My friend Andrea past away and I mourn her loss. She had just received her second lung transplant which (for all she knew) was successful. It is strange that at the end of these few years she lived on earth I remember most her struggle and desire to live.
It is good that for me I saw what it means to have faith tested and — proven. To the end, to the painful end, she was a woman of faith, a woman of prayer with a word of encouragement for others, who in light of her circumstances, suffered much less.
It is strange that my faith is tested by so much less; by loneliness, poverty, pornography, rudeness, and various desires of my own heart. Not to minimize our struggles, after all, they are our struggles and a heartbreak is a heartbreak.
We are equipped to handled our own lives and I am sure I would be ill-equipped to deal with even your small troubles. They might be monumental to me. Andrea had her cancer and lung transplants. Each day indeed has enough trouble of its own. Yes—troubles enough of its own.
I am sure Andrea’s parents are finding their faith tested. How do you deal with losing a child at such a young age? Someday I hope they are able to tell. I pray that God comforts them. I pray that God comforts you. He has given us flowers for this reason I think.
It was His pleasure to speak of lilies and their adornment. It was his pleasure to point out the carefree lives of the birds. We, according to Jesus, are of greater importance to God than these.
Perhaps I will ask the lilies what it is not to fear for rent. Perhaps I will ask the birds what it is not to fear for food. Perhaps I will ask Andrea, what it is to no longer — WANT. The Lord is MY shepherd I shall not want.
Ps 23, Matt. 6, 2Cor. 1:3
Copyright(C)2000 Hudson Russell Davis