This week, while searching for a way to illustrate where Linda is on her journey, the Holy Spirit forcefully brought to my memory a conversation she and I had nearly thirty years ago. Perhaps, conversation is not a good word. It was near the end of the day and I was a bit drained; Linda, however, had many words left in her word tank! Preparing to teach a lesson on spiritual growth, she had been captivated by Habakkuk 3:19. Now, trying to recover the intent of that moment, the Amplified Bible seems to capture the essence of what she was saying:

The Lord God is my strength [my source of courage, my invincible army];
He has made my feet [steady and sure] like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk [forward with spiritual confidence] on my high places [of challenge and responsibility].

A woman jogger, shown in the picture at the top of this blog, climbing up a rocky path illustrates what Linda was wanting me to see. It also serves as a depiction of her physical condition at that time.

Each day, as I watch her shuffling along, I am caught between what appears to be two separate realities – her world then and her world now! However, to allow myself to think in those terms would mean that I am buying into the thinking of our present culture; aging is to be avoided at all costs and cures are constantly promised through the media. Conversely, Scripture outlines a reality that connects life on earth to eternity. What does this reality look like?

Linda’s Perspective

So, we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever. For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less (2 Corinthians 4:16-5:5 MSG).

Ron’s Perspective

It is easy to recognize the preparation for perfection taking place in Linda’s life and miss the fact that God is using her journey to prepare me for greater service on earth. I am sometimes prone to do exactly that. Last weekend, all my children celebrated Mother’s Day with her. After the last one had departed, remembering how things once were and dreading to go into an empty house, I chose to drive into the countryside. I had no idea God was about to powerfully remind me that his ways and timing are perfect. While listening to Christian radio, I heard excerpts from Aggie: The Inspiring Story of a Girl Without a Country, which provided great insight into how God turns pain and suffering into glorious triumph.

Arriving home, I sat in my car, with the door opened and my feet on the garage floor, and sobbingly poured my grief out to the Lord. Longing for my Heavenly Father to make my pain go away, he chose instead to introduce me to his plan for a spiritual breakthrough in my life. By bringing to my mind a scripture that I have used countless times to help persons cope with suffering, “And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:20 NLT),” I realized that even though I had been thanking God in my suffering; he was calling me to thank him for my suffering. The difference is overwhelming: through my suffering I have come to know God – not just know about him!

Leaving my unorthodox cathedral, I walked into my home aware that a load of grief had been lifted. I was now captivated, as Linda had hoped that I would be, by Habakkuk’s assurance that the Lord God is my strength, he has made my feet steady, and I can walk forward with spiritual confidence into the challenges which are yet ahead.