Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands

“The good news of the kingdom is not freedom from hardship, suffering, and loss. It is the news of a Redeemer who has come to rescue me from myself. His rescue produces change that fundamentally alters my response to these inescapable realities. The Redeemer turns rebels into disciples, fools into humble listeners. He makes cripples walk again. In him we can face life and respond with faith, love, and hope. And as he changes us, he allows us to be a part of what he is doing in the lives of others. As you respond to the Redeemer’s work in your life, you can learn to be an instrument in his hands.”

-         Paul David Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands (Phillipsburg, NJ; P & R Publishing, 2002, 16).

 

Currently Emotional Purity: An Affair of the Heart By Heather Arnel Paulsen see related

Mark came out of surgery just fine!

 He is now pretty much pain free as far as his chronic (RSD related) pain he has dealt with for so long. He feels no pain in his right knee or right hip at all, and even has experience some relief in his left knee which in the past year began to cause problems for him, not nearly as much as the pain in his right knee, but just the same this Spinal Cord Stimulator is an amazing piece of equipment....and thank the Lord for insurance because the neurostimulator alone (not including hospital, anesthesia, and other doctors fees) costs about $30,000.

Mark is not sure of how the lower back pain has responded to the neurostimulator, because as expected he is experiencing some post surgery pain from the two incisions in his lower back, but we should know how much relief he is getting in a few days at the least...he has explicit instructions to do very little for the next 6 weeks so the stimulator leads develop scar tissue and 'set' in place in the epidural space...I pray that he does do just that and not get impatient to do more then he ought to do, which could cause the leads to move causing more pain and possibly a trip back in to UMC to reset the whole thing.

We are now on the road to tapering him off of all the meds he has been on for so long, we will be seeing the PCP for direction on that next Tuesday. We have felt all along with both of Marks therapists (Physical and Speech) that once he gets some pain relief with the stimulator, and off the meds his therapy may very well progress much better...the meds seem to just cause progress with therapy to be like 1 step forward and 2 steps backwards.

This has been a long journey, and while I never want to go through this or anything like it again, I am so very thankful to God for all we have learned through this, I am certain there is so much more to learn, but I have grown in my faith and love for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through all of this and I am beginning to understand the depth of Gods love so much more as a result of this trial that shook my faith and tore me apart in the beginning.

I should add that my faith has not been strengthened only because Mark has gotten the stimulator, that is only part of it...God has used so many situations, so many friends, and so many unknown people to us as well as my church family to show me how much He loves each one of...His love is beyond my understanding...God is so very good!

I could go on and on about all the ways God has shown His love to us, but I would be here writing for days about it all and you would not want to sit here and read all of it I am certain.

Ephesians 3:14-21

14For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

We are finally coming to the end of this part of our journey and we are feeling the peace of God even more now then ever before!

Thanks to each one of you for all of your prayers and for all that you have done for us!!!

Because of Christ I live and love every moment of every day!!!

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I am off to go enjoy a piece of pineapple upside down cake made for me today for my birthday (the past couple of days were too crazy to get it done so I told the girls it was fine they could do it another day, so they made it tonight).

The recipe for my birthday cake came from my birthday present from my oldest daughter Stephanie.

Goodnight all!

Currently Emotional Purity: An Affair of the Heart By Heather Arnel Paulsen see related

Thank you for you continual and faithful prayers!!!!

Today is my birthday and this is THE BEST gift aside from my salvation I could EVER get!!!!

We JUST got a call from Dr. Chase's office, and Mark is approved for the spinal cord stimulation neurostimulator...and will be going into UMC out patient surgery tomorrow, the 20th at 6:00 a.m. for the procedure at 7:30 a.m.

Because of Christ and your faithful prayers!!!!

Kel for all of us!!!

Suffering for God’s Glory

I have shared with you all on this blog all the tough times we have gone through, and in doing so it has mostly been therapeutic for me to write this all down...maybe I have lost some readers as a result of mainly sharing the tough times , but that is not why I choose to blog....I would just like to have a place to share, vent, laugh, and maybe make a few new friends along the way.

Anyhow this morning through tears, my husband shared the following scripture with me and it encouraged us both as we travel this journey that we have been going through this past year.

1 Peter 4:12-19

¹² Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; ¹³ but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. ¹⁴ If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. ¹⁵ But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. ¹⁶ Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. ¹⁷ For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? ¹⁸ Now “ If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” ¹⁹ Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

We know others are going through so much more than we are and that many Christians are suffering as well and are hanging in there by keeping their eyes on Jesus, but sadly we have seen a few walk away from the Lord...for us these trials have made us cling tighter to the cross and Jesus Christ! We believe that the time has come for the Lord to sift the chaff from the wheat:

Matthew 3:12

¹² His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

My husband, even though his speech is not good at all and he has unusual movements, and serious memory loss, and comprehension issues because of the brain injury has not walked away from the Lord or even considered the idea...in fact his fire for the Lord has gotten more intense! He has talked to his speech therapist about his inability to comprehend what he reads when he reads his bible, but she (and she is not a Christian that we are aware of anyway) has encouraged him to just read his bible anyway, and a friend from church encouraged him the other day to do the same as well...because even though he is not comprehending what he is reading we know that Gods word will still be going in to Marks heart even if he cannot remember what he reads...

Isaiah 55:11

So shall My word that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

I am so very thankful to the Lord that Mark has stayed on the narrow path, and for sharing his heart with me as he travels through a very difficult time in his life!

I love you Mark!!!

Ephesians 5:25-27

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, ²⁶ that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

My posts have been so serious lately with all that is has been going on with us that I decided to share that not all is gloom and doom around here, even if times are tough on so many levels!

This was dinner a couple of nights ago....

Mark and Stephanie both do not like fish of any kind, and Jessica just tolerates it, (I love fish!), but they all decided the recipe seemed like something they could stomach (recipe at end of post, in case anyone is interested).

The reasons I decided to share this was, because I thought it was a pretty salmon dinner and because Mark was having a very difficult time with his speech and movement (Re: brain injury, or whatever it is they have him diagnosed with now...) so he asked Steph to pray before our dinner....and in this family we believe that God has a great sense of humor, so as she was praying all serious she came to the part where she was asking God to bless the food, when she also asked Him if He could PLEASE make the salmon taste like chicken....we all cracked up as she finished praying!

I love our God and that we can be so real with Him!

I am going to post the rest of last nights dinner pictures because it just seems fitting!

Be forewarned I do not take great pictures as is quite obvious below....I have this secret dream that i'd like my pictures to look like those that Ree Drummond posts especially on her recipe posts, but I know that now God is probably cracking up at me for thinking like that!

Oh, but wait! I do know that I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength, so there might be hope for me yet!

Spicy Baked Salmon

Ingredients:

• 500 grams Salmon fillets
• 1 clove Garlic
• 2 tablespoons Onion minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Pepper freshly ground
• 3/4 teaspoons Paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne
• 3/4 teaspoon Dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Olive oil

Preparation:

Combine all seasoning ingredients and spread over the surface of the salmon.

Bake (skin-side down) in a 350 F oven for 30 - 40 minutes depending on the thickness of the salmon.

If you're grilling it, do so over high heat for 10 - 15 minutes

depending on thickness. Do not turn the salmon over.