When The Dust Settles..

edited because I apparently published it in draft form...sorry!
...after a battle well fought, one might think, "What did it mean to win?". For Amy Wilhoite, it was the ultimate victory. Amy was completely healed in the blink of an eye- at the close of the battle. She was swept off to her Saviour and made whole. That is a victory. In her suffering, she brought Glory to God. Her testimony of faith in the storm touched countless lives. The Lord accomplished much in her dear life-more than I could ever know or understand. I *don't* understand, but I know the Lord and know He is good all the time- Amy and her dear family know this as well and find comfort in it I am sure. "What about her family?" we think. Those that are left with the loss-how do *they* feel? The skeptics may think they have reason to lose faith in such a situation as this. Some say that a loving God would not allow such a thing. We live in a world corrupted and fallen-cursed by sin. God did create a perfect world and by man's choice sin entered the perfect world with but one remedy...belief on the Lord Jesus Christ and a reliance on His shed blood as payment for our sin. Some storms we bring in by our own mistakes and others are natural consequences of living in this fallen world. I don't pretend to understand it all, but I do know that I can rest in the fact that God is loving and has my best interest in mind even when it doesn't make sense to me.


When we don't understand, when it appears that the Lord is not present, when those we love suffer and fight to live -only to die, when there are no immediate answers...will we have faith in our NEVER-CHANGING Heavenly Father? Will we cling to Whom we have trusted with every thread of our being? Will He find us clinging to our faith in all our sufferings? Oh, I pray that He will find me faithful- I won't know until that trial comes. How can I say I will have that kind of faith when I have not been tried in that manner...I can't. I do know that the Lord is faithful. He will bring me through any and every trial with an overflowing measure of Grace. Whether or not I choose to cling to that truth is a choice I am given. I can't possibly know or understand the suffering of this family...just as I don't know the Grace that was given them for their trial.

Like many of you, I had followed Amy's blog about her battle with cancer for over a year. I have never met her or her family, but God had allowed the fragile life of this beautiful young lady, wife, mother, sister, daughter...to touch my life and to touch many other lives in a very deep and personal way. We prayed and pleaded and cried for this lovely young lady as we were led by our Heavenly Father. A Father, who moved so many to pray, is one that does love and care beyond our comprehension.

When I heard/read of her ultimate healing-in Glory...I had so many mixed emotions and finally just wept for the loss to her family. I thought about how hard she fought to be with them. I then remembered what her greeting in Glory must have been..."well done, good and faithful servant" what joy that she now knows. I know her family is rejoicing for her as she will eternally abide with her Lord Jesus Christ.

Matt 25:23 "His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

For those that *would* question and perhaps speak of the family losing faith at a time like this, let me share this, I wept as I read her husband's post about how she, with the last ounces of strength and in her last moments, managed to kiss her dear husband through the oxygen mask and tell him she loved him...oh how I cried at that word picture he shared with us. She, in all her suffering and in her last dying breaths clung to a faith well tested-and it came forth as gold. May I have a faith like that, one that clings- though I don't understand. Her husband spoke of unexplainable peace-heartache, yes, but peace. As his sweet wife passed from his arms to his Heavenly Father's arms...the Lord gave Him comfort and peace. What a loving God we serve. She will be missed here on earth- such is the heartbreak her husband describes, but the miraculous peace...and not anger at her dying moment, is undeniable evidence of the Great Comforter the Holy Spirit and His presence in the lives of those who are Saved. Not that those who get angry are not saved, but I mention this because of the evidence of such a wondrous gift that can only come from God- we are to HOPE for this and know that we will receive it. The testimony left on her blog pages leaves me speechless as to the testimony of a loving Father. These are Faith Giants in the Lord, my friends. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have read their prayer journal.
You can read more at http://wilhoite.blogspot.com/. Please leave a comment and lift this dear family up in prayer.


So, how are YOU? Are you one suffering and in need of love and encouragement, are you doubting in God's love for you? Tell it to Jesus dear one. He wants to hear your heart. God does care ALL the time...and wants to *hear* about our doubts and fears and direct us in His word to promises that He will never break. He wants us to then walk in those promises not in doubt. Are you persecuted? He cares, He hears, but don't take it from this silly woman here (ahem that would be me) who knows nothing of what it is to suffer. Take it from the Lord Jesus Christ who knows better than any what it is to suffer and offers His Word as comfort.

Luke 18:7-8

7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?

8I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" I added the bold to the text