grant and i somehow survived the stomach flu 😉

we’re doing great and are really looking forward to tonight’s small group. for several reasons. we love our group and definitely look forward to it each week, but tonight is special.

tonight one of us will be reconciled.

tonight we welcome two new people–an awesome newly wed couple new to atlanta.

tonight we will take communion together for the first time as a group.

tonight we will break bread and fellowship like first century christians.

tonight will be different and i can’t freakin wait.

God continues to reveal His unfailing love, mercy and forgiveness… and it is amazing to be a part of.

“This is the Lord’s doing and it is wonderful to see” –Mark 12:11

i think we’ve got this nasty stomach flu 24-hour-bug thing. Ash: remember freshman year…? this is it again. awful.

we’ll be ok by tmrw (i hope). until then, in between undesirable episodes, we get to watch movies together in our sick bed. life’s a give and take–the good with the bad–so we face it in bed 😉

a few thoughts on king david 🙂

Don’t take my word for it, track David’s Story: 1 Samuel 16—1 Kings 2; 1 Chronicles 10-29

Who is he?
Favored and Anointed one…? [1 Samuel 16:1]
“Young ruddy shepherd boy”…? [1 Samuel 16:12; 17:14, 42]
Brave Warrior…? [1 Samuel 16-18; 19:8]
Love of the People…? [1 Samuel 13:14; 18:16]
Elusive Outlaw…? [1 Samuel 19:11-23:14]
Humble with Integrity…? [1 Samuel 20:17, 41; 24:8]
Powerful…? [1 Samuel 16:13]
Giant-Killer…? [1 Samuel 17:25-54]
Poet, Harpist…? [Psalms; Amos 6:5]
Celebrity…? [1 Samuel 18:30b]
Crazy Madman…? [1 Samuel 21:13-15]
Liar…? Adulterer…? Murderer…? [2 Samuel 11-13]
Righteous…? [1Samuel 24:17]
“A man after God’s own heart” [1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22]
—All of the Above—

Also Known As:
Greatest King of Israel, father of Solomon (the wisest man ever), Hall of Faith [Hebrews 11], Ark of the Covenant Protector, Predecessor of Jesus Christ—direct lineage and mile-marker between Father Abraham, Babylonian Captivity, and Jesus’ Birth [2 Samuel 7:12-16; Matthew 1: 1-17; Luke 1:32; Romans 1:3].

• Willing to be honest—even in confessing sins
• Ready to learn and change our thinking/ actions for the better, wiser, godly path
• Forgiveness does not negate the Consequences
• In Regards to God: Trust and Worship Him
• Deal Decisively with your Family First, then Conquer the World

Thank goodness! this gives me hope–

HOPE: We can know that God looks at the HEART not our track record [1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Kings 8:39; 1 Chronicles 28:9].

HOPE: We can know that God anointed a young, ruddy, shepherd to be the Great King of Israel—despite David’s betrayal of Israel, lies, murder, adultery, and disobedience to God.

HOPE: There is hope for us with all our flaws and failures. God will redeem each one, just like He redeemed David’s adulterous relationship with Bathsheba in Solomon.

HOPE: If we come to the Father with a sincere HEART He will know it and honor it, no matter how badly we’ve made the situation by our own free will (though we’ll have to face the consequences).

this week we here at chez duggar are a bustling hotel for hotties 😉

a friend from Alaska, Ally, is here sunday-wednesday

stahler is here from wednesday-friday

saturday we’re having lunch in athens (!) with grant’s parents

sunday we’re hiking through a piece of either n. georgia or nc (we haven’t decided yet)

monday-tues/ wed Ally comes back for one final splash and grant is out of town for work

so by mid next week we might be back to normal… but i hope not 😉

ok. so here’s the reader’s digest version of God healing my back:

basically, about three or four weeks ago in conversation with a beloved mentor about prayer, i admitted (out loud for the first time) that it was really difficult for me to pray for healing. She wondered why–I mean, it’s biblical and scripturally sound, and i believed in other types of miracles… what is the deal? As we discussed it further, what seemed to surface was fear and distrust: fear of failure that my prayers weren’t heard or weren’t good enough if God didn’t heal; fear of disappointment in the unhealed person after their hopes were lifted then nothing tangible resulted; distrust that God could or would hear my cry; distrust that God could or would act on our behalf–fear that He didn’t care at all or that He was somehow unable to act or move or heal. Because I didn’t like thinking about such things, though I had felt this way for sometime, I pushed it from my mind and simply didn’t pray for healing. Crazy, I know, and wrong, for sure.

So less than two weeks after this exchange: I hurt my back. I have a pre-existing condition called spondylolisthesis which is a big word for back trouble that can only get worse without intense and invasive surgery and tons of pre- and post-op therapy. The methods that got me better after the initial onset in high school was extensive physical therapy, shock treatment therapy, rehabing my back for years, and core work forever. On Grant’s healthcare–while it is great and we’re SO GLAD to have it–none of this would be covered, which makes this all suddenly very expensive.

The symptoms were clear: chronic back pain, sore back if seated/ lying in any given position for any length of time, stiffness, decreased range of motion… the list goes on. But the pain was the worst. I would wake up in the middle of the night with pain. I could only sleep for a few hours at a time. I was never relieved of the pain–forever constant no matter the position or time of day. I was, to put it lightly, miserable.

As I contemplated my options, I realized that God was being very funny and ironic: here, not two weeks after admitting that a piece of my heart did not trust and obey Jesus, I was in need of a miracle. I need healing by prayer–and I had to believe it. Head knowledge is one thing, but heart knowledge and experience–where the rubber meets the road–is completely different [thank God!]. Here’s what happened after about a week of endless pain and sleep deprivation.

Wednesday: asked for prayer [but did not admit that I had trouble believing in it]
Thursday: asked for prayer from another group [but did not admit that I had troubled believing in it]
Friday: went to bible study, where we studied Luke 5. Jesus’ question: “Why do you question me in your heart” absolutely jumped off the page and convicted me. Had he ever given me reason to doubt? Had he ever not shown up for me when I needed him most? And what about this doubt and fear and distrust? Was it so valuable and important to me that I would cling to it, despite my pain, against a possible healing? Was it most important to me than Jesus?

My heart broke.

That night I told everything to Grant–much of which he knew in bits and pieces–admitting again my disbelief. We prayed for healing and I repented of my distrust and choosing fear over obeying the Lord. We didn’t really know what to do or what to say or what to think, but our prayers were heartfelt cries.

I woke up on Saturday morning–having slept the whole night for the first time in weeks–healed. I looked over and told Grant, “I think God healed my back,” tentatively. I treated it gingerly throughout the day, afraid to be wrong… but I wasn’t. God healed my back. I have had none of the symptoms since! Praise the Lord!

I am not some charismatic christian on pain killers. this is real. i’d never even been near a healing before, but now i believe! it would’ve been ok if God didn’t heal my back, because in pointing out some blackness in my heart, and repenting against it, I was forever changed. The miracle happened in my soul; the healing of my physical back was just a bonus.

Thank God that He is willing and faithful and loving and able.

Anyone have any healing stories? This is the first experience in mine and Grant’s faith journey.