Faith Archives - The Ultimate Gift

October 1, 2024

Numbers

I like numbers. No newsflash there. After all, I teach math. Numbers give me a greater understanding of so much.

Concerning Numbers

Thinking back 28+ years to the months leading up to my daughter’s birth, I remember meeting with the head neonatologist at Allegheny General to discuss her case in depth. It was all so overwhelming. All the medical terminology flew right over my head, but a few things stuck. Namely, the numbers!! I understood that much at least. Our baby girl had a 10% chance of surviving, unless she was born in the right place at the right time. I can assure you that we, along with our doctors, did everything in our power to make sure she WAS born in the right place at the right time, increasing her odds of survival to 50/50. Sometimes those numbers don’t tell the story that we want to hear, but, nonetheless, they do tell a story.

The Battle Continues

After months of battling a MRSA infection, I find myself searching for a number again. Please feel free to read my most recent blog posts if you need to catch up on that news.

Multiple infectious disease doctors have told me that once the infection reaches the bone/hardware, it is really hard to eliminate. They are all in agreement on that. If it does return, the doctors say that they will have to open my neck up yet again and remove the hardware. You can imagine how appealing that is after having had 3 cervical spine surgeries in 4 months.

The Million Dollar Question

My question—how hard is REALLY hard? Give me a number so I can better understand what I am up against! When I posed that question at my most recent infectious disease appointment, my doctor could not (or would not) give me a number. She only replied, “I don’t know.” So, I am left wondering. Are the numbers in my favor? If not, how badly are the odds stacked against me?

Achieving (Im)balance

While I have been left pondering this question, the Holy Spirit led me to a passage in the Bible about numbers to give me some much-needed perspective. For the complete story, check out Judges Chapter 7. I am going to limit my deeper dive here to the numbers. In this chapter, Gideon is leading an army of Israelites into battle against the Midianites.

The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

Judges 7:2-3 (NIV)

Calculating

If you do the math, that means Gideon’s army started with 32,000 men and was quickly reduced to 10,000. That is nearly a 70% decrease! Why? Because God did not want the Israelites to take credit for their victory.

However, God was not yet finished…

But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

Judges 7:4 (NIV)

Outnumbered

Minus all the details, God pared Gideon’s army down to 300 men. For perspective, there were 135,000 men in the Midianite army. Whoa—talk about outnumbered! There is no way the Israelites can pull this off, right? That was God’s whole point. When they defeated the Midianites, God wanted them to be certain of why they were victorious. It was because He was fighting the battle for (and with) them! Ultimately, the battle was God’s. And you know…

With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:26 (KJV)

Instead of searching for a number to which I can cling, I would be better served by clinging to the all-powerful God of the universe. At the end of the day, the number is not very important. If you are in a battle where the numbers are not in your favor, remember this story about Gideon and find comfort in this truth.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31 (NIV)

April 30, 2024

By Faith, Not By Sight

God has allowed this patient patient to get more practice since my last post. I never quite made it out of the tunnel. Instead, my faith muscle is getting yet another workout. The lyrics from the chorus of one of my favorite choir songs say, “we’ll walk by faith and not by sight.” That is where I find myself today.

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Hebrews 11:1 NIV

The Problem Identified

Following my most recent blog post, my incision broke open again, nearly seven weeks after my 2nd surgery. That led to another 5 days in the hospital and more surgery. Testing revealed why I wasn’t healing—I have a post-operative MRSA infection that reached the bone. Another neurosurgeon “washed out” my neck and I began a 6-week course of IV antibiotics. I’m currently about halfway through my treatment.

The Solution

I get an infusion every 12 hours lasting 77 minutes. There is no physical proof that this treatment is working, at least not yet. That’s where faith comes into play. I’m choosing to believe that healing is underway without seeing any evidence. That is, I’m walking by faith, not by sight.

Faith Defined

Faith is defined as complete trust or confidence in someone or something. There’s nothing wrong with having faith in my doctors and the medicine they prescribe, but, if my faith is limited to that, I’ve missed out on something so much greater. Biblically speaking, the object of our faith is a God who knows no limits. He is all-knowing, all-powerful and ever present, yet invisible. I know He loves me. Exhibit A: Jesus. Ultimately, that is Who I’m choosing to trust. How about you?

The byproduct of that decision…

“The Lord gives perfect peace to those whose faith is firm.”

Isaiah 26:3 CEV

May His good and perfect will be done in my life and in yours. Stand firm!

November 4, 2023

The Memory of an Elephant

The Memory of an Elephant?

Have you ever heard the expression–the memory of an elephant? I have. In fact, when I was growing up, my family would often say that I have the memory of an elephant. I never really gave it much thought, but did know that I had a good memory, especially for important dates like birthdays. To this day, my mom will still call me if she needs to know someone’s birthday, anniversary, etc. Elephants apparently excel in long-term memory, perhaps because of the size of their brain. Thus, the saying—the memory of an elephant.

