I went to the Casting Crowns concert last night. Wow...once again God rescued me...and just in time. As you might have detected from yesterday's posts...I have NOT been doing well. It has very little to do with my current situation and EVERYTHING to do with my focus...I have taken my eyes off of Christ and set them on my perceived dreary future...with all its meaningless tasks. This happened slowly...as I turned to grief books rather than scripture...as I turned oh so slowly away from God...so very, very slowly.

Please offer a prayer (or two or three) of behalf of my sister, Shea, who has put up with me during this time of torment and anguish. The girl has done all she could do...but of course nothing was good enough because nothing brought Chuck back or stopped my pain. Poor Shea! She noted my straying from truth days ago...and prayed fervently for me. Her prayers were answered...praise God.

Let me back up a bit. Before I share one of my moments of insanity, a quick lesson learned. The Word is living. The Bible is truth...this truth cannot be found in "sermons;" it cannot be found in self-help books on grieving; it cannot be found in the advice of well-meaning friends. If feel-good sayings cannot stand up under the broken-hearted questions of a grieving widow, they're useless. You've got to go to the Word...anything else will crumble when put under extreme stress. The Word is true...every time...in every situation. The Word can hold up under the grief of a widow and offer hope, hope, hope.

So, I was listening to one of my favorite radio ministers. He's talking about Ruth. Ruth lost her husband; she had a door or two shut in her face; then she was rescued and was used to change the world, forever. (She's an ancestor of Christ). Okay, so the pastor tries to encourage those who have had doors closed in their faces. He notes that God uses those closed doors. Then the pastor says, "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion...". (Ahh...nice words. "Don't worry, everything will work out, because if He began a good work in you, and He won't stop until it's completed"...ahh...nice, nice sentiment.)

Okay, this sets me off...so I call Shea to tell her how wrong, wrong, wrong this is! Following is my actually rant to Shea. This will show you what my sister has been up against as of late:

What in the world does that mean..."He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion"? There's no hope in that...NONE. You know why...just look at Chuck. Just look at what happened to him. All he wanted was to come home. What did God do...let him suffer in agony for months and months only to let him die before ever making it home. That's a "completed good work?" Really? Really? Would you honestly call that a "completed good work"? What's good about that? If that is an example of a completed good work, I want nothing to do with it. Nothing. There's no hope for me if that's an example of God bringing a "good work" to completion. I might as well give up right now. That's wrong...wrong...wrong. That cannot be what that scripture means. It cannot, cannot, cannot. (Daring Shea to correct it...explain it...but not really wanting her input, if you know what I mean.)

You see how clever Satan is? You take a little bit of the Bible, twist it just so, and it can destroy your faith. The radio pastor did not use the verse "in context." No matter how much you trust fellow believers, READ THE WORD FROM THE BOOK FOR YOURSELF. The actual verse is about God saving people through Jesus. "The good work" is God's good work, i.e. our salvation. (Don't take my word for it...read it. Phil. 1:6)

In any case, Shea knew I was believing lies...she knew I wanted no input from her, so she prayed. She prayed until God moved to bring light to my eyes...to my weary soul....I thank God for such a faithful friend.