To God Be the Glory!

To God Be the Glory!

Scripture tells us in the 1st chapter and 21st verse of the Book of Job in the King James Bible “the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD”. What a verse to meditate upon in our daily walk with the Lord. I can think back upon my life and see this very verse many times.  I could say that God gave me a mother on my birthday in November of 1981 and God took her away in the same month of 2022. I can also say blessed be the name of the Lord, because He saved her a few years prior to that. I found satisfaction when she passed from the suffering. What about grief and sadness?  Well sure! But she went on to be present with the Lord! It is quite hard to be upset about that.  A longing for my mother will always be there, it is something that will never go away or be replaced on this side of eternity, but the LORD gave and the Lord hath taken away. He will soon take away our sadness and grief forever.

I never set out to start this blog to be necessarily personal. But shouldn’t it be to an extent? My relationship with the Lord Jesus is a personal one. Oh, how many have made a claim that they met the Lord of Glory but have no relationship with Him. Sure, I would say some have met Him, but how great it is to KNOW the God of the Bible. I guess what is on my heart today is my daughter. She was diagnosed with what is known as Chiari Malformation. It was discovered when I was a candidate for the pastor position that I currently hold. She started having a lot of pressure in her head, her appetite and drive to play dramatically decreased overnight. We took her to the local hospital, and it was discovered through a CT scan. I honestly didn’t know much about the condition. It was heartbreaking to know that she had what I was researching. A condition that leaves many bedridden with headaches and many with scars from multiple surgeries.  That diagnosis came nearly three years ago. Over the course of that first year after the diagnosis there were several doctors’ appointments and an MRI to boot. But more than that were many prayers of God’s people.

James 5:16 (KJV) tell us that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”. Her symptoms soon disappeared, and I was confident that God had healed my daughter. However, just a few short months ago she started presenting with the same symptoms. I was honestly confused; I had peace that God head healed her. I was sure of it. I honestly thought I don’t know how I missed that one. Not that I am super spiritual or even pretending to be, but I knew I sure had peace with it... or thought I did anyway. So, back to the doctors and another MRI. Another time of watching my daughter be put to sleep which is terrifying enough in my opinion. I watched her drift off to sleep with tears in my eyes.

Preacher, how did you get through it? Scripture! I have buried myself in it over the years. God brings back those scriptures to memory in times of need. He is most definitely “a very present help in trouble” (Ps 46:1, KJV). I waited for around two hours for her to wake up. God brought to me Mark 4:35-41.  I stayed in that scripture for those two hours, either directly reading it or meditating upon it. The storm that was upon those men, the boat they were in that had become full, but more than that I thought upon the savior who was with them. The savior who can float a full boat, rebuke the wind, and say unto the sea “Peace, be still” and it obeys.

After two hours, the staff came in and let us know that Temperance was awake, and the MRI was completed successfully. She came home that evening feeling pretty good, nothing but a scratch on her throat from some suctioning that was required due to her having some congestion. The next morning, we received the much-anticipated call from the doctors. They said we want to let you all know that her MRI scan is “wonderful”! We were told that they were looking for three markers on the MRI and that Temperance’s scan was “NORMAL”. The doctor’s office even told us that there was no reason for us to come back to them that she was no longer classified as a Chiari patient!! I say praise GOD!!! What a faithful Lord we serve! What a miracle of God!! To God be the Glory!!!

 Written by: Pastor Jason Coffelt