Eloise suffered a ten-year headache.
After seeing many doctors, each diagnosed something different. In time, she figured she’d probably find no hope for relief. Coupled with double vision, this meant no TV, no reading, and none of her treasured art or handwork. In addition, she couldn’t drive or shop.
As the years dragged by, she gradually withdrew from social contact, to resign herself to bed and pain. “I felt like a zombie,” she said.
Then, one day, she noticed a large spot before her right eye. She finally made an appointment with her ophthalmologist. He discovered a tumor on her pituitary gland the size of a walnut. He suggested she see a neurosurgeon, who advised surgery.
“My husband and I called our pastor and church leaders to come pray with me. After that, I felt God’s peace. When they left, I sensed God leading me each step of the way.”
I sensed God leading me each step of the way. -@BlyBooks #ThoughtfulThursday Click To TweetAfter surgery and a full recuperation, she was healed. She hasn’t had a headache since.
Numerous times during that decade of agony Eloise thought God forgot her. Why did it take so long to find the solution, she wondered? Yet she was thankful an answer finally came. The years after she lived to the fullest.
“Much more so than if I’d never been ill,” she claimed.
God’s heavenly, complex purposes labor through tangled webs, between His high and holy works and the daily choices of a hell-bent creation. -@BlyBooks #ThoughtfulThursday Click To TweetGod’s heavenly, complex purposes labor through tangled webs, between His high and holy works and the daily choices of a hell-bent creation. Our troubles and trials mix with His grace. He toils for the best spiritual benefit for each individual impacted in any circumstance. That’s one reason why we sometimes have to wait.
Meanwhile, God is always at work, busy on our behalf. He prepares us for what’s up ahead. We don’t know what He will do next, but we can trust Him it will be good and right. By faith we know that help is on the way, rushing toward us even now.
Are you in a waiting room?
Proclaim with the Psalmist, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.” (130:5)
Adapted from Hope Lives Here by Janet Chester Bly
Janet Chester Bly is the widow of award-winning western author Stephen Bly. Her nonfiction books include Hope Lives Here and God Is Good All The Time. She recently released her latest fiction novel, Beneath a Camperdown Elm, Book 3 in the Trails of Reba Cahill Series, a Contemporary Western Romance with a zing of mystery. Sample chapters, paperback or eBook can be found here: Beneath a Camperdown Elm.
Book 1 & 2 in the series are Contemporary Western Mysteries with a touch of Romance, Wind in the Wires and Down Squash Blossom Road. Find them at her website bookstore: www.BlyBooks.com
“Janet Bly takes the reader on a poignant, sometimes heartwrenching journey… This story wraps up the series in a sweet and most satisfying way.” Shannon McNear, novella collection author and The Cumberland Bride
It’s August 1991. Reba Mae Cahill brims with joy. Her life’s perfect. She’s finally bringing her prodigal mother, Hanna Jo, home to Road’s End from a Reno mental institute. With them is Jace McKane, her fiancé, who promises to help fight the unjust lawsuit that threatens the family ranch. He wants a new start, away from his unscrupulous father and all his drama. Just as Reba’s getting Jace trained to become her rancher husband, she discovers Grandma Pearl betrayed her once again, in a way that also harms her mother.
In a series of circumstances beyond her control, Reba believes she’s lost everything. Gone is her career, her identity, her lifelong pursuit, and her main reason for marrying Jace. Will any of the answers be found beneath the Camperdown Elm?
Janet Chester Bly