Category: Perseverance

Posted on

A Patient Patient

 

Words to Live By

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

Romans 12:12 NIV

I usually write a post sharing my verse and word of the year in January. Well, that artificial deadline came and went, didn’t it? I’ve been a bit distracted these last few months. In the midst of it, the verse above picked me!

Be Patient in Times of Trouble

If you’re anything like me, you could use an extra helping of patience. That has never been truer for me than over these past few months when the road to recovery from cervical spine surgery took me on quite a detour.

My word for 2024, patience, is included in the Fruit of the Spirit. That is a biblical term that sums up nine attributes of a person or community living in accord with the Holy Spirit.

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

Galatians 5:22-23 NLT

Practice Required

I want to bear that kind of fruit. How about you? By the power of the Holy Spirit, we can! As one of my pastors once said, we won’t become patient without being given the opportunity to practice it. Practice makes perfect, right? I’ve gotten plenty of chances to be a patient patient over these last several months. I would like to say that I’ve aced the test, but, since sitting still is not one of my strengths, I imagine a solid ‘C’ is a more accurate reflection of my current level of patience. No, He’s not done with me yet!

An Unplanned Detour

The recovery from my initial surgery called for me to be a patient patient. Not knowing what to expect, I just felt like it was going painfully slow, pun intended. I was a good patient, and, as is often the case, followed all the rules. It wasn’t until the lower part of my incision split open that I realized I had taken a detour. That detour included two additional hospitalizations and a second surgery 1000 miles away from home. The prize from Round 2 was 31 staples in my neck, easily surpassing the total from Round 1. The bonus prize was yet another surgeon’s haircut! I have had no shortage of opportunities to practice patience!

Be Joyful in Hope

To this point, I have focused on the middle segment of Romans 12:12–be patient in affliction, but the bookends deserve mention as well. The beginning of the verse tells us to be joyful in hope. What does that look like in the midst of life’s difficulties? We must remember that Jesus is our Hope. Our joy is found in Him, not our circumstances. Knowing that He is with us and working on our behalf in the middle of a trial is reason to be joyful. To keep from drowning in our circumstances, it is important to keep our eyes focused on Him. That’s not always easy. If it were, I would have written this post a month or two ago rather than waiting until I saw light at the end of the tunnel!

Be Faithful in Prayer

Finally, Romans 12:12 calls us to be faithful in prayer. Seek, ask, knock—keep at it and don’t give up. While it’s true that God already knows what we need, He still wants us to come to Him with our concerns. It’s all about the relationship and that requires participation from both parties.

Pastor Chris often reminds us that everyone is dealing with something. Isn’t that the truth?! Whatever that something is for you right now, try living out Romans 12:12 and see how God responds.

    • Be joyful in hope
    • Be patient in times of trouble
    • Pray, pray and pray some more

In my case, I have found myself back on the road to recovery. After being sidelined for 3 months, I have had a taste of normalcy in my life recently. It has been oh so sweet to be able to do some things that simply haven’t been possible since the first surgery! If you know me very well, you know that I like my sweets! Strawberry shortcake anyone?

Strawberry Shortcake
It’s strawberry season in Florida!

 

Posted on

Over, Not Over…Times TWO

Did you happen to catch the Pirates’ game on June 23rd against the Padres? If not, you missed quite a game! If you know me, you would know that I am a faithful follower of the Pirates, probably to a fault. The Bucs were down by 3 heading into the bottom of the ninth and were facing the Padres closer who had previously converted 100% of his save opportunities this season. I thought it was as good as over, but since the “fat lady” hadn’t sung yet, I kept watching. Lo and behold, they tied it up and sent the game to extra innings.

Then, the Pirates faced an eerily similar situation in the 11th inning after the Padres put up a three spot in the top of the inning. At this point, I’m guessing most everyone who kept the game on after the first comeback had now given up. There’s no way they could do it again, right? Once again, though I was pretty certain the outcome was a foregone conclusion, my loyalty wouldn’t allow me to shut off the TV. Much to my delight, my faithfulness was rewarded with a 4-run rally and a walkoff victory via a bases loaded walk. I was so thrilled that I hung in there and actually got to see it live. I imagine there was a whole host of fans who only read about it and/or saw the highlights after the fact.

Though I thought the game was over…twice, I stopped short of walking away before the score was final. That brings to mind a passage in the Bible to which I can easily identify. A man brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus and asked if He could do anything to help his boy. The response is found in Mark 9:23-24:

“If you can?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Jesus went on to cast out the spirit and heal the boy. Though I very much doubted (twice) that the Bucs could come back and win that game, I was shown, just like the boy’s father, that even mustard seed-sized faith, can be rewarded.

What are you struggling to believe at the moment? As Pastor Chris often says, “Everybody is dealing with something.” Does your “something” stem from financial, health, or relational issues? Or is it something else? In the midst of your doubt and uncertainty, cling to these words Jesus spoke to the boy’s father—

“Everything is possible for one who believes.”

When circumstances appear hopeless, it is tempting to give up on God and walk away. Instead, let’s draw closer and offer up this prayer:

“God, create a pure heart in me. Give me a new spirit that is faithful to you.”

Psalm 51:10 NIRV

Then, stay tuned for the results!

Posted on

The Journey

On Sunday we will celebrate another big milestone in our daughter’s journey through life. These occasions always cause me to be reflective and highly emotional. As part of my therapy, I had determined to share part of that journey with you through my writing. I found that was easier said than done yesterday. I didn’t know where to start and where to stop. After many hours and countless words, I scrapped the whole thing and went to bed late last night. The truth is, I cannot condense what we’ve been through with Hillary in her 21+ years to a blog post. It deserves a book! Maybe someday….

For those unfamiliar with her story, Hillary Jayne is our miracle baby. You’ll have to wait for the book to fill in the gaps, but I’ll paint the big picture now. She was diagnosed with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) in the womb. The hole in the left side of her diaphragm allowed her abdominal organs to come up into her chest cavity and take up the space where her left lung was to be developing. She was given a 50% chance of surviving IF she was born in the right place at the right time. By the grace of God, she was. She came out fighting and has been fighting ever since! Hillary had her hernia repair surgery when she was 6 days old and spent the first 88 days of her life in intensive care at Allegheny General Hospital. I remember the neonatologist describing Hillary’s hospital stay as a series of three steps forward and two steps backwards. That’s a net gain of one, right? We’ll take it! Even with the medical advances today, 50% of babies born with CDH do not survive.

CDH isn’t just a hernia. The 50% that do survive live with the threat of complications of it for the rest of their lives, including the very real possibility of reherniation. So, as they say at CHERUBS, the CDH Support Group, “Just because the hole is fixed, doesn’t mean the battle is over.” For instance, Hillary recently spent a whole year on three high-powered antibiotics to rid her good lung of a serious mycobacterial infection that was indirectly related to her CDH. It hasn’t been smooth sailing for Hillary. Far from it! I guess that’s what makes each milestone that much sweeter!

I believe God has lessons for us in each of our life experiences. Nothing comes to us without a purpose. Without question, Hillary’s story is the experience that has had the greatest impact on my life. I look at life differently now because I realize just how precious it is. Each day is a gift from God, not to be taken for granted. In the words of Jesus:

I have come so they can have life. I want them to have it in the fullest possible way.”  

John 10:10b NIRV

Jesus went to the greatest of lengths to give us life. It would behoove us to make the most of it. Let’s not squander today, for tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. Live life….enjoy it…celebrate it…and give God thanks for it!

On Sunday we will celebrate the college graduation of our precious daughter. This milestone, like every other one before it, will be magnified times one hundred because of the journey that brought her here. I couldn’t be more proud. She has overcome so much adversity in her 21+ years and has excelled in spite of it all. Or perhaps BECAUSE of it all. When they call Hillary Jayne Leipold on Sunday and she crosses the stage with numerous cords and medallions draped around her neck to collect her diploma, her devoted fan base will be there leading the cheering. That is, all except her mother who will be too choked up to muster a WooHoo!

Posted on

A Work In Progress

Last week I celebrated the 6th anniversary of my elbow surgery. Seems like a silly thing to celebrate, huh? Well, in my case, there’s cause for celebration. Much progress has been made since May 19, 2011. You see, things didn’t quite go as planned. The tendon had completely torn from the bone so proceeding with surgery was the only sensible option at that point. It was the aftermath that was completely unexpected.  For some unknown reason, every joint up and down my right arm, including my fingers, essentially “froze” and there was very limited mobility as a result. There is no need to bore you with all the details. I will just say that my life for the first four years following surgery consisted of countless doctor appointments, various types of therapy, and pills of every description, all with the goal of restoring my range of motion and managing the pain. For the last two years of the six, I am pleased to say that the doctor appointments and pills have been minimal and the therapy mainly consists of getting in the pool to keep things moving. To the eye, my physical issues go undetected by most at this point.

I won’t soon forget May 19th (for a few reasons actually—one of my sisters has a birthday that day). That date causes me to stop and reflect on where I was, where I am now and all the progress that has been made in between those two points. As I do that, there is a verse that really speaks to me. I remember learning it in a small group study somewhere along the way. The verse is tucked into the story of God making a covenant promise to David through the prophet Nathan that secured David’s, as well as his family’s, place on the throne. This is David’s response:

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and prayed, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?”        

2 Samuel 7:18 NLT

I don’t know why my surgery had a bad outcome, but I do know this—it is only by the grace of God that I have come THIS far. He has seen me through each step along the way, supplying everything I need just when I need it. My journey back from elbow surgery is much like my spiritual journey—-I’m not where I want to be, but I’m not where I was either. I believe we refer to that as progress! As long as I have breath, He’s not done with me yet. I am a work in progress with the goal being to look more like Jesus each day.

So what’s your story? I know I’m not alone. We’ve all stumbled upon roadblocks along life’s path at one point or another. They come in all shapes and sizes. What circumstances have you feeling defeated today? Don’t give up! He will make a way where there is no way. I share with you the words of Paul:

“And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:19 NLT

It’s true for me and it’s true for you too. Someday you’ll look in the rearview mirror just as I tend to do on May 19th and you will be equally amazed that He has brought you THIS far!