Revelation

Remember when I wrote about my realization that I wasn't really exercising my faith in Papa?  I was receiving, as the final word, what the doctors' and tests' evaluations were regarding my honey's recovery.  Upon that revelation I determined to deliberately place my trust and confidence in my Loving, Mighty God.

So I have been seeing Ray a little differently.  I have been determined to put no limits on my expectations of my God.  The world that surrounds us sends a different message.
Though I look to Papa I still need to be preparing for the possibility that Ray will be going on long-term disability.  Only by the grace of my God can I do the work without accepting it as inevitable.  My eyes and heart need to be fixed on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of my faith!

A thought came to me this morning, which I noted in my journal.  "Love moves knowledge from the cerebral to the experiential."  You see, I know my God is All-Powerful, All-Knowing and thus is able to work in our lives, but it needs to move from just something I have read about. 
His Love makes all the difference.  As I reflect on the ultimate demonstration of His Love, which was on the Cross, and receive it, then I begin anew to experience Him in His Fullness.
At a seminar that I attended a couple of years ago the speaker, Graham Cooke, had two large arches constructed and placed in the front of the sanctuary.  He used them to illustrate this process.  He named the arches "Knowledge" and  "Experience."  Graham explained that when you go through one arch you must then continue on and enter the second one, or what God has for you isn't complete.
Think about it.  Knowledge alone isn't enough; neither is experience.  Knowledge confirms the experience and experience personalizes knowledge.

Well, I have had a few experiences this week that have made what I know about Papa very real and personal!
Early in the morning Ray usually gets out of bed and shuffles his way to our bathroom.  I had taken to not watching him do this, as he always appears so weak and broken to me.  His left arm just hangs like a piece of dead meat.  I do not want to see him that way.
A few days ago I did open my eyes as he walked by me and was struck by the thought that his arm looked different.  It looked more alive.
Two weeks ago I arranged a massage at our home for my honey.  The therapist had told me afterward that she thinks his arm and hand just need to be called back to life, so to speak, and that I should massage his hand as I sit with him.
I began to do just that.
Yesterday she returned to give him another massage and commented on how different his arm and hand appeared.
Cool, but wait!   We were getting ready to help Ray up onto the table when he said there was something he wanted to show us.  He had just discovered that he could rotate his hand while his arm was hanging loosely by his side!

There is a song that has been going through my head and its first line is, "We all fall down and lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus." 
I don't want to stop at a crown, but want to lay myself at His feet! 

As I get to know Him better, I am struck more deeply with how much He loves me.  His love defines me.  Who am I?  I am His beloved!
I read something by David Jeremiah this morning.  He said that "problems have a way of becoming pulpits."  God's glory is revealed in and through the ups and downs of our lives.  This revelation is not just for others to discover, but for we ourselves.
Oh, that I wouldn't miss one bit of Him and His glory, as He weaves Himself through all of my life!