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Health & Fitness

What Lies Ahead

Devotion on faithfulness through good and bad times allowing us glimpses of what God has in store for us ahead.

12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:12

My friend, Mary, always dreamed of going to Alaska.  She hated the heat of summer and loved the coolness of winter.  Mary didn’t have an easy life – having her husband leave her with 4 children under the age of 4 (the youngest two were twins).  She came to the faith through her neighbors, and it is this faith in Christ that she hung onto strongly throughout raising her children into adulthood – alone.  Money was always tight, but God always managed to give her what she needed to get through whatever was facing her at the time.

When Mary was diagnosed with cancer, it was a great shock to all of us in her family and in our little Bible study group that had watched our children grow from infants to Mary’s oldest growing to adulthood and a staggering height just shy of 7 feet tall.  Mary had had no job for a couple of years, therefore, no medical insurance.  She hadn’t gone for annual tests that may have caught the cancer early, but she had no symptoms until a cough developed that wouldn’t go away.  Cervical cancer had spread to her lungs before showing any signs of activity in her.  Kemo did not go well.  She only took one treatment, which had about every bad side effect you could have.  She opted for quality of life vs. quantity of life after just one treatment.  She was told she would last only about 3-6 months. 

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Once the kemo side affects dissipated, one wouldn’t have known she was sick.  She had an angel help move her disability through social security and was given back pay as well.  With that money, she planned her dream trip.  Alaska!  The last wild frontier. 

She related her experiences on her trip from her hospital bed a week after she returned, because once the trip was over, her downhill slide in health really went quickly.  Mary said that they took an excursion out to see whales.  The captain said that on a good day, you might catch sight of one whale, or if you were really lucky, you might see a mother and her calf feeding.  Mary saw TEN whales, circling a school of fish – pushing them to the middle and then the whales all rose out of the water at the same time to feed!  The captain had never seen this before!  Everyone was in awe.  She also witnessed the glacier dropping HUGE portions of itself into the ocean – pieces as large as her double-wide trailer!  Again, the captain was amazed and said that he had never seen it like this before.  Mary then told those of us gathered around her bed in the hospital that, if God created this much beauty in 6 days, she couldn’t wait to see what heaven was like after thousands of years!  God truly blessed Mary for her faithfulness by showing her a peek at His glorious creation and what He had in store for her.  Mary lasted an amazing 11 months – much longer than the doctors had originally given her, but she is now with her Heavenly Father, to whom she remained devoted through so much adversity in her life. 

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If God is so good to someone with so many trials in their life and they can remain faithful and be shown God’s glory and a hint of what lies ahead for remaining faithful throughout those trials, just how much more should we also remain faithful in our good times and see God’s glory in those times as well, instead of taking them for granted?  God is showing you daily a hint of what lies ahead.  Are you looking?

Prayer

Heavenly Father, Thank You for our good times and all of the wonders and beauty that You provide in our lives through those times.  We also thank You for the trials in our lives.  Help us to also find Your glory through those times as well, to better see what lies ahead by staying steadfast in our faith with You.  For everything there is a season that God alone sees, and it is His promise of His glorious home for us that we must strive to achieve through our faith in Christ.  Amen.

~ Wendy Miller

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