#590 Accepting God’s Will for our Beloved Brethren
As we become aware of the depth of testing and difficulty that some of our Spiritual Family experience, we may be challenged to resist, to worry and to try to control outcomes.
Of coarse we want to do everything in our power directed by Him for the spiritual help and encouragement of others. But there is a very important element of surrender in these matters. My mind goes back to experiences I had years ago when my father was going through the challenge of Alzheimer’s.
At one point my Dad was put in a facility. He was in another world of preaching his love for the Father who always takes care of His children, and his love for the Brethren. He would often say,
“God loves you. And all the Brethren are praying for you. He always, always knows how to take care of His children. Keep looking up because God is looking down!”
“God IS love, imagine that. He made love!”
Other times he was in a world of extreme confusion and agitation and hostility, becoming very noisy and intense at times. It broke my heart when he seemed forlorn, repeatedly hitting his hand with his head. My struggle was to trust the Lord through his experience and through the Doctor’s decisions. The medications they decided to give him made him more manageable. But his speech became slurred and prevented him from communicating and ‘preaching’ the love of God as often and as clearly as he was previously able to do. We had already lost a big portion of who my Dad was because of this disease. I felt angry and deeply grieved at this turn of events, another step in the of loss of my Father.
The LORD helped me realize that my struggle was really to accept the Cup that the Father had poured for my Dad, and as his experience effected me, to accept that Cup also.
He empowered me to still stand for the highest good of my Dad, AND to take my focus off the Doctors and circumstances and back to my Holy Lord, asking and listening for HIS leadings and over-rulings. I realized that every step of my father’s decline was a step toward his Heavenly Home.
It is more of a challenge to accept the Cup He has poured for us and for those we love when we are holding on too tightly to our own perception of what should happen. Jesus reflected the ‘letting go’ attitude when he prayed in Gethsemane: “Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.” Luke 22:42
“The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?” John 18:11 Drinking of the Cup implies spiritually ‘swallowing’ the experience. It implies the choice to use our spiritual muscles to willingly let the experience enter our spiritual system, and then to absorb it for spiritual growth and energy. Some experiences are ‘hard to swallow,’ but His Wisdom and Checed Covenant Love and Affection are a surety. The experiences we find ‘hard to swallow’ for ourselves and on behalf of those we love are really part of ‘the Cup of Blessing.” 1 Corinthians 10:16
Regardless of the appearance or the circumstance HE IS DEALING BOUNTIFULLY with us and with every member of our Dear Spiritual Family! Psalm 116:12-13, 5-7
As we become aware of the depth of testing and difficulty that some of our Spiritual Family experience, we may be challenged to resist, to worry and to try to control outcomes.
Of coarse we want to do everything in our power directed by Him for the spiritual help and encouragement of others. But there is a very important element of surrender in these matters. My mind goes back to experiences I had years ago when my father was going through the challenge of Alzheimer’s.
At one point my Dad was put in a facility. He was in another world of preaching his love for the Father who always takes care of His children, and his love for the Brethren. He would often say,
“God loves you. And all the Brethren are praying for you. He always, always knows how to take care of His children. Keep looking up because God is looking down!”
“God IS love, imagine that. He made love!”
Other times he was in a world of extreme confusion and agitation and hostility, becoming very noisy and intense at times. It broke my heart when he seemed forlorn, repeatedly hitting his hand with his head. My struggle was to trust the Lord through his experience and through the Doctor’s decisions. The medications they decided to give him made him more manageable. But his speech became slurred and prevented him from communicating and ‘preaching’ the love of God as often and as clearly as he was previously able to do. We had already lost a big portion of who my Dad was because of this disease. I felt angry and deeply grieved at this turn of events, another step in the of loss of my Father.
The LORD helped me realize that my struggle was really to accept the Cup that the Father had poured for my Dad, and as his experience effected me, to accept that Cup also.
He empowered me to still stand for the highest good of my Dad, AND to take my focus off the Doctors and circumstances and back to my Holy Lord, asking and listening for HIS leadings and over-rulings. I realized that every step of my father’s decline was a step toward his Heavenly Home.
It is more of a challenge to accept the Cup He has poured for us and for those we love when we are holding on too tightly to our own perception of what should happen. Jesus reflected the ‘letting go’ attitude when he prayed in Gethsemane: “Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.” Luke 22:42
“The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?” John 18:11 Drinking of the Cup implies spiritually ‘swallowing’ the experience. It implies the choice to use our spiritual muscles to willingly let the experience enter our spiritual system, and then to absorb it for spiritual growth and energy. Some experiences are ‘hard to swallow,’ but His Wisdom and Checed Covenant Love and Affection are a surety. The experiences we find ‘hard to swallow’ for ourselves and on behalf of those we love are really part of ‘the Cup of Blessing.” 1 Corinthians 10:16
Regardless of the appearance or the circumstance HE IS DEALING BOUNTIFULLY with us and with every member of our Dear Spiritual Family! Psalm 116:12-13, 5-7
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