Remembering

In my writing, I often return to the topic of remembering and just how important it is. When it comes to faith, it can make or break you. One story in particular from the book of Exodus always makes me shake my head. That is, until I realize that I’m no different.

A Miracle Forgotten

To summarize, the Israelites, who were enslaved in Egypt, experienced the miracle of miracles when God delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians by parting the Red Sea. Yes, He stopped the flow of water long enough for them to cross to the other side. The Egyptian chariots, in hot pursuit, followed them into the sea and were drowned. A mere forty-five days after witnessing and being part of such a miracle, the Israelites were grumbling. They were hungry and miserable and longed to go back to Egypt where they were slaves. In their misery, their memories were slightly distorted.

“If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭16‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Faith is Fed (or Starved) by Our Memory

The Israelite memories of their previous life don’t exactly indicate a life of slavery, do they? Perhaps they embellished. They were only a month-and-a-half removed from one of the greatest miracles of all time and this was what they remembered. Apparently, the Israelites did NOT have the memory of an elephant!

I tend to be hard on the Israelites. How could they forget what God had just done for them? And then I realize that I am no less guilty.

The Circumstances

Earlier this year, I wrote about a few miracles of my own leading up to my daughter’s wedding. That was roughly seven months ago. I hit a speed bump with my own health four months later and have been on a mission ever since to get to the bottom of that. If you read my last post, you know that in my quest for answers, another, more important, issue was discovered. Just a few days ago I gave consent to a neurosurgeon to perform laminoplasty to relieve the pressure on my spinal cord caused by severe stenosis.

Choosing Where to Focus

God has a perfect track record when it comes to faithfulness. I know that and hopefully you do too. Yet, when faced with a crisis, it’s easy to dwell on our current circumstances and allow doubt and fear to creep into our hearts and minds. Rather than focusing on God’s faithfulness in the past, the Israelites were consumed by their current discomfort. I’m not so different. Are you?

His Faithfulness

If you, like me, are staring down some challenges at the moment, let’s vow to tap into our inner elephant and remember His faithfulness in the past. May that give us the courage to step into our future full of faith that He will see us through this challenge as well.

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭10‬:‭23‬ ‭NIV

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(I am listening to old choir music as I put the finishing touches on this post. Though simple, one of my all-time favorites that I sang with the church choir is “He Will See You Through.” Perhaps that is because there always seems to be some challenge that I need Him to see me through! Guess what song just played? Yep! That was NOT a coincidence–God is good.)

September 23, 2023

More Important

As always, I wait on God to supply the material for my blog posts. That, and the time to write. Sometimes I just have to reprioritize all that is vying for my attention and move that which is more important to the top of the list. Thus, this new post.

Helping a Friend in Need

I have been reading and discussing a great book, “Faith, Doubt, and God’s Mysterious Timing,” with a friend over the last several months. It is written by Laurie Polich Short. Within each chapter, she generally uses three stories from the Bible to drive her point home. In a chapter titled, “When in Doubt, Look at Jesus,” Laurie used the story of four friends going to great lengths to help their paralytic friend. I think great lengths might be an understatement. They dug through the roof where Jesus was teaching and lowered their paralyzed friend on a mat to get him to Jesus. That’s how badly they wanted healing for their friend. Imagine their surprise when Jesus’ response was “Son, your sins are forgiven.” I have a feeling they looked at one another with a puzzled look. “Huh?”

A Greater Need

Jesus, of course, was using this as another teaching moment. You see, there were teachers of the law in attendance, and He knew that they were silently accusing Him of blasphemy. Jesus wanted them to know that He, the Son of Man, had the authority to forgive sins on earth. Jesus also knew that it was more important that the man’s sins be forgiven than his ability to walk be restored. So, even though the latter was the intention of his friends, Jesus addressed what was more important first—the forgiveness of sins.

Physical Healing

Once Jesus made his point, he addressed the paralytic again:

“I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Mark 2:11-12 NIV

Wait–what?

I got a surprise, much like the paralytic’s friends, recently. I, too, went looking for one thing and found another. A headache that won’t quit has had my attention for nearly 3 months now. In my quest to solve that problem, another one has been uncovered that is apparently more important. It isn’t life-threatening, but it IS life-altering. This new discovery has rocked my world, but, at the end of the day, I need to look at it as a blessing. Jesus ALWAYS knows what is more important. So, I pay attention, and rearrange my ducks yet again.

In case you are in need of a reminder too:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV

The Blessing of Community

On a side note, I am touched by the effort put forth by the paralytic’s friends to help him. I have an equally dedicated collection of friends and family who have gone to great lengths to help me as well. That brings me great comfort in the midst of such uncertainty. They are such a blessing to me. I pray that you are also blessed with a wonderful support network on which you can lean in good times and in bad. After all, we were made for community.