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\nPatiently I wait for the Lord – featuring Debra Crowe on vocals with Lucy Stimpson-Maynard on piano – recorded by Bob Ross- not released<\/p>\nMay I start with a plug for the next production of Risen! The Musical? It is at my brother Jack\u2019s church, St Peter\u2019s in Ravenshead, Nottinghamshire on May 14th starting at 7.00 pm. Tickets can be obtained from 01623 478295.
\nI have copied an account of one person\u2019s attitude when suffering entered their lives.\u00a0 The writer first refers to the story of Hezekiah in Isaiah 38: 3
\nRemember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.\u2019 Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
\nHe goes on:
\nLife is unpredictable! How obvious is that, and yet I, like many others, order my life around assumptions that tomorrow, next week, next year will be much the same as today. I plan for what I define as normal, and don\u2019t anticipate changes. You may have heard the phrase, \u2018constant change is here to stay\u2019, a mantra that attempts to postpone an attitude of settling for the status quo. However, we still drop roots and establish all the trappings of permanence.
\nFor Hezekiah, having proven faithful if somewhat double-minded, as most of us are, this meant a serious diagnosis of a fatal illness. The shock was real and he took himself off to plead with God for life. He reminded God of the many excellent things he had done in God\u2019s name, and how he had proven faithful over the years.
\nAs I accompanied Katey on her journey with progressive MS, hope for divine intervention, our first port of call, gave way to anger. How could a God of love allow this to happen? Eventually, we began to seek God in the heart of the storm that was rocking our world, and discovered a God who enabled us to approach life from a completely different direction. We were stretched so that we might grow and be better prepared for our eternity with the God who loved us more completely than we had ever experienced or imagined.
\nYou may be faced with the most devastating news. Nothing can immunise you from the shock and the desperate pleading that God might take this from you. And he may. However, it might be that you have to find the tools to embrace this unwelcome reality and discover God in the very heart of it. Losing control over your life is devastating \u2013 yet it was never yours from the moment you surrendered it to God. God is at work in the most desperate of circumstances; you have to seek him out and connect. God will neither fail nor forsake you.
\nThe story of Katey continues in next week\u2019s blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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