It's the Little Things

Cindy’s return home after her first week of consolidation chemotherapy means we get to be together again, proximate, just like we’ve been for over forty years. Just being together is so, so good. It’s the little things….

“May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth,” (Proverbs 5:18, NIV).

Cindy and I were 22 and 23, respectively when we married. Not youths but certainly youthful adults who grew up through adulthood together.  The trials that seemed so daunting way back then seem minuscule compared to what these later years have brought.

While life experiences matured us, about five years into our marriage, our decisions respectively and as a couple to submit to the gospel and lordship of Jesus Christ transformed us over time.  “In Christ,” the joys are sweeter and the trials more endurable.

Heard a Bible lesson about trials this morning that grabbed me.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” (Isaiah 43:2, NIV)

Note the word, “you” - very personal.  Also, “when” and “through” that I bolded in the text. While “when” warns believers won’t escape trials, God assures He will be with us and that we will get through, not stopped or turned aside.

God guided us “through” this latest phase of Cindy’s treatment.  Her return home blessed our “fountains!” Again, the little things.

Best case, her blood counts drop than rebound.  After a week or so of doing well and building strength, back she goes to the hospital for a second week of consolidation followed by weeks three and four respectively with plenty of summer left to enjoy when we are all the way through.

We trust God to be with us when we go through this together until we emerge.  As to the shape of the emergence, we also trust God for that.