Hope

Last night Andy and I decided to go to Lifegroup...his track practice was cancelled due to weather so he was home early and we were able to all go together! (and get there on time!) Apparently this was all God-coordinated. Let me explain...

Yesterday morning Andy's mom called him to tell him she had been diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer. I was unaware until Andy called me that afternoon. Without many details yet, we were just trying to process the initial news. Although we were both exhausted we felt like being with our friends, so we headed out to Lifegroup. It was good to be with our group again and just hang out. After dinner we watched a Louie Giglio film called "Hope." The message was awesome and perfectly timed with the news we were trying to digest. To sum up, Louie's message was that when the bottom drops out of your life, when things look really bad, we have to go back to the cross. When we feel like maybe God doesn't care about us, when we question why things are happening to us, we need to go back to the cross. Because the cross is where Jesus proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that He loves us. What could be more proof than to die for someone and to secure their future? He has experienced all kinds of pain and can relate to the trouble we have in our lives. Jesus told us that in this life we would have trouble...but in Him, and Him alone, we can find peace. That is where you go when life gets hard...really hard.

Wow! So am I saying that God coordinated the weather so that practice was cancelled so that Andy came home early so that we could go to Lifegroup and they picked "Hope" to play that night...just for us? Well...maybe not just for us...but He sure is good at working things together to give us exactly what we need when we need it. How great is our God!!!??!!! We ended the night with the support of friends and prayer...and we couldn't ask for anything more.

We are still waiting to find out more information about Andy's mom. As we come to mind, please pray for her and whatever treatment lies ahead. As Louie said, we have freedom in this life, but life is NEVER out of God's control.