This illness is for His glory.

Grace and peace to you my friends,

"Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” " John 11:1-4 ESV

"Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” "John 11:14-15 ESV

"Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” " John 11:40-44 ESV

I haven't been writing to you guys as much lately because I fell out of  my good morning routine. The amount of physical pain due to the nerve "disease" has been quite a bit above what should be normal. And when you hurt a lot it throws a wrench into everything you try to do. Don't misunderstand me here and take this for complaining. I only want to make the point, that even when you're out of sorts and completely off your game, God is still working in and through your life for the good of His name. So even though I haven't been able to spend the time thinking about you guys that I've wanted to, God hasn't stopped showing me His undeserved kindness and mercy. God has been reminding me through these last few weeks of His great sovereign hand. In my mind I have been stuck thinking about the Lazarus story. My favorite part is verse 4 because if God can use the death of a friend to bring glory and honor to His name then He can certainly use my broken, pain riddled self and for that I praise Him. How great a mystery that He should see fit to use such unworthy vessels like you and me to not only bring Him glory but more than that He desires to use us to work out His will in the lives of those around us. Amazing.
 
 My hope this morning is that you to might find encouragement in this story. No matter how bad the physical experience of this world may get for you, you need to know that God is still in control using the circumstances to bring you closer to Him and to bring glory and honor to His name. So pray to the Lord and ask Him to help you rejoice in the face of whatever your hardship is. Ask Him to open the eyes of your heart to be able to see His hands working in you and through you as you go through these hard times. May His name be blessed forever as you grow and learn to be more like His son the Lord Jesus Christ, into whose image we are being molded day by day through the work and power of the Holy Spirit.

For the Joy of Your Faith,
Teagan