Step by Step by Faith

UPDATES TO THIS POSTING WILL BE MADE IN THE COMMENT SECTION, AS I AM ABLE.

The three oldest grandkids on Halloween Day - 2015

Our family would covet your prayers today for that sweet little blondie granddaughter in the middle of the picture. The last couple weeks have been difficult ones, as we puzzled over her diminishing motor skills, constant tripping and falling, difficulty chewing, poor grip, and other troubling symptoms for a 3-year old. Last week, an MRI told the story...she has an arteriovenous fistula, or a connection of an artery and a vein in her brain (resting on her brain stem) and the ballooning pressure of the vein is putting pressure on her brain and causing her neurological problems. We are praising God for clarity in the diagnosis so that leaving the problem alone was not an option, because it will rupture at some point...with fatal results.

Today, she is going in for an angiogram and (hopefully!) an embolization (disconnecting and tying off the connection of the artery and the vein) in her brain. 

’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, “Thus saith the Lord!”

• Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
  How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er;
  Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
  Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

"Oh, for grace to trust Him more!" has been the constant refrain of my heart since the diagnosis came. The procedure is a delicate one and not without risks.  But the all too real, all too much to dwell on possibility is that the Lord, in His infinite wisdom and absolute Sovereignty, will take her home to heaven. Could we then say, with Christian resignation and fortitude, as our Puritan forefathers, "It pleased the Lord to take her..."? Could we say that without bitterness or a grief that threatens to swallow our very souls? 

We are praising God for the faithful ministers who have preached the full counsel of God to us, so that the strength we draw from His Word has kept us from being overwhelmed. His Spirit has ministered to our hearts and minds, and for that trust and strength we are grateful and give Him all the glory!

 "God, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy."

-Westminster Confession, Chpt. 5:I

We know that He directs all things for His glory. Things too incomprehensible for our puny minds to understand. And we rest in His omnipotence and His goodness...no matter what the outcome. 

We are encouraged that her doctor is "the best in the nation" and possibly the world at this sort of surgery! We are encouraged that he is optimistic for a good outcome! We praise God that He moved us all the way across the country seven years ago, so that some day, this little girl would need this very doctor and she would live an hour from the hospital where he practices! Oh, praises be to God for His Providence in all things! And yet, we are reminded...

 My hope is built on nothing less 

than Jesus' blood and righteousness. 

I dare not trust the sweetest frame, 

but wholly lean on Jesus' name. 

On Christ the solid rock I stand, 

all other ground is sinking sand; 

all other ground is sinking sand. 

We would be blessed if you join us in praying for her today, and in saying with our family,

"This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it."

-Ps. 118:24

Sola deo gloria!

A Day at the Cape and Plimoth Plantation

Meeting a friend who is vacationing at Cape Cod, we headed to Plimoth Plantation for the day.  Plimoth Plantation is a living history museum recreating the Pilgrim settlement in Massachusetts. The reenactors who work there portray, most excellently, those who traveled aboard the Mayflower and subsequent ships.

The weather was just as the weatherman had predicted “…in the low-60′s, but feeling like the low-50′s”.  I was glad for my scarf and boiled wool jacket.  It was cold and cloudy and the wind was howling so constantly, that Colette asked me, “Is that sound the wind, or the ocean?”  But the backdrop of the stormy clouds made the new, spring grass seem all the greener.



Some scenes from the Pilgrim settlement:





I had a nice chat with one of the Plantation's seamstresses.  She was doing some handstitching on a garment in the hands-on craft demonstration center.  She is one of only two seamstresses who do all the sewing for 60 reenactors.  Whew!  She told me that the inner seams are sewn on a sewing machine, but any stitching that would show from the outside is stitched by hand.



After a delightful dinner and warm hugs goodbye, we parted from our dear friend.  Leaving, we passed this beautiful scene of the sun setting in the west and a cranberry bog in the foreground (to the left of the barn).



Beautiful.