools. Her job at Mt. Vernon ends in November when she plans to join us here in Texas.

David, Sara, Jonathan, and I have enjoyed being together. David and Sara leave early each morning for work and return in the afternoon. Jonathan does school work while I piddle with my stuff. Yesterday, Jonathan passed the written exam for his learner’s permit. I will be giving him driving lessons in the coming months. At the end of next week, I head off to the east coast, attending a couple of conferences and speaking in churches.

Last week, I spent an afternoon with my dear friend, Doug Helms and his wife, Selah. If you remember, their son was involved in a near-fatal car accident 2 years ago. He is classified as “minimally conscious”, eyes open but unable to communicate, only able to slightly move his left arm and leg. Still breathes through a trach inserted in his throat. At this point, there is little hope of sustained improvement.

To keep his joints from calcifying and to stimulate brain activity, family and church members give him 4 to 6 hours of in-home therapy every day. Because of his trach, someone has to be by his bedside every night. The physical, emotional, and financial burdens on Doug and Selah have been huge. But despite the stress and sorrow, there is joy in their home, because they know God has eternal purposes for this that they have yet to see. As Doug says, “These struggles with Peter are only a blip in time compared to eternity in heaven.”

I believe God’s greatest trials are reserved for His most faithful saints. God does not take delight in trials, but he is most pleased by persevering faith (Hebrews 11:6), and sometimes trials are the only soil in which this kind of faith can bloom. Trials alone do not make a saint. It wholly depends on our responses to the trial. Or, more accurately, on depending wholly on God’s grace to accomplish the purposes for which the trial was sent.

Are we bitter at God because of hardships and complain about what we think should have been? Do we proudly assume an entitlement mentality that God owes us more than we have? Or do we understand that God owes us nothing, except eternity in hell for our sins? Only “by grace are you saved” (Eph. 2:8-9)? Are we grateful for what we do have, having confidence that God knows what He is doing, ever trusting that He is continually by our side, always joyful in knowing that eternal happiness awaits us in heaven, for those who have been saved by his grace, and who show that grace by faithful obedience during the fiery trials of this life.