HIS Way, Not our way

More and more, God teaches me things that sometimes it takes me a while to figure out. I guess I am a little thick skulled! When we are hit with things like sickness that might take our life, or the life of a loved one, what is the meaning sometimes if that person is a believer, and why would God choose a faithful servant to suffer pain and agony only to die within two years? Even being a follower of Jesus for the past 18 years, I still ask these questions, and it is hard to see it happen.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my Gramps has been diagnosed with bone cancer, far advanced, and it has made the bones in his back so brittle that his spine has some fractures. He has been in intense pain and not very lucid because of it. The doctors said that they could slow or stop the cancer, but not cure it and it would take his life within two years. He is unable to have surgery to fix his back and will have to wear a back brace for the rest of his life. Again I asked why would this happen?

Thank God for my beautiful wife. I heard her explaining to my daughter about why Gramps is going through such a trial. Since Gramps has been diagnosed, my Dad has moved back from AZ to be at his side during this. Some of his other siblings are followers of Jesus, but my dad is not. My wife said that now the people who don't know Jesus get a front row seat to see God's power at work, and to have the best chance to fully understand it. And what has happened? The doctors have seen, and have said "miraculous" progress. Gramps has been eating, walking around and will be going home after his last radiation treatment this week! Praise God for this, and for showing His power in a way that others who do not know Him personally to now see Jesus for who he is and can be in their lives. Gramps still has a long hard road ahead of chemo treatments and still much pain, but it is a miracle that he has progressed this far from when the prognosis first came.

Maybe through all this, even I might come to understand and accept that His way is the best way, and His plans are to prosper us and give us hope for the future. I still have lots to learn, and it will be a fun class, but I know there will be some tough times of learning ahead. I thought maybe I had learned enough to get by, but Jesus is not finished with me yet! What a great God we serve!