Quotable quote

This is from the hand of a loving God.

We have this friend who 'should have' died years ago from pancreatic cancer...hearing him tell of God's faithfulness made a huge impact on my life. This one quote really struck me and so I wanted to share it with you because I would be selfish if I kept it to myself!!!

I wish you could hear him tell the story, it would be much better from him, but try to imagine going through the worst pain, having to say good bye to your family (which at the time included a wife and two small kids) because you are told you are going to die...soon. As he was going through horrendous physical, mental, and emotional pain, God showed His love for him. When he would go in to have extremely painful medical help, he learned to fight the pain by remembering and repeating over and over, "This is from the hand of a loving God." He is still alive today!...telling of God's love and faithfulness to everyone around him.

I can't imagine the pain he went through. As I look around me, and in my own life, and see pain and suffering of all sorts, I am reminded of this truth. THIS is from the hand of a loving God. What comfort there is in those nine words. God loves us. He gives. He takes away. He knows what we need and will provide it. Not always how we might expect...but it is from the hand of a loving God.

I hope no one reading this will have to go through what this man did. But I know you will go through your own hurts and pains...physical, mental, emotional...remember with me when you feel at the end of your rope..."This is from the hand of a loving God." I had no idea when I heard these words two years ago how much we would need them in the days and months that were to come. (I wish I could share the details of how God used this in our life, but unfortunately they are in-person-coffee-date topics, not blogging-for-the-whole-world topics...and because I "love to tell the story of Jesus and His love" feel free to invite yourself over for coffee!!)

Thankfully God knows what we need, when we need it and He supplies the strength, peace and comfort to get us through the trials of this life!! It is there in the valley that we learn to rest in the love of our God...where instead of just knowing about Him, we learn to know Him. Where we begin to understand what it means to have childlike faith...trusting in our Father who loves us and cares for us, believing His promises and resting, even in the valley...especially in the valley...where there is nothing we can DO to get to the mountaintop but wait on the Lord and know that His timing is perfect and that He loves us. Where we wait, and remember that THIS is from the hand of a loving God!!!