Goliaths

A week or so ago, I heard from a pastor friend in another country that he and his congregation were  praying 1 Samuel 17:47 for me. When I looked it up, I found it right in the middle of David’s words to Goliath. The key phrase here is “the battle is the Lord’s.”

We all have our Goliaths. Most of us face numerous ones in our lives. It may be dealing with a relationship, a challenge at school or work, a disease, or some other thing that seems impossible to resolve or work through. But, for the Christ-follower, we have the Lord. This does not mean we don’t do anything and God does it all. David selected the stones, and knew how to use that sling, but the outcome was in the Lord’s hands.

Realizing that we do not face these trials alone is great comfort. It might be nice for God to remove them, or never allowing them to happen in the first place, but it is adversity that causes us to grow (see James 1) and prepares us to be able to help others in similar circumstances (see 2 Corinthians 1). I don’t know about you, but for me, God always has more of my attention when I am in “adverse” or “out-of-my-comfort-zone” situations. It is in those times that I learn most of Him and His ways.

Update:
For me, the chemo, except for the big dose to wipe out my bone marrow and immune system, is done. I feel pretty good today. Joints are a little achy, but they told me to expect that from the injections that mobilize my stem cells from the bone marrow into the blood stream. So far, it is not nearly as bad as they may ache when you have the flu. (That was the worst-case scenario they told me about.)

Today is a clinic free day, so it is nice. I have been able to do a little work, a little reading, and some resting. I have to go tomorrow, and then Monday they start the collection of the stem cells. You can pray that they get all they need in a day or two, rather than three or four. That would either give me a few more rest days before the transplant week, or speed the process up a tad. Either would be okay.

Thanks for your prayers. They are the most important ingredients in all of this.