Worshipping in the Storm

Lord, You are more precious than silver.
Lord, You are more costly than gold.
Lord, You are more beautiful than diamonds,
And nothing I desire compares with You.
--Lynn Deshazo

I remember this simple chorus from kid’s club when I was growing up.  It’s copyright date goes back to 1979, according to the song book I have on hand.  In church on Sunday, I gave a brief testimony of what the Lord has been teaching me before sharing this short chorus with our congregation.  To be here, back in PNG, has been a blessing beyond words.  HOWEVER, it is not PNG that is a sacred place.  The divine appointment by God to be here at this time is what makes PNG the best place for us today.

That could change tomorrow.....It did change last year in December…for a time.

Worshipping in the heavy rain...

For those of you that are wondering where we’ve been for the last six to seven months, we were dislocated.  I, Phyllis, had some serious health concerns that required almost immediate attention.  Unfortunately, those issues could not be addressed in PNG.  I got extremely sick on a Sunday on the way home from church.  I went immediately to the bathroom upon returning home that day and found myself hardly able to get up off the floor after about an hour’s time due to extreme pain in my abdomen.

To God be the Glory, one of our teammates, gifted in medicine, was available and equipped to help me get my pain under control enough and confirm I needed to go see a doctor to trouble shoot my needs.  By God’s grace, we were able to see another mission’s doctor the following day.  He confirmed that we needed further medical testing and attention and so?  We put together a game plan, consulted others, and concluded that the best course of action would be to leave PNG for two weeks and head to Sydney, Australia to get things figured out.  Little did we know then that our “two weeks” would turn into fifty days in the Land Down Under!

I ended up needing surgery to remove a softball size tumor on my liver, part of the liver too, and my gall bladder as well.  It turned out to be no slight thing!  However, I’m near tears as I write, “Our God was so kind.”  Kind because things turned out ok?  Well, that’s the surface level of it, but God’s kindness extends BEYOND circumstances.  It was God’s kindness that asked us to walk the road in the first place.  “How can that be?” you might be wondering.  It was utterly kind.  It was kind beyond words because we got to partake in the smallest amount of the cup of Christ…

When Jesus goes to the cross, there is a willingness to go through the present pain in the face of the greater joy on the other side of it.  By the way, the greater joy that Jesus looked towards was the hope of an eternity with YOU (Heb. 12:2).  Many mothers can likely relate to that!  While the pain of childbirth is excruciating, greater joy rips through when your baby is in your arms and the contractions are over.  You are never the same.

This life we’ve been given is so incredibly precious.  I give God the Glory for another day to live, but I can’t help but ponder more now…..what is the most precious thing?  Is it tucking my kiddos in at bedtime?  Is it a Sunday afternoon chatting with my husband?  Is it a sweet friend and the gift of time?  No.  No, it isn’t.  While those experiences are all priceless, the gift of knowing and serving Jesus beats them out.  Dare I take it one step further?  To know Jesus in His suffering…now THAT is immeasurably priceless.  In fact?  It’s invaluable!!!  It continues to hone and refine me, and I am so incredibly humbled. 

In closing, I ran across a quote that stopped me in my tracks recently.  Ponder it.

This side of eternity may be the only time we get to worship Jesus through our tears and pain, and honestly, that makes it kind of beautiful.  --unknown