Wednesday, March 24, 2010
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
sarah beth has not lost heart. outwardly she is wasting away. inwardly, she is renewed day by day. her troubles, though in our humanness they seem neither light nor momentary, are continuing to achieve for her eternal glory. she has fixed her eyes in faith on what she could not see. this wasting away will not last forever. and her faith will be sight. i say this about sarah beth now because the time of her faith being sight seems to be nearer than ever before. but it applies to all of us who belong to the Lord Jesus. sarah is still having periods of apnea, and they are lengthening. when she is breathing, her breaths are shallow. her color isn't good. and kathleen and i think her pulse feels weaker. but she is still here with us - the Lord is keeping her here for reasons only He knows fully. we do know that she is still being used of God to make an impact on the lives of others. people are still being introduced to her blog and her walk with God through her entries here. and without doubt she is making an impression on the precious people caring for her now. we have no way to know exactly why God lets her linger. but we can trust His timing without understanding it. sarah beth has always been a special girl. an amazing young woman. and we love her with all of our hearts. but what has made her most amazing isn't just what or who she is on her own. it's the way she has surrendered herself to be used of God. the decisions she has made to live her life to point other people to God - to show them what a life lived for God's glory looks like. to demonstrate that it really is possible to hold on to your faith even when you don't get what you'd planned on. and even when you get a nightmare you never asked for.
2 Corinthians 4:5,7-10 "Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we're proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you...If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us— trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us— he lives!"
He lives in us. that's where our hope comes from. He is so faithful.
it's not possible to close without thanking you again for praying.
THANK YOU.
leigh ann
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