Recently my paths crossed with an old friend, Dave. We went to school, youth group and graduated together. We hung around in the same group of friends.
Not too long ago Dave was given a grim diagnosis –
1% chance of survival without a bone marrow transplant,
60% with the transplant.
My heart has been heavy and grieving for him.
He has already had much heartache in his lifetime.
Many years ago Dave and his sweet young wife finished Bible college and
were going to be missionaries when they found, while pregnant with their
first child, that his wife had cancer. Doctors advised them to abort to begin
an aggressive cancer treatment. They refused, instead trusting the Lord
for their future. The day after their daughter was born,
Dave’s wife had her leg amputated and she battled the cancer courageously.
I will never forget the day my friend Dave carried their toddler daughter
down the aisle for his wife’s funeral.
I sat in the back and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed {as did everyone there}.
Sometimes life is just too hard to figure out.
I don’t pretend for a second to have the answers to
“Why her?” or “Why him?”
The only place I can find rest is in the constant, faithful and
unchangeable nature of our loving God.
He loves.
He does care.
He weeps with us as we weep.
There’s no doubt that His word never changes and in times of personal heartache
I have found it to be true –
“The Lord is close to the broken-hearted…” Psalm 34:18
He is, always, “an ever present help in time of need.”
Today this same friend, Dave, posted a link on Facebook to an
amazing video of Niagara Falls.
Growing up a short distance from Niagara Falls,
I have been there dozens and dozens of times.
It was kind of our “go to” place when we needed something to do.
My girlfriends and I would walk and talk and giggle and speak “French”
{most of us took French} and pretend that we were French tourists
{I highly doubt even one person was ever fooled – but we liked to pretend – silly us. Anyone who was French would, no doubt, have never claimed us.}
When a stupid boy would break one of our hearts we would load up in someone’s car,
buy boxes of Mystic Mint cookies {it had to be Mystic Mint}
and boxes of Kleenex and drive to Niagara Falls
crying, eating cookies, and crying some more.
Seeing the video Dave posted this morning moved me to a flow of steady tears…
Niagara Falls,
one of my favorite places on Earth –
holding the almost-home kind of familiar feeling
coupled with my old friend’s heartbreaking diagnosis
and sprinkled with the amazing power of Almighty God…
Graham and Liberty came in to talk to me {I am sequestered away
working on Ruby’s book} and I showed them the video…they
could not believe the beauty of it, nor the power of Niagara Falls.
It’s a spectacular video…
And then I got to thinking….
The God who created Niagara Falls is the same God who
will bring drops of much-needed rain to the dry farmer’s field.
The God who put the majestic mountains into place is the same God
who will remove every single mountain between treasures
coming home and the family that longs for them.
The God who set the sun in the sky and called it ‘day’
is the same God who is healing our Ruby’s blind eyes.
The God who allows the lightening to streak across the sky
is the same God who is listening to each of our distraught cries.
Niagara Falls displays the power of God in a dramatic and tangible way
just as our lives around us display the power of God in an often
not-so-public sort of way:
The perfectly timed, yet completely unexpected, check in the mail.
The phone call for the new job that comes out of the blue.
The reversal of the most hardened heart.
The returning home of a wayward child.
The anonymous gift given in secret.
The reconciliation of hearts once thought ‘irreconcilable’.
The addiction-free addict, once given up on.
The RAD diagnosed child who begins to attach.
All are God at work and
all display His involvement in our everyday lives,
His simple love for us in action,
and His magnificent power.
So many needs, but amazingly
God is not limited to meet just yours,
or just mine.
Nope.
He wants to hear from each of us.
About every one of our needs.
He is not too busy.
He made Niagara Falls,
He whispers,
“I am the Lord, the God of all mankind.
Is anything too hard for me?”
Jeremiah 32:27niv
If you should think of Dave, my friend, would you please pray for him?
He sure could use it and it would do good for my soul to know
friends around the world are praying. You would really like him if
you knew him. He’s a good guy.
And please, take a few minutes, watch the video my friend, Dave, posted:
Praying, Linny…..
Thank you my friend. I'll be sending the Knee Team a request in the next few days. xo
Oh thank you so very much!!!! Right now I feel like I am in a barrel rolling over the edge of the falls, that video brought comfort. God designed that fall, just like He is in control here. Thank you!!
Amy in GA
Powerful thoughts Amy. I pray God brings peace in the midst of the rapids – He most definitely has your back.
Linny~
I will be praying for Dave. I lost my daddy 2/18/13 to cancer.
Storming the gates of heaven right now,
Suzanne
Thank you Suzanne, you know the battle that cancer is!
Your dear friends remind me of another couple. There is a woman who died last summer named Chiara Corbella whose first child was diagnosed in utero as being anencephalic. Doctors advised her to have an abortion, but she carried her child to term and got to spend thirty precious minutes with her. Her second child was also diagnosed as anencephalic. She again chose life for her child despite knowing the outcome. Then when she became pregnant the third time, she was diagnosed with cancer during the pregnancy and chose to delay treatment so that her baby could live. Her baby was not much more than a year old when she died last summer. Her faith was so beautiful. Look her up on youtube. She had given a talk after her first child died that is very worth watching. I think there are other talks by her as well. Prayers for your dear friend!
Wow. I had not heard of her. I will have to google it. What a painful legacy she leaves…but one filled with deep, sacrificial love!
Our family will be praying for Dave!
Thank you so much for praying for our friend. What a blessing to know you are!
Of course, will pray for him. Please thank him for that amazing video. I've never been to Niagara and this was a front row seat.
Thank you my sweet friend. Having been to NF so many, many times, I have to say, this was the most outstanding video I've ever seen for it. So glad you enjoyed it.
Prayers coming from Australia
Yay!! Prayers for Dave from Australia!! Thank you so much!
Will pray for your friend. I have had to lean heavily on God's word about being close to the broken hearted these last few months as we have been with my mom as she lost her battle with cancer. We have wept buckets full of tears. But there is something I know. Jesus is there, and he weeps with us. He hears our cries. He comforts us minute by minute. 🙂
You have definitely been in my prayers..and you have definitely deeper understanding than most about the place Dave finds himself in. Thank you friend.
Praying Linny, he sounds like a treasure. Thanks for sharing the video, need this right now.
Lori
He's a very sweet guy and lots of fun. He said something on a thread in a private group our high school friends are in yesterday….I was reading what he wrote on that thread to my family at dinner last night and I was laughing so much I had to stop and try to breathe. Prayers deeply appreciated. xo
oh Linny….praying unceasingly for Dave! What a privilege to do so! Thank you for telling a bit of his story. I had just watched that niagara falls video earlier this evening and was in awe over the filming angles showing the incredible magnificence, sheer power and beauty of the falls…and then to see it on your blog with Dave's story….just made it all more powerful and poignant. Will be putting Dave on several prayer lists…oh the faithful warriors from your blog that will be lifting him up in unceasing prayer! blessings of healing love to you, Dave! <3u, Linny! <3cindy
"The gospel bears my spirit up:
A faithful and unchanging God
Lays the foundation for my hope,
In oaths, and promises, and blood."
"And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish."
– John 10:28
Thank you Cindy so much for the words of encouragement and prayers. Bless you!
Praying for Dave now.
Thank you Dana.
Yes I will pray for Dave. Wow beautiful video of Niagara! I have never been there as I live in Australia. Hope I will go there one day if God willing.
Thank you Hanna for praying and thank you for sending those prayers from Australia….I hope you get to go to Niagara Falls someday – certainly amazing!
Yes I will pray for Dave. Wow beautiful video of Niagara! I have never been there as I live in Australia. Hope I will go there one day if God willing.
God knows all things and is always there for us. He has never left me alone or let me down. What a post full of truth. All the glory to God. I will be praying for your friend.
All glory to God is right! Thank you Susan for praying. Thank you so much.
Praying for your friend Dave.
Thank you jenny.
I am so sorry that Dave lost his wife, I cried when you shared about him. Praying that the Lord sends him joy and contentment.
Awww Susan…you have such a tender heart. I guarantee you and Chuck would really like him. Your prayers are appreciated.
The last few posts about God being faithful and caring about all of us, were very tear filled
reads…I will pray for Dave….Blessed to hear that he is a believer and knows where his wife
is and where he will go when his number of days is due…That is so comforting.
I ask for prayer for me…my hubby left me just before our 31st wedding anniversary in June….He knows the Word and used to teach it…but, wants to be happy and clear his head…So, when you write things like you have in the last few posts about the faithfulness of God, I cry my eyes out..My heart is breaking and HE told me many years ago that HE was going to heal our family and we would give testimony for HIS FAITHFULNESS and MERCY and HE would get the glory. I have to keep hanging on…Your posts give me hope that HE really will do it for me…
Thanks for letting me ramble and if you don't want to post this, I will totally understand.
Love from NC
Oh Sandy, I am so very, very, very sorry. My heart aches for you. I have wondered how you are, but the days are long and filled with Ruby and I never sit down to actually correspond. I am thankful that God's truths these last few days have ministered to your soul. His truths never end and they never change. He is completely faithful, even when man is not.
I will pray as the Lord brings you to mind {often}.
And the reason I post your comment is because others will be comforted that they are not alone in their own personal heartache. It is often a trick of the enemy to make us think that we are "the only one"….but we learn to comfort one another in the same way we ourselves have been comforted. I pray His comfort ministers to your soul…you are loved…and He *definitely* has YOUR back. xoxoxo