Thursday, May 21, 2009

though I am weak...yet I am strong

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.  The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made.  The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.   Psalm 145:13-14

Years ago, my husband and I had the honor of seeing a man in our remote community come to Christ.  He walked away from everything that He had known to follow Jesus.  His people, his friends, his family... could not believe that he had turned his back on his ancestral religion.  He studied the Bible faithfully with my husband.  Soon his wife started coming to our home.  She wanted to study the Bible too.  She had seen a remarkable change in her husband.  Both decided to follow Jesus.  Everyday they would come to our home and read and study the Bible.  We were so excited!  Word soon got out into the community of what they had done.  One day, the man came to our home.  He was driving erratically and could hardly get the car to stop.  He did not look well.  "Something is wrong," he told my husband. "I am losing feeling in my legs."  As we helped him, out of his car and into ours, my husband drove him to the doctor's office.  After the doctor examined him,  he said the man needed to get to the hospital right away.  We lived in a small town and the only ambulance was in use and not available.  "Can you drive him?" the doctor asked.  Two hours later, they reached the hospital.  It would be the last time this man and my husband would walk together.  Just before entering the hospital, the man's legs began to give way and my husband had to hold him up.  He was later diagnosed with a tumor on his spine.  Some said it was because he had left the old ways... But, he was never to walk again and died within the year.  My husband cared for him as a baby in his last months.  He was baptized and stayed strong in the faith until his death.  I do not recall him ever questioning why this happened to him.  We have been blessed to see his grandchildren come to Jesus.  

 Because he put his hope in God's unfailing love, he now has family that will one day join him.  He suffered immense pain before he died... but he never gave up and he never let go of the promises of God.  His strength left his body but his spirit remained strong.  

We may be the link that brings our children, our grandchildren, their children to the saving grace of Jesus.  May we walk strong in the faith and not waiver. 

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