Outpouring of Love

This morning, I was struck by John 11:5 and 6, "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When therefore He heard that he was sick, He stayed then two days longer in the place where He was." This "sickness" is referring to Lazarus, a man whom Jesus loved. And this sickness led to his death. And the second word in verse 6 is therefore. To my human common sense, I would think that a more appropriate way to phrase this would have been "He heard that he was sick, but unfortunately was detained two more days in the place where He was". But that's not at all what it says. It says therefore. Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha and knew that their present suffering was what was best for them and for His ministry. Instead of hearing that he was sick and dropping everything and rushing to his side, he intentionally stayed put for two more days, knowing what the outcome would be. And this was a great act of love.

It can be so easy for me to fall into the trap of thinking that life should be really easy and that my status as a child of God should provide this big band-aid that will protect me from pain and suffering. Wrong! In fact, that status puts a big 'ole bullseye on my back, marking me as a target for Satan to attack. And he would just love for me to see hard things as some sort of proof that God doesn't love me or take care of me. But I choose to see the truth instead. I choose to see that it is in the hard things that God is showing his love for me. He is growing me and changing me and allowing me to see my need for Him. He is working in great ways.

Sometimes I struggle with the fact that I have such difficult pregnancies. I wonder why it can't just be normal and easy. But I am reminded like I was this morning that God loves me and therefore I have to go through hard things. I just pray that I can see how God is working and learn what it is that He has for me to learn through all of this.

And there are so many blessings that have already come in this storm. I just found out that my friends and church family have arranged to have meals brought for us through the end of September - that's almost two months, y'all! And I've done the math - it adds up to 32 meals!! Unbelievable. I have friends and family members who have rearranged their schedules that they can take Mary Laine for weeks at a time - or take time off of work and family to come and take care of her here. I am being shown unconditional and sacrificial love through all of these people and am completely overwhelmed by it. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has or will be sacrificing for us. Words can't express how grateful we are!