Where Are Your Eyes?

This has been A WEEK OF WEEKS for sure.  Let's see, we rolled 4 weeks in the hospital with little change, my front door handle broke, and then my garage door motor died making entering my home increasingly more difficult by the day.   Also this week, my microwave went on strike and somewhere around Wednesday I came down with the upper respiratory virus that Maggie had the week before.  Oh and we wrapped up the week of adventure with our credit card being skimmed and sold to someone in Virginia.  Not kidding.

When I think about our week, the spiritual attacks on close friends, and the rise in violence we are seeing around the world, I have to think that Satan is rallying his troops.  It appears to me that we are facing an increase in spiritual warfare where we are forced to choose between our personal comfort and the God we profess to follow.  I, like you, respond first with fear.  Then I am forced to trade my circumstance-driven emotion for truth-based perspective.

You see, I spent most of this week focused on the enemy and the weapons he was sending my way.

Now, I would like to tell you about my week again.  We had A WEEK for sure.  The body (army) of Christ showed up and took care of us in our time of need.  Four friends cooked dinner for my family, another friend took over my carpool duty to give me more time at home, and Trent's dad stepped in and relieved me twice at the hospital so the middles didn't have to come home from school to an empty house.  Two friends came to visit us at TCH to bring light to a dark moment.   Three friends unexpectedly blessed us with gifts for Maggie to also brighten her day and another sent a package to Ruthie just to let her know she is loved.  A friend with a key to my house noticed my grocery list on the counter and then sent her husband to the grocery store to purchase what we needed without me even knowing.   Finally, we wrapped up the week with some good friends from church taking their Saturday morning to dress up like The Clauses and make Maggie's day.  It was a week for sure and I saw the hand of God, through his army, all over it.

I use the word "army" to define the church because we are clearly in a spiritual battle.  How we interpret our battle is going to depend upon where we place our eyes.  If we are locked in on the acts of the enemy, we will collapse in defeat.  However, if we shift our gaze to the battle that Christ is fighting on our behalf, we will march on victorious.  We are, remember, not just conquerors but more than that (Rom. 8:37).


I certainly felt defeated at times this week and even had the absurd audacity to compare my 1st world plight to the suffering of Job.  It was pretty thick around here at times.  BUT, when I shifted my eyes from my attacker to my reality, I saw a completely different picture.

Where are your eyes today?  If you are a believer in Christ, take comfort in that He says we have already won (2 Chron. 20:15).

John 16:33  "I say these things to you that you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."



A little update on Maggie- It feels like we are in a bit of a holding pattern.  They are still draining through the chest tube and playing with her diuretics to try and get her to a safe and stable dose.  We may get a heart cath soon or we may just continue to wait for her body to adjust to the new demand.  We are choosing an attitude of patience and gratitude.