Page 96 - Ephesians

A few years ago my wife Tina and I were asked to help minister to
a dear sister in the Lord. A beautiful woman of God, that was
stricken with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). She had deteriorated to
a place that was hard to watch. She was strapped to hold her up,
and couldn’t speak. Her quality of life was near zero, but every
time we began to worship, her beautiful blue eyes looked to
heaven, and the glory of God filled the room. Many well-meaning
and faithful Christians prayed for her healing, but she only got
worse. I prayed for the Lord to take her, but she continued in
pain and suffering.

One Sunday morning the Lord put her on my heart so strongly
that I could do nothing but grab my guitar and Tina and go see
her. The Lord was showing me that she felt like she was failing in
faith, and did not have the peace of His absolute approval.
Perhaps she felt that she missed her ministry and purpose, and
felt God could only be glorified with a miraculous recovery. Many
times Christians feel responsible for their “faith”. It is almost
insinuated that if you don’t get healed, your faith is too weak. I felt
that she couldn’t let go, because she was ashamed.

We worshiped, and the glory of God was so thick you could cut it
with a knife. I shared Ephesians 3:10 with her. And with the
authority of Jesus Christ, explained that she had not failed God.
That she was fulfilling the highest purpose a Christian could ever
attain. That as she looked to the Lord in praise and worship, in
her impoverished physical condition, she was shaming the
enemy, and all of his dark angels. As the Lord did for Stephen,
when he was stoned to death, Jesus was standing up for her in
heaven. He was so proud of her, and couldn’t wait to hold her in
His arms.

With tears in her eyes, she motioned for us to come closer. She
had an alphabet board on her lap, the only thing she was still able
to do, was to slowly spell out words. She pointed to T, H, A, N, K,
Y, O, U. She went home to be with the Lord two days later. The
angels watched, astonished at the faithfulness of God, and His
love for us!!